“I don’t appreciate being blindsided again, Luca,” Ange said on our video conference call with Dario.
“I told you Natalya got her memory back.” My brother was still annoyed I took off for New York without telling him. Admittedly, hierarchy-wise, I should have told Ange because he was the underboss, but it wasn’t as if I left no one in charge. Dom told me Ange had complained to him. I would have put a stop to that shit, but Dom said it was more like an uncle-nephew conversation. I called bullshit.
“But not that she had Orlov’s money all along!” Ange snapped. “We’ve been negotiating with this prick’s demands for almost a year, and your wife could have saved us all that trouble.”
“What are his demands now?” I asked.
“Either we give him the money or Natalya works for him on a few jobs,” Ange said.
“I’ll talk to Natalya about the former, but fuck working for him.” The thought of Orlov having any conversation with my wife made me want to smash something. For the first time, I understood Vincenzo’s act of suppressing Natalya’s genius. If the wrong organization got hold of Natalya, they could exploit her skills against her will. Well, good thing she married me. I would die to protect her. “I don’t want him to have any control over my wife.”
“I told him as much,” Dario said. “He gave another option.”
“Really?” I quirked a brow. “What?”
“The Game of Bosses.”
I didn’t answer for a while. I wasn’t in top shape. The last one I competed in, I had to prepare for months. Orlov’s skill level was unknown, and I was also four years older than him.
“That’s an option.”
“No,” Ange growled. “He’ll use that as an excuse to kill you.”
“Didn’t you suggest it the last time we talked?”
“I was joking. I didn’t think you’d do it. And there was an extra week to prepare if you did.”
“You have no faith in me, brother?” Ange was probably right. But what was the other option? I doubt Natalya wanted to give the money back. Come to think of it, I didn’t want her to give it back because that would mean all we’d gone through for the past two years would have been for nothing.
“Ask Natalya for the money. If she really loves you, she’ll return it.”
“Love doesn’t work that way.” I spoke the words easily, and I surprised myself, and apparently, my brother and Dario too, judging from the way their brows shot to their hairlines.
“Oh, you’re an expert now?” Ange scoffed.
“Love doesn’t work that way because you don’t ask the person you love to give up her integrity.”
“She’s a daughter of the Galluzo. She should know better.”
“She’s a Moretti. We never make money off that shit.”
“This conversation is going nowhere. We’ll talk when you get back to Chicago.” Ange cut off his feed, leaving Dario and me on the call.
“What do you think?” I asked him.
“Ange underestimates you,” Dario said. “Didn’t you just kick Bailey’s ass? That was with no practice.”
“I doubt that man ever stepped into a cage,” I said quietly, thoughtfully. “How many weeks is it to the fight?”
“Three.”
Fuck.
That was cutting it close. And I wasn’t sure what shape I was in.
Double fuck.
“Absolutely not, Luca. You’re not going to fight in a death match.”
My wife’s eyes flashed at me in fury. She was magnificent. She’d also been pissed at me since we returned from Montauk. Dom and a convoy of De Lucci soldiers escorted us back to Manhattan. My nephew raised the alert just in case a faction of the Russian mafia in New York thought that ambushing us or snatching my wife to curry favor with Orlov was a good idea.
We were at Sera and Matteo’s apartment on Fifth Avenue where we were staying overnight before our flight back to Chicago.
Dom called a family meeting and not the mafia family. In the living room were Sera, Carlotta, and Natalya. Elias was at her feet playing toy trucks with Gio, both kids oblivious to the uproar in the Moretti family. Dom was standing beside his dad, Paulie.
“It’s not a death match.” I was sitting on a lone couch with an ankle crossed over a knee in a very nonchalant posture. I didn’t want my wife to worry. I’d worry about it later.
“I’ll return the money,” Natalya said.
I raised a brow. “You’d do that for me?”
“Of course! You’re my husband and I love you.”
She said that too quickly. My eyes narrowed. “There’s a catch.”
My wife waved a hand. “I’ll just steal it again and not get caught.”
Paulie, Dom, and Sera laughed. Carlotta made the sign of the cross and said, “My dear sister-in-law, what you’re doing is admirable, but that’s not going to appease my brother.”
“Nor the Russians,” I said. “Orlov’s going to make you swear to stop stealing from him, and you’ll have to comply.”
“Honor among thieves,” Paulie muttered.
“Yes.”
“Then I’ll return it and that’ll be that,” she said, but by the mutinous set of her jaw, I didn’t trust her. She’d probably do it and tell me later.
“There’s still a catch.”
All through our exchange our spectators’ eyes bounced from my wife to me, and everyone except Carlotta seemed to find it amusing. That sister of mine had the least sense of humor. It was odd that she married the light-hearted Paulie, whose brother, Cesar, was the broody De Lucci and Sera’s father-in-law. Both men had been my mentors when Chicago branched out heavily into real estate. We were one big happy fucking family in more ways than one. But now, more than ever, I was glad they had our backs while things in Chicago were brewing.
“Not really. As long as you don’t tell me to stop hacking human traffickers.”
“You’re upsetting the balance in the underworld, baby.”
Dom and Paulie were nodding vigorously. “You tell him, Natalya.”
“What’s the matter with you two?” Carlotta snapped at her son and husband. “We’re supposed to be discouraging Luca from getting his ass kicked.”
“You and Ange,” I tsked. “Always thinking that I have no chance against the Russian.”
“They’re known for their stringent training,” my sister pointed out.
That was true. Dario kept me updated on the movements of our key opponents and allies. Orlov was a gym rat and had put on stacks of muscles in recent years. That could work to my advantage because that meant he wasn’t as quick.
“Yet I beat Orlov ten years ago.”
“You trained for three months,” Sera said. “And you were younger.”
“Age and training aside, the more I think about it, the more I want to get this over and done with. Orlov is going to bring up the rematch every time we have to negotiate a deal. It would get Koshkin off my back too since I’m sure he’ll be whining to Koshkin that my wife stole his money.”
“I talked to Koshkin,” Dom said. “He’s finding it amusing that Natalya was the one who stole the money, but as head of the Moscow Cadre, Koshkin has to go with what Orlov decides. Human trafficking is still a part of their business.”
“And Koshkin and I have an understanding,” I countered. “I do not tell them how to run their business as long as their shit doesn’t touch Chicago.” I speared a look at my wife. “But if they target you, all bets are off. It’s going to be war. I don’t care if it’s against Koshkin.”
“You can use the Game of Bosses to make your demands,” Dom said. “So far the chatter on the Dark Web is that Chicago was responsible for thwarting Orlov’s human trafficking business, but there are no details that it was Natalya.” Dom looked at my wife. “Orlov himself wouldn’t want to make it known that his operations were easily infiltrated by hackers. How old were you then?”
“I just turned twenty-two when I interfered in his arrangement with Santino,” Natalya said. “But there’s more to it.” She clamped her mouth in a thin line and I knew she was uncomfortable talking about her associates.
Dom flicked his gaze to me, and I gave a shake of my head. He didn’t know that Natalya belonged to a network of hackers who targeted human traffickers. Natalya also hadn’t been able to contact Doriana. The encrypted channel she shared with her had been deactivated. There was also this other hacker who she’d been online with the night she was taken. She was hesitant to dig deeper, and I didn’t press her. Her self-confidence had taken a beating, knowing that she’d been careless and compromised her partners.
“Orlov has yet to contact me directly, but I’m not a fan of waiting around.” I glanced at Natalya. “You might as well accompany me to Chicago.”
