For Cam (Chicago Syndicate Book 4) (37 page)

I’m reminded of this when we’re having a discussion in my hospital room. I’m packing my clothes after my session with the therapist, and Adriano keeps taking stuff from my hands and telling me to sit down, but I ignore him.

As I throw my panties into my bag, I explain, “I think I know why my initial reaction to our marriage was a bit off. I wanted the proposal and the wedding and that kind of normal things – it’s something I’ve dreamed about for a long time. And when you first became boss, I realized we’d never be typical, but I did get a lot of other average, everyday things in return. You gave me a family and a home, and I guess I was getting used to the ordinary things and was hoping for that progression to continue. But then I became a
Capo
—”

“About that,” Adriano interrupts, sitting down on the bed. “Cam, I can’t go through this again. I can’t protect you
and
have you directly involved in missions – especially now that you’re pregnant.” He pulls me to stand between his legs and grabs my ass to placate me.

But I simply smile in return. “I understand. Don’t look so nervous.” I run my finger along his brow. “We don’t work together very well, do we?”

He grins boyishly. “Not regarding Syndicate business, no. I’m too in love with you to work with you. I want you by my side, but to be honest, I want you by my side but waiting for me at home, tucked safely away from the fucking world that’s constantly after me or my loved ones.”

I trace his jawline, making him groan in pleasure. “Yeah, I kind of got that. But you don’t have to worry. I’m so grateful to be awake again and pregnant. I don’t want to be a
Capo
. Well, I don’t want to be involved
too
much. I want to be safe for our baby and you. It’s time our happily ever after starts. So I can’t promise that I’ll always be home, since I like to have a life,” I joke. “But I
will
always be waiting for you at night, in bed. That promise still stands.”

“I’ll take it.”

“You’ll take me any way you can get me,” I counter around a smile.

“Damn right.” He nips my mouth.

“I guess we’re far from a normal couple. We love the way we live, like true killers: all or nothing.”

“Normal is overrated and boring.” Adriano pinches my behind, adding in a playful tone, “We’re Romeo and Juliet on steroids, sweetheart.”

Laughing, I shake my head and toss a pair of my panties in his face. In turn, he snags them with his teeth but spits them out hurriedly when the nurse enters. Adriano clears his throat and raises his hand to his mouth uncomfortably, but then I catch him smirking at me from behind his fist.

“Mr. Montesi, can you sign Mrs. Montesi’s release papers?” the nurse asks, looking everywhere but at us.

“Yes, I’ll do it now.”

“The papers are at the nurses’ station, sir.”

He kisses me. “I’ll be back in a minute.”

I finish throwing all my belongings from the adjacent bathroom into my bag and zip it. Then I check my watch and realize Adriano’s been gone for almost ten minutes, so I go into the hallway but freeze when armed men charge in my direction, overpowering my guards and aiming their weapons at me.

I hold up my hands in reaction, and then the DA, Pillon, appears with cuffs dangling from his fingers.

I attempt to keep it cool as he takes my wrists and restraints them behind my back.

“Camilla
Guillermo
,” he stresses my surname, “you have the right to remain—who am I kidding? I don’t need to follow the rules; this is the damn Mafia. You’re under arrest.” And he pushes me forward, toward the elevator.

Panic claws at me, but I hide it and fleetingly scan the hospital floor.

Where’s Adriano?

“Looking for your so-called husband?” Pillon asks derisively from behind me.

I glance back over my shoulder while walking slowly. “Adriano’s going to kill you.”

Adriano

––––––––

I
pass my guards in the hallway and follow the nurse through the doors to the nurses’ station where she hands me a pen and Cam’s release papers.

After signing them quickly, I’m ready to pick up Cam and take her home for the first time in five months, but then the nurse says, “Mr. Montesi, we have a sonogram for you and your wife at the OB/GYN nurses’ station on the tenth floor. Can you pick it up?”

“I’ll get it now.” I head toward the elevator, excited because that’s the perfect gift for Cam, along with the surprise I have waiting for her at home.

Within minutes, I’m back on Cam’s floor, but when the elevator slides open, all I see is chaos. Unease sets in just as a guard sends me a disappointed look.

“Where were you?” he says in a flustered tone.

“Why?” I barge down the hallway.

“Adriano, Cam’s been arrested. She was taken in by Pillon,” the guard announces, and I stop dead in my tracks, turning around furiously.

“When?!”

“A few minutes ago.”

“I’m paying you a fortune to keep my wife safe,
idiota
! Did you contact Luca?” I shout and stalk back to the elevator.

“Yes, and Logan too,” he replies, shadowing me inside as we descend.

“Follow me to the police station,” I order and run into the parking lot, grabbing my car keys from my pocket and clicking the device to unlock my BMW before I’ve reached it.

Jumping inside, I drive out with screeching tires. The fear that left my system a month ago resurfaces with a vengeance. It’s time I settle these scores once and for all.

I call Logan when I’m forced to brake for crossing pedestrians.

“Adriano, where are you?” he asks, out of breath.

“On my way to the police station. I think we can guess what we’re stepping into. I’ll be backed into a corner because Pillon still has that tape hanging over my head. It’s time you contact Senator Tara Kaden, whose campaign I sponsored, and collect her debt; she needs to handle Pillon or...” I let the words trail off.

“Don’t do anything before I’ve contacted you,” Logan says in a rush. “Listen, I’ve been summoned to the CIA – this can’t be a coincidence that I was called in at the same time that Cam was arrested. Pillon might have allies, powerful allies. I’ll call Kaden afterwards, because I agree with you. We’re going to need more influential associates.”

“This is bad, Logan. If she’s booked and it goes on record, her life in the Mafia is over. And if the media gets hold of this story, then my name will be ruined and my rule as boss will be over too.”

“Luca and Henry are handling the media. No one is aware of any investigation or our association with the Syndicate. Pillon is working on a top secret level. Just wait until I’ve called you after my meeting. I’m pulling into the parking lot now.”

“I can’t make any promises, Logan. I will not allow Cam to spend a second in jail,” I state with conviction and race to the police station.

I end the call and call
Capo
John, who’s at the warehouse where a few captives and Serena are still imprisoned.

“Adriano, what’s up?”

“We have trouble. Cam’s been arrested, and there might be an investigation into the Syndicate. As a precaution, I need you to end all the captives – Serena as well – bury their bodies, and remove any weapons and drugs from the building. Relocate the stash to a new, safe place and burn down everything else in that warehouse. Then destroy every other piece of evidence you can find. Contact Tez and have him clean up Club 7 right now.”

“Will do. I have a team of soldiers here with me. I can have everything taken care of within an hour,” he replies.

“Do it.” Without bothering to end the call, I bolt out of my car at the front entrance of the precinct.

“Pillon!” I yell as I stride past desks and several agents rise, but no one stops me in my manic path to his office.

“Adriano!” I hear Luca, who apparently arrived right after me, shouting from behind me, but I’m too wound up to stop.

I want my wife with me!

Before I’ve even touched the knob, the door is pulled open by Pillon, who’s wearing a superior grin.

“Montesi—”

“Where’s Cam?” I throw open the door with fisted hands, and he steps aside.

The room is empty, much to my chagrin, so I seize his expensive jacket, slamming him back against the wall.

He grunts and holds up his palms.

Someone is tugging me off while I’m seeing red and spit in his face, “Where. Is. She?”

But I’m pulled back by Luca and Carmine.

“You need to keep it cool,” Luca advises, so I reluctantly raise my hands in capitulation and shrug them off.

Pillon rights his jacket while none of the agents in the precinct intervene. I catch his façade wavering when a flash of uncertainty is revealed in his expression.

“This entire precinct is corrupt,” Pillon sneers at the men who aren’t interfering.

“So are you,” I counter. “Where’s Camilla? Tell me before I draw my gun, and trust me, I’m ready to take that risk.”

“She’s fine. In another room, waiting for you.”

“There better not be a scratch on her,” I warn.

“Sit down so we can negotiate.”

Having no other choice and no update from Logan, I sit down in front of his oak desk.

Pillon slams a file on the desk, but I don’t flinch. Instead, I insolently lean back in the chair as a war rages inside me.

“I have a case against the Syndicate. And Camilla Guillermo—”

“Montesi,” I correct him.

He rests both palms on the bureau. “Fine, Camilla
Montesi
is part of the Mafia. And the Syndicate held FBI agent Santino captive and killed him. Now, Yakiv Medlov has been tried and sentenced for that murder, but you and I know that trial was a joke. Either you or he”—he points to Luca standing behind me—“is pulling the strings behind this organization. Now, I’ve had to clear a lot of hurdles, but I still have that tape. You were very smart to help Kaden get voted into the Senate; she’s been trying to get me discredited constantly. But I’m always a step ahead, and I’m still the DA. I’m going to prosecute Camilla and expose Medlov’s trial for the joke it was. Then he’ll be released, and she’ll be convicted. Unless you give me something more valuable. There’s one thing I’m more interested in...”

He lets the insinuation linger and claims his seat behind his desk, but we all know what he’s implying. He wants to bring down the entire Syndicate and become known as the DA who bested the Italian-American Mafia.

My nostrils flare from complete loss of control. The need to lay my eyes on Cam consumes me fully. This perpetual burden of figuring out how to keep my wife and baby safe is draining me. So that leaves me with one choice. The choice I didn’t want to make. But I’m backed into a corner, and there’s only one way out.

“Carmine, Luca, leave us,” I order with deadly calm, without looking at them.

“Adriano—” Luca starts to object.

“Go,” I insist and meet Luca’s upset gaze.

He shakes his head once, pleading with me not to do what he knows my next step will be.

“
Non puoi essere serio, non farlo.
” You can’t be serious, don’t do this.

“
Non me ne vado senza di lei, Luca. Non è un'opzione per me. Abbandoneresti Fallon?
” I’m not leaving her behind here, Luca. That’s not an option. Would you leave Fallon?

His lips thin into a hard line. “I’ll find a way to get you out of here.”

“Go!”

Begrudgingly, Carmine and Luca exit the room.

Pillon rears back in his chair and drums his fingers on the desk.

I make the only choice I can because my love for Cam doesn’t permit me to let her be charged. So I give myself up to save her.

“I’ll give you something more valuable than her.
I
am the boss of this Syndicate. I can give you the names and hierarchy of the entire Chicago Syndicate.”

Pillon’s thick brows climb halfway up his forehead, then he narrows his eyes. “You’ll cooperate with me in building a case against your entire organization?”

“Yes.”

“How do I know you won’t kill me as soon as I release her?”

“If I could’ve killed you, I would’ve done so already. It’s over for me now. All I care about is saving her. The rest of the Syndicate may burn.”

“First, give me some names as insurance.” He fishes out his phone and clicks on his recorder. “Who is the underboss of the Syndicate?”

“No. I want the charges against Camilla dropped. She’s to be freed of any prosecution and not to be indicted.”

He hesitates but replies, “Fine.”

“Who is the underboss of the Chicago Syndicate?” Pillon repeats.

“Luca DeMiliano,” I answer.

“Who is the boss of the Chicago Syndicate?”

“I am, Adriano Montesi.” I lean forward and demand, “I want to see her, Pillon. All bets are off if I can’t see her.”

He’s quiet for a long time, then he presses a button on the desk phone and instructs, “Release Mrs. Montesi and bring her in here.”

Time hangs heavy in the air while I wait with Pillon’s arrogant glare on me. The instant the door rasps, I lunge up and simmer with rage when Cam’s brought in with her hands cuffed behind her back.

“You fucking cuffed her?! Undo them.” I take Cam into my arms as an officer unlocks her restraints, and I rub her wrists. “Are you okay?” I stroke her stomach next, simply because touching her calms my nerves.

She nods and mutters, “What’s going on?”

“Give me a moment alone with her,” I say to Pillon while staring into Cam’s anxious eyes.

“Five minutes,” he replies before he steps out.

Her hand comes up to my face. “What did you do? What’s this about?”

Since time is pressing, I reveal, “The tape is still in his hands, Cam. I didn’t have choice.”

She furrows her delicate brows. “Did...did you give yourself up for me?”

“I had to, Cam.”

“No! No!” She shakes her head frantically, but I brace her cheeks.

“
Calmati
. I don’t want you to stress yourself or the baby. I had to give him me in exchange for you. I can handle jail, Cam. But I can’t live with myself if you have to stay here.”

“But this means you’ll be arrested? And publicly tied to the Syndicate? The media will be all over this. Your reign as boss will be over. What are you doing?”