Nico

I glanced out of the estate gatehouse at vanloads of security guys showing up by the dozen. I pressed the phone tighter to my ear. I had to get off this call pronto. 'Yeah. I understand. No problem. I'll handle it."


I hung up and went out there to deal with the situation. Levi Evangelista had called in all these additional security guys. Now, it was my job to lick them into shape so they didn't do us more harm than good.

Some big, fat bastard with more chins than brain cells bellied up to the gatehouse. Art, the family-assigned gatehouse guard, raised his eyebrows at me. He made a show of turning his back when the lard-ass threw back his shoulders and scowled at me. 'Who's in charge here?"

'Not you, jackass. Now pull in your gut before you bust yourself. Let me guess. How many miles did you do on the treadmill this week?"


Some of the other security guards started laughing, and the guy turned bright red. 'We're professionals, and I'm the sergeant-at-arms in charge of this team. We're here to guard this estate, and I'll just…"

'Who told you that you were here to guard the estate? Whoever told you that made a mistake. You aren't here to guard the estate at all."


The guy frowned. 'What are we here for, then?"

'You're here to receive your orders… from me. You might be the sergeant-at-arms in charge of this team out there…" I pointed behind him toward Manhattan's Riverside Drive. Then I jerked my thumb over my shoulder toward the estate. 'In here, you're shit. Understand? You're what I say you are, and right now, you aren't fit to guard a pile of steaming dog shit on the sidewalk, much less the important people who live here."

The guy's jaw dropped. The rest of the crew gathered around to listen. Art craned his head out and grinned behind my back.

I sliced my forefinger at them all. 'You boys, line up along the driveway here."

They couldn't fall over themselves fast enough to follow my orders. They were learning, which meant they weren't all totally brainless.

I strode down the line and measured each one with an unerring eye. I pointed to the ones who obviously worked out. A fraction of those had the nerve to make eye contact with me. I separated them from the rest and told them to line up on the opposite side of the driveway.

I got a notepad from the guardhouse and scribbled on it. I tore off strips of paper and handed them to the sorry crowd left.

'Each of you will report to the address on your slip. You'll report to the men already stationed there, and you'll follow their orders to the letter if you want to get paid. Each of them will be reporting to me, so if I hear about any sergeants-at-arms or fat bastards throwing their weight around, I won't be happy."

The tub on the far end frowned at his paper slip. 'But… this is all wrong. We were told we would be guarding this address. This is all the way over in the Bronx."

'Do you have a problem with that?" I asked.

'But…"

'This is the address you're being paid to guard, and right now, you boys are the lowest-ranked guards in a much, much bigger organization. We already have hundreds of guards who are better trained and a hell of a lot more loyal than you are. You boys get back in your vans and go to your addresses… or you can go home. It's your choice."

They sloped back to their vans, most of them frowning and some even grumbling. I watched them go in disgust. Those cocksucking Navaros did this. We wouldn't need to hire in ringers from town if the Navaros weren't causing so much trouble.

I went over to Art and wrote out a bunch of names on the same paper pad. 'Call these guys and tell them to come back to the estate on the double. Then call these guys over here and warn them about these slackers on their way in. Tell them to put the screws to them and don't spare the whip."

'You got it. What do you want to do withthem?" He nodded toward the guys I posted on the other side of the driveway.

'I'll deal with them."

He pulled his head in and got on the phone. I strode over to the last ten waiting for me. They all stood up straight. None of them bothered to hide the fact that they were measuring me the same way I was measuring them. Good. That was what I was looking for.

'All right, boys. Listen up. We got a situation here. I'm going to arm you all and change your uniforms. Then I'm going to post you on a rotation around the grounds. This estate is ten acres with a six-and-a-half-foot wall around the perimeter. We need to patrol it around the clock. I'll assign you your positions, and you'll rotate them every half hour. When you reach the end of your rotation, you'll do a rotation on patrol going around the exterior and the grounds to make sure there are no breaches. When you finish the patrol, you reenter the rotation until the next round. Understand?"

'What about the house?" a burly thug with a two-foot neck asked. 'How can we guard the house and the residents if we're patrolling the perimeter?"

'We have our own guys guarding the house. You don't worry about the house. That's my job."

All of them looked straight at me. Now they knew who they were dealing with.

'Come with me, all of you."

I led them up to the house and into the club room behind the kitchens. I issued them with new uniforms, sidearms, and shotguns.

They handled the guns perfectly, even though none of the new guards had been armed. I made the right choice with these ten. They knew exactly what they were doing.

They checked their weapons and loaded their pockets with extra ammo before I led them out into the grounds. I assigned them their posts and showed them where the patrols should pass the wall. Then I pointed out weak spots where someone might try to slip between their positions.

They nodded and took their places facing outward. I stuck around just long enough to make sure they were surveying the surrounding neighborhood for any sign of intrusion. Then I headed back to the gatehouse.

Art handed me the notepad with the names on it. 'Just finished making all the calls. The boys are on their way in."

'Good. We need them here." Just then, my phone rang. I pulled it out and checked the screen. It was Levi. 'Yeah?"

'How's it going?" he asked. 'How are the new men shaping up?"

'They're a bunch of fat, sagging, hopeless wrecks. I kept the best ten for the perimeter and sent the rest out into the city."

'So, do you have the wall covered?"

'I'm doing the best I can with what I got, but it still isn't enough," I told him. 'Our boys are coming in to fill the gaps, but if the Navaros really want to make an attempt on Geneva's life or your life or both, they can still find a way in. I'm sorry, but I'm only one man. I can't do everything."

Levi sighed. 'I hate to tell you this, man, but I'm about to make your life a little more complicated."

I froze, staring at Art. 'Just a little?"

Levi laughed, but I could tell even over the phone that his heart wasn't in it. 'Charles Terranova is coming to stay at the estate for a while. I'm sorry. I know this is putting a lot on your shoulders. I wish I could tell you something different."

I punched the gatehouse and then kicked it several times. Art cowered inside, gaping at me with huge eyes.

My mouth said, 'Okay. No problem. I'll handle it. Don't worry about it," while I kept kicking the gatehouse again and again.

Fuck. Fucking fucketty fuck fuck fuck. This was the last fucking thing I needed.

Levi kept saying, 'If you need more resources, let me know. I'd like nothing better than to throw a few cases of dynamite in the Navaros' faces, but we can't start an all-out war until Geneva gets engaged. We'll be in a much better position with another family on our side. Once our two families unite, all the others will fall in line to help out. They'll all want to kiss our asses."

I barely heard him. Son of a bitch. Guarding Geneva was hard enough considering all our forces were already deployed around town guarding all our other assets.

"The estate was already critically understaffed, and now this. Charles Terranova coming to stay here would exponentially complicate my job, regardless of how many extra resources Levi brought in.

"You okay, man?" Levi asked. "What's that thumping sound?"

"It's nothing." I flexed my bloody knuckles. "I'm fine. I'll get right on it. When is Charles arriving?"

"Later tonight. Once you're done, maybe swing by my office and we'll go over the arrangements."

"Yeah, sure. No problem. See you later."

I hung up and let out a string of curses. "Damn it all to hell! What the hell!"

Art leaned over his desk, rummaging through his first aid kit. He emerged with a large piece of gauze. "What's going on?"

'Fuck!" I shook the blood off my hand and then pressed the gauze to it. 'There aren't enough trained men in New York to deal with this fucking disaster. That's what's up."

Art handed me a roll of tape. 'You gonna be okay?"

'Oh, I'm gonna be just fucking peachy, pal. I'm responsible for protecting the fucking lives of three of the most high-ranking fucking mobsters in fucking New York fucking City, and I'm saddled with these fucking amateur fucking security guards who walk around calling themselves sergeants at fucking arms. I'm just fucking grand."

Art laughed, but just then, his phone went off. He looked at it. 'It's Levi." He nodded to me and went back inside the gatehouse to take the call. No doubt Levi was telling him all about Charles's visit. Fucking great.

I finished taping up my knuckles and put the tape back in the first aid kit before I walked away. I had enough to worry about protecting Geneva. Now Charles was coming.

What was I supposed to do—fucking replicate myself so there would be enough of me to bodyguard them both? This was a catastrophe. It was downright comical considering how thin our troops were already stretched.

I didn't trust myself to go back to the house when I was this steamed up, so I took a tour around the grounds to check on the new guys. They were all following the rotation I laid out. At least someone around here knew how to do their fucking jobs.

At least Charles Terranova was an ally. I didn't have to worry about him trying anything around Geneva—not that him being an ally made me feel better. Why couldn't he bring his own security?

I kept walking along the wall, checking some of the blind spots. I could still see the guard posts, but at certain points, the guards on both sides were facing away. That left way too many holes in our safety net.

I cursed again when I remembered Charles and Geneva at Don Alonzo's funeral. I would have punched the stone wall and pretended it was Charles's face, but my knuckles were already fucked up enough.

Damn it. Charles was coming to stay at the estate to get cozy with Geneva. Everybody knew how close they were as kids. Now Levi had been working his ass off to get her engaged to Charles. Charles would almost certainly marry her.

She loved Charles because they grew up together. I'd been around her father's organization a lot more than Charles ever had, but she would never blush and laugh at me that way.

I grew up seeing Geneva Levine every day of my life, but she never looked sideways at me. Why should she? She was a fucking princess with more money than God Almighty. She had it all. What was I? I was nothing. I had nothing.

I was her father's lowest foot soldier and always would be. I never stood a chance with Geneva, and after the way I'd been sticking my foot in it lately, now she really hated me.

I didn't have to look too hard to see that disgusted look she got whenever I came around. I didn't go out of my way to make her like me. In fact, I went out of my way to make sure she hated me. Why?

If she wasn't going to like me and smile at me and blush at me like she did with Charles, then I didn't want to even think about it. I wanted her as far away from me as possible, but somehow, it didn't work out that way.

The longer I spent in Don Alonzo's organization, the closer I seemed to get to her. Every promotion in rank brought me more and more into contact with her.

Now Levi assigned me to be her bodyguard, so I couldn't get away from her. I went everywhere with her. I was personally responsible for her fucking life.

I shouldn't complain about that. I was lucky Levi trusted me enough to guard her. That was the best I could hope for, but that didn't help much.

I didn't have to make her hate me, but having her hate me was easier than thinking about what could never be. Better to have her hate me than to even think about the alternative. Thinking about the alternative hurt too much.

Making her hate me didn't stop me from thinking about her. If anything, it only made me think about her even more, which made me treat her worse, which made her hate me more, which made me think about her more. I couldn't win for losing.

Now I would get to stand around and watch her fall in love with another man, marry him, and ride off into the sunset of mobster Heaven.

If everything worked out perfectly, I would be on hand to see her have his children, visit her in-laws during the holidays, and live happily ever after while I got left out in the cold.

I sighed and started to turn away. I better go back up to the house and check in with Levi. This situation couldn't possibly get any worse.

I took one step and froze dead in my tracks when I heard voices not far away. 'As soon as I get inside Geneva's bedroom, you boys pull back so no one sees you. Don't worry about me. Just leave it up to me, and I'll handle it."

Every hair stood up on the back of my neck. Who the fuck was talking about getting inside Geneva's bedroom?

The voices came from beyond the wall. They were under a stand of sycamore trees, close enough that the guards couldn't see them.

'We got different orders from the don," another deep, rumbly voice replied. 'We could all get busted for this."

'I'll deal with him," the first man said. 'Just do what I told you. If this works, it will be the best thing that could happen to us."

The Don. So these assholes belonged to one of the New York families. Which family had the fucking balls to sneak into the Levine estate and try to get into Geneva's bedroom?

I could only think of one, but I had to make sure. I scrambled up one of the sycamore trees and lowered myself onto the wall. I crouched there holding my breath and looked down.

Ryder Navaro stood right against the wall talking to four other slimeballs. Those fuckers were still wearing the suits they had on at Don Alonzo's funeral. The bastards!

I would teach them a lesson. I crawled along the wall until I positioned myself right above Ryder. The sooner I cracked that shithead's skull, the sooner we could all sleep better at night.

He kept whispering instructions to his stupid flunkies. They had their heads so far up their own asses they didn't even think to look up, the cocksuckers.

I pounced off the wall and landed right on top of that fuckwit Ryder. I flattened him to the ground, slung my leg over him, and started swinging. I landed five or six good punches on his fat head before his boys caught me.

One of them landed a crushing blow to the back of my head and two more grabbed my arms. They flung me off their boss and slammed me hard against the wall. The dumbasses made their last mistake leaving me standing.

I rocketed off the wall, ready to tear someone a new one. Three of them came at me at once, and I reacted without thinking. I grabbed two of them by their heads and cracked them together with all my might. The satisfying crunch of bone vibrated up my arms, and I went nuts.

I snatched the third one, spun around, and drove his head into the wall. That left plenty of time for me to stalk over to Ryder, who was prying his worthless carcass out of the grass where I left him.

I swung my leg and kicked him hard in the ribs. Down he went, and I wound up to stomp him to kingdom come when something else hit me across the back of the head.

This one landed hard enough to send stars popping in front of my eyes, and I felt sick.

Another brutal crash hit me lower at the base of my skull, and I felt myself falling. I didn't black out, but none of my limbs would obey me.

I landed on my knees, and then they were all on top of me. Blows pounded my ribs and head and back. I told myself to get up and fight back, but that second hit disconnected my brain from the rest of me.

I swayed on my hands and knees, feeling the pain of splitting bone shoot through me. I couldn't see anything but individual blades of grass right in front of my face.

Blood and sweat dripped from my face and landed against the blades. I couldn't think of anything else, and then, in slow motion, my sight rushed toward the ground.