Storm's Cage by Mary Stone (uplifting novels .TXT) 📕

met and kept company with unsavory characters of all shapes and sizes—with one exception. Predators who went after innocent little children. He’d just as soon snap the neck of one of those sick bastards as shake their hand.

After all, if one of those bottom-feeders hadn’t weaseled his way into Joseph’s family when he was younger, he’d still have an older brother.

But if there was one positive that had come from the mess with Alton Dalessio, it was the fact that Joseph now knew a damning secret about Amelia Storm. Save Zane Palmer, no other living soul knew that there was a good chance she hadn’t been justified when she’d pulled the trigger.

Joseph had backed her up when they’d given their statements to the FBI, and now Amelia was exactly where he wanted her. All he had to do was get her to come home with him once, and he was certain she’d never want anyone else. As much as he enjoyed her strength of will, he’d love to see the submission in her eyes when he finally broke her.

And he would break her.

He brushed away the mental images. Now wasn’t the time, and the upper deck of Kolthoff’s yacht wasn’t the place. Joseph would have plenty of time alone with the hidden cameras he’d installed throughout Amelia’s apartment. Specifically, the video feed from her shower.

Joseph forced his thoughts back to the Leóne family. “You know, I sometimes think I’d rather just turn around and work for the D’Amato family. It’d be nice to deal with an organized group for a change, and it seems like the D’Amatos have their shit together.”

Brian laughed so hard his shoulders shook with each chuckle. “Not even close. The D’Amatos have been around since Capone, and you don’t get that far in organized crime without a hell of a lot of baggage along the way. Trust me.”

Rather than go along with Brian’s dismissive comments, Joseph fixed him with a knowing stare. “You’re the executive here, and I’m pretty sure you know as well as I do that the D’Amatos would be better business partners. You and Stan obviously have some personal vendetta with them, but what I’m wondering is why you’ve never mentioned it to me when I’m the one out there on the front lines putting my ass at risk.”

Joseph didn’t miss the way Brian’s jaw tightened. Though his expression appeared strained, it faded as he took a long drink. “You’d have to ask the senator about that. If I had to guess, the reason he’s never mentioned it is because he figures you’re better off the less you know.”

“Not if I don’t know what the hell I’m dealing with anymore.” Joseph held his hands out to his sides in exasperation. “You have to see this from my perspective. Right now, we’re working with the crime family that’s consistently getting dunked on by the Bureau. All the while, there’s a second crime family that deals in lower risk businesses than the first, and the Bureau barely knows they exist. I mean, the Leónes are filming kiddie porn out of their basement, and the D’Amatos are selling counterfeit Louis Vuitton handbags and making money hand over fist. Why in the hell are we involved with the former when we could be aligned with the latter?”

Brian waved his glass in the air as if trying to brush Joseph’s words away. “It’s not that simple. Believe me, I wish it was. But you and I both know that Senator Stan Young is the conductor of this train, and we’re just a couple engineers. Whatever beef Stan has with the D’Amatos is personal, and there isn’t a profit margin high enough to get him to overlook it.”

He’d been afraid of that. Frustrated, Joseph looked out over the glittering sprawl of Lake Michigan.

Brian was right, and there wasn’t a chance in hell that Senator Young would ever change his tune about the D’Amato family. And considering all the damage that Joseph and Brian had inflicted on the D’Amatos over the years, even if they wanted to change their business partner, the D’Amato family would be just as inclined to kill them as hear out their proposal.

For now, he and Brian were stuck with the more volatile of the two families.

At least until one of the Leónes tripped over a landmine and blew them all to hell.

Joseph would just have to hope that when that day came, he’d be long gone. And with any luck, he’d have Amelia Storm at his side.

Or on her knees. He’d gladly entertain either option.

6

Though the shadows had grown long as the sun neared the end of its descent to the horizon, Alex Passarelli could still make out the print of the paperback novel in his hands. A few months ago, he’d made the leap to the science fiction genre at the insistence of his uncle Tony, and now, he was hooked.

Sci-fi novels weren’t what an average person pictured when they thought of a mafia capo, but yet, here Alex was. His workdays were spent in front of a computer, and he couldn’t remember the last time he’d shaken a business owner down for protection money.

He snorted to himself at the thought. He wasn’t sure he’d ever shaken someone down for protection money. The digital age had transformed the landscape of organized crime, and the D’Amato family was one of the few syndicates that had embraced the new world from the start.

There was far more profit to be made in cybercrime than the traditional avenues of drug trafficking, and money was the primary reason anyone became an outlaw.

As he shifted in his seat beneath a familiar wooden gazebo, he spotted a black sedan rounding the bend to a nearby gravel parking lot. The crunch of tires against rocks grew louder as the vehicle pulled to a stop beside Alex’s Audi.

Thanks to the glare of the waning daylight, he couldn’t make out the driver’s features. A week ago, he’d planned the meeting with his former