Deluca

TWENTY-THREE

The hangover from the night before still rang true in Francesco's head as he climbed out of the back of the Escalade. Henri and Louis had been taking the lead in the front seat while Francesco and Enzo sat in the rear.

Behind them, three other Escalades pulled up, and all of Francesco's allies walked out. With the news that Paolo was behind everything, Francesco refused to take any chances.

Turning around to the half dozen men behind him. "Make yourself scarce, but stay nearby," Francesco commanded, the men nodded their understanding. "Enzo you're with me, Henri and Louis, watch the front. This might be an ambush."

The one thing Francesco knew was that Enzo would never look out of place by his side, but coming in with half a dozen men might've raised a few red flags.

"Do we know why he wants to meet?" Enzo asked as they walked from the parking lot to the doors.

"No."

"And Eleanor?"

Francesco's eyebrows furrowed at his friend, "What about her?"

"You got half of the calvary here, who at the house with her?"

"Giselle," Francesco answered, and that was an answer enough for Francesco. Where he would normally feel jealousy in another man's interest in his wife's wellbeing, Francesco felt otherwise with Enzo.

It caused Francesco to admire her even more after seeing that she had managed to get even Enzo to care. Charismatic as he was, Enzo was an evil asshole on his best day.

They pushed through the doors of the shell of a building. Around construction was still going on, the sounds of buzz saws and metals clanking together overwhelming Francesco.

They went through the maze of construction until they arrived in the back room. Once he opened the door, Francesco had to physically stop himself from lunging forward.

In the center of the room had been a chair with a man tied to it. A man that Francesco had babysat and cared for since he was three years old.

Andreas.

"What the fuck is going on here?" Francesco asked in his native tongue, making his way to free his bleeding cousin.

Enzo had been more refrained, focusing on sizing up the room and trying to guess what was next.

The men surrounding Paolo stopped Francesco from moving forward, only pissing him off even more.

"Francesco," Paolo greeted, "Thank you for coming."

His words weren't sincere, but Francesco nodded his greeting, "Why do you have my cousin bleeding on your floors?"

"Oh, this?" Paolo pointed to Andreas who was making shallow breaths in his obvious pain. "This may be your cousin, but he is also a ratio."

Francesco frowned toward Andreas as Paolo continued, "One of my officers let me know he has been feeding them information not only on me but you as well, right Andreas?" Paolo said his name like a slur.

Francesco's jaw clenched, he knew he couldn't trust a word that came out of Paolo's mouth, but the pitiful look on Andreas' face showed the guilt in his eyes.

"Who is this officer?" Francesco asked.

"He is dead now."

"How convenient," Enzo muttered from behind Francesco. Francesco gave Enzo a warning look before turning back to Paolo.

"This is my mess to clean up, only I discipline my men." Francesco's words almost came out as a growl rather than a sentence.

Paolo shrugged, "He has been muddling in my business as well. Tiny, hand him the papers."