The Arrangement (36 page)

It had sucked for her to see Rory with a gash on his cheek and a large bruise up along his hairline, but he was quick to comfort that he’d fared even better than Anton. For a bit, Viviana felt better … but the sentiment didn’t last long when she realized exactly what he said. No one had mentioned the injuries Anton suffered, and that only sent her worry right back up to spiking levels.

The bull didn’t stay either, not after he handed over the bag and an unopened bottle of her favorite vitamin water, with the promise he’d be waiting to open up the next car Anton brought her home.

Damn, the Bentley was probably
dust
.

Or … tin scraps.

With the iPod in her ears, she didn’t realize someone was in her room until someone gently touched her blanket-covered ankle. It didn’t matter how lightly they approached, Viviana still shrieked like a banshee, tugging roughly on the IV in her arm as she flinched away from the intruder.

Her lungs ached as she tried to catch her breath and forget the pain.

No, it didn’t work a bit.

Two men stood at the end of her bed. Tall, with faces shadowed by the dim lighting in the room, they almost looked menacing. Well dressed in similar black suits, ties properly tied, and badges on display in opened hands, Viviana swallowed her fear and felt a whole different emotion rise.

“Agents Todd and Danover from—”

Federal agents.

“Yeah, I know who you are. Get out of my room,” she rasped. “I haven’t a thing to say to either of you. I don’t remember what happened, so we have nothing to talk about.”

“Now, now, Viviana.” Agent Todd on the right raised his brow in a chiding manner. “We both know that isn’t true.”

“We’re not here for what happened today,” Danover said quietly. “The police have their own investigation and it isn’t considered our issue, yet. And even if it ever is, it won’t be our team dealing with it.”

“Then what?”

Her shaking fingers reached up to move the strands of tangled hair out of her eyes. Only twice had she been approached by federal agents in the past, and both times she had managed to get out of their vicinity quickly. This was a whole different ballgame, given she was all but forced to stay in bed for the next little while, and her lawyer was nowhere in sight.

Before either man spoke again, Viviana muttered, “Ivan wouldn’t have let you in my room.”

“No, but a badge does wonders for a young nurse,” Todd replied just as quick. “Can’t you speak without Anton’s dogs attached to your ass?”

Ouch. That hurt a little more than he understood.

“Okay, now you can get the fuck out.”

“No, I don’t think we can. June sixth, two thousand and ten. Where were you around ten o’clock that night?”

It could have been so easy for Viviana to just up and say she couldn’t remember the date. That was, after all, three years ago. It would also be the biggest damned lie she ever uttered in her life. It wasn’t like she could ever forget the night before her father’s body had been found in the bay with a bullet hole in the back of his skull.

“You’re just coming around here to ask me this, now?”

Deflection was one tactic to use at least until Ivan returned. That was her piss poor plan, anyway.

“Seems like as good a time as ever,” Danover answered, shrugging. “No uncle keeping you locked away. No crossing country borders for school. You certainly have nothing to hide, right? Just us, a room, and you. So, why not?”

Nothing to hide, sure. They had no idea. Speaking about family business—Cosa Nostra business—was a very bad thing. Especially if it was to federal agents. For Viviana, her silence had nothing to do with honor for her father’s family, but the safety of her own self. Death was the only punishment acceptable when someone started talking to officials.

“Where were you that night?” Todd repeated.

Viviana swallowed again. “My Aunt Lucy’s.”

“Lucille Carducci, you mean.”

“Yeah. Was there all night. Woke up to a news broadcast about Roman, and my mother called crying when she found out over the goddamn radio on her drive home. Now, if that’s all you—”

“It isn’t.” Todd tossed a stack of white papers on the bed, but Viviana didn’t make a move to look at what it was. “Phone records between your father’s office phone and your cell phone shows you were on the phone with him from nine-fifty that night until five after ten. Care to share what that call was about?”

No, she certainly didn’t care to fucking share.

“How many times do I have to ask you to get out before you get the hint and go?”

“Where’s Mr. Avdonin?” Danover asked. “We’ve stayed around watching and he’s been MIA for a great length of time. Seems like people hear of him coming and going, but no one has actually seen him for themselves. That strikes me as odd, what about you, Stan?”

Agent Todd nodded with a severe expression. “Certainly. Wouldn’t be like a mob boss to leave his pretty fiancée all alone like he has, unless he has some important business to attend to. Something he isn’t worried about coming back on her because he’s going to take care of that all by himself. On the streets, right, Viviana? Men like him, they don’t deal with waiting for police to handle a little nonsense like a bomb. After all, no one can handle a situation quite like an Avdonin could. They have something of a flair when making a particular point clear. Would you like to hear some of his?”

Viviana flinched inwardly.
Shit
.

“I was arguing with him about wanting to leave my aunt’s. The phone call, I mean,” she was quick to say, hoping it’d keep them away from the topic of Anton. “I needed some clothes and was going to pick them up, but he wanted me to stay there for the night. We’d already been there three weeks. I was getting sick and fucking tired of it. I was young … stupid. Didn’t really understand the severity of what he must have been handling, or trying to.”

“Because of the arrangement between the Avdonin family and yours,” Todd said, expression not changing in the slightest.

“If you know, why ask?”

The man smiled a grim line. “You know why. We’d like it confirmed.”

“I
assume
that was why,” she bit out.

“Your father was killed—”

Viviana snorted indelicately. “My father died of a heart attack. My dad was killed. If you want the facts from me, you might as well get your end right.”

Both men’s brows flew up to their hairlines.

“What?”

“I am the biological daughter of Nicoli Avdonin. Roman Carducci, however, was the one to raise me. See the difference?”

“That’s … very interesting,” Todd muttered, eyeing his partner.

“And odd,” the other man echoed, “given who she’s about to marry.”

“Not really,” Viviana butted in, feeling indignant and pissed. “Anton’s grandfather was killed when his father was a young boy, which anyone with access to the internet would know. I think that’s enough on that, though, so if we could finish this up, that’d be great.”

“Yes, fine. Again, the phone call. Given the coroner’s report, it’s likely your father—
dad
—was killed that evening. Water mucked up the exact time of death a bit, but they narrowed it down to late evening hours to very early morning. Several reports from neighbors stated your uncle wasn’t seen around his home that night. The car trailing him earlier in the evening lost him. I’m sure you’re aware we’re looking at him, especially since right after Roman’s death, he slipped right into the Cosa Nostra throne like he was born for it.”

Viviana forced the rising bile down. “Are you asking if Roman mentioned something to me? Because if so, he didn’t.”

“No,” Agent Danover replied, “we’re wondering if you
heard
anything. See the difference?”

“Shit, Vine, sorry that took me so long. The nurse from this morning just came back on shift and had your engagement ring packed away in a safe spot. Figured you’d want it clean …”

Ivan’s voice trailed off as he pushed the room door all the way open. The disgusted scowl that covered his features as he exhaled harshly at the sight that met his eyes only caused Viviana’s nervousness to intensify. She understood all too well how it looked for her to be alone with federal agents.

The lawyer was fast to surprise her.

“Might I remind you both that given my client’s current medical state, any and all questions you ask, along with the answers she may give, are irrelevant and inadmissible for any public record.” His finger pointed to the beeping machines when he added, “She’s medicated. Dealing with immense trauma and stress. Liable to be considered under duress, which her doctor will be quick to point out first, should you take anything said farther than this room. Not only that, but she’s in a much more delicate state than either of you possibly understand, not that it’s any of your business to be properly informed. Under no circumstances is this an appropriate time for you to be accosting her with questions.”

“Relax. We’re not here for Anton,” Danover said, not even bothering to turn around.

“And I don’t care,” Ivan barked.

“Miss Carducci … the call, that’s all we want to know.”

Viviana hid the shaking of her hands under thick blankets.

“There’s nothing to tell. Roman made his point clear. I hung up the phone.”

The stare-off that commenced between the two agents and Viviana lasted longer than she was comfortable with. Neither of them were budging and clearly she wasn’t either. If they knew she was lying, they didn’t call her on it.

“Your fiancé …”

Ivan huffed under his breath. “Get out.”

Todd lifted a single shoulder as he asked, “Do you really know the man you’re marrying?”

“Probably better than you,” she retorted hotly. “If you want to throw out some Freudian worthy bullshit about how I must have daddy issues because I’m marrying a man just like Roman, then you can go to hell. Yes, Agent Todd, I’m very aware of whom I lie down beside every night. And I wouldn’t ask for anyone different.”

“He’s a dangerous man, Viviana.”

Viviana shrugged. If they thought that bothered her, she had a news flash coming.

“Funny, the last thing Anton ever makes me feel is unsafe.”

When the agents were gone and the door was closed, Ivan leaned against it and sighed with an exhausted noise. While Viviana was relieved they were gone, she was also waiting for the backlash from her lawyer.

“I’m sorry, Ivan.”

“Don’t be,” he muttered. “We figured they’d be around.”

“We?”

“Anton and me. Chatted about it for a little while. Nothing you say really affects him in regards to Roman, but if you don’t want to talk, you’re not required to. I wasn’t about to let the bastards bully you into it.”

“I’m hiding knowledge of a crime. That’s punishable by law.”

“You didn’t hang up the phone, did you?”

“No,” she whispered. “Dad had this new conference phone. Didn’t matter how many times we told him he needed to hit the end call button after he hung the receiver up, he never remembered. Sonny was there, but he didn’t know Dad had been on the phone with me …”

“Sonny, what the fuck are you doing? You don’t realize—”

“All you had to do was kill the bitch, Roman. That was it,” Sonny spat.

“And the baby, too, right? Because let’s not forget her. You gonna fucking kill me, now? Your own brother? Blood never mattered in this life. But unlike you, I followed that creed. Come on then … do it.”

“Turn around.”

“No,” Roman said.

Viviana blinked out of the memory, hearing the snap of the handgun’s chamber being loaded in the background of her mind. She’d never forget that sound. And that’s all it was … just a fucking sound.

That sound brought death. Always.

“Viviana?”

“He shot him in the back of the head, Ivan.”

Ivan licked his lips and stared at her sadly. “To dishonor.”

“No …” she said, shaking her head, “because Sonny couldn’t look him in the eyes.”

The SUV’s door silently closed shut. Anton didn’t move his gaze from the front windshield as the younger man beside him nodded shortly and lit up another cigarette. Anton probably smoked half the man’s pack before he even got back.

“It’s done.”

“You managed to get it all the way in?”

Bo shrugged. “Heard it hit something, Boss. Wasn’t all that full so the flames aren’t going to be huge. Now, we just wait for the alarms to start ringing.”

So wait they did. Anton had the SUV sitting a little awkwardly in the parking space, but it wasn’t bad enough to attract him a violation ticket. Like he’d told Viviana … careful. That’s what it was all about for him when he did a scene. Anyone else could do theirs however the fuck they wanted, but Anton made sure he left nothing behind.

Vehicles were dumped. Weapons and clothes destroyed. No souvenirs kept.

Just memories and broadcasts.

Sure enough, not ten minutes later the building’s fire alarm began to ring. They could hear it echoing through the near silent streets.

Bo meant what he said by smoking the rat out. It wasn’t like they could just call the bastard on the phone and get him to make his merry way out, and Anton didn’t want to risk the chance of going in. There was no promising that cameras wouldn’t be around, not to mention the amount of possible witnesses.

That just screamed messy.

Anton didn’t do messy.

A good twenty minutes passed before tired, bundled up bodies started filing out of the apartment complex. Bo had tossed a glass bottle filled with gasoline, plugged off with a burning rag, into the building’s dumpster shoot that led to the can in the underground garage. It wasn’t likely to do any real damage to the apartment, or the people inside, but it was one hell of a way to wake them up in the middle of the night and get them all out.

With a single tap of a control button, the sunroof slid open. Anton moved his seat back as far as possible. The weapon on his thighs was picked up and placed in his calm, waiting grip. Plucking up the ammo cartridge and clicking it into place with an almost satisfying sound, he was near ready.