Undressed By The Mafia God

The cuffs clicked around Luca’s wrists.

"You have the right to remain silent," Voss said. "Whatever you say can and will be used against you in a court of law."

Luca barely heard the rest. His eyes moved to Valentina. She sat there, phone still in hand, face looking relieved.

Stupid girl.

"You have no idea what you have done," Luca said.

Val said nothing. She only lifted her hand and gave him a small wave of her fingers, a smug smile touching her face.

The officers took Luca by the arm. Val got to her feet and sighed in relief.

Finally.

She had finally done it. Now, watching him led out in handcuffs, the fear she had been holding for weeks finally left her body. She had saved them. She had saved Vee, saved Matteo, saved Marco.

Even the baby growing inside her sister.

She doubted she would receive any glory for it, though. Heroes were rarely loved while they were saving everyone. Sometimes they were hated first. Later, perhaps, when the shock faded and the danger stopped circling, they would understand.

Vee would understand.

One day.

Val followed them out because she needed to see it for herself. She needed proof. She needed to watch him leave in a patrol car.

Luca walked with quiet ease. People turned to look. Even in handcuffs, Luca carried himself like the building belonged to him.

Outside, the patrol car waited. The officers opened the door and guided him in. Val stood several feet away, her arms wrapped around herself.

Luca turned his head. Their eyes locked. Then he smiled. The stupid girl really had no idea.

*****

Captain Harrington looked at Voss and shook his head. "You son of a bitch." Harrington shook his head again in admiration. "You finally did it."

"I wouldn’t start rejoicing yet," Voss said. "Luca is a slippery one. He might find a way to get out of this."

"You still think he’s going to walk?"

"I think he always prepares to."

Harrington looked down at the file in his hand, flipped it open, and scanned the first page again. "So your witness...you say he is the girls’ father."

"Yes, sir," Voss answered.

"And he is a witness to your stepfather’s murder?" Harrington asked.

"No," Voss said. "I had the DA give him queen for a day. And he confessed to soliciting Luca in getting rid of my father."

"Looks to me like the man himself should be in jail," he said.

"Yes. When I found out," Voss continued, "it threw me off. I couldn’t exactly decide who I wanted more. Vito or Luca. It was ugly. But then I thought Luca was more of a danger to the world than Vito."

"Hmmm," Harrington murmured. "Why did he want your father out of the way anyway?"

"Competition," Vito had explained. "My father was stealing all his customers," Voss said, repeating the statement with visible effort, "and his pizza shop was suffering."

"Pizza," Harrington said. "Your stepfather was murdered over pizza. Pizza," He repeated. Sometimes the stupidity of evil deserved to be honoured.

Voss’s face hardened. "Paul Marino was taking his customers. Vito was losing money. He reached out to Luca. Luca handled it."

"And when the devil came to collect?"

"Vito offered Valentina Montgomery, Scalese at the time, in exchange. And that was when Luca met his wife, Veronica."

"Well," Harrington said after a moment, "that is one of the more disgusting sentences I’ve heard. And the man sent Vito away to keep him away from his daughters?" Harrington asked.

"Yes."

Harrington rubbed a hand over his mouth. "Are you sure you are actually picking up the bigger threat? Vito sounds like a piece of shit all on his own."

"Luca trades in drugs and kills people," Voss argued. "He is the bigger deal."

Luca Genovese was a criminal. A dangerous one. But Vito Scalese was no saint. A man who offered his own daughter as payment for a debt did not get to stand in the light because someone worse stood beside him.

"Fine," Harrington said at last. "It’s your case. This will be a big win if you pull it off."

"That is the problem," Voss said. "Vito is not willing to testify."

"Why not?"

"He is afraid of Luca."

"That at least proves he has a working brain."

"He demands not to be prosecuted for my father’s death."

Harrington stared at him. "Of course he does."

"And he wants to speak to Valentina."

"He knows Valentina is your CI?"

"I told him his daughter would want him to do the right thing and save them for once in his life."

"You told a man who sold his daughter that the same daughter was involved?"

"I did not have a choice. We need him."

"You are playing a dangerous game with a piece of shit who already proved his daughters are currency to him."

Voss’s jaw tightened. "I know what he is."

"Do you?" Harrington asked. "Because from where I’m standing, you look so focused on Genovese that you are letting Vito Scalese dress himself up as some frightened old witness instead of the man who lit the match. I don’t like it...This man traded his own kids for a sinking business. I cannot trust a man like that."

"If we want him to testify, we have to give him what he wants." Voss said. He knew Harrington was right.

The case had been a ghost for too long. Paul Marino’s murder had sat in the dark, whispering through Voss’s life. For years, he had wanted something, anything. Then he found a witness but it arrived in the form of Vito Scalese, a man so repulsive that even useful information felt dirty coming from him.

Still, the confession gave them Luca. That had to matter.

"You have him under protection?" Harrington asked.

"Yes."

"I’ll talk to the DA," Harrington said. "But I want this handled carefully."

"I know what I am doing."

"If you can get a confession," Harrington added, "that would be nice too."