Chapter 266
Chapter Two Hundred Sixty-Six
Sephie
“Yeah, they’ve been in business together for a few years now. Armando was trying to position himself
as a leader for a while there too. I thought he and Sal were going to get into a war with each other, but
then Ghost came back. It all kind of went to he ll that night at the restaurant with Anthony. Nobody
expected Ghost to react that way over you. Half of us lost a substantial amount of money that night
because we thought the rumors of him being gay were true. We knew he wasing back to stop the
tax increase. Anthony was supposed to make a scene so that didn’t happen. He just got carried away
once Ghost yelled at him in front of everyone. Nobody expected the oue and nobody expected him
to banish Anthony. It made Sal mad. He started trying to turn the other bosses against Ghost
immediately. It was that same night that he met with the other bosses after we all left the restaurant. He
called us all to his house and convinced us all we could overthrow Ghost.”
“All the bosses were there?” I asked. “You’re positive?”
“Everyone but Ghost. Everyone agreed. We got used to his absence. The bosses that wanted to raise
taxes were irritated that he was going to try and stop them, so they readily agreed. Armando took the
most convincing. He didn’t want to. He felt like there was another way. He didn’tpletely agree that
night, but he didn’t disagree either, if you know what I mean.” Dario’s eyes were still on me, like I was
the only person in the room. The guys were all quiet. It almost felt like they were scared to move or
speak. They didn’t want to break whatever spell he was under that was making him talk to me.
“What happened when Ghost banished Anthony?” I asked.
ConTEent bel0ngs to N?v(e)lD/rama(.)Org .
“That’s when the brawn operation went into motion. He needed chaos to get Anthony and Lorenzo
back into the city. They made the n for the assassination attempt at the ball, too. I assume that
Armando tipped you off, since you’re all still here. Then we got word that you were in Italy, at
Armando’s ce. Sal tried to get all of you when he blew up Armando’s office. It was a warning to
Armando, too. Sal knew he was trying to y both sides. Armando is a pu ssy, but he’s notpletely
stu pid. He has Sal’s goddaughter.”
“Giana is Sal’s goddaughter?” I asked.
“You know her?” Dario asked.
“I’ve met her, yes.”
“Sal was close to her grandfather. When she was born, they made Sal her godfather. Her father has
made some poor business decisions, but Sal and Armando have been trying to help him get his fortune
back. I heard Armando was sleeping with her, just to make Sal angry. She’s just insurance though.
Armando has everyone fooled. Everyone thinks he’s the nice guy. Ask him where his first wife is and
then tell me how nice he is,” he said. He crossed his arms across his chest, his gaze once again falling
to the
Boor
“Oner Sal takes over the city, do you know what his ns are?” I asked. I was worried I was going to
lose him, so I wanted to keep the conversation going, despite feeling like I needed a minute to process
what he’d just told us
“He’ll get rid of the other bosses, I’m sure. He’s hungry for power. He was close to taking over the city
when Vitaliy was still charge. That’s what made him divide the city up. That’s also what made him
banish Lorenzo. It was punishment for Lorenzo, sure, but it was more to stick it to Sal for trying to
overthrow him. Lorenzo and Sal were always really close. Vitally knew it would cause more damage to
separate them than anything, so he banished Lorenzo to Sicily. For once, I agreed with Vitaliy I always
hated Lorenin*
angry with Vitally over that and then Ghost banished Anthony as well, so he’s doubly ma
to me once more. “He’s angry with you now, You’re appvetly very
ki ll or kidnap. His goddaughter was supposed to get close to you to make it easier to grab you, but
even that proved impossible. Armando is the one that tipped them off that day they tried to grab you,
you know?”
“Sal isn’t the only one angry in this situation,” I said, somewhat under my breath. Dario still heard me.
He chuckled. “I’ve never heard Sal so mad as I did when he found out you shot three of his guys that
day. He managed to get one guy onto Armando’s security detail, but that guy disappeared. Nobody
knows what happened to him.”
“I killed him too,” I said. My anger was now fully present, so holding my tongue was next to impossible
for me.
Dario just looked at me, a sly smile on his face. “I would like to see the look on Sal’s face if he ever
finds that out. You should be careful. He wanted to ki ll you before, but he’s angry enough now that he
might try to sell you to highest bidder.”
“I would like to see him try,” I said. I stood up from the desk, not caring to keep this conversation going
any further. I barely had a chance to take two steps away from Dario and Adrik was by my side.
“Take a breath, solnishko. You know we won’t let anything happen to you,” he said as he put both
hands on my hips. He looked down at me, concerned, but I could also see the look in his eye that
meant my eyes had gone dark. I closed my eyes for a moment, trying to regain control of myself.
Ivan moved closer to Dario. “What makes you think that Sal won’t know where to find you?” His voice
had more of an edge to it this time, but he was still trying to be as calm as he could be.
??
I have property around the world. I can move from ce to ce. I bought each ce under a different
name. The people in each town know me as a different person. It’s virtually impossible to follow me
from ce to ce. Sal isn’t smart enough to link it all together.” He paused, like he was lost in thought
again. He looked at Ivan, then looked at Adrik. “I want out. I’ve lost so much because of this life. I just
want to be left alone. You will never hear from me again if you let me leave.” He sighed, looking at the
floor. He knew that people rarely got out of this life alive. He knew more than most, as well, which made
him dangerous. It also put him in danger.
Adrik looked down at me, his eyes searching mine. I was still angry, but I was trying to control it.
Instead of waiting for my opinion, he said, “I don’t have a problem with you getting out, but I can’t let
you leave until I’ve taken care of the other bosses. You’ll be safe here. No one knows you’re here.
You’ll be protected until this is over, then you can leave, but not before. If you try to leave, my men will
have orders to ki ll you. Understood?”
Dario nodded his head. He looked to the floor, almost like he was defeated, but then his eyes shot back
to Adrik. “Wait, you’ll really let me leave once this is over?” Adrik nodded his head. “You can leave, with
the understanding that if I ever hear of you trying to move against me, you’ll be swiftly dealt with. If you
want to disappear, I won’t stand in the way of that. It’s time you had something to look forward to in life,
Dario. You can leave once this is over,” he said. I nced down at Dario. There were tears in his eyes.
“I’ll tell you anything you want to know if it means I can leave. Right now, I don’t even care that there’s a
chance you’ll ki ll me after I tell you everything. You’ve given me hope that there’s a chance I can get
. I haven’t had hope since my parents died,” he said, quietly.
“As long as you stay loyal to me, you have my word that no harm wille to you. You’ll be able to
leave. Betray me and I will ki ll you, Adrik said tly.
“You’ll protect me until this is over?” Darlo asked.
“It won’t be the most luxurious of amodations, but we have somewhere to hide you that no one
knows about. You’ll be
here, You’ll have guards. You’ll have everything you need until this is over,” Viktor said.
tears that were threatening to fall were now flowing down the old man’s face. He looked relieved.
Haunted, but relieved.
“Thank you,” he said, looking at Adrik and me. Adrik simply nodded his head toward Dario, while he
pulled me a little closer, holding me just a little tighter.