Nero Page 9

  “You know, I would have thought that she would have been more excited,” Matteo said, staring at the door.

  “Rose knows that it was the only way for it to end, Matteo. She’s just worried about the family name.”

  “Yeah, I guess. I don’t suppose you’re going to explain to me what you wouldn’t tell Rose? Obviously you have a good idea who finished Enzo.”

  “No, I’m not.”

  “Can you just answer one question?”

  “What?”

  “Was it us?”

  “No, unfortunately it wasn’t.”

  “All right. Now, what’s our next move?”

  “Well, tomorrow we go to the reading of Enzo’s will. Then we will start shutting down our new acquisitions.”

  “Is that wise? I mean, there is a lot of money involved…”

  “I won’t have our family’s name associated with that money. We may be involved with some unscrupulous things, but I won’t stoop to trafficking and torturing women.”

  “I’m not disagreeing with that—you won’t find one man in the family who does. What I’m worried about is Enzo’s associates. We don’t know yet how deep Enzo is in with the cartels, and we need to be prepared. Let’s be honest. Those people don’t share the same ideals as us. They’ll have no problem going after women and children to get what they want.”

  “Yeah, I’ve been thinking about that, but before we can do anything Juliet Franzese will have to be dealt with. As long as the cartel has an alternative, they won’t be willing to negotiate.”

  “That bitch has been smart up until now. Won’t she just go underground and gather support?”

  “No. As of tomorrow, she won’t have access to a huge chunk of the business.”

  “Don’t tell me Enzo left her anything?”

  “No, he left it all to Caterina. But Juliet will be expecting to control it all through her.”

  “Guess she’ll be disappointed.”

  “I’m hoping for enraged. An enraged woman will make mistakes. She’ll still have access to the few clubs under her name, though, so we’ll need to concentrate on finding and shutting those down.”

  “I thought we knew which clubs they were?”

  “Some, not all. Juliet, it seems, didn’t trust Enzo’s lawyers. She’s been doing some creative enterprising. She bought some of the clubs via offshore dummy corporations. Our guys are looking into it, but it takes time to find the right people to bribe for the information.”

  “What about Anthony? Can’t we just get the information out of him? I know that I would enjoy asking the questions.”

  “I doubt Juliet has shared the ins and outs of her enterprise with him, and I don’t want that fucking traitor to realize that we’re on to him yet. He’ll be coming back now, and I want to use him to feed Juliet information. Also, when the time comes we won’t have to look for her because he’ll know where she is.”

  “Yeah, you’re right.”

  “Don’t worry, Matteo. Soon everyone who has betrayed our family will get exactly what they deserve.”

  Chapter 14

  Standing in the center of Dark Pleasures, one of Enzo’s top clubs, Nero had to grit his teeth. No report could have truly expressed what went on inside. The women in there were a mixture of underage and barely legal. Broken shells, they ranged from terrified to accepting of any horror that was to come. When they had first walked in, the club had been in full swing. Screams of pain and pleasure. Terrified pleas for mercy. Disgusted, Nero had exploded. The club was now littered with dead men and women who had worked for Enzo, controlling the girls. Many of the customers hadn’t made it out either, and the few who had would never be the same again.

  Looking around, Nero saw Matteo wrapping a girl in a curtain because it was the only thing he could find to cover her. He growled out, “Now do you agree?”

  “I never disagreed, Nero, but now I don’t give a fuck. We need to get every one of these clubs shut down before the girls are taken. Once what happened here gets out, those fuckers running the other clubs will run—and probably take the girls with them to sell,” Matteo answered, disgust dripping from every word.

  “You’re right. We need to move quickly.”

  Walking through the dead and the living dead, Nero approached an older woman who was tied to a pole—the club’s manager. They had found her in the office, stuffing money into a bag. Fear filled her eyes as Nero hunched down in front of her until they were at eye level.

  “I’m going to ask you some questions. I suggest that you answer each one of them quickly and truthfully.”

  “Do you know whose club this is? You’re all dead men,” she spat out in accented English.

  Reaching out, Nero grabbed her throat and squeezed.

  “Obviously, you didn’t get the memo. Enzo is dead. These are my clubs now,” he told her as he added more pressure. With disinterest, Nero watched her gasp for breath as tears streamed down her face.

  How many times has this cunt watched children being tortured just like this and done nothing?

  Releasing her, he watched her choke as she pulled in air. Grabbing her hair hard, he pulled her head up so that she could see his face. “Now that we understand each other, I suggest that you answer my questions. I know that the girls aren’t the only business going on here. So where are the drugs?” he asked calmly as he watched her.

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she lied, croaking out the words from her sore throat.

  Keeping a tight hold on her hair, Nero punched her in the face. Blood immediately began pouring from a busted lip and she whimpered in pain. Seeing his hand being raised to hit her again, she quickly blurted out an answer. “They’ll kill me if I tell you where there drugs are.”

  “Who will kill you, bitch?” Nero asked, tightening his grip.

  Terror filled the woman’s face. The quick darting of her eyes told Nero she was about to lie again. Smiling grimly, Nero hit her. This time, the blow broke her nose. Her wails filled the room as she cursed at him in Spanish. Shaking her hard, he asked her again in the same calm voice. “Who?”

  Self-preservation seemed to kick in and she quickly told him what he wanted to know. She worked for the El Puno family, and the club was one of the main distribution centers for drugs and girls—they stopped there before being distributed across the country. Her people had told her to get everything out, anticipating trouble. They were sending their people to pick up the product the next day. After a little more “persuading,” she gave up the names of the other two clubs and the location of where the drugs were hidden.

  Nero nodded to Matteo, who had been listening. Nero watched him pull out his phone. The men who were watching the clubs were told that Nero’s people were on the way.

  Those two clubs are going down—tonight. That product will be a huge bargaining chip, because there’s no way the cartel is getting the girls back. I don’t give a shit what it costs—those girls aren’t going back to them.

  Standing up, Nero walked away from the manager. He was itching to kill her, but it would have to wait until after they had confirmation she’d given them the right clubs.

  Once we have the drugs, this bitch is dead—she just doesn’t know it yet.

  Unable to stay inside, Nero walked out the back and pulled out a cigarette. Taking a long drag, he listened to the sounds of the night. Outside, no one would never guess the horrors that were going on inside.

  How the fuck could Enzo and I have shared blood?

  Lost in his thoughts, it took a minute for him to realize that he wasn’t alone anymore. Looking over at Matteo, Nero could see that he was just as affected by what they had just witnessed. He handed him a cigarette, and the two of them stood smoking together—but also apart, lost in thoughts that couldn’t be spoken.

  …

  “No! It’s mine! It is all supposed to be mine!” Caterina screamed as the blood of the late lawyers from Greenburg, Greenburg and Lavowich pooled on the concrete floor.
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br />   Jesus Christ. What has the stupid little bitch done?

  After the reading of the will, Juliet had hopped a plane south to have a face-to-face meeting with her backers. They were not pleased. After telling her in no uncertain terms that they wanted the money for the product that was currently sitting in the clubs—even though she told them she no longer had access to it—they let it be known in graphic detail what would happen to her if they didn’t get it. Her only hope had been to get the lawyers to have Enzo’s will thrown out and to file the one she had declared as the real document.

  Now that plan is shot to hell. The little cunt must have grabbed the lawyers after I got on the plane.

  Staring at the mutilated corpses that had been her best hope, Juliet looked at Caterina, who was still throwing a temper tantrum.

  Walking over to her, Juliet ripped the bloody knife from Caterina’s hand and pressed it against her throat. “You stupid little bitch. I told you to lay low until I got back.”

  “It was mine, and they stole it from me! They deserved what they got.”

  “They were our only chance for getting Enzo’s will thrown out, you little fool. You killed your only chance of getting your hands on anything!” Juliet screamed before throwing the knife to the ground. Grabbing Caterina by the hair, she threw her onto a nearby couch. “Sit there and listen carefully. The latest shipments of drugs and girls are sitting inside clubs that we no longer have access to. We don’t have the money to pay the cartel for them, and I won’t be the only one going down for this. Those people don’t give a shit about anything but their money so I suggest that you take what little brains you have and help me figure out a way to get in there—or we’re both dead.”

  “What do you mean? I’m not responsible for any of that. You and Enzo were the ones making the deals. If anything, it’s your problem.”

  God save me from fools.

  “You, Caterina, are responsible for Enzo’s debt. Everyone knows that you were knee-deep into all of this with us. Even if you weren’t, the cartel wouldn’t care—these people kill whole families just to make a point.”

  “But that’s not fair!”

  “Fair? Are you fucking kidding me? Fair! I should just kill you now and at least have that satisfaction.”

  “I think, Juliet, that you’re forgetting who you’re talking to.”

  “I think, Caterina, that you had better come down to reality. Enzo is dead. You have no money and no name. Your family will not help you. So, my dear, you had better not forget who you are talking to. I’m your only ally.”

  “I’m a Genovese. I’m the head of the Genovese family now that Enzo’s dead.”

  “No, you little fool! Nero is the head of the Genovese family—and all the men who followed Enzo will be living on borrowed time unless we can kill your brother, your sister, and that fucking grandmother of yours.”

  “We can’t do that. What about the contracts?”

  “Fuck the contracts. We don’t have a choice.”

  “Well, why don’t we just get Rose to remove the contracts? Than we won’t have to worry about them.”

  Stopping her pacing, Juliet looked at Caterina, stunned. “You know, I think that might be the most intelligent thought that you’ve ever had.”

  “But how are we going to get to Rose? She always has guards with her when she leaves the house?”

  How, indeed? Smiling, Juliet left Caterina and went to make a phone call.

  Chapter 15

  The number of bodies buried in the weeks that followed would have constituted a genocide in some third-world countries. With Enzo’s death, it was time for all debts to be settled. The hits that Nero enjoyed most were Jenny’s cousins. He had killed both the wife and the husband in the most brutal of ways before sending the kid to a relative to be raised. There was no mercy left in Nero, and he took satisfaction in righting each wrong that had been perpetrated against his family—especially with the ones who thought that they had gotten away with their crimes. The cop Bullock had been almost as enjoyable as the cousins. Nero had made sure to frame the murders so that he would take the blame for the cousins’ deaths. An affair gone wrong. His suffering would endure for the rest of his miserable life, and Nero planned for it to be a long and painful one.

  Each and every one had it coming. Nero had taken a personal interest in as many as time allowed—especially at the clubs. Even with how quickly they had moved to close the clubs, though, it hadn’t been quick enough. Several of them had been empty by the time his crew arrived. As private-member clubs, he hadn’t been able just to send the men who had been watching them waltzing in, so the fuckers got away because, like rats, they had a hidden exit.

  A representative of El Puno had made contact. As expected, they wanted their product back. Negotiations were underway. They wanted to make Nero the same deal that they had with Enzo, though, so they were at a stalemate. Nero had no intention of being involved with the cartel, but he had to be careful not to make enemies. It was going to cost him, but he was willing to pay if they agreed to his terms. He was sitting with Matteo, trying to figure out a way for it not to end in a long and costly war when the call came.

  Nero listened carefully to his man on the other end. Each word helped to center Nero’s mind on one goal. Hanging up, he turned to Matteo.

  “Rose has been taken. Two of our people were with her. The driver got nervous when they didn’t come out of her appointment and went to check on them. He found the guards and some store employees with their throats slit, and Rose gone.”

  “It sounds like the cartel. I guess they want the deal they had with Enzo.”

  “Yeah, it does,” Nero said slowly.

  “Do you think it’s something else?”

  “I’m not sure. Make contact with the cartel representative and see what he has to say. If they have Rose, they’ll give you their demands. If they don’t, I want to see Anthony.”

  “You don’t think Juliet took Rose, do you? I mean, she knows that if anything happens to Rose the contract would be activated. She wouldn’t take a chance with her own life.”

  “Normally I would agree, but she’s desperate. A desperate woman is a dangerous situation. We’ve shut down all of her clubs—that we could find. She has to be hurting for cash, and the cartel is probably holding her responsible for Enzo’s debt. She may feel that she has no other choice but to use Rose to bargain for the product.”

  “If she was looking to bargain wouldn’t she have contacted us by now?”

  “I’m not sure. With the throat slitting, you would automatically think cartel. Maybe she’s trying to shut down our negotiations. She might know that one of the conditions involves her and their association with her. If a war started between our families, it would definitely benefit her.”

  Grabbing a burner cell phone, Matteo made a call. It was short and to the point. The cartel denied involvement, which meant Anthony’s usefulness was over.

  …

  “I thought you were never going to wake up,” Juliet said as Rose opened her eyes. She smirked when she saw the older woman wince. “Head hurt?” she asked, laughing at the cold look that Rose threw at her. “You know, I have always dreamed of this. Ever since I was a little girl.”

  “What is this about, Juliet? You have to know you’ve signed your death warrant,” Rose said brazenly.

  “Yes, Rose. But, you see, I’m dead whether I kidnapped you or not. My associates are quite upset with me. I’ve spent years cultivating these friendships, and Enzo’s untimely death has ruined it all. He wouldn’t listen to me. I told him that girl would be the death of him.”

  “Juliet, I think your mind has finally snapped. What the hell are you talking about?”

  “He thought that I didn’t know about her, but I knew.”

  “Who do you mean?” Caterina asked in confusion as she stepped out of the shadows.

  Laughing at the look on Caterina’s face, Julia mimicked her. “Who do you mean?” Flopping down on a couch, she ran a
finger across her lip. “What I mean, dear Caterina, is that Angelica Gagliardi finally killed your brother. He was obsessed with her and was going to marry her.”

  “You’re wrong. Enzo loved me. He was only using Angelica.”

  “You little fool. Enzo never loved anyone but himself. He used you like he used everyone else. He was just like your father. And just like my fucking father. Only Julius was a Genovese—I was just some bastard. I was a bastard because of Rose. My mother should have been the matriarch of the Genovese family. Instead, your grandfather chose Rose and never gave me a second thought. I was just a girl—a fact my mother never allowed me to forget.”

  The disgust that dawned on Rose’s face as she did the math made Juliet smirk. “Of course, Julius never realized that I was his half-sister. Not that it would have mattered to him. It was so easy to seduce him and take my place inside the family that should have been mine. I was everything Julius desired in a woman. How could I not be? I was the other half of him. I had it all planned—I was going to marry him and take the name that should have been my birthright,” Juliet dreamily said before narrowing her eyes at Caterina. “Of course, I hadn’t counted on Julius not clearing the way for me. No matter how I begged or manipulated, he wouldn’t get rid of your fucking mother. I tried once myself but when the attempt failed he told me he would kill me if I ever tried again. How was I supposed to know that the money was all hers? Then he died and that little fuck Nero threw me out. If it hadn’t been for Enzo’s hate for Nero, I never would have had the chance to realize the truth: that if I wanted what was rightfully mine, I would have to take it. I deserved it. Everything was meant to be mine. For years, I’ve been preparing for the day that I could kill the lot of you and take my place as head of the Genovese family.”

  “You’re insane,” Rose whispered in shock

  A fanatical gleam entered Juliet’s eyes. She moved to stand before Rose. “Insane? No. Brilliant. Adriana was finally dead, I was back in the house that should have been mine, Enzo was ready to wipe out the lot of you, and I was ready to take him and this little fool out. Everything was perfect—until you put out those contracts. Those fucking contracts disrupted everything. Enzo wouldn’t make a move against Nero after that, so I had to come up with a new plan. It took a while, but I knew what Nero’s weakness was. Since I couldn’t touch you or Victoria, it had to be his wife. It was so easy. Blood means nothing when it comes to money. Jenny’s cousin’s husband was more than happy to drug the little bitch as soon as she arrived. He just put her in the trunk of the car and drove her right to me—those fools Nero had watching her were never the wiser. The things Enzo did to her had her weeping for days. Luckily for me, Enzo loved to record his playtimes so when I drugged her he just played it up for the camera. The only thing I wish was that I could have been there to see the look on Nero’s face when he realized that his wife had fucked his brother. The only thing better would have been seeing his face when he realized that the child wasn’t his. I have to admit that I still smile every time I think of the fact that she killed herself. I like to think I played my part in it. After a particularly brutal time with Enzo and a few of his friends, I showed Jenny a tape I had found in Enzo’s personal collection that involved his time with her sister. I’d like to think that it broke her in ways that Enzo hadn’t. But of course Nero didn’t act like I thought he would. Instead of attacking Enzo, the fucker acted like he didn’t care. Then Enzo went and got himself killed, so I think, ‘All right, I can control everything through Caterina until my cartel connections are ready to do the dirty work and finish the rest of you,’” Juliet ranted on, never realizing her mistake.