Mafia Queen

Chapter Nineteen

Luca

A little while later, Olinski sent the text confirming that they bombed the warehouse. They were still sorting through the wreckage, but it looked like there were no survivors. He sent over the addresses of two secondary locations that shot callers might be tonight, and Angelo wasted no time getting that information out.

"How do you guys feel about handling this on your own tonight?" I put my hands behind my head and leaned back in my chair. There were only two additional locations, and I was feeling pretty confident about things tonight. Niko was in the factory. These other guys would be a piece of cake. They could handle it and I could get home and get started on making things right with my family.

Both of their eyes widened and Angelo nearly had to pick his jaw up off the floor.

"You're serious?"

I nodded, in disbelief myself. "I just feel like things are covered here. Too many cooks in the kitchen, you know? Especially if Niko is out and there are only two locations."

"I think it's about damn time you're putting your family first." Angelo chuckled. "We've got this covered. Go home to your family."

"Are you sure—"

"Yes, I'm fucking sure. Trust me, this shit will always be here. Your wife may not, especially after the shit you've put her through the last few days."

I rolled my eyes. "She'll be fine. Nothing a little tender loving care won't fix. But seriously, I appreciate this. Char will be so surprised to see me."

"I'll call you as soon as we know how many bodies we've got in the warehouse. And Olinski knows to personally identify Niko. He won't slip through the cracks."

I nodded, confident in my organization. "What safe house do you have Serena in?"

"Are you out of your mind? We're handling things here for you so you can go home to your family, not to some manipulative prostitute." Angelo growled, slamming his fist on the table. He'd had enough of the bullshit with Serena, too.

I rolled my eyes at his outburst. Of course, I wasn't going to go to Serena myself. That would pretty much solidify the destruction of my marriage. "I'm not going because I want to see Serena, Angelo. I told Charlotte she could meet her."

"That's an even worse idea than you going." Marco burst out laughing. "Char will eat that poor girl alive."

"I don't disagree." I sighed. "But I need to prove to Charlotte that this was nothing more than business. She wants Serena to look her in the eye and tell her we weren't sleeping together."

"Boy, she is handling this better than I thought she would." Angelo shook his head with a laugh.

The corners of my lips turned up. "We've created a monster. Anyway, I am going to let Charlotte talk to her, supervised of course, and then I will send Serena to the airport. She'll be on a plane to Germany in three hours."

"And hopefully gone for good." Angelo chided. "Go. We'll keep you updated."

I stood up, grabbing my coat from the chair. I couldn't wait to see the look on Charlotte's face when I walked through the door. It was getting late and she would probably be in bed or asleep by the time I got there. Hopefully, she wasn't completely sloshed like she'd been last night. Somehow, I pulled this off.

I got to the safe house quickly, and everything looked as it should. One of my men was posted at the driveway entrance and waved when I passed by. I knocked on the door and listened carefully for Serena's approaching footsteps on the other side. A few minutes went by and she hadn't come to the door, so I knocked again. "Serene, open up. It's Luca."

Shuffling feet sounded on the other side of the door. The door cracked open and two green eyes peered around the corner as if she was trying to be sure I was who I said.

Her relief was almost audible when she saw it really was me. "Luca! I wasn't expecting to see you." I stared blankly at her for a second, realizing she had answered the door almost completely naked, just a bra and underwear covering her up. She said she wasn't expecting me, but I didn't trust that.

"It's done, Serena." I brushed past her into the house, not mincing my words. "Niko is dead. This is all over."

Serena's face paled as she absorbed my words. Her expression was blank, as if she was in a trance, and didn't know whether to believe me or not. Finally, she opened her mouth to speak. "Are you sure?"

"Yes, Serena. It's over. You'll be on a plane back to your son by the end of the night." I smiled triumphantly. Delivering good news to people like this would never get old. Serena's entire life was about to change and we had a hand in that.

Serena let out a harsh sob, gasping for air as tears sprung to her eyes. She reached out for the door frame to steady herself, overcome with emotion. "Luca, I don't even know what to say. When we started this, I never thought..." She threw her arms around my neck, hugging me tightly, and pressing a kiss to my cheek.

"Serena..." I protested, putting as much distance between the two of us as possible. "You don't need to thank me. I couldn't have done this without your help. This was a business deal, we both benefited from it. But I need you to do something for me now."

"I'll do anything. You've saved my life." Serena's voice was still brimming with emotion. "I could never repay you for this, Luca. Never."

"My wife wants to meet you. Niko made sure it looked like we were having an affair, doctoring all kinds of those pictures and trying to out me to the press." Serena's eyes widened and she tensed. "Charlotte wants to hear from you that we weren't sleeping together, that this was business."

Serena let out a sharp laugh and bit her lip. "Wow. I certainly wasn't expecting that."

"It will only be a few minutes, and I will have my driver meet you at my house so he can take you right to the airport."

"I kind of like the idea of people thinking we slept together." She giggled, twirling her hair in her fingers.

I narrowed my eyes at her. "I don't. Especially not my wife."

"You must really like this woman." She seemed shocked, as if the entire concept of love was foreign to her. Especially a love like the one Charlotte and I had.

"Love." I answered. "I love this woman with my entire soul. And these past few days have been hell on her because I was trying to help you." I countered, trying to make her understand.

Serena pursed her lips, mulling over what I had said. "Okay." She said, finally agreeing. As soon as did, I breathe a huge sigh of relief. I knew this was a crazy idea, but it was the only way I could show Charlotte how serious I was.

A part of me felt like I was leading Serena into a lioness's den, but something told me Serena could handle her own. With any luck, this would be a short meeting and I could get Serena on her way to the airport.