Crucified (8 page)

“I will do
everything in my power to get my uncles here, because their blood is mine,” she
spat, her face grief stricken. “I will slit Christo’s throat as he did to those
girls and I will shoot the
Padre
in the head as was done to Ghita.”

“You can have Christo,
but the
Padre’s
blood belongs to Jagger. He will kill that man as I will
kill Matteo.
Capito
?”

She nodded. “As
long as I get Christo,” she said, her grief stricken face hardening. “And Pedro
will need to watch his back.”

I shook my head.
“You cannot attack him, he is untouchable.”

“He murdered my
sister! My sister!”

“I understand your
pain; I also understand you want his blood, but understand this: now is not the
time to be speaking these thoughts out loud. We are overrun. You must think
logically, not with your heart.”

“I am thinking logically.
He’s going to kill me if you don’t marry me.” She looked at Alessandro. “He
will kill Andriena too. You men must marry us, we cannot wait.”

Alessandro
frowned. “I’m willing to marry Andriena, but the marriage must only be on paper.
I am a trainer; part of that is to have sex with other women. I’m also a sex
addict, not something I’m proud of, but it’s the reason why I haven’t married
before.” He turned to Andriena. “If you marry me, you must understand it’s to
save your life, not for mine to change.”

Nodding, she
hugged him, Alessandro embracing her back.

He looked over at
me. “We must bring in a priest or a celebrant, one that is willing to lie about
my wedding date. Pedro isn’t a stupid man; he will check that the paperwork is
authentic.”

I ran a hand over
my face. “I will arrange it,” although there was no way I was marrying Camila,
which meant I had to falsify the documents by paying the celebrant off, but
without Camila knowing and Pedro finding out. I exhaled loudly, just realizing
this was going to be a bitch to explain to Rita, especially since Camila would
want to come into my bed. But no matter what a
troia
Camila was, I
didn’t want her blood on my hands.

“We all must go
upstairs. Alessandro, take Andriena into your room now.” I went to pull Camila
along, but stopped as Alessandro stepped in front of me.

“There is another
problem,” he said.

“What?”

“Honey is not who we
thought she was. She stole my phone and called the FBI.”

“What?!”

“Her name is apt:
she’s a honeytrap. The FBI blackmailed her into getting caught by Jagger so
they could take your
famiglia
down, but they changed their minds when
the Russian guards showed up, and decided to go for the Black Russian instead.
But the
bastardo
on the phone still said we’re going to jail and that
they will be seeing us soon.”

“Fuck!” I raised
my hands to my head, gripping onto my hair. “With the Landi holding us
prisoners we can’t sell Honey. Where is she now?”

“Cuffed to my
bed.”

I let go of my
hair. “She needs to disappear.”

Alessandro shook
his head. “No, spare her.”

“You are too soft
where women are concerned, Alessandro. She is a threat to us; she needs to
leave with Ghita.”

“No! She was
forced into this situation. I will take responsibility for her.”

“This is not just
about you or her; this is about the protection of my
famiglia
.”

“Think about it:
she’s worth at least three million sold.”

“And a lifetime
behind bars if we get caught with her on my land.”

“She can be
manipulated. She’s in love with Jagger. Have him pretend to return her love. If
he did that, she could tell the FBI she went with him willingly.”

“It’s too risky.”

“Just hold off for
the moment. The Landi won’t allow anyone in; they will shoot first and ask
questions later if the FBI come knocking.”

I exhaled loudly
again. Alessandro was definitely too soft when it came to women, but he was
right about the Landi: they would get rid of the FBI problem and lumber
themselves with the repercussions. Plus, Honey was worth a lot of money.

“Okay. I will ask
Jagger to work on her.”

Alessandro smiled.
“
Grazie.
”

I shook my head.
“You’re not made for the mafia, Alessandro.”

“Because I’m not
mafia; I’m a trainer who works for mafia. I don’t kill, I fuck.”

Despite my mood, I
smiled. “I guess that’s true; you were always different from your brothers. Now,
take Camila to your room as well as Andriena. I’ll go talk to Jagger.”

I went to leave. Camila
grabbed my arm, stopping me. I turned back to her, almost getting knocked back
as she launched herself at me. She kissed me on the lips, murmuring, “I love
you.”

I pulled away from
her, taken aback by her words.

She ran a hand
down my face. “I will be the wife you need, Frano. I will do anything for you,
and I know you will for me too. What you did before: how you protected me, that
spoke volumes. It shows you still have love for me in your heart.” She let go
of me and turned to Alessandro. “I give you respect too. You saved Andriena’s
life.” She bowed her head at him. “You will forever hold my respect.” She
turned back to me. “I must go with you to Ghita’s side.”

Andriena behind
her let out a sob, Alessandro hugging her in response.

“I need to stay
with Ghita until a priest comes,” Camila said.

I nodded. We headed
for the passage that led to the office area, entering the room I assumed Jagger
would’ve taken Ghita to, the only one containing a bed in that part of the
house. I opened the door, finding Jagger kneeling at Ghita’s side. The woman’s head
wound was cleaned and covered with a bandage, while a white sheet was pulled up
to her chin.

Jagger pushed to
his feet, his gaze going between Camila and me. “I said a blessing, one for the
dead.”

“But, you don’t
believe in God,” I replied.

“She was wearing a
cross, which means she should be given a blessing.”

“
Grazie mille
,”
Camila said.

Jagger nodded at
her, then went to leave.

“Jagger,” I said,
making him stop.

“
S
ì
?
”

“Honey was sent by
the FBI to set us up.”

His eyes widened.
“Not another one.”

“Which means you
need to manipulate her into believing you love her.”

“Fuck! I thought I
was done with that woman.”

“I’m afraid not,
unless you prefer her dead.”

Jagger exhaled. “No,
I’ll do it.”

“
Buono
,
because she’s still worth three million if sold, though if it comes down to her
or the
famiglia
, she will die.”

“No need for that;
I can have her doing what I want: she won’t give us up.”

“Good man.”

“But, I still want
to exchange myself for Thierry.”

“We need you here
and you heard the Landi: no one is to leave.”

“You forgot the
passage out of this place.”

“True. But, I
still don’t want you going to that sick freak.”

“My brother’s life
means more to me than my own, plus this is my fight, not his. I need to kill
the
Padre
or he’ll keep getting away with this.”

“Okay, I will help
you all I can, as will Camila.”

“That’s not
needed; Matteo will be contacting me after he gets my message. I will arrange
everything.”

“Also, keep in
mind we need to capture Christo and Matteo as well as the
Padre
.”

Jagger nodded,
then left the room.

I turned to
Camila. “When I leave, lock the door behind me. Do not let anyone but me into
the room. There is a secret panel in the wardrobe. Hide behind it if you hear
anyone trying to break the door down. I will come back for you later.”

She nodded then
grabbed my face, yet again kissing me. “I will do whatever you say,” she said,
pulling back. “But please, bring a priest, not a celebrant to marry us. I must
be married by the church.”

“It will be done,”
I said, my mind going to the old priest who had married Mario and his woman. God,
it was lucky that Mario had gone on his honeymoon to Croatia, because Pedro
would’ve gunned him down for being Christo’s son. “I must go,” I added. “I need
to contact Mario to tell him not to return.”

Camila nodded. “I
will wire money to his account, so he can set up house in a different country.”

“
Buono
. I
will see you soon.” I left the room, hearing the lock click behind me. I walked
down the passage and ascended the staircase, returning to my bedroom. The guard
let me in, pulling the door shut as I walked towards Rita.

She pushed up from
the bed. “What happened?”

“Christo murdered
Pedro Landi’s two youngest daughters. He wants to kill all the Donatelli, including
Camila and her sister. He killed the oldest of the three in front of us.”

Rita covered her
mouth. “What are you going to do?”

“I will have to
marry Camila so she won’t be a Donatelli anymore.”

“No!”

I lowered my
voice. “I will pay the priest to fake a marriage. It is the only way to save
her, plus we can get access to her
famiglia’s
money more readily this
way.”

“But, she will
want to come to your bed.”

“It won’t mean
anything to me.”

“I don’t care; you
will
not
have sex with that woman.”

“This isn’t about
sex, it’s about saving Camila.”

“I don’t care if
she lives or dies. You asked me to marry you, not the other way round, and I
accepted, so you must carry through with your promise.”

“With her it will
all be a pretense.”

“You will still
put your cock inside of her. That’s not a pretense!”

“I don’t wish to
have sex with her.”

“But you will, and
what will happen when she learns the marriage is fake?”

I ran a hand over
my face. “She should be grateful I saved her from being shot in the head like
her sister.”

“I will shoot her
in the head if she takes you from me!”

“I’m sorry you’re
upset, but we need her alive right now, and in all truth, I don’t wish for her
death. I will find a way of making sure she lives without interfering in our
lives, but before I can do anything, you need to contact the FBI.”

“Why?”

“Alessandro caught
Honey phoning them. Apparently she was sent in to entrap my
famiglia
.”

Rita’s eyes
widened. “I was never told this.”

“Apparently, when
the Russians turned up, the FBI changed course, wanting to take the Black
Russian down.”

She shook her
head, looking upset. “I’m getting a bad feeling that I was set up; otherwise
they would’ve told me about her. But, why would they do that to me?”

“Maybe because
they know you’re mafia.”

She swore. “It
must be, but I don’t understand the purpose. None of this makes sense.”

“Regardless, you
need to call them and somehow make them back off. The house is overrun with
Landi; they are holding us prisoners until the war is over.”

“Then I’ll get the
FBI to take the Landi out.”

“No one takes the
Landi out; the Landi takes everyone else out.”

“Which means the
FBI will be walking into a trap. I will talk to them, convince them to hold
off.”

“
Buono
,
because if they don’t I might have to kill Honey regardless of what Jagger does.”

She frowned. “Is
that necessary?”

“I don’t like
risks, and she’s a big one right now.”

“I’m a risk.”

“You wouldn’t
betray me.”

“Maybe Honey won’t
betray Jagger either, because her love is genuine.”

“Then that love
might just save her, although Jagger holds no love for her. We had an argument
over you: he wants you back.”

“I’ll tell him I’m
with you.”

“No, stay away
from him, something’s snapped inside of him. He’s doing things out of
character.”

“Okay.”

I pulled her into
my arms and kissed her.

She wrapped her
arms around me, kissing me back. “I need to tell you something too,” she said,
pulling away.

“What?”

“I didn’t want to
worry you, but I think you need to know.”

“What is it?”

“I remember how I
got into the FBI.”

“How?”

“The family who
found me were FBI informants.”