Duty & Death (Foster Family Book 3) Read online

  Her cheeks turned pink with the knowledge that she wouldn’t be able to find a reason to deter me. “Do not do anything stupid,” she warned me. “We don’t need any ripples in the water.”

  “You being shot at is a pretty big fucking ripple, Mia!” Link began to cry, effectively putting an end to our argument. “Home,” I ordered her for the last time. “I will see you there.” She defiantly tipped her jaw upwards, never one to take kindly to being told what to do. “I will not risk either of you,” I said through gritted teeth.

  The anger seeped out of her system, chin lowering as she broke eye contact and rocked Link. Mia went to step back but my hand behind her neck kept her in place. I pressed a kiss to her forehead before letting her go. A reminder, more so for myself, that she was safe.

  Without another word the three of us left the hospital, splitting ways as we got into separate cars. My knuckles turned white gripping the steering wheel, navigating towards Gabriel’s home. I’d start there and then head to the office if I couldn’t find him. Gabe wouldn’t be able to get away. I’d hunt him down until I made my point clear. If he wanted a fight, he should have come to me. Women were not directly involved in our line of work, but you’d need morals to stick to those rules.

  It was Vittoria who opened the door after I hammered on it with my fist. "Where is he?" I asked her, pushing my way past her and into the house.

  "What are you doing?" she asked in return.

  "Gabriel," I said, rounding on her. "Where is he?"

  "What do you want, Luc?”

  "What is going on?" Gabe demanded, walking through the open front door with Chas, a step ahead. He pushed the woman behind him. A chivalrous act for a coward. “Tori, I told you not to answer the door.”

  "Luc!" Vittoria called after me, but it was muffled in my ears, drowned out by the drumming of my pulse. My vision had grown spotty from the rage that coursed through me. I could go to my grave allowing anyone to throw all they had at me, but I wouldn't let anyone mess with Mia or Lincoln.

  Gabe wasn't quick enough off the mark and before he could register it, I was in front of him. My hand wrapped around his throat and he stumbled backwards before hitting the wall where I pinned him, skull bouncing off the surface. Chas let out a squeak of alarm, but I didn’t care what she thought of the scene. She was on my shit list for aligning herself with the Moretti family. If she wanted back in, there were less self-destructive ways of doing so.

  "Listen to me because I am only going to tell you this once,” I said, towering over him. “Whatever game you're playing with Mia ends now."

  His fingers dug in at my wrist and forearm, and Tori pulled at my arm from behind in a vain attempt to save her twin. "Luc! Let him go!"

  Ignoring her, I continued, "I know all about your little proposition when she came back. She told me about how you wanted to use her." His face was turning red and his eyes had started to water. Every inch of me would have loved to watch the life drain away from his pathetic body for the stunt that he'd just pulled and for everything he’d laid at Mia’s feet when she arrived home. "Is that why you did it? Because she wouldn't play along?"

  "What are you on about?" Tori asked, trying to push me away from Gabe. "What has he done to Mia?"

  "He had someone take a shot at her!" I spat, looking at Tori over my shoulder.

  The shock ran over her features before she said, "He didn't do anything! He couldn't! Let him go!"

  "You know that for a fact?" I asked, pressing harder against his throat as he kicked his legs, trying to make some distance, but I didn’t move.

  "Yes!" she all but screamed. "Yes, because Chas was shot at!"

  A small crowd had gathered in the hallway from the commotion. The unmistakable click of weapons being prepared for fire. My grip on Gabe loosened enough for him to push my hand away before he moved to Chas, rubbing at his throat.

  “Don’t,” Chas said, eyes flicking to every gun in hand. “Just don’t. Please.”

  “Bullshit,” I called, believing that Tori was bluffing.

  "You idiot! He was at Jason’s office. Check with him if you don’t believe us!" Tori yelled, shoving me away and stepping in between the pair of us. "Are you okay?" she asked Gabe. He waved her away still struggling to take in enough air as he straightened up and looked me in the eye.

  He kept some distance between us as he rasped, "I had nothing to do with Mia." His voice was raw, and it was an effort to get the words out. "I have what I want, why would I care about you or her?" It was a swipe at our ambitions. Gabriel had been given the coveted seat at the head of the table and he'd gained it without Mia by his side. "I have my own issues to deal with, Luc, so I suggest you get out and go home to your family." He stood firm with Tori at his shoulder, both of them looking livid. Chas eyed me warily from behind them both.

  "If I find out you're lying, if I find out this had anything to do with you, I will kill you," I told him, staring him straight in the eye.

  “Get out,” Tori said, stepping forward.

  “I mean it, if—”

  “OUT!” she screamed.

  Without another word, I gave in to her request. “Watch your back, Perkins,” I warned as I left the house. Gabe grabbed her wrist and pulled her away from me. There was an irony in him assuming that I was the one that would bring harm to her.

  I slammed the door of the car as I got back into it, pulling together everything that I knew. Mia had been shot at and so had Chastity. There was a possibility that it was two random events, but I couldn't rule out the fact that it might have been coordinated and that made me uncomfortable. Who would be targeting women? I needed to figure out who was behind it and even if he was willing, Gabe would be the last person I'd want to work with on this.

  Gabe. What had he been doing at Jason’s office? Why had he taken Chastity with him to visit one of our trusted attorneys?

  My head reeled as I punched call on Dante's details and tossed the phone onto the passenger seat. It rang three times and then his voice filled the space. "Tell me what you need."

  This was why I kept Dante close. He was prepared for whatever order came next. If I asked my brother to lay his life on the line for my family, I had no doubt that he would do it without complaint. But what I needed to ask of him was nowhere near as fatal.

  "I need any and all of the footage from around Jason’s office,” I told him. “And I need it quick. Make it a priority.” I wasn’t about to let Gabe get his hands on any evidence before I’d had a chance to see it. No one was going to screw this up so they could save their ass.

  “On it,” he replied.

  “And Dante,” I said, deciding that there was one more thing I needed him to do for me, “I need you to get in touch with Angelo. We’re going to need his help."

  Chapter Three

  Dante

  Angelo.

  I tipped my head towards the ceiling, resting it on the back of the couch and pinched the bridge of my nose. It was rare, these days, that I had anything to do with my family. It was safer that way; from fatalities for them and from judgement for me. I might not have liked them, but I wasn’t quite at the point that I wanted them to meet a sticky end. But Luc had asked, and nothing would deter him, which meant that I'd spent the last hour convincing my cousin to visit because I couldn't discuss matters over the phone. His initial reluctance had soon been swayed by the promise of a negotiable price.

  The news of Chas being targeted on the same day as Mia had left us highly suspicious of everyone, but we were keeping our search close to home for the time being. We had potentially underestimated the ambitions of other family members, and so Luc was outsourcing the work. In lieu of family we could trust, we turned to blood. There was no guarantee that Angelo would agree to help but every man had a price, and he was the only one close enough that had the skills we required.

  A key in the lock made my ears prick but I refused to lift my head. Luc and Mia had an equal run of the house in the same way I had of theirs. They coul
d show up and make themselves at home. No effort required on my part. I’d done enough for the day.

  "Do you want to tell me what the hell Luc's playing at?"

  My head snapped up so quickly that I pulled something. "Fuck!" I uttered, rubbing the side of my neck before my eyes landed on Vittoria. She stood in front of me with her arms folded across her chest. "No call before coming to visit?" I asked her as the sharp pain morphed into an ache.

  The keys to my place had been, one of many, Christmas gifts. Perhaps naïvely, I'd believed that things would play out differently. Trying to bridge the gap between family and Tori had proven increasingly difficult and then New Year's Eve everything had changed. We hadn't spoken since that night, the weight of the secrets we kept pulling us apart. With Tori's unexpected arrival, she had ushered in all the unresolved tension we'd so expertly avoided, and it filled the room, making it grow uncomfortably small.

  "When have I ever needed to call?" Her eyes narrowed, playing ignorant to the truth of our crumbling relationship.

  Pushing myself away from the back of the sofa, I rested my elbows on my knees and leaned forward. "It's been a while since we've actually had a conversation."

  "Did you forget how to pick up the phone?" she asked, jaw set.

  "Did you?"

  I didn't usually bite back. I was known for keeping an even temper, not wired in quite the same way as my brother. Whereas the smallest things tipped Luc over the edge and into rage, my general attitude swung towards 'why the fuck should I care?' and I had known Tori long enough to get used to her sharpness. No matter how she wanted to dress it up, those razor edges still managed to catch and cut when they wanted to. It was what made her so appealing when I was a teenager. Vittoria had no desire to impress anyone, but everyone I knew wanted to impress her, and I longed to be the one to succeed.

  "Luc had no right barging in and accusing Gabe," Tori said, pointedly ignoring my volley. She wasn’t here for a balanced argument. She was here to prove a point.

  "That's a discussion that you need to have with him." I pulled myself up to my feet and stretched, letting my spine crack. "And as you can see, he's not here, so you can see yourself out." Angelo had used up my patience for the day and I didn’t think I had the capability to play nice with Vittoria right now.

  As I made to move past her, Tori caught my arm. The look in her eye softened a fraction as she told me, "You're going to get yourself killed."

  "Don't act like you'd care."

  Her entire face dropped. "Of course, I'd care!"

  "Would you?" I asked, unable to keep a hold on it. "Because you seemed pretty happy to let your dad jet off and leave the dumbass in charge of the family."

  "That's my brother you're talking about," Tori hissed, letting go of my arm. The vulnerability had been there for a split second before it hardened again.

  "My sister got shot at!"

  "She's not your blood!"

  My face drew closer to hers, mood darkening. "I'd be very careful what you choose to say next."

  Vittoria realised her mistake and changed course quickly. "Chas was shot at."

  I’d already been filled in on the news by Luc, so it didn’t come as a shock. "That's a glowing reference for Gabe's leadership skills. Two women used as target practice in the first week he takes over."

  "Dad will sort it when he gets home."

  "When is that?"

  "I don't know," she said, her eyes dropped from mine for a moment, but I knew she was telling the truth. Xavier had only fed his family what he wanted them to know.

  “Business taking a little longer than expected? What is it that he’s doing exactly, Tori?”

  “It’s none of your business,” she told me, walls coming back up. “Why don’t you tell me what you’ve been doing? You, Luc and Mia. And don’t try and tell me it’s nothing.”

  “Just like your family’s business is nothing to with me, my family’s business is nothing to do with you.”

  The lines in the family were usually blurred. Whether you wanted to or not, you knew about what was going on. Whispers trickled down the grapevine even if they weren’t embedded in the truth. Luc had drawn a clear line between us and the rest of the family. No one knew any more than we wanted them to and that meant that there were probably more than a few spiteful rumours knocking about the place.

  “When it’s to do with you, it’s to do with me. I love you, Dante. I want you to be safe. I want you to stay alive.”

  I almost broke. Almost. Those three words had been like getting blood out of a stone. Affection, openness, a willingness to give herself to someone was not Tori’s style. It was a product of her upbringing and of the mistakes I made the first time we dated. The mask slipped at times. Marcus and Eliza’s wedding was a glimpse of what life could be like if Tori just let herself be exposed but it never lasted. Instead of open declarations of love and public displays of affection, Tori shared her deepest thoughts in the dark when it was silent. Words that were only meant for me in a way that she could deny if it came down to it.

  She might love me, but she didn't trust me. She didn't trust me enough to let go of her family. This wasn't about where she spent the night or where she sat in church. This was about Vittoria trusting me enough that she would stand by every decision I made, even if she didn't know the full story. Trusting me enough to know that everything I did was to ensure we had a comfortable life together. She let us try again but she hadn’t let go of our past. Tori still required a safety net and that had manifested as a distrust in her.

  “Please,” Tori pleaded quietly. “Whatever Lucas has dragged you into, forget it.”

  “Luc hasn’t dragged me into anything. I made a decision.”

  “I can’t protect you if you make this choice,” she told me desperately.

  “That’s your decision,” I told her. “That is a choice that you actively make.” I was growing tired of everything falling down to my actions when she was just as culpable.

  “This won’t work if we aren’t even on the same page, Dante. Tell me what’s going on. Tell me what you’re getting yourself into.”

  “I can’t.”

  “You won’t.” Both statements were true. “Then what’s the point of all this?”

  There was only so much that we could sweep under the carpet. Only so much that we could ignore before we became strangers in a relationship. We were already headed in that direction and I’d seen the damage it could do. Tori hiding Xavier’s little trip had put us on the back foot and what I couldn’t risk was anything, even the smallest inkling, being fed back to Xavier and completely unravelling all our plans.

  “There is no point,” I admitted. The ache in my chest was prominent.

  “So, we’re done here?” she asked, tone cool, business as usual.

  “We’re done here.”

  It was brief, the flash of hurt that haunted her eyes before she straightened up. She wouldn’t allow anything to pierce her without her permission. This wasn’t what she expected when she barged through the door. I hadn’t played along to the narrative in her head, but Tori would rather die than show she had been caught off guard.

  “Fine. I’ll see myself out.” She pressed the key she held in her hand into my chest and I took it from her fingers. “Tell Luc to stay away from Gabe. He had a free shot last time. He won’t get away with it again.”

  Warning delivered, Tori walked away, slamming the door as she left, and leaving me feeling emptier than I had in years. I’d pushed Luc to chase after old dreams of ambition and I was running alongside him, eager to taste it all. I just hadn’t expected the prospect of enjoying power and planning for the future alone.

  Chapter Four

  Mia

  My heels clicked along the hospital hallway. It was rare that I slipped into sneakers, my preferred footwear sticking out like a sore thumb against the outfits I donned, but I missed the comfort they brought. Everything these days was about appearances. Although, this visit was for more of a perso
nal reason than a need to win favour. Dom walked ahead of me and Michael, who I’d recently inherited thanks to Luc, was behind.

  As we reached the door, Dom stepped aside, leaving the decision in my hands. I either knocked and went through with my bright idea, or I turned around and told them I wanted to leave. Taking in a deep breath through my nose, I knocked before stepping into the room.

  Franco laid in the hospital bed dressed in sweatpants and a t-shirt. The casual nature of his outfit caught me off guard. It made him more human. Reminded me that there was a man behind the job title and scowls. He rarely expressed emotion, other than disdain, but the shock of seeing me in his hospital room almost made his eyebrows disappear into his hairline. “I didn’t expect you,” he said once he’d recovered.

  I’d only ever called Franco in the mornings to tell him the plans for the day. Short conversations that were heavily weighted on my side and even they had become less frequent. He assumed his post at the door most mornings without any prompt from me.

  “Sorry.” It felt awkward and stilted. Franco wasn’t a friend. He wasn’t even a willing employee, but I needed to see him. We’d gone through a traumatic event together, although he bore the lasting impact. “I can leave if I’m disturbing you.”

  “It’s fine. Come in.” Franco winced as he tried to push himself up in the bed.

  “No, no,” I told him. “Don’t.” I took a few steps forward, prepared to help him get comfortable again but he held up a hand to stop me. Even on their deathbeds, men would maintain their pride.

  I forced myself not to watch him as he struggled into more comfortable position. The machines beside the bed beeped in a steady rhythm, keeping track of his vital signs. Nothing to be alarmed about from what I could gather.

  “Surgery went well?” I asked. My eyes flicked to his side without meaning to, where beneath his clothing he would have been expertly sliced and stitched to ensure that he was back up and running.