All traces of a smile faded from Stefano’s face. “I haven’t allowed the investigators to delve too deep into his past; not that I think they’d find much. He’s got his past buried deep if I’m right about him. Dario’s very damaged. That kind of damage doesn’t get fixed just because we love him. He feels deep loyalty for those he allows into his circle. Even love. So, he’s capable. But he’s also capable of shutting off all emotion and that isn’t good. I think without Val, he could have gone an entirely different direction.”
Elie agreed with Stefano’s assessment of Dario. “He’s a good man deep down. He makes the right choices. He has a code he lives by.”
Stefano nodded. “Yes, I’ll admit he does. And he loves our Emme fiercely. That makes me believe he could love a woman of his own, but if he found someone, I don’t know if she could live with him, even if she loved him. He’d be difficult to love all the time. He’d make it difficult. He’d need her to prove her loyalty to him. He’d be worse than me with control and I’m pretty fucking bad. And there’s his proclivity to kink. His club is renowned for it, and he makes no bones about how he plays. He doesn’t care who knows how he is.”
Elie was very aware of what Stefano was talking about. He enjoyed playing in the bedroom with Brielle. He had enjoyed going to the clubs. He had never been into any of the things Dario was into—and Dario wasn’t playing. He lived that lifestyle and would expect his wife to live it as well. Yeah, Elie couldn’t see a woman putting up with Dario forever. How could the man make it worth her while? He felt sad for Dario. Dario had to know there was little to no hope for him, but then, Elie had felt the same way and, somehow, he’d been granted a miracle.
“He’s a strange man,” Elie said. “But I like him. A lot.”
“I do, too,” Stefano admitted.
Franco returned from the cockpit. “The others are on their way back. They’ve had quite the party with the cousins. Lots of pictures taken.”
“That’s good,” Stefano approved. Photographs were what always kept the family safe. As long as the paparazzi photographed them at nightclubs and social events during the time deaths occurred, all riders were safe. No one could ever blame a Ferraro or any other shadow rider for a death in the community. All the LA cousins were accounted for at the club with their Chicago cousins. No one was the wiser that Stefano and Elie were in town. They both were supposedly back in Chicago with their wives.
As a rule, a rider rarely carried out an assassination in his own hometown. A rider came in from another city; that way, no suspicion could ever fall on those living close. A plane would arrive carrying cousins and they would all get together in a very public way. Behind the scenes, an assassination would take place, carried out by the unseen rider who had ridden the shadows to and from the plane just as Stefano and Elie had. That way, if the petitioner ever changed their mind and decided to go to law enforcement and confess they’d hired the Ferraros to carry out an assassination, there was no proof of such a thing.
Elie waited until Giovanni and his wife, Sasha, entered the plane, waving wildly at the Los Angeles cousins, who were yelling back to them to come again soon. Behind them, Mariko entered while Ricco, his hand on the small of her back, brought up the rear. Franco closed the door and the four newcomers turned to Stefano and Elie.
“Everything go all right?” Ricco asked, escorting his wife to one of the very comfortable leather chairs.
“No problems,” Stefano assured. “Dino thought he was going to get away with putting out a hit on Val, Dario, Elie and Brielle without retaliation. I don’t know why he would think we’d just have a little talk with him and walk out of there. Maybe shake his hand first.”
“I’d like to be there when his father discovers him in the morning and has to report his death to Riccardo Santoro,” Elie said. “Santoro will beef up security around Carlo. He’ll take Dino’s death as a warning.”
“It was a warning,” Stefano said. “Although Carlo is going to die. My guess is, Santoro will ask for a meeting with Valentino and Dario. He won’t try to hide he was behind the hits, but he’ll blame them on the Toselli family and his ties with them.”
“What will that accomplish?” Sasha asked. “That just sounds like he’s admitting he tried to have Val and Dario killed. He is, isn’t he? Isn’t he the one who wants Brielle dead as well?”