Love and War 2 (11 page)

“And just what the fuck do you expect me to do with you out and about?”

Caprice shrugged. “I don’t know. I’m the brains. You’re the muscle. Figure it out.”

“You’re insane!” Nico yelled at his sister. “Completely fuckin’ insane!”

“We have Mateo and Giovanni, and a dozen other dudes with guns on our side. I’m sure you can figure out something.”

“You’re talking about going to war with an unknown enemy, Caprice,” Domani interjected. “That makes no sense.”

“No,” Caprice corrected her father. “I don’t want to go to war. I’m twenty-four. I’d like to live to see twenty-five. But you can’t have been doing this all of your life and not have people somewhere who we can talk to. There are always ways to get information. I don’t care what we have to do. I’m not going to Oregon.”

Domani could not have been more proud of his children. They weren’t willing to back away like a bunch of bitches or cowards. They were ready to fight. They were tough as nails. He’d done a good job.

“Then we go to Campania,” Domani said. “The three of us, and put some money on the table.”

“Good,” Caprice said.

Nico glanced sadly at his sister. She had no idea what the hell she’d gotten herself into.

Eighteen months ago, Caprice had driven to Allenwood, Pennsylvania to meet her great-grandfather and she had been a nervous wreck. Eighteen months ago, she'd freaked out about everything up until the minute she laid Aries out. Now, as the private plane hit the runway of the small East Hampton airport, Caprice was cool as a cucumber. Her life was in danger and she passed the time reading emails on her phone.

Nico was impressed, but he also knew that her front wouldn't last. Nothing became real to Caprice until shit actually got real.

After three days in Greece and two in Campania, Italy, Nico and Caprice had to come home with a just a little more knowledge than they had before they left. Going to Italy was dangerous, but the Bonatelli name still carried more weight over there than Lucchetti or Capella. They now knew that the Dons had put three million dollar contracts on Nico and Caprice.

Nico and Domani were a bit disappointed that the Bosses felt they were only worth three million dollars. The contract on Gianni Bonatelli had easily capped out in the fifteen million dollar range. Surely, Caprice had pissed off enough people to warrant at least ten million. Three million dollars was chump change and easy to counter. Professionals didn’t come to America for anything less than five million. Domani was convinced that the low number meant that they really didn’t want his children dead. It was a ploy to scare them into submission.

But submission to what?

Domani put five million on the table just for answers. He’d find out what they wanted from his children soon enough.

In the meantime, they still had to play it safe. Nico’s first priority was the safety of his wife. Caprice’s first priority was yelling into her phone about why she needed ‘
yet another fuckin’ permit
’ for a rooftop bar on top of The Capri. The first thing Nico did when they got in their waiting town car was snatch her phone and put it in his pocket.

“What the hell!”

“You need to focus,” Nico told her. “It’s one o’clock in the morning. You don’t need to be on the phone with your assistant yelling about permits.”

“We’re still alive,” Caprice pointed out sarcastically. “And I have work to do.”

“The casino and the many other projects that you have going on aren’t going to protect you if someone comes after us, Caprice. Dad’s offer is only going to hold for so long before they come up with a counter offer. That’s how this is going to work. I need you focused.”

“Gimmie back my phone.”

“Later,” Nico replied and sat back. There was nothing left to say to her until they got home. But she still wasn’t getting that damn phone back.

Caprice’s attitude subsided when they pulled up to the family’s estate in East Hampton and she saw Diesel’s Range Rover parked in the turnaround. She’d wanted him to come to Greece with her and have a real vacation. Obviously, that didn’t happen and it had been almost a week since she’d seen him.

“What’s going on?” Diesel asked Caprice when she approached the SUV. “This Mission Impossible, Secret Service shit doesn’t feel good, baby. She,” he nodded his head towards Maria who was getting out of the car, “she cried all the way up here. Caprice, talk to me.”

“We’ll talk in the house.”

Arguing was more like it once brother and sister got settled in to their rooms in the mansion. Maria had whipped up a decent meal with some food Gabriella had left in the freezer and pantry the last time she’d stayed at the estate. She, her husband, Caprice, and Diesel were now gathered in the family room.

Nico explained the situation and of course, Maria freaked completely out. She knew what she’d married into. Her biggest fear was that Nico would get killed like so many others that she knew. Now her worst fear was coming true and there was nothing she could do about it except pray.

To make matters worse, Nico and Caprice couldn’t come to any type of agreement over their next moves. Diesel didn’t say much. This was Bonatelli business. He’d do what he could to keep Caprice out of harm’s way, but he wasn’t about to interrupt a family argument. Maria didn’t share that same thought process.

“You two are driving me insane!” she screamed at Nico and Caprice. “Why is this even an argument? We need to leave New York as soon as possible. All of us. You can figure out what to do from the safe house.”

“Nico and I will take the Oregon house,” Maria said decisively. “Caprice, you go to the Colorado house.”

“Do you and my brother share a brain?” Caprice asked. “What part of ‘
I’m not going to Oregon or cold as Colorado
’ are you not understanding?”

“Don’t insult my wife,” Nico warned.

“Oh my God!” Caprice shouted. “I swear to God, this may be the dumbest argument I’ve had since high school! I think we all can agree that Maria should get out of New York as soon as physically possible. We’re lucky they haven’t done anything to her as it is.”

“I’m not leaving without my husband,” Maria stated. “And you keep saying you’re staying because of your business. I have a business too, Caprice. My restaurant is just as important to me as your casino is to you. If I can take some time off, so can you. What is Diesel doing if you can’t afford to take a day off?”

“Seriously?” shouted Caprice. “Nico, get your wife. Are we done here? I mean, this is definitely a conversation that could have waited until after we’ve showered, maybe had a nap. I just spent eleven hours in an airplane. I’m going to bed. No one’s going to kill us tonight.”

Caprice walked out of the living room and headed for the stairs. She heard Nico tell Diesel to go get her and she started running up the steps. When she reached the top, she leaned over the balcony and yelled, “I’m not coming back down there! I’m going to bed!”

It was an immature move, but she wasn’t in the best of moods.

Diesel walked into her bedroom just as she was rummaging through her bags for a shirt to sleep in.

“Fuck,” Caprice hissed as she angrily zipped her bag closed.

Diesel sat on the bed and took off his white t-shirt. He handed it to her and waited until she was under the sheets with the television remote in her hand before speaking.

“Are you finished throwing your temper tantrum?”

“Yes.”

“Good. Now you and I can have a grown up conversation, right?”

Caprice fought back the urge to roll her eyes. She didn’t want to have a “grown up” conversation with him or anyone else. She’d been having grown up conversations about hit men,
capos
, and premeditated murder for the last three days. All she really wanted to do was watch
The Real Housewives of New Jersey.

“I want you to go to Oregon with Maria,” Diesel said. “I know you don’t want to go, but I would really like for you to go.”

Caprice sighed. “Why? Are you scared that we can’t handle this?”

“I have spent the last two years watching you, learning your moods and habits. Caprice, I know what makes you smile. I know that when your eyes darken, everybody better clear the room. I’ve been in meetings with you where you have made grown ass men resort to calling you m’am. In the boardroom, you’re a beast. You can beat down dudes twice your size in the boxing ring. But when you walked up to me tonight, your eyes had a look that I’ve never seen before.”

Caprice shifted uncomfortably in the bed. “I’m not afraid, if that’s what you’re saying,” she lied.

“I didn’t say you were scared. I just didn’t like the look in your eyes. I’d feel a thousand times better if you went with your sister-in-law.”

Diesel put his arm around his woman as Caprice rested her head against his chest.

“I don’t think I should go, baby. People I have never even laid eyes on before want me dead. They want me dead because of some ancient mafia code that says a woman can’t be made. These are the same men who had my grandfather murdered. Dad’s on the run. We’re in the middle of realizing a dream, and you want me to run away?”

“The Capri didn’t become your dream until your father put you in charge,” Diesel reminded her. “I can take care of everything until this shit blows over. What do you think I’ve been doing all this time? Caprice, I need you to be safe.”

The way he was so open about his feelings towards her was one of the main reasons Caprice loved Diesel. She didn’t want to disappoint him, but she was not leaving. She rolled over and straddled his legs.

“I’m not going. I love you so much for wanting to protect me and keep me safe, but you’re going to have to do that right here. I cannot leave my brother alone to deal with this. Especially since this is pretty much my fault. Every single thing I’ve done since meeting my great-grandfather was done to impress him. I wanted to show him that I was a part of this family. I wanted the gold ring that Nico had. I wanted him to bless me into the family. That was my goal and it happened. I have to deal with the consequences of my actions. I will fix this, Diesel.”

“This isn’t something you can talk your way out of, Caprice,” he said as he ran his hands over her back. “You don’t even know who they’re sending over here.”

“For now, they aren’t sending anyone.”

Caprice planted soft kisses on Diesel’s neck and lifted up his wife beater. She laid her head on his shoulder and traced the outline of his lion tattoo on his chest.

“The funny thing is,” she said between kisses, “this is exactly the type of situation I can talk my way out of. You know what the mob really is, babe?”

“What?

“Aside from the extortion, violent crimes, and money laundering, all the mafia really amounts to is a series of meetings. I just have to bide my time. We have an offer on the table. Now it’s their turn. When the Dons call...and they will, I have to be here. I can’t be in fuckin’ Oregon bird watching with Maria. Besides,” she grinned, “I know that if I left, you wouldn’t come with me.”

“That’s why you’re staying. Because of me?”

“I can’t be in gone for months without you, Deez. Not again. And you know I can’t sleep without you.”

Diesel leaned his head back against the headboard and sighed. He was not going to be able to convince her to go. She was so stubborn, yet so confident. It was her confidence in herself and loyalty to her family that drew him closer to her. He loved her so much, it hurt sometimes.

“I love you,” he said softly.

Caprice smiled. “I know.”

She wanted to tell him that she was a little scared. Who wouldn’t be? She knew that Diesel wouldn’t see her as weak if she admitted that she didn’t want to die. But she remembered something that Fausto had written to her.

The only lies that matter are the ones we tell ourselves.

She was determined to believe that she could fix the situation. She had to believe that she was good enough and confident enough to make sure no one hurt her or her brother. Besides, she hadn’t been sitting on her ass for the last eighteen months.

She had done a lot for many people. It was time to call in some favors.

Bright and early the next morning, Caprice staggered down the steps. The only reason she’d climbed out of bed was because she smelled coffee and bacon. Maria was cooking and Caprice couldn’t be happier. The only thing she missed about not living with Nico anymore was Maria’s cooking.

“Morning, sis,” Caprice greeted Maria. “Where’s my brother?”

Maria was taking a tray of scones out of the oven. The kitchen counters were covered with grocery bags, fresh vegetables, and a variety of fresh herbs. Caprice sighed deeply and poured herself a cup of coffee.

Maria had probably gotten up at the crack of dawn and had bought enough food to feed an army. She was nervous, Caprice observed. Maria always cooked like a crazy person when she was nervous.

“Nico went to Staten Island to pack up my stuff,” Maria answered Caprice’s question.