Mafia Queen

Chapter Forty One

Angelo

Everything seemed to freeze in the room after Charlotte's revelation.

"What do you mean Axel knew?" I growled.

"Wait just a second, okay? It's not what you're thinking..."

"One of you better start explaining." All I wanted to do was rip Axel to shreds, but I was trying desperately to keep my composure.

"Niko was just a kid when Victor killed his mom, and he's been holding on to his anger for years. He worked in the hospital where Victor was when he got diagnosed with cancer and was supposed to be giving him chemo pills, but he never did, and he poisoned him instead. That's what ultimately killed him." Char was still speaking a mile a minute. I frowned, scratching my chin. There was no way that was possible, was there? Shit, if it was, and Luca found out about that... I didn't even want to think about what might happen. He had taken Victor's death so hard and if he found out that Niko contributed to it, he would rip Niko to shreds limb by limb.

"And you knew about it?" I turned to Axel.

"I knew the jist." Axel admitted.

"You bastard. You set us up."

"No." He shook his head wildly. "I didn't have any connection with Niko, I swear. But i did come to Luca because I knew of the connection. I knew it would open an old wound if a Catalano was after Niko's wife, and it would pull Niko out of the shadows. And it worked."

"You used your cousin as bait for that monster and you're gloating about it?" Charlotte's face twisted in rage. "You think that's any better?"

"It doesn't matter." Axel interjected. "I fucked up, and you can all be angry with me later, but we're in too deep now. The only thing that matters is getting enough to bring Niko down."

"No, what matters is bringing Luca home so he can deal with you himself, you selfish bastard." I hissed, narrowing my eyes at him. He was still caught up in closing this case when his cousin's life hung in the balance. He needed to be reminded of the real reason we were doing all of this.

"What were you saying about tonight?" He ignored me and turned his attention to Charlotte.

"He wants us to come back. You and me and a few of the girls form the escort service. He wants to show us his operation so we can decide if we want to buy in." Charlotte was angry with Axel, but not enough to let it interfere with what we had to do, and honestly, I was impressed with the way she kept her emotions in check. Her husband could use a few pointers on that.

I was so conflicted. She was so damn close to bringing Luca home, but she was close to getting herself and all of us killed in the process. The logical part of me knew that I shouldn't let her back in that house, or anywhere near Niko, but the emotional part of me knew that she really was our one chance of bringing Luca home. She had an in, had somehow managed to convince Niko she was a powerful escort runner, and she had him eating out of the palm of her hand, closer than we could even dream about. Not only that, but with this information about Victor, she was unearthing 20-year-old secrets that we didn't even know existed. The hardest part was that I knew if it was any other UC other than Charlotte, I wouldn't hesitate. I'd send her back in until the job was done. But it wasn't a normal UC. It was Luca's wife. She was one of my very best friends, and I couldn't take this lightly.

And she had to go with Axel. I didn't trust him before I found out he used Luca as bait, but with this, it was even worse. That was our only option, though. It would seem too suspicious to pull him out now.

"How many girls?" Axel was already making plans without waiting for my permission.

She shrugged. "Only a few. He said he wanted to meet them."