Chapter 587: We Are Coming In
Vee picked up his shirt first and folded it properly. Then his phone vibrated. She looked down.
Vito.
Slowly, Vee reached for the phone. The bathroom shower turned on behind the closed door. Her thumb tightened around the device as she lifted it, eyes fixed on the screen.
Then she read the message.
"Bring the money tonight or deal’s off! Bring it to the old house."
Veronica felt the anger well up inside her. The anger hit her whole body at once, burning through the tenderness of the evening as she stared at Luca’s phone.
Fucking bastard.
Her husband had been dragging his feet for how long now? Telling her he had it handled.
Enough.
If Luca would not take care of the mess, she would. She placed Luca’s phone back exactly where she had found it. The shower still ran in the bathroom.
Vee moved quickly. She grabbed a loose jacket, slipped into sandals, and hurried downstairs. Her own guards had turned in for the night. She did not need them. She could handle Vito.
That, perhaps, said something terrible about who she had become. A few years ago, she might have shaken at the idea of holding a gun.
She got into her car and started the engine. The city moved past. Her pulse beat in her ears. By the time she reached the old neighbourhood, anger had cooled into purpose. She had not been to the old house in a long time.
The lights were on inside. Vee parked a short distance away and killed the engine. The last time she had belonged to that house, she had only been Vito’s daughter. Now she was Luca Genovese’s wife. A woman with too many scars and not nearly enough patience.
She reached into her glove compartment and pulled out her Donna gun. It was strange, really. The first person she would kill might be her own father. There was something horrifying about that.
But then again, it was fitting. Vito had been the first man to teach her that blood could be dangerous. Perhaps it made sense that he would be the first blood she ended.
She tucked the gun securely in her hand and got out of the car. Vee walked to the door. She slipped inside and paused.
The television played in the background. She moved down the narrow hallway. Vee tightened her grip on the gun and entered the living room.
Her father lay on the ground. Veronica could not understand what she was seeing. Her mind rejected the picture. It broke it into pieces instead. Her hand went cold around the gun.
If her father was dead, then who sent Luca that message? Why would they want Luca brought here?
Of course.
To set him up.
"Goddamnit," she whispered and turned sharply, scanning the room.
Someone else was involved. She had known it. She had known this entire thing stank too badly to be only Vito. Someone had been moving pieces, dragging Vito forward, trying to take Luca down while hiding behind her father.
Who?
Who the fuck could it be? Her eyes moved across the room again. She forced herself to breathe as nausea rose in her throat.
This was a trap, and her husband was the bait. She looked around the room for anything as she pulled out her phone from her jeans to send the SOS she had memorised for clean up.
Then her eyes caught on something shiny among the shattered glass. At first, Veronica thought it was only another broken piece of bottle catching the light. The floor was full of them, glittering cruelly in the mess of beer.
But this shine was different. She bent down carefully, one hand braced on her thigh, the gun still held firm in the other. Her body protested immediately. She ignored it and picked up the object between her fingers.
An earring.
Her stomach dropped. She knew this earring. She had seen it on Valentina more than once. Vee’s fingers tightened around it.
Had Vito called her? Why would he call Valentina? The question opened too many doors at once, and every single one led to somewhere ugly. Her mind rushed backwards, dragging pieces together with brutal speed. The message sent to Luca’s phone. The old house. Marco gone to Singapore. Carol not mentioning anything.
God.
No.
Her mind’s eye conjured the message exactly as she had seen it on Luca’s screen.
Bring the money tonight or deal’s off. Bring it to the old house.
The old house.
Old house.
There were only two people who would call this place the old house, and they were her and her sister.
Her and Valentina. The pain that went through her was sharper than anger. This was the terrible moment before betrayal became fully visible, when love still tried to stand in front of the truth and beg it not to enter.
Her phone started to vibrate in her hand. She looked down.
Luca.
Just as she moved to pick the call, loud knocking came from the front door.
"Police! Open up!"
Vee’s blood went cold. She answered Luca’s call.
"Babe, where are you?" he demanded.
"Luca, I need you to calm down," she said quickly. "Call Dorian. I am about to be arrested. Vito is dead and I think it’s a set-up."
his voice turned lethal. "Where are you?"
"Police! We are coming in!"
Vee swallowed, staring at the door. "I love you, Luca."
The door burst open. Police flooded the house, boots hitting the floor. Vee stood in the middle of it all with her father dead at her feet and Luca’s voice still roaring faintly through the phone.
She raised both her hands holding her gun and her phone up.
"Vee!" Luca’s voice came screaming through the phone. "Vee!"
Everything else blurred in that moment. The shouting officers, the guns pointed in her direction, the harsh beam of torches cutting across the old sitting room, the television still muttering nonsense in the background. Someone took her phone from her hand while someone else removed the gun from her grip.