Breathless & Bloodstained (The Chicago War #4) (10 page)

No
.

“Did something
happen?” Adriano asked.

Abriella hadn’t
actually told her sister or her new brother-in-law where she was going earlier.
She suspected that they knew, but they hadn’t asked. She didn’t want to out the
fact that she had been with Tommas, or what happened.

The less people
knew, the better.

Tomorrow, word
would pass.

They could make
their own conclusions.

“Nothing,”
Abriella said, pushing her sister back and standing. “It’s nothing.”

Alessa’s brow
furrowed. “Ella, you can talk to me.”

No, she couldn’t.

She wouldn’t be
able to talk to anyone and feel safe about it until this whole mess was over.
It only took one wrong word to ruin everything. She was beginning to learn that
lesson the hard way. Inadvertently, her own family could cause more harm than
good.

It was better not
to know.

It was better to
pretend like you didn’t know.

“Something
happened,” Adriano said, frowning. “What was it?”

Abriella shook her
head. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Alessa glanced
back at her husband. “Don’t push, please.”

“I just want to go
to bed.”

Lies
.

She wanted to go
to the hospital.

She wanted Tommas.

She wanted to kill
Joel.

Alessa reached up
and wiped at a spot on Abriella’s cheek. “You don’t have to tell us anything if
you don’t want to.”

“Thank you,”
Abriella said.

“But let’s get that
blood cleaned off your face,” her sister finished quieter.

Shit
.

“Yeah, I should do
that.”

Abriella managed
to walk down the hallway on her shaky legs without tripping. She didn’t look
Adriano in the eye as she passed him by.

Behind her, she
heard her sister ask, “What just happened?”

“I don’t know,”
Adriano murmured.

“I’ve never seen
her like that before.”

“Shock is hard to
deal with, Lissa.”

“Tommas, you
think?” Alessa asked.

“Probably.”

“I want to know
what happened, Adriano. Find out for me.”

Abriella let the
bathroom door slam loudly behind her.

Abriella tried all
she could not to glare at her brother. Joel sat at the other end of the
restaurant table, spooning scrambled eggs into his mouth. After a particularly
quiet morning spent with her sister, their brother had shown up at the
apartment and asked them to breakfast.

As much as
Abriella wanted to refuse, she couldn’t.

Joel was more
chipper than usual, flirting with the waitress and being as nice as he could be
to his sisters. Abriella suspected she knew the reason for Joel’s good mood,
but she didn’t know what to do about it.

“A month to the
baby shower?” Joel asked.

Alessa nodded.
“Yes.”

“Good. I’ll send
out the invitations for the party. It’ll be good to have something to celebrate
in the family.”

Abriella’s head
snapped up. “Now the baby is something to celebrate?”

Joel’s gaze
narrowed. “I beg your pardon?”

“Up until
recently, Alessa’s pregnancy and the baby has been nothing but a nuisance for
you, Joel. If you didn’t outright ignore every situation that came up about the
pregnancy, you couldn’t say enough bad things about Alessa and Adriano. What’s
changed?”

“Abriella, don’t,”
Alessa said quietly.

Joel waved his
sister’s warning off. “It is fine, Alessa. She asked. What is the harm in
answering?”

“Well, why then?”
Abriella demanded.

“A boss should
always celebrate joyous occasions in his family, Ella. Sure, this pregnancy and
the marriage was an issue for us at first, but that was only because of the way
it came about. Being the dominating family means we no longer have to worry about
that little problem anymore. The first
principe
or
principessa
of
the next generation is about to be born. Of course, we should let the Outfit
celebrate the child.”

A show.

That’s all it was
to Joel.

It was something
else for him to show off and brag about. Now that Alessa’s pregnancy and the
soon-to-be born child could garner him some respect and admiration, he was
willing to hold the baby and marriage up as something wonderful and joyous.

Abriella was so
disgusted that she could spit.

“I see,” Abriella
said, not bothering to hide the hatred in her tone. “I wasn’t aware there had
been a change in the Outfit that suddenly made us the dominating family again.”

Or for you to be
the boss
,
Abriella added silently.

“Ah, you know
better than to be asking things about the Outfit. Careful, Ella.”

Abriella scoffed.
“Right. My apologies.”

“You’re awfully
touchy this morning,” Joel noted.

“You’re awfully
happy.”

“I can’t be
happy?”

“Not when you’re
usually so unbearable that even sharing a meal with you is emotionally
exhausting.”

Alessa pinched
Abriella’s leg under the table. No doubt, Alessa had learned of the events from
the night before at Tommas’ club. It had been all over the news that morning.
Abriella watched from a distance, panic seizing her heart and anger boiling in
her blood.

She still hadn’t
heard from Tommas.

It took all she
had not to go to the hospital as soon as she could. Someone would see. People
were always watching. Abriella couldn’t risk it.

“Why the change,
brother?” Abriella asked.

“Things are
looking up for the Trentini family and the Outfit,” Joel said as he leaned back
in his chair. “Now, I need the rest of my family to fall in line and help out a
little bit. If there is one thing I am good at, Abriella, it is forcing the
hands of those around me to get what I want. I’ve certainly learned enough from
the men in this family to know how to play dirty. I don’t know why you’re
acting like you are this morning, but I suggest you cut it out before it
becomes a habit.”

Was that what her
brother had done? Had he tried to force Tommas’ hand into giving Joel a seat
that wasn’t even taken yet? Was the bomb simply a promise of what was to come
if Tommas challenged Joel?

“And what if I
don’t cut it out?” Abriella asked.

Joel flashed a
cold smile. “Then I will correct it for you.”

Alessa passed
Abriella a quick look that begged for her to be quiet. Abriella, as much as she
hated to do it, picked up her fork and forced a bite of ham and eggs down her
throat.

Even eating was a
chore.

Silently, the
three siblings went back to eating without another word. The only sounds in the
restaurant were the scraping of utensils on plates, the shuffle of feet, and
quiet murmurs from other tables. The screech of a cell phone damn near made
Abriella jump out of her chair.

She still couldn’t
shake the jumpy feeling.

It hadn’t left
since the bomb blew.

Joel glanced down
at the ringing phone on the table. “I’ll be right back.”

The moment their
brother was gone from the table, Alessa turned on Abriella. “What in the hell
is up with you this morning?”

Abriella scowled
down at her plate. “You watched the news.”

“I did.”

“Then you know
what he did, Lissa.”

“Yes, but—”

“But nothing.
Privately, he’s celebrating because he thinks he’s won. Joel believes he’s
gotten exactly what he wants.”

Alessa frowned.
“Don’t push him. Wasn’t it always you who told me to tread carefully where Joel
is concerned? He turns on people faster than anyone we know, Ella.”

Abriella was
aware.

The bigger problem
was that she couldn’t let her brother win.

What would that
mean for her?

For Tommas?

Alessa glanced
down at her lap. “Oh.”

“What?”

Her sister waved a
phone before it disappeared under the table again.

“Adriano just got
out of the hospital. He went to see Tommas on the low when he thought it would
be safe to do so.”

Abriella’s
shoulders tightened. “You told me he was working!”

“So I lied. Back
off.”

“Well, what did he
find out?”

Alessa looked down
at her phone again. “Tommas wasn’t there.”

“What?”

“That’s what it
says. There was no Tommas Rossi checked in at the Presbyterian, Ella.”

Where was he?

“A different name,
maybe?” Abriella asked.

“I don’t know.
Your guess is as good as mine.”

Abriella thought
about the cracked phone in her purse. She had turned Tommas’ phone off to save
the dwindling battery. She had the right contacts to find out where Tommas
really was when she got the chance to use them. Before she could consider the
phone more, Joel returned to the table. The angry scowl he sported now was far
more familiar to Abriella than the smile he had been wearing earlier.

“Bad news?”
Abriella dared to ask.

Joel’s cheek
twitched. “Mind your business, Ella.”

She took that as a
good sign. Bad news for Joel was great news for her.

CHAPTER FIVE

“R
ossi, it’s nice to
see you again.”

Tommas clenched
his teeth to keep from barking at the detective. The familiar man strolled into
the room with his smirking partner on his heel. Ignoring the pain in his chest
and the dizziness when he stood too fast, Tommas moved from his spot at the end
of the hospital bed.

 “I didn’t invite
you into my hospital room. Leave.”

“Nope,” the cheery
man replied. “Detectives Crown and Delog from—”

“I know who you
are,” Tommas interjected sharply. “I said get out.”

“We had to make
some calls to figure out which room you were in, Tommas,” Crown said. “Using an
alias. Nice trick. I never knew you to be a frightened man, but you must be if
you’re hiding out in a hospital.”

Tommas crossed his
arms, refusing to give the man a reaction. “Concussion, a cracked rib, internal
bruising … frightened, same thing.”

“That’s what we’re
saying,” the other detective, Delog, said with a grin.

Knowing it would
only exacerbate his cracked rib, and make his pounding headache twenty times
worse, Tommas held himself back from forcibly removing the detectives from the
hospital room. It wouldn’t be the first time he had done something of that
nature to these men.

These fools had
been following him around ever since he was twenty-two and earned his button
into the Outfit. He figured it was because they saw him as an easy target, what
with his drunk parents.

They wanted a rat.

They needed an in
to the Outfit.

Tommas wouldn’t be
it.

“Haven’t you
gotten the hint yet?” Tommas asked.

Crown fiddled with
a phone on the moveable table at the foot of the bed. “Got what hint, Tommas?”

“You two fools
have had me on your radar for eight years, and our meetings keep ending the
same way. You want something, I make you leave. It’s not going to change. Get
out.”

Crown placed the
phone back on the hook. “Let’s talk instead.”

“There’s nothing
to talk about.”

“Don’t be like
that, Tommas,” Delog said. “You nearly died early this morning. They’ve been
waking you up every half hour, refusing you food, and you’ve been demanding to
be released for the last three hours. You’re tired—we know. Let’s just do this
quickly, easily, and you’ll be on your way.”

“With what, a wire
taped to the crack of my ass?” Tommas asked cuttingly.

“Oh, stop. The
bomb, who set it?”

“I don’t know.”

“I think you do,”
Crown said.

“I don’t know for
you
,”
Tommas replied with a sneer.

“My guess,” Delog
drawled, “was that Joel Trentini set it. See, we’re watching, Tommas. You know
we are. The new boss is dead, and his biggest challenge for the seat was Joel.
Now, Joel probably has it in his head that he needs to go after it, but maybe
you’re in the way somehow. Are you in the way, Rossi?”

Tommas shrugged.
“About as much as you’re in my way. Which isn’t a whole lot.”

Crown shot his
partner a look and nodded.

Delog turned his
attention on Tommas again. “We can give you what you need, Tommas. Safety, a
new life, and freedom from this. Anything.”

“And as I’ve told
you several times, I like my life just the way it is. But thanks.”

“We can get—”

“Me straight into
a makeshift grave,” Tommas interjected coldly. “Your efforts would be better
spent trying to find a way to get me behind bars instead of attempting to use
me to turn rat against the Outfit.”

Crown shook his
head, sighing. “Be careful what you wish for, Tommas.”

Was that supposed
to scare him?

It didn’t.

“You know, when
the police didn’t question me early this morning or afternoon, I figured you
two fools would be around. If I didn’t already have a few enemies coming at me
from behind, I might actually think that you two set the bomb in my car.”

Delog laughed.
“Now that’s just rude, Tommas.”

“No more than you
are. Please leave.”

Crown waved a
finger in Tommas’ direction. “We will get what we want, Rossi. Eventually. It
doesn’t have to come from you. Anyone with the right access can give us all the
information we need to eradicate the Outfit from Chicago.”

Tommas nodded.
“Yeah, yeah. The war on crime. I’m aware. What’s in your bonuses if you put a
few mobsters in for life, huh?”

“Depends on the
mobster,” Delog answered. “But the fact is, we really don’t need you Tommas. We
simply like you. You can either be the one we put away, or the one that helps
us put them away.”

Obviously the
police had a hard-on for the Outfit again. It wasn’t the first time they had
tried to infiltrate the Chicago mob in an attempt to take down the
organization. Joseph DeLuca had fallen into that trap when Tommas was just a
teen, and the man lost his life for it.

Despite his young
age at the time, it was an event that Tommas couldn’t forget. He would never
turn rat no matter how bad shit seemed.

Never
.

“Find something on
me,” Tommas said quietly, “and I’ll do my time, boys.”

Crown smiled.
“We’ll see you again, Tommas.”

“Make sure it’s
when I’m in handcuffs, or don’t bother. And when you go past the front desk,
make sure they correct the nonsense about my room. I don’t need or want to
hide. My name can be on this room. They refused to change it for me. You two
aren’t nearly as smart as you think.”

Once the
detectives had vacated his room, Tommas fell back into the closest chair with a
groan. It had taken all he had just to keep standing and not show the fact that
he was dizzy as hell, in some serious pain, and not up for a verbal sparring
match with the officials.

The quiet creak of
the bathroom door made Tommas’ head pop up. He found his cousin leaning in the
bathroom entryway with a scowl and a glare focused on the spot where the
detectives had gone.

“Snakes,” Damian muttered.

“You’re lucky they
don’t pester you.”

“They tried once. I
seriously considered killing one of them just to make a point so they wouldn’t
do it again.”

“Did they try
anyway?”

“No,” Damian
replied. “Our meeting ended in a way that made it clear I was not open to
play.”

“Good thing.”

“I am surprised
that it was them who put the restrictions on your room. Especially the name
change thing and all. That could look really bad on you if someone found out it
was the officials who cooked up that nonsense, Tommy.”

“I’m more
concerned about what they said before that, D.”

Damian’s gaze
narrowed. “Like the fact that they felt it was necessary to point out how they
didn’t need you.”

“Yeah. It makes me
think they might already have someone else or they’re working on it.”

“But who?”

Tommas winced as
he stood from the chair. “Hard to say.”

“Tommy, you can
stay another couple of days in here. I’ll keep an eye on your room.”

“No, I’m safer if
I’m out, D. Besides, you’ve got a pregnant wife to get home to. I’m going to
force the discharge and get the hell out of here.”

“When you do …”

“What?” Tommas
asked.

Damian glanced
away. “Just be careful about certain people, okay.”

“People like who,
D?”

“You know who.”

Abriella
.

“She is not who
they were talking about,” Tommas said, his tone heating instantly.

“I never said
that. But I do want you to be mindful. You get stupid and crazy when that girl
is involved, Tommy. You don’t think shit through and you make rash decisions.”

“You’re one to
talk. Look at what you did in this whole mess.”

Damian
straightened fast. “I—”

“Don’t deny it.
You helped to start a war between the families under the idea of something, not
the truth of it. You could have ended it before Terrance and saved everyone a
hell of a lot of trouble and bloodshed, but in an effort to keep your wife
safe, you finished the job.”

“I don’t know how
to leave a job unfinished. I wasn’t taught to work that way.”

“My point is that
you’re no better than me, D. Judgment looks well on no one. Before you start
pointing dirty fingers in my direction, make sure the ones pointing back at you
have been cleaned.”

 “There’s a
difference,” his cousin said quietly.

“Do tell.”

“I have my wife.”

Tommas stiffened.
“So?”

“You don’t have
Abriella at all.”

He had her in all
the ways that mattered.

For now.

“I’m working on
that,” Tommas settled on saying.

Damian sighed.
“Well, get smarter about it. Joel did exactly what I thought he would do,
Tommas. He gave it some time, he waited it out until he thought you were
distracted and focused on something other than him. And frankly, he couldn’t
have hit you at a better time. If you don’t start hitting him back, his next
move might be the last one he has to make where you’re concerned.”

Damian was right
on every single point. Tommas wouldn’t deny it.

“Just ... get
smarter about this,” Damian repeated. “You’ve never been a fool. You know how
to play this game. They don’t call you bloody for nothing, Tommy.”

“I’m working on
that, too. Go get my fucking discharge papers.”

Tommas had shit to
do. He wasn’t staying in the hospital for a cracked rib, a couple of bruises on
his internal organs, and a headache.

“Before I go force
them into giving you the discharge papers, we should talk about what happened
when I picked up Abriella,” Damian said.

“What about it?”

“She was out of
it, Tommas. She didn’t know if she was coming or going.”

Tommas’ chest
ached at that admission. More than anything, he wanted to find Abriella and let
her see that he was okay. Unfortunately, that couldn’t happen. It wasn’t safe.
His second biggest concern was making sure no one knew just how much that
really bothered him.

“Let me worry
about Abriella,” Tommas said.

“She’s got your
phone.”

“I know.”

“Make sure that
girl knows you’re okay.” 

“Back to the
two-seater, boss?” Nate asked.

Tommas slid into
the passenger side of his Jaguar F-Type. “I prefer this car, anyway.”

“It’s not—”

“Safe,” Tommas interrupted
the enforcer. “Yeah, I got it. Until I can have the Mercedes replaced in a
couple of weeks, this will have to do.”

“Don’t get your
fucking panties in a twist because you know this car makes you a goddamn
vulnerability.”