Untraceable (46 page)

The men on the sofa suddenly looked
extremely uncomfortable.

“
I’m giving you,” my
father continued, “the status of untouchable.”

The men grumbled slightly until my
father looked at them; they became silent once again.

“
Unless I decree
it,
no one
is to
touch this boy. Do I make myself perfectly clear on this matter?
Because, if it’s not,” he continued, “you two are supposedly dead
anyway, so I’ll kill you both myself and put whomever I deem
responsible in your places. Understood?”

Both men nodded.

Whatever had just been decided would
be irreversible; Ryan was a member of the mob.

Micah was sighing with relief, and
Ryan looked like he’d turned to jello as he immediately sat on the
nearest chair. My father motioned everyone, with the exception of
Ryan and myself, to follow him out to the pool area to continue
their discussion.

“
Are you okay?” I asked
kneeling beside the sofa chair.

“
I guess I am now. That
dude is really your father?”

“
Actually, I’m still
getting used to the idea myself, but yeah, he is. What was going on
when I walked in?”

“
Oh not much, they were
just deciding when they were going to shoot me.”

“
Shoot you?!”

“
Yeah, evidently those two
old Boss guys carry a lot of weight, and I pissed both of them off.
Micah was fighting for me pretty hard, but it really looked like
someone was going to get the pleasure of offing me.”

Suddenly, it became very clear. My
father made Ryan a member of his mafia family so that he could be
given a status—which in this case kept Ryan alive. “You’d better
not tell Candace you’re an honorary member of the mob; she’ll blow
a fuse!”

He laughed, “Yeah, you’re right, but I
don’t know how much ‘honor’ is in my honorary title; I get the
feeling your dad thinks I’m a punk. If you hadn’t walked in when
you did, his decision might have been completely
different.”

I smiled and then hugged
him, “Then I’m really glad I wasn’t late! It’s hard as hell to get
him to change his mind when he—aah!” I sucked in a big breath of
air as what Ryan said finally hit me. “
They’re bosses?! Oh my God! He didn’t kill them—Micah didn’t
kill them!!”

“
No, Leese, that’s what he
needed me for—he faked their murders. I was the babysitter for the
old bastards.”

I cupped my hands over my mouth and
nose, still absolutely shocked, “He didn’t kill them. He—he kept
his promise.” I was off the floor as fast as my bulging form would
allow and ripping back the sliding glass door. “You didn’t kill
them!” I shouted, once again interrupting a meeting.

Micah stood up and walked over to me.
My God, I had forgotten how beautiful my man truly was; his muscled
6’ frame, those beautiful green eyes, his thick biceps, his perfect
face, and the most incredible part of all was the fact that he
found away to keep his promise.

“
No, baby, I didn’t kill
anyone.” he whispered, “I told you I wanted to change—I really
meant it, Annalisa. I kept my promise.”

“
And that’s probably why
you shouldn’t be involved with this business,” my dad spoke
up.

“
I have to be,” Micah
responded.

It was chillingly clear that my father
was planning to kill Sharon Moretti, and even worse was the fact
that I knew one of the men sitting to his left was her father. I
looked at one man and could see the pain in his expression—that had
to be him. “You’re Sharon’s father, aren’t you?”

He nodded.

Suddenly, all the hate I had inside me
began to dissolve. No one ever wins when someone dies because
someone, somewhere bears the pain.

“
Dad,” I said turning
toward him, “isn’t there another way?”

He shook his head as if he couldn’t
believe I’d even ask, “I want your proof Gavarreen. You have the
drugs, but I have to know she planned her father’s
murder.”

Micah reached into his pocket and
pulled out a tiny, electronic recorder. He placed it on the table
and pressed the button.

“
I like the idea of
running the lower east coast and the southern coast. To prove you
are loyal to me you’ll not only take out my father, but I expect
Botachelli to die as well—do this for me and I’ll let her go
completely unharmed. Screw me over, and you’ll suffer in the worst
way.”

“
Who dies
first?”

“
I need to have firm
command of my side before I take over yours, so my father is first.
I know it isn’t going to be an easy feat, but if you are the man
D’Angelo always claimed you were then I think you should be able to
accomplish this first step within a week, two at the latest. Just
remember the faster you do what I want, the faster her release will
happen.”

“
I hope you don’t expect
me to make this painless for him—I’ll be thinking about you the
whole time,”

“
I hate that
son-of-a-bitch. You can carve his fucking heart out for all I
care.”

Micah stopped it. From the timer on
the display, there was more, but he’d proven his innocence. It
didn’t need to become more painful than what was just
revealed.

I was wishing at that moment that I
wasn’t standing there, wishing I hadn’t opened the door, wishing I
hadn’t heard Sharon’s cold words regarding her father. The angst on
his face was deep enough that I could feel it, but I was frozen in
this surreal mafia assembly, unable to walk away.

“
Did you set the meeting
place?” my father asked.

“
I’ll tell her when she
calls where we’re meeting. There is an old dolomite pit about
thirty minutes from here. The pit’s been filled with water for a
few years and, from what I can tell, other than some of the local
teens, people rarely ever go out there.”

I started to ask him how he knew about
that. I’d been out there once with a group from Pensacola High
before he came into my life, but I thought better of it as I
recalled the conversation I had with him the night we burned his
target files. He’d been planning to get rid of any boyfriend I had
when he arrived. I had a fear that the pit had been researched as a
planned disposal site.

“
Is there sufficient
coverage for my men?”

“
Yes, sir, but I’d like to
see if we can end this without a fire-fight.”

“
Someone’s going to die,”
he said rather bluntly, “and I prefer that it’s no one from my
side.”

“
Keeping people alive,”
Micah stated as he glanced to Botachelli and Moretti, “has been the
toughest thing I’ve ever done—it’s a hell of a lot easier to kill
someone. I’d like to finish this how I started it. But we will need
help. I don’t know how many men she’s planning to bring with her,
but I doubt it will be over a dozen. My brother and I can disable
them, but once they’re down we’ll need help zip-tying
them.”

“
It’s faster to just shoot
them,” my father replied with the same disregard for human life as
Micah once had.

“
Those are my men,”
Moretti spoke up. “I’m sure they don’t know what Sharon’s done. If
I’m there, they won’t cause any problems.”

My dad didn’t appear to like that
idea, “I’m sure seeing you will be a huge shock for her, but if
she’s armed, Vitale, she might shoot you herself.”

He shook his head, “No she won’t. I
know what she said sounds damning, but she plotted this so she
wouldn’t see me. You may not believe me, but I don’t think my
daughter hates me—she just wanted to take my power. She couldn’t
have done this if she had to face me. Strange as it sounds, no
matter what she said, my daughter loves me. Using him,” he said,
pointing to Micah, “was so she wouldn’t have to watch.”

I don’t think anyone in the room could
accept what he said, other than himself, but sometimes the lies we
believe are the only things that keep us going.

“
You don’t have to be
there,” he said as he looked to Botachelli.

Botachelli’s eyebrows rose in unison
as he answered my father, “I didn’t plan on it. My men,” he said as
he motioned to Micah and David, “will handle it; I’m starting to
believe they can handle anything.”

Neither Micah nor David smiled, but I
detected both of them straightening slightly. Honor in the mafia is
highly prized; Botachelli had just given them a top
honor—especially since I’m sure, before the outcome of this
nightmare unfolded, he had plans to kill them.

“
I would like to be
there,” Jonathan spoke up.

My father nodded. “Micah, you set it
up and tell my men where you want them and how you want them to
respond. They’ll be under your command, understood? And you,” he
stated, turning to me, “need to go back to the hotel.”

I took Micah’s hand and squeezed, “I
need time with him first.” It came out sounding strained, but I
couldn’t help it. I needed Micah. I needed his arms to hold me. I
needed his chest to lay my head against. I needed his lips on mine.
I needed him. I wasn’t after sex, although after I watched
everyone’s faces, I think that’s what they thought I was referring
to, but Micah knew I simply needed him. We had an incredible bond,
and I think both of us needed the relaxation that only seemed to
happen when we held each other.

He put his arm around me and we walked
into the house. We passed the master suite and went to the bedroom
Ryan had been using.

I wanted to talk, but I couldn’t. He
tucked himself perfectly against my back as we stretched out on the
bed, and then he reached around and gently stroked my stomach.
“Annalisa, is everything okay—with the baby? You haven’t said
anything, and normally you say something every time he
moves.”

“
I think he’s out of
room,” I stated honestly. “My stomach is so tight and he’s dropped
so low that I don’t think he can wiggle.” I heard Micah swallow; I
knew that last statement scared him. “He still moves, Micah, but
not like when he had more space.”

“
You look thin to me;
haven’t you been eating?”

I loved that concern in his voice.
“It’s the same issue; space. I’m hungry all the time, but I don’t
get more than a few bites down before I feel full. I think he
planted his feet in my stomach,” I teased slightly.

“
Have you been
sleeping?”

I was afraid to answer this one.
“Yes.”

“
With
Giovanni?”

That actually stung. I know he didn’t
mean sexually, at least I didn’t think he meant it that way, but
rather wondering if I’d pulled a Ryan.

“
No.”

He propped up on his elbow and leaned
over slightly so he could get in the edge of my sight, “You don’t
need me next to you anymore?”

I rolled over, finding myself tucked
underneath his broad chest and shoulders. “I don’t think I’m ever
going to get over needing you. Don’t be angry, but when
Jonathan—”

“
Giovanni,” he
interrupted.

I shook my head no, “After you and I
talked, Jonathan realized I couldn’t sleep, he started putting
Ambien in my evening meals.” I could see that it instantly made him
angry. “He checked it out first and made sure it was safe for me
and the baby. I guess he didn’t know what else to do to get me to
go to sleep—and I wasn’t about to ask for something
else.”

“
What happened between you
two was—was just an act?”

I closed my eyes. I still didn’t like
that memory. “I was so scared that he was lying to me—so scared
that he actually had something else in mind.” I opened my eyes and
looked into his. He wasn’t angry anymore, but he seemed so sad.
“There was something between us to keep his—his body from—” I
couldn’t say it. “He didn’t hurt me, Micah. He scared the shit out
of me, but that was all.”

“
I’m sorry.”

I brushed his cheek gently with the
tips of my fingers and then rose slightly to kiss him.

“
I’m sorry,” he continued,
“about what you saw.”

“
I can’t—can’t talk about
that, Micah,” I said, feeling the pain spread across my chest like
a heart attack. It was a literal, physical pain connected to that
memory. The hardest part was knowing that I’d been in that same
desperate struggle with him once.

“
But I
need
to talk. You don’t have to say
anything, but if you can’t handle this then stop me.”

I stayed silent.

“
The first time was after
she called him off you.”

The weight on my chest grew heavier. I
could tell he wanted to unburden himself, but I wasn’t sure I could
let him continue. His words, ‘the first time,’ meant they’d been
together more than once. I gripped the inside of my lower lip and
bit down, trying to hold off on saying the word, ‘stop.’

“
I hated her for how much
she enjoyed my ugliness, but I hated her more for showing me that I
could enjoy it again. It was as if she stole what you gave
me.”

“
That’s not
true.”