I had considered calling in sick at the bar and staying at Fabiano’s apartment, snuggled into the soft blankets that smelled of him, of us. But eventually the worries in my head had become too loud. I needed to distract myself.
And it worked. The bar was busy that day. People were almost overexcited about something. They drank and ate more than usual, and Griffin had a hard time taking their bets. I heard the name Falcone being mentioned a few times but wasn’t sure which of them was going to go into the cage.
“Did you hear Remo Falcone is going to fight again tonight?” Cheryl said when I stepped up to her behind the bar.
Hearing his name turned my insides to ice. “And?”
“It’s a big deal. He hasn’t fought in almost a year. He’s Capo after all.”
“Then why now?” I asked, suddenly worried.
“I hear his youngest brother wrecked his favorite car,” she said. Good. Was that what Fabiano had to deal with?
Roger came up behind us with a beer crate and set it down beside us with a resounding thud. “And I hear it’s because one of his men disappeared, probably defected,” he said. “And now stop gossiping. Falcone doesn’t like it.”
“Who was it?” Cheryl asked.
“A guy called Soto.”
Cold washed over me. “What do you mean he defected?”
Roger gave me a strange look. “He disappeared without a word. That usually means someone defected. If the Russians or someone else had got him, they’d have left a bloody message behind.” He went past us toward Griffin and two fighters already dressed in shorts. I had seen them in the cage in the last few days. Both of them had won their fights.
“You look pale. What’s wrong? By now you should be used to all this. It’s daily business around here.”
I nodded distractedly.
“When one speaks of the devil,” Cheryl whispered.
I followed her gaze toward the entrance. Falcone and Fabiano had entered the room. My eyes found Fabiano’s. His were fierce and worried.
I clutched the edges of the counter.
I’d come to Las Vegas for a better life. For a future away from the misery that was my mother’s existence. Away from the darkness that was her constant companion.
And now I was caught up in something far darker than anything I’d ever known existed.
Remo’s eyes wandered from Fabiano to me, and something cold and frightened curled up in the pit of my stomach. If he found out that Fabiano had killed one of his men because of me, he’d not only end Fabiano’s life, but also mine. And it wouldn’t be quick.
Remo finally averted his eyes from me, and I could breathe again. I quickly turned around and busied myself sorting the clean glasses Cheryl had brought in from the kitchen earlier. I kept my head down as I served beer to customers. I didn’t want to risk catching Fabiano’s eyes again.
Griffin climbed up on the platform of the cage, and I stopped what I was doing. He had never done that before. He raised his hands to quiet the crowd. “Death match,” he announced simply and a hush went through the crowd, followed by thunderous applause.
“What does that mean?” I whispered.
Cheryl gave me a pointed look. “It’s going to be ugly, Chick.”
Fabiano leaned against a side of the booth, where two of the Falcone brothers were sitting. He hadn’t looked my way since he’d first come in with Remo. It was probably better that way.
But deep down I wished he’d give me a small signal of reassurance even if it was only show.
When Remo stalked toward the cage, a lump formed in my throat. This was going to get ugly like Cheryl had said.
Remo’s fight outmatched all the previous fights in its brutality. Remo was out to hurt. To break. To kill. This wasn’t about winning.
This was madness and cruelty and bloodlust.
He faced two opponents, but the first was dead within the first two minutes. Falcone broke his neck with a hard kick. After that he was more careful. The second opponent was the one I felt sorry for. His death wasn’t quick. It was like watching a cat toy with a mouse.
Eventually I had to turn my back on the scene.
I pressed my palm against my mouth, breathing through my nose.
When the crowd erupted with cheers, I dared to look back and wished I hadn’t. Remo was completely covered in blood. The man at his feet, he was the source of it.
I sucked in a deep breath, trying to fight my rising nausea.
“I think you should go outside and catch some air,” Cheryl said. “If you throw up, it means only more work for both of us.”
I gave a shake of my head. “I’m fine,” I bit out. I forced a smile at a customer who was waving at me for more beer. I quickly loaded a tray and headed over to him. Perhaps work would keep me distracted from the cage. I never looked toward it or Remo. If I wanted to keep my composure, I had to pretend none of this had happened.
Roger was cursing as he cleaned the cage. Neither Cheryl nor Mel, and least of all I would agree to get in there.
Fabiano had disappeared with Remo and his brothers almost one hour ago, and I wondered if he would be there to pick me up tonight. I suspected he might not risk us being seen together today. My suspicions were confirmed when I walked out to the parking lot and found it empty except for Roger’s car.
I hesitated. Should I wait for him? But what if Remo required his presence? Fabiano couldn’t risk anything right now.
I lifted my backpack on my shoulder, and decided to head home. I wrapped my arms around myself. I wasn’t sure if my teeth were shattering because I was cold. I still had the money I won with my bet against Boulder in the backpack. I hadn’t found time to give it to my mother yet. I wanted to get rid of the money as quickly as possible.
A new wave of panic washed over me. We needed to leave Las Vegas before Remo found out. And when had I become we?
When I watched Fabiano commit the ultimate sin for me? He’d done it before, but this time I’d let him.
The familiar purr of an engine caught my attention. I stopped and turned to see Fabiano’s Mercedes driving down the street toward me. Of course he would make sure I was safe.
I got in the moment he stopped beside me. He hit the gas and did a U-turn, taking us back to his apartment. After what had happened in the last twenty-four hours, it was difficult to form the right words, or any words, really.
And Fabiano didn’t speak either. He was tense, fingers clutching the wheel, eyes glaring out into the dark.
“Does he know? Is that why he went berserk today?”
“That wasn’t Remo going berserk, trust me. That was him trying not to go berserk.”
So much blood, and the sick excitement in Remo’s eyes when he broke the neck of the first man, and then what came after… If that wasn’t going berserk I didn’t know what was. “Fabiano,” I began but he shook his head. “At home. I need to think.”
I gave him space and quiet, even if my own mind was whirring so loudly with thoughts I couldn’t believe he didn’t hear it.
He didn’t say anything but he took my hand as he led me toward his apartment. I squeezed to show him that I wasn’t going to break, that I could handle things too. The moment the door closed, he cupped my cheeks and kissed me. He pulled back after a moment. “You should leave Las Vegas.”
Fabiano
“What? You stopped me leaving not too long ago,” she said incredulously, stepping back from me.
I was equally surprised by my words. I didn’t want Leona to leave. I didn’t want to lose her, but if she stayed, I’d lose her too.
“I know, but things are different now. I can’t protect you if Remo finds out about Soto.”
“What about you? Don’t tell me he’ll forgive you.”
I shook my head. “He won’t.” Forgiveness? No, that wasn’t something Remo ever dished out. Leona squeezed my hand again as if I was the one in need of comforting. I couldn’t remember the last time someone had tried to comfort me.
“Then come with me. We can leave Las Vegas together.”
I glanced down at my tattoo, at the words that still filled me with pride when I read them. “I made an oath.”
Leona shook her head in disbelief. “You made an oath to a man who will kill you.”
“Yes, because I broke my oath by killing a fellow Camorrista. I can hardly blame Remo for that.”
She shook her head again, only harder. “Fabiano, please. Can’t we just go to New York where your sister lives? She will take you in, won’t she?”
Aria would take me in. But Luca, he would put a bullet in my head as he should. “Perhaps, she’s stupid like that. Because she still thinks I can return to being the brother she knew, but I’m not him anymore, and I don’t want to be.” That boy had wanted to please his father so he deigned him worthy enough to inherit his rank. I had learned to fight for it.
“She will learn to accept the person you are now.”
“I doubt it.”
“Why? I do.” Her eyes had become soft and something in my chest tightened.
“Sometimes you actually remind me of Aria with your stubborn insistence on taking care of your mother even if she doesn’t deserve it.”
“That’s because I love her. I can’t help it.”
“Then maybe love isn’t the right choice for you.”
She regarded me with a strange expression. One I couldn’t place. “Yes, very likely. My mother always loved the wrong people and things. I guess I got that from her.”
She didn’t say anything for a while, and I wasn’t sure what to say.
I cleared my throat. “I won’t leave Las Vegas, or the Camorra, or Remo and his brothers. I’ll risk his wrath, but I’ll keep my oath.”
“Why does this mean so much to you? I don’t get it.” Her fingers clutched my shirt. “Explain it to me. Why would you risk so much for them?”
“My sisters and I we were a union. We stuck together against our father, and our mother. I thought it would always be like that. I was a boy. But then one after the other left until I was left in a huge house with my choleric father and his child bride. They thought I could handle myself, but back then I was still weak. And when my father decided he didn’t need me anymore, I was lost. I didn’t want to run to New York with my tail between my legs like a fucking failure and beg Luca to take me in. He would have done so only because of Aria.” I ran my hand down Leona’s throat and shoulder, relishing in the softness of her skin. I could tell she was trying to follow my words, but for her my world, the mafia world, was foreign. If you didn’t grow up like me or my sisters, you couldn’t understand what exactly it meant to be born into our world.
“I would have died without Remo. I was incapable of taking care of myself, of fighting, of pretty much anything, but Remo knew how to survive and he taught me. He took me in like I was another one of his brothers. Remo is a cruel fucker, but over all the years he fought to claim Las Vegas and in the years that followed, he kept his brothers close. They were more burden than help in the beginning, especially Savio and Adamo who were too young. He could have won over Las Vegas sooner but he stayed in hiding to keep them safe. He protected them and me. I don’t always know what’s going on in his twisted mind but he’s loyal and a good brother.”
I could tell that she couldn’t believe it, and from what she’d seen of Remo her disbelief was understandable. “So you’ll leave Las Vegas, take your mother with you if you must, and move to the East Coast. Remo won’t risk an attack on Luca’s territory right now.” I lifted her arm with the bracelet. “And if you don’t know what to do, if you need help, then go to New York, to a club called the Sphere, and show them your bracelet. Tell them Aria will recognize it. And tell Aria that you are the one.”
“The one?” she asked with a frown.
“Aria will understand.”
