Mafia Legacy

Chapter Thirty One- Charlotte

When I left Luca, I was a mess of emotions.

Seeing him had completely lifted my spirits, but it made it all that much harder to walk away without him. He was still in custody, and we had a long road ahead of us before he was a free man again.

I was also trying to come to terms with what he had told me about Carlo. It was hard to imagine him as anything other than the goofy uncle to my children and the friend we had trusted for so many years. And with Gabe and Lily being married, he was family to me both literally and figuratively. Like Luca, I wanted to believe that Carlo was capable of the more heinous parts of the crime, but my trust was so shaken in him that I questioned it. He was framing Luca. He planted a gun in my house. He was working with Whitaker to do whatever he could to make sure this didn't fall on him and he didn't care who was hurt in the process. I was angry and confused and more than anything I wanted to run through all of this with Marco.

When his answering machine picked up, I let out a heavy sigh. Where the hell was he? In less than an hour, he was supposed to be at my office building causing a distraction to get Whitaker out of the room so I could get to work.

"Hey, it's me. Call me as soon as you can. I have some news..."

I kept it short and simple, not wanting to get into more details. For all I knew, my phone calls were being tapped, and it wasn't the time to be letting our plan leak. Now more than ever, we had to be sure everything went accordingly, and I got the information that could take Whitaker down. Carlo had shown his true colors, so there was no way we could count on him to do the right thing, and going at Whitaker was our best defense.

There was a chill in the air as I got to my car and started the drive into the city. My nerves were so on edge that hands trembled as I clenched the steering wheel. So much was riding on this — Luca's life, Angelo's life. The future of not only my own family, but the entire family underneath Luca. The pressure was intense, but I felt oddly calm when I pulled into the parking garage. I knew what I had to do, and failing wasn't an option. Pressure makes diamonds, right?

I could almost hear Luca's voice in my head repeating those words to me. It was one of his favorite sayings. I checked my phone one last time, hoping to at least hear a confirmation from Marco. It was strange that I hadn't heard from him. Marco rarely missed a phone call from me, and when he did, he'd call me back immediately. I couldn't imagine what he would be doing right now that would make him unreachable, especially knowing I was walking in to meet Whitaker. It made me a little uneasy, but I knew he wouldn't let me down. He'd be here, and we'd get the job done.

It was quiet around here this time of night, and I put on a brave face. All the nerves I'd been feeling in the car were slowly melting away, and I got more and more confident as the elevator climbed to the 22nd floor. I could do this. I was born to do this. Whitaker would be eating out of the palm of my hand by the time I was done here, and then I would crush him like the cockroach he was. He'd never see it coming, and that would it all the more sweet when he finally got what was coming to him. Luca believed in me, and he trusted me to do this, and there wasn't a shot in hell I was going to let him down. By the time I got to Whitaker's office, I felt untouchable.

"Knock, knock." I flashed him a grin, leaning around the corner and poking my head into the office.

Whitaker looked up at me, and his lips pulled into a smug smirk. "Charlotte. Please come in." He stood up, shutting the door behind me once I was inside. "I was just about to have a glass of bourbon. Can I interest you in one?"

"That sounds great." I said. "I hope I'm not too late. I was a little delayed leaving the house. I got a call from the prison about Luca."

He nodded, pouring two glasses and then handing me one. "I heard there was an incident. I'm sorry you had to deal with it."