Quiet Power (Quiet Mafia Book 3) Read online

  “We will get through this, but—”

  “I know.” She took a deep breath and hesitated, and it reminded me that she and Mama had already hatched a plan.

  “You should go.”

  She sighed and pulled back, but I grabbed her head and pressed my lips hard against hers. Again, she tightened at my touch, but a moment later she surrendered, and I knew as she relaxed and kissed me back that we were going to be all right.

  Donte was leaning against the counter when I came in, and the moment he registered me, he shook his head and stepped back. His gaze swept quickly around at Nonna’s new soldiers, who now seemed to hover everywhere now, and cleared his throat.

  “Ah, boss, this was left for you.” He pointed to the counter, knowing better than to have touched it. As I studied it, Niccola and Vinni came in and joined us. Then Mama, who looked as though she hadn’t slept all night, emerged from behind them and gave me a slight nod to read it.

  “She traced the words, La Fine.” Donte’s tone made me look up.

  It was written in flour, which he knew meant it was for me.

  “What context is this?” I grated.

  “I told her about the story that Niccola used to share about you. About how you were in love with someone, and that’s why you didn’t date.” He cleared his throat. “The look on her face told me everything. When I told her I knew it was her, she begged me not to tell a soul. That’s Sienna, making sure everyone else around her is all right, even at her own expense.”

  “Donte,” I warned, not needing a rundown on Sienna’s personality.

  “She’s saying your story is over, boss. La Fine,” he blurted then averted his eyes from me.

  I turned away from them and broke the seal on the envelope she left. The necklace she always wore was curled in the corner of the fold, and I slid it out into my palm. My heart skipped a beat as I realized the bear pendant no longer rested against the crow. I grasped the chain and threaded it through my fingers as I tugged the paper out. The room went silent as her words flooded my head and my stomach sank.

  Dearest Elio and Capris,

  As a little girl, I dreamed of having a place I could call home, a room that was just for me, and parents who would tuck me in, kiss me goodnight, and chase the monsters away.

  Then one day I met you by the pond. You earned my trust and slowly became my friend. You taught me what it meant to share life experiences, and I eagerly awaited each note you would leave for me tucked in the trunk of a tree. As the years went on, I fell totally in love with you and let my guard down enough to finally meet your family.

  I never thought I would ever be so accepted by anyone, let alone complete strangers, and to feel their warmth and love was overpowering. I’ll admit I was nervous at first. Who could blame me? It was my first interaction with people who were so obviously happy and wanted to share it with me. You brought me that.

  Then just as I became comfortable and felt a sense of belonging, my entire world disappeared. Nothing was left of you but a picture and a broken heart.

  The only way I could cope with my loss was to put you in a box and seal it up tight in the fear that, over the years, if I slipped in a moment of weakness and thought of you, I wouldn’t be damaged.

  Moving on was the hardest thing I’d ever done.

  Then life brought you back into my world.

  I was tested, and I failed.

  You chewed me up, swallowed me down, and spat me back out.

  I thought I was doing everything right.

  I thought my loyalty was enough.

  I thought I was enough.

  I never asked for this. I am not this.

  But I know as I’m sitting here writing these words that this is it for us.

  This is where we are supposed to say goodbye.

  I can’t—won’t go through that again.

  Instead, I will go.

  Thank you for my memories. They will always remind me of what family should mean.

  I’ll be all right and will do what I do best—survive.

  Because I’ve put you back in the box.

  Because some dreams are just not meant to be.

  Once yours,

  Sienna Giovanna

  Formally known as

  Alessia Coppola

  Once I finished reading the note, I handed it to Mama. Her body language and glance told me to listen. One of the new soldiers was on the phone reporting to Nonna that there was a note left from Sienna. I gave Mama a nod of understanding as I tucked the necklace into my pocket and headed for the front door. Papa, who I hadn’t seen since the whole episode with Sienna, had just returned, looking darker than I’d ever seen before.

  “Papa?” I stepped in his way, blocking him from the door.

  “Deal with the warehouse then come see me right after,” he growled.

  “All right.” I wanted to press more, but the clock was ticking. I headed for the car.

  “Elio?” Papa called after me.

  “Yeah?”

  He rubbed his bottom lip and hesitated. I could see the storm inside him was brewing strong. “Watch your back.”

  “Understood.”

  He brushed by one of Nonna’s new soldiers, nearly knocking him over.

  “Now what do we do?” Niccola asked as he came up behind me.

  “Our job,” I said as I dropped my sunglasses down and made my way into the sunlight.

  “What about Sienna?”

  One of my soldiers opened the car door for me while a few others stood at the bottom of the staircase per my nonna’s request. I looked over the car roof at Niccola, who looked unsure where my head was.

  “No one told her to leave.”

  “No one told her to stay either,” he countered.

  “She’s a Coppola.” I gritted the word through a tight jaw. “That alone is enough.”

  “People would kill for a love like yours.”

  “At least we get to kill.” My tone gave him the warning to drop the topic.

  “All right.” He opened his door slowly. “Just seems wrong to me you didn’t go after her.”

  I refused to comment and slipped behind the wheel. He dropped heavily into his seat and shut his door.

  We had some people to deal with, and I needed her out of my head. I tore out of the driveway, leaving a dust cloud behind to drift over the new soldiers. When we were far enough away from the house, I made an effort to settle my temper.

  “Elio, I just—”

  “Do you really think I would let her leave?”

  “Wait,” the corners of his eyes lit up, “so, you’re going after her?”

  I glanced at him as I slammed my foot on the brake at a stop sign.

  “When?”

  “Mama and I already have a plan in motion.” I shifted into first gear. “Right now, all eyes are on Sienna and me, and if things don’t look legit, Nonna will know something’s up.”

  He sat in silence, mulling over my words. “I feel like I don’t have the entire story of what’s going on here.”

  I sighed heavily, and he nodded and let it go. He quieted, and I knew his mind was still working.

  Every second that went by, I burned with the urge to go to her, but I needed to play this out carefully. One wrong move, and things could go sideways again. I hated how blinded I’d been by my love for my nonna, that I’d questioned the one person in my life who had never given up on me. But Nonna had always been my rock in the family. She was the top of the hierarchy, one you’d never suspect of betrayal. No one in the family would ever question the motives of those above them. Ever.

  “Does she know how you feel?” Niccola asked. “That you’re not mad.”

  “Mama spoke to her last night, cleared the air on a few things. I went in afterward, and we’re good. But I didn’t know she was going to leave when she did.”

  “I don’t blame her. I wouldn’t want to be anywhere near Nonna right now.”

  “Yeah.”

  “And the fact th
at she’s a Coppola?”

  I glared at my cousin and shook my head, unable to go there just yet. He held up a hand to show he understood and let it go.

  “I can’t believe Nonna knew who she was before you did.”

  I let the anger that I had pushed aside moments ago seep back in.

  Once at the warehouse, I felt my blood race like ice through my veins. The normal excitement I felt at these moments was absent. Today I fell into a darker place. As I hurried through the underground pathways, I could hear the whispers of those we held in our cells. We weren’t total savages, but we kept our enemies for a while before we disposed of them. Sometimes the mere idea of being trapped underground, with an unknown death date, played on the mind enough to make a man squeal what he’d been hiding.

  I stood in front of a wrought iron door and watched as six Coppola rats blinked back at me from the shadows. The whites of their eyes caught the low lighting and outed their locations.

  Stefano was relentless with his army. Every time we turned around, more crawled out from between the cracks and tried to burrow their way into our lives. Lately, it had become even more blatant, and I couldn’t help but wonder if he was becoming desperate or if it was just another distraction to draw our focus away from what was really going on.

  “They were found sniffing around the market, near our wine vendors,” Donatello joined me, “harassing the locals and kicking up dust about the explosion your girl was involved in.”

  I glanced over at him, puzzled. I had just assumed, given all that was going on, that the bomb that hit Sienna was a Coppola hit. Was it not? Or maybe they knew even before Sienna did that she was a Coppola, and wanted to remove the problem before she figured it out for herself.

  “My thoughts, too.” He nodded as he read my expression. “Anyway, I figured you’d want to be the first one to question them. I’ll get out the tools.”

  My patience for the Coppola family had just about run out, but I needed to keep my cool now more than ever. One slip, and I could screw everything up.

  “No, dip them instead.”

  “Sure, boss.” Donatello motioned for the soldiers to take the men into the other room.

  The first three men were handcuffed to a pully and lifted into the air, while the other three sagged against the damp wall, their eyes fixed on their fate. A motorized system transported the dangling bodies toward a pit I’d had my men dig a couple years back when I was feeling inventive. I lifted my hand to signal to Donatello to begin. The gears grated, then very slowly, each was lowered a little until they realized they were above a pit of tar.

  “Imagine thick tar coating your lungs while pushing any air left up and out of your throat.” I began to pace in front of them. “Your instinct is to kick and thrash, but you are barely able to move, leaving just your brain to fire off cold, pure fear. Finally, acceptance kicks in that you are slowly dying, drowning in thick, black sludge.” I shrugged without any emotion. “To think you could have prevented all of this by simply telling me what I need to know.” I twisted my cufflink while my words sank in. “I will make this very simple,” I commanded over the sound of the gears. “Why were you asking about the bombing in the town?”

  When none of them spoke, I flicked my finger, and the gears lowered them until they were knee deep in the tar.

  “I’m not in the habit of repeating myself, and I think it’s very clear that your fearless leader will not be showing up to save you. You are merely a number to him, a pebble in one’s shoe.” I stared at the one who looked like he might crack. “Speak now, and I might spare your life, or…” I glanced at Donatello, and the men were lowered to their waists.

  “Because!” the one in the middle blurted and kicked out at his buddy as he snarled at him. He closed his eyes tight, clearly ready to lose his nerve.

  “Because?” I repeated, taking a step closer.

  “Because it—”

  “Traitor!” one of the men against the wall called out and gasped as one of my soldiers punched him hard in the stomach. I pointed in the air, signaling to Donatello to release one of the men, and he dropped heavily into the thick tar. He wiggled and screamed briefly as he sank, but there was no hope. His hands were still bound, and the pit was deep.

  “You were saying?” I encouraged the man who had spoken. He was now pasty white and dripping sweat. He looked over at me. The other men were silent, most likely in shock. I wasn’t interested in them.

  “Will you spare my life?”

  “Depends.”

  “Stefano won’t!” his partner shouted. “Tar or Stefano?” He spat off to the side. “I’ll take the tar.”

  “Very well.” A moment later, he too fell to his death. I was impressed; he didn’t scream like the other one did. “Now, why were you asking questions?” Silence fell over the remaining man as he twirled slowly in the air. I grew annoyed. “Donatello.” I turned to leave when the gears started to squeak.

  “Because it wasn’t our hit!” The man finally finished his sentence, stopping me in my tracks.

  “Tell me more,” I said over my shoulder, needing him to repeat what he had just said.

  “We were told to sniff around because it wasn’t our hit.” He fought to catch his breath as the tar oozed over his shoulders. “Stefano is panicking because there is a third player after her.”

  The blood drained from my head as I stood like stone. Sienna was a Coppola, and that changed things, but if there was a third party in town, how did I not know about it? Or was it my nonna and her men who wanted to get rid of her on their own?

  “What else?”

  “Nothing. We get told very little, just to not come home until we know something.”

  “Did you find out anything at the market?”

  “No,” he shook his head, “your men got to us first.”

  I glanced over at the other men, who watched us intently.

  “What about you?” I locked my gaze on one of them. After a moment, the light in his eyes faded and his lids lowered as he spoke.

  “I stand with the Coppola family.”

  “Drop them all,” I shouted as I turned and raced out of the room.

  I didn’t have time for pathetic pride or useless wails.

  “Someone pissed off the devil,” one of the rats called from one of the cells, so I pulled my gun and shot at him without missing a stride. I hoped his screams of agony would add fear to those who were left.

  I lowered my sunglasses as I burst through the door to the outside. Anger coursed through my blood, making me see red. I was tired of the secrets and lies, tired of not knowing what the hell was going on until it was too late to do anything about it.

  “Boss?” Niccola caught up to me, huffing. I held up a hand to keep him at bay.

  “How could I not have known?” I boomed.

  “None of us thought there could be someone else involved. We just assumed it was Stefano…” He paused and joined my side. He changed his tone. He knew there was so much more than this eating away at my core. “It’s just a name, boss. She’s still Sienna.”

  He lowered his eyes when I glared that he even went there.

  He cleared his throat, knowing he was pushing all my buttons. “Don’t let a name change a lifetime of feelings between you.”

  I wanted to lash at him for harping on a topic I didn’t want to discuss but stopped myself. I could ride this out alone or…I pulled out my wallet and handed him the paper Sienna had found in Nonna’s car.

  “What’s this?”

  “I think it’s time you knew the truth about Nonna.”

  The hotel ceiling had swirls that went off in different patterns. Since I was on a two-day cry binge, it didn’t take me long to discover that it was a maze. With a heavy arm, I lifted my hand to trace the paths and found my way out. Now if only I could do that in real life.

  I slipped into a memory.

  I lay on my side, numb and cold with my eyes fixed somewhere outside the window. The murmurs from downstairs, whic
h normally I’d find comfort in, now made me feel like I didn’t belong. My head swam with the truth, and my heart fought to care to beat anymore. I flinched when the bedroom door opened and rolled my head to see who it was. The darkness kept the visitor hidden. That was until her soft, beloved touch brushed down my arm, outing who it was.

  “Cuoricino?” She spoke softly as I shifted over to let her sit next to me. She brushed my hair off my face and wrapped me in her arms. “I’m sorry, Sienna, for the way we behaved downstairs. It just took us all by surprise.”

  “I swear, Andrea, I had no idea.” I struggled through the knot in my throat.

  “I know.” She hugged me tighter. “Never once did I think otherwise.”

  “Do you look at me differently now?” I had to know to protect myself from the blow of losing this family again.

  “I look at you the way I always have, like the daughter I’ve always wanted.” She kissed my hair, and I let out a silent sob of relief. I should have known better than to think Piero and Andrea would ever think I’d keep secrets from them. Secrets were the root of all evil and never got anyone anywhere. But…

  “And Elio?” I managed to get out.

  “He loves you, Sienna. It’s just…” She trailed off, and I squinted to look up at her, but it was too dark to make out her face.

  “Just what?”

  “Maybe it’s time I shared something with you, and then I will explain what we are going to do.”

  A voice pulled me from my memory. “You need to eat.” Ugo was at the edge of the bed looking down at me, concerned. I struggled to hold on to my memory, but it flittered away. I forced myself to recall what he’d just said.

  “I will, I promise.” I closed my eyes as tears prickled. I loved that Andrea had come to talk to me that night. Her love and her kind words made me feel a lot better. But the fact that Elio had come himself filled me up and helped a great deal to repair my torn heart. The truth, however, was what it was, and no matter how much they tried to put a good face on it, the shock of knowing the truth was incredibly unsettling, not only to them, but to me. I didn’t blame Francesco. How could I? He’d kept me safe and brought me Elio; he gave me happiness. But my mother? How could my own mother hold such a secret from me? How could I know if that was even the last of it? Could there be even more hateful things I didn’t know about? Would Elio and I be strong enough to get through any more?