Love and War 2 (4 page)

Her mother was right. She was tough and resilient. A bright future loomed in a city two hours away. Aries was past tense. There was one other person on her hit list and Caprice knew exactly what she wanted to do about Keisha.

She wouldn’t have to get her hands dirty at all. Her father would be proud. She was starting to think like him.

Nico brushed Maria’s dark hair out of his face and turned on the television. For months she had begged him to mount the forty-seven inch to the wall, now she hardly ever watched it.

He hadn’t slept well. His conscience wouldn’t let him sleep.

Even though the day had ended with the desired result, nothing had gone according to the plan that he and Caprice had painstakingly devised. Mateo and Giovanni were supposed to finish the job and go back to Italy. Caprice wasn’t supposed to have shot Aries, but she lost her temper. Paolo being there had changed everything. But that wasn’t really what was bothering him. People died every day, and the Bonatelli’s weren’t exactly known for keeping their cool.

What was really bothering him was something that Paolo said, something he was grateful that Caprice hadn’t heard.

“
Rocco told me you were up to something
.”

Rocco…damn it!

Nico climbed out of bed as quietly as possible. He didn’t want to wake Maria and have to answer more questions about what happened last night. She was already angry that he’d gotten his sister involved in such a mess. As he showered and dressed, he was thinking of his next move.

Had it been anyone else who went behind his back and tried to derail a direct order, he would hunt them down and make them bleed. Rocco knew that so he was probably in the wind. He wouldn’t be easy to find. Plus, Rocco was his best friend. How could he cap his best friend?

Paolo showed up to the site, but the result was just what they had planned. Paolo’s presence hadn’t changed the outcome, so…

No harm, no foul, right?

The answer to that question was a blaring HELL NO!

Domani didn’t stand for back stabbing and insubordination. Domani wasn’t in charge at the moment, but the hierarchy still existed.

Fausto, Gianni, Domani, Nico…

He had no aspirations to be the Boss while his father was still alive, but his last name still carried more weight than Paolo’s. Rocco should have known better.

Not to mention what Caprice was going to do to him when she found out.

“If she finds out,” Nico said out loud as he climbed into his sister’s Lexus and started it up.

She was going to be happy to have her car back. She wasn’t going to be happy to find out that she had to drive herself to New Jersey. But he had work to do.

Nico sped through Staten Island on a mission to pick his sister up from Gina’s, get her some breakfast, and get her on the road before his crew started looking for Rocco. If for some reason, shit got bloody, he damn sure didn’t want Caprice to see it.

She’d seen her first and last dead body.

Their father expected his only daughter to become CEO of C & N Enterprises. Domani was confident in his daughter’s ability to run a legit multi-million dollar business and wanted her off the streets as quickly as possible. Nico was determined to see that through.

When he opened the door and walked into Gina’s penthouse in the Solaria building, she and Caprice were sitting at the breakfast nook drinking coffee and laughing like old friends.

Gina Abruzzo was about twenty years older than Caprice and still just as gorgeous. Domani had found her in one of Paolo’s strip clubs when she was sixteen. Her dark hair and dark eyes reminded him of his kid sister. Angela Bonatelli had been killed in a car accident the year before and Domani hadn’t gotten over the loss. When he saw Gina, he saw red. He pulled the girl off the stage before she had the chance to make any money.

From that moment on, Gina was no longer a teenage runaway turned stripper. Domani sent her to live with friends in California and finish high school. After she graduated, Domani sent her to Stanford University. He paid for her law degree from Columbia and put her up in the Solaria. He treated her like a sister. She was Nico’s Godmother and Domani’s best friend.

Domani had saved her. She had a small law firm in the city and she kept her nose clean. Except when it came to the Bonatelli family. She was their fixer. She cleaned up the messes that were too dirty for Poleski to handle.

“Hey Nico!” Gina said loudly. “I was just chatting with the little bad ass here. You’ve taught her well. She’s going to be running Atlantic City in no time.”

“She’s not going up there for that,” Nico grumbled.

“Hmph,” Gina scoffed. “Anybody who can take down the Cocaine King of Queensbridge with a single shot should be handed the key to the city. She did the world a favor. You should buy her a new bag or a car. You’d like a new Balenciaga bag, wouldn’t you, hun?”

“Don’t encourage her,” Nico stated. “Let’s go, Caprice.”

Caprice hugged Gina and they left with Gina’s offer to ‘call me when you need me’ echoing through the hall.

“My baby!” Caprice exclaimed when she saw her Lexus parked at the curb. “Oh, she’s so pretty! I was sure that those BDM losers would have destroyed her. Thanks for taking care of her.”

“Don’t worry about it.” Nico threw Caprice’s overnight case in the trunk and slammed it shut. He tossed her the keys and got in the passenger’s seat. He was trying not to show her how angry and frustrated he really was. Nico knew he wasn’t doing a very good job when they got in the car and Caprice asked,

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing that I want to talk about. Change the subject.”

Caprice shrugged and started the car. “I have some questions for you and you need to be completely honest with me.”

“What?”

“Why did it take Domani leaving the country for me to start meeting the people he’s closest to? Manny, Fausto, Gina…they’re my family too. I’ve lived in New York almost five years and never met any of these people until this week. Why was he keeping me a secret?”

Nico sighed heavily and pushed his seat back. He didn’t want to have that conversation with his sister, that’s for sure, but it had to be done.

“Dad wanted to keep you safe. He didn’t want you involved in what we do. By introducing you to his friends and associates, he was putting your life in danger.”

“But they’re my family!” Caprice protested. “I should be able to know my family.”

“Not this family. When word gets out that Domani Bonatelli has a daughter, and it will, every enemy that we have will be gunning for you. Your gender makes you vulnerable. I needed your help with Aries, and it took everything to convince Dad it was the right move. We both were wrong, and now protecting you is going to be a full time job.”

Caprice was quiet for a minute. She didn’t want anyone, especially Nico and Domani, to feel like she was a burden. She was doing what she could to earn her place in the family. She wasn’t weak and didn’t need twenty-four hour armed security. She just wanted to be treated as an equal, gender be damned.

“That’s why he’s sending me to Jersey, huh? He doesn’t just need me to open the casino. He doesn’t want me in New York.”

Nico nodded. “It’s a little safer and gives you something to do.”

“Great,” Caprice muttered, feeling slightly defeated. She thought she’d made an impression on her father; that he believed in her abilities, not that he was stashing her away for protection.

“Don’t worry about it,” Nico said. “You’re going to do fine with the casino. When Dad gets back, things will be different.”

“Yeah sure. That’s why he wants me to marry Rocco, because things are going to be so different.”

Nico stiffened at the mention of his best friend’s name and the part about marriage. Rocco was never going to marry Caprice, not while Nico was alive and breathing. He didn’t deserve the honor of marrying a Bonatelli.

“You’re not marrying anyone. That’s the end of that. Change the subject.”

“Okaayyy,” Caprice said. “I like Gina.”

“Of course you do,” Nico smiled. “Everyone loves Gina. You talked? You seem a lot better than you did last night.”

“I’m fine.”

It felt like the hundredth time Caprice had said those words, but it was the first time she actually believed them. Spending the night with Gina was the best thing that happened to her. She was able to be open and honest with her father’s best friend. She told her about what happened at the St. Albans house, the real story about Diesel and Rocco, and how scared she actually was when she shot Aries. Gina had listened with a comforting ear and had given her advice in a way that Domani or Nico never could.

“
You have to toughen up, girl
,” Gina had said, “
You can’t love with your heart or act with your emotions. Use your instincts and your head. Aries is a done deal, and Diesel and Rocco are just pawns on the chess board. Use them how you need to. One day, you are going to run this family. Up until then, every decision you make has to be made with that in mind
.”

Until Nico revealed that Atlantic City wasn’t anything but her safe house, Caprice had been excited about Gina’s endorsement. She wanted to walk in her father’s footsteps. She didn’t feel afraid of what was to come.

But after Nico’s revelation, Caprice was more determined than ever to prove herself. She hoped that Domani stayed away long enough for her to achieve enough clout to convince Fausto that she was good enough and have Paolo go away quietly.

It was definitely an ambitious goal, but she had spent her entire life watching her mother power her way through the fashion industry. She’d watched her mother build successful businesses while managing her own modeling career. Mahogany had a way with words that could make grown men crumble. Plus, Caprice has spent the last four years watching her father as head of an Italian crime family. Power and ambition were in her blood; passed down from powerful and ambitious parents. Anyone who thought she was overreaching was seriously mistaken.

“Drop me off at Poleski’s office,” Nico told her. “Paolo and I are going to have a sit down.”

Caprice eased her baby down the crowded street and glanced at her brother.

“Shouldn’t I be there?”

“Not at all. You have shit to do. I’ll settle things with Paolo and stay in New York for a few days to show I’m on his side. I’ll come up there over the weekend and make sure you’re okay.”

“Don’t feel like you have to babysit me.”

“Yeah right. Look what happened the last time I left you on your own.”

“I don’t need a fuckin’ babysitter!” Caprice yelled. “What I’m doing isn’t dangerous. You and Dad made sure of that. No one’s trying to kill me in Atlantic City!”

“Not yet,” Nico calmly replied. “I’ll be up there this weekend to check up on you and get the twins settled in.”

Caprice sighed. When Nico spoke to her like that, there was no reason to argue. Nico’s word was final. There was nothing left to say.

Caprice weaved through a dozen tourists walking up the Atlantic City Boardwalk. It was late August and the city was still packed with people trying to steal a few more moments of summer. Despite the conversation she had with her brother earlier that morning, she was definitely feeling like Atlantic City was the place for her. She couldn’t wait to have some free time to explore the Boardwalk and check out the other casinos. All would soon be her competition.

Wearing a short turquoise Christian Siriano dress and studded Louboutins, Caprice strolled into Dock’s Oyster House feeling sexy, confident, and glamorous. She was ready to take on the world.

“Hello.” Caprice smiled brightly at the hostess. “I’m meeting Pamela Marinucci. There should be a reservation. Has she arrived yet?”

The hostess nodded. “Right this way.”

She led Caprice to table by the front window occupied by a stunning Italian woman sipping on a glass of Pinot Noir.

“Miss Marinucci, your guest has arrived.”

Pamela gave Caprice a once over, stood up, and handed the hostess a fifty dollar bill.

“Thank you, Sasha. Please cancel my salad. We’re not going to stay. Split that with Hector, will ya?”

“Sure, Miss Marinucci.”

Pamela began walking out of the restaurant. It was clear that she expected Caprice to follow her.

Pamela Marinucci stood about six feet tall in four inch black Louboutins. Her dark gray business suit was perfectly tailored. Her skirt stopped right above her knees, showing off her shapely calves. Her chocolate brown hair was perfectly styled in a precise short cut like Rihanna’s. Her makeup was flawless. Of course she was breathtakingly beautiful. Domani only dealt with smart and gorgeous women.

Caprice hurried to keep up as Pamela walked past the restaurant’s parking lot and continued up the sidewalk to a parking deck. By the time they reached a dazzling silver Cadillac Escalade, parked on the lower level of the deck, Caprice was sweaty and out of breath. Her own Louboutins were killing her feet.

“You’re from Miami, right?”