Mateo Caputo: Unseen Underground Read online

  I slipped out of the dress as Mateo put the kids to bed, and hung it in the bathroom, ready for Mateo to take back to Aida tomorrow, then I lined my shoes up in the closet. I’d never wear them again, but that didn’t mean I wouldn’t keep them. They were a gift, one that I would look at and instantly remember the day.

  Footsteps creaked across the hallway, so I stepped outside the bathroom attached to our bedroom. For three nights we’d slept in the same bed, not touching, not doing anything but knowing what our fate to come was.

  But now we’d made the final step.

  Would he want to do more than seal it was a kiss? My breathing picked up as I saw him leaning against the bedroom door. His eyes were narrowed on me, his lips twisted up on one side. I stood frozen to the spot as he observed me. “I’m sleeping on the sofa,” he announced, pushing up off the door frame. “I’ll see you in the morning.”

  “Wh—”

  He spun around, not giving me the chance to say or do anything.

  He walked away like I didn’t matter.

  He turned his back on me.

  He left me alone.

  Alone.

  It was how I’d always been. Something that I’d gotten used it.

  So why did it feel so gut wrenching when he did it?

  CHAPTER 13

  MATEO

  Romeo was sitting across from me, clicking the top of a pen off and on. Off and on. Off and on. It was driving me fuckin’ crazy, and I had a feeling he knew it was.

  “So, what happens if someone asks point blank if we’re in the Mafia?” Rafael asked, his pen ready to write down notes.

  I closed my eyes, rubbing at my temples, feeling a damn headache coming on. I felt like a third-grade teacher trying to make the kids understand basic math. “It depends who’s asking.”

  “Of course you tell them,” Romeo grunted, completely disregarding what I’d said.

  I snapped my eyes open, gritting my teeth. He smirked at me. Bastard. “No,” I told him, trying to keep my cool. I’d been locked in this room with Romeo, Rafael, and Mario for what felt like days, but in reality, was only a few hours. Lorenzo had wanted me to show them the ropes, and that was what I was trying to do. It was when I took them on a run to check on one of our warehouses that I realized they didn’t know the basic things about being in a criminal organization.

  How? I had no fuckin’ idea. So, I’d decided to start from the beginning. I couldn’t expect them to have my back when they didn’t even know how to.

  “Yes,” Romeo answered, dropping his pen on the table and leaning forward. “You instill the fear in them and they won’t fuck with you.”

  One side of my lips lifted. I was mocking him, and if his narrowed eyes were anything to go by, he knew it. “So you want to use the threat of what could happen because you’re a member of the Mafia, rather than build a relationship with a potential ally?” He pursed his lips, but his silence told me he was listening. “It doesn’t matter who it is, you’ll never know what they can offer you until you do your intel. Don’t go into any situation thinking you know what the outcome will be.” I tilted my head to the side. “Things change. Which is why you should always be on alert. Sometimes the best time to get information is when someone doesn’t know who you are.”

  Romeo leaned back in his seat, his attention not moving off of me. He’d been under his father for a year before Lorenzo had switched him under me. Not only that, but both he and Rafael had an idea of what we were because they’d grown up with a captain in their house. But that didn’t mean they’d make good soldiers themselves. They may have been blood, but Lorenzo made it clear that it wouldn’t define what their positions would be here.

  “You have a point,” Mario said, steepling his hands in front of him. His ink black hair was too long for my taste, curling around his ears, but he was dedicated to the job. And unlike Romeo and Rafael, he wasn’t blood related. No, he was like me. Willing to do the hard work so that he could get ahead in life.

  My satellite phone beeped with a message, and one word flashed up on the screen. Here.

  I glanced over at the screen, seeing yet another different car at the gates. He never drove the same one twice, just one of his many quirks.

  Wheeling my chair over to the wall of screens showing each camera in the house, I hit the button to open the gates. The button the soldiers used to let us know someone was there flashed, telling them without words that he’d been let in by the command center.

  “That’s it for today,” I said, turning back to face the three men. “You can go.”

  Rafael and Mario stood, not second guessing what I’d said, but Romeo stayed put.

  “Romeo,” Rafael said, pausing halfway between the table and the door. “Come on.”

  “He’s staying,” I told Rafael as I punched in the code to let them out of the room. They hadn’t earned the right to know the code yet, but Romeo had. Which was why I figured he could stay. He needed to know that he could trust me, and vice versa. The fact of the matter was, he wasn’t like Rafael and Mario. He had experience under his belt, and before I’d become his captain, we’d gotten along.

  The door clicked shut behind the two new soldiers. I turned to face Romeo, filling him in. “Mr. Blue is here to update us.”

  “Mr. Blue?” Romeo sat up straighter. Maybe he’d thought I would throw him out of the room. I wouldn’t though. We needed to get rid of the tension between us. We needed to be on the same wavelength, otherwise this wouldn’t work.

  “Yep.” I leaned against the wall, my gaze scanning the screens and tracking Mr. Blue as he entered the house. “Before he gets here.” I turned my attention back to Romeo. “I know you’re frustrated.” He opened his mouth, but I had zero fuckin’ intent on getting into it with him right now. “You’re used to being under your father.” I pushed off the wall. “But I do things differently. If you don’t like it, then maybe you should ask Lorenzo to go back under Antonio.”

  “No,” he ground out, his jaw tensing. “I was the one who asked to be put under you,” he said, his voice low. He wasn’t looking at me, instead staring at a spot on the opposite wall. “You’ve got no idea what it’s like to have a man like Antonio as a father.” His shoulders moved up and down as he took a breath, his words haunted by memories.

  He’d never opened up about what his life was like, but the way he’d said those words made me think his childhood hadn’t been so easy. Antonio was the torturer of the organization, the thought of his methods making me wince. I could only imagine what it had been like for Romeo. I’d assumed that he was like his father, but maybe he was the way he was for a different reason.

  “So yeah,” he continued, shaking his head. “I’m just…finding my feet.”

  I nodded, not needing anything more than what he’d said. I didn’t want him to spill his deepest darkest thoughts, I just needed to know that he was with me and not against me.

  Two knocks rapped on the door, and I input the code, pushing what Romeo had just said aside, and letting Mr. Blue in. He rushed into the room and slammed a briefcase on the table, not taking a second glance at Romeo. He didn’t need to, he’d run deep background checks on every member of the Beretta Mafia. He probably knew us all better than we knew ourselves.

  I waited until the door was shut, cutting us off from the rest of the world. Not a soul could hear what was said inside this room.

  “I did it,” he announced, clipping open the locks on his bulletproof briefcase. He pulled out several devices, hooking them up to each other. “Took me a while, but it’s impenetrable now.”

  “Well shit.” My eyes widened, my body thrumming with excitement. This was a game changer. “I can’t believe you actually did it.”

  He didn’t reply, instead he twisted a button on one of the devices, and voices filled the room.

  “He’s at his usual meeting place,” a female voice said.

  “Who’s he with?” a man asked.

  “Don’t know. I’ll put a tail on them
to find out,” the same woman replied.

  The man snorted. “Good. He’s such a fool.” Their laughter crackled at the speakers and I winced. “He has no idea what’s coming his way.”

  “Yep.” The woman sighed. “He’s leaving now. The tail is on him.”

  Mr. Blue turned the button down, leaving just a murmur in the background. “You’ll be on the front foot now,” he said, clipping his empty briefcase closed. He handed me a piece of paper. “Payment to this account.”

  “I’ll have it wired within the hour,” I told him, pushing the paper in my pocket then jabbed the numbers in the keypad to let him out. He left without another word, no doubt not wanting to be here a second longer than he had to be.

  “Who are we listening in on?” Romeo asked, standing and moving closer to the equipment on the table.

  “The FBI that’s listening in on Dante.”

  Romeo’s head whipped around, his eyes wide. “Yeah?”

  “Yep.” I strolled toward him, staring down at the devices. “We’re in the calm before the storm, Romeo. Things are gonna get messy.” It was the truth. We’d been through so much shit over the last couple of years, but it had been quiet on the organization front, if you didn’t count the two men I’d shot in The Enterprise meeting. But all things considered, it had been peaceful.

  Not for long though.

  The FBI were biding their time, but so were we. They thought they were ahead of us, but we were already several feet away from the finishing line and they weren’t even half way there.

  “I’m ready,” he grunted, standing to his full height.

  I didn’t answer him. It didn’t matter whether he was ready or not, when the waves came thrashing, he wouldn’t have a choice.

  * * *

  LUNA

  “Are they nice, Luna?” Chiara asked, the side of her entire body pressed up against mine in the back of the taxi.

  I gnawed on my bottom lip, trying to figure out the best way to answer her. “Aida is nice. And her husband, Lorenzo, is Mateo’s boss. So they must be nice if Mateo works with them.” I breathed a sigh of relief at my diplomatic answer.

  “Don’t worry, Chiara,” Cardo said, taking her hand in his. “I’ll be there.” I smiled as he reassured his little sister. The bond they had was unlike anything I’d ever seen.

  “And me and Mateo will be too.” I stroked her hair, feeling the bumps of her braid over my fingers.

  She nodded, gripping Cardo’s hand and pushing closer to me. She was only four, but her mind was so much more mature than that. It had to be with what she’d lived with for the first years of her life. But now it was time for her to just be a kid. To play. To laugh. To not worry about what she’d find in her apartment when she got home from school.

  Mateo may have ignored me and slept on the sofa for the last two weeks, but with Cardo and Chiara around, I filled my time making memories with them. Memories they’d never gotten the chance to make. I didn’t want to be their mom, but I wanted them to know I would always be there for them, no matter what happened.

  Chiara gasped as we pulled up at the gate and I grinned. I’d felt like that the first time I’d seen the place too.

  I pulled some cash out of my jeans pocket and handed it to the driver. “Thanks.” Popping open the back door, I then slid out, and held my hand out for Chiara. Her little hand was swallowed by mine, her big eyes staring at the two men on either side of the gate. She was scared, but there was a note of intrigue shining in her beautiful eyes.

  “Whoa.” Cardo’s voice echoed around us as he jumped—literally—out of the car. We stayed put as it reversed away from the gates then drove off. “Who are they?” He pointed to the two men whose stern faces were turned our way. I wasn’t sure how to answer Cardo because I assumed they were part of the organization. How was I meant to explain to a four and seven-year-old what the Mafia was?

  My eyes widened as I realized I’d brought them to the house of a Mafia boss. Dammit. What if Mateo didn’t want them here? He hadn’t introduced the kids to Aida, maybe there was a reason behind it?

  Either way, it was too late now because we were already here.

  I pushed my shoulders back, holding my other hand out for Cardo. He took it without hesitation, then I walked us up to the gates and told the man on the left, “Aida invited us.”

  “Name?” he barked.

  “I’m Luna, this is Riccardo and Chiara.” I paused. “Caputo. Luna Caputo.”

  He blinked, his mouth popping open. I hadn’t thought about the fact that he’d know the name Caputo, but of course he would. Mateo had told me he was a captain, that meant he was someone of importance. Not to mention, he was always with Lorenzo and taking Aida wherever she needed to go. He was close with them—like family.

  “Go right in,” the other soldier said, and a second later, the gates creaked open.

  We walked through the open spot, up the driveway, and passed the water feature. The kids were quiet, probably taking it all in. It was a beautiful house, one that I was sure people got lost in.

  “Knock on the door,” I told Cardo as we halted in front of the huge wooden doors. They were just as grand as the rest of the house. We stood there, waiting for someone to answer, and after a couple of minutes, I wondered if something was wrong. Aida had told me what time to come, and we were only a few minutes early. “Knock aga—”

  The door flung open, Aida’s grinning face appearing. “You’re here!” She darted forward and wrapped her arms around me but I couldn’t do it back because both kids were holding my hands in bruising grips now.

  “We are,” I replied, my voice muffled by her hair in my face.

  She pulled back, her gaze drifting lower to Cardo and Chiara. “Oh my God.” She crouched down, teetering on the heels she was wearing. “Hi.” She lifted her hand, waving, her grin still in place. “I’m Aida, and this is my home.” She paused, but only to inhale a breath. “You must be Chiara. Your hair is so pretty.”

  Chiara glanced up at me, her little cheeks blushing. “Luna did my hair. She’s the best at hair.”

  “She is,” Aida said, smiling at me then turning to Cardo. “And you must be Riccardo.”

  He puffed his chest out, his usual confidence coming back full force. “I am.” His gaze flicked around the mansion. “How much did this place cost?”

  I choked on a laugh, surprised by his blurted question.

  “Well…” Aida bit down on her bottom lip, clearly trying to keep in her own laugh. “I—”

  “My dad bought it for two million about forty years ago,” a new voice said. My body automatically froze at the sound of it. I couldn’t help but have a reaction. “You want a tour, little man?”

  “Erm…” Cardo looked at me, then Chiara, his eyes lighting up. It was clear he wanted to go, but his protective instincts were keeping him in place.

  “Go,” I told him, letting his hand go. “Go and explore. Chiara is fine with me.”

  At my words, his face lit up. “Let’s do it,” he said, stepping toward Lorenzo. “What’s your name?”

  “Lorenzo.”

  “Cool. I’m Riccardo, but all my friends call me Cardo.” He paused as he walked beside Lorenzo into the house. “That’s what you can call me.”

  “You got it,” Lorenzo said, smirking down at him. “What do you want see first? The fort I built when I was your age, or the—”

  “Fort!” He punched the air. “I’ve never been in a fort.”

  They turned a corner and I lost sight of them. But I knew he would be safe here. If anything, this was probably the safest place we’d ever be.

  “Well, looks like they’re fast friends,” Aida commented, standing up and waving us inside.

  “Cardo will do that to you,” I told her, winking down at Chiara. “I fell in love with him the moment he shouted, “hey lady,” at me.” I laughed, remembering how he accosted me and started a conversation with a total stranger.

  Aida led us down the wide hallway and to a room
on the right. Sofa’s took up the middle of the room with a swinging chair attached to the ceiling. “He’s Mateo’s brother, that’s for sure.” The sound of Mateo’s name had my stomach dipping, and I couldn’t help but wonder how he’d act toward me now we were around Aida and Lorenzo again. Would he ignore me like he did at home, only talking when he absolutely had to, or would be act like we were as close as two peas in a pod?

  “Can I go on that?” Chiara asked, pointing her little finger toward the swing chair.

  I swung my gaze toward Aida, and when she nodded, I placed her on the swing chair, pulling her sneakers off so that she could put her feet up. She crossed her legs, amazed by the egg type shape, and leaned back, the swing moving with her.

  “I’m nervous,” Aida whispered to me. “Can you tell?”

  I shook my head, not taking my eyes off Chiara. “Not at all.” Turning to her, I asked, “Where’s Mateo?”

  “In the command center with Romeo.” She rolled her eyes. “Remember the guy I told you about that refused to talk to me that day at coffee?” My breaths sawed in and out as I realized she was talking about the man I’d stolen from. The one who had hit me over the head and dragged me here. My hand unconsciously drifted to the healing cut.

  “Is he erm…staying for dinner too?”

  “Probably. He’s Lorenzo’s cousin—”

  “Luna?” My shoulders stiffened at the deep voice. “What are you—”

  “Mateo!” Chiara shouted, trying to get off the swing, but each time she lunged forward, the swing took her backward.

  I rushed forward and helped her off it, trying not to meet Mateo’s stare as I turned. I kept my attention on Chiara as she ran toward him, jumping through the air. He caught her effortlessly, wrapping his arms around her.

  “What are you doing here?” he asked her, his voice softer than it had been when he was talking to me.