That much was true. Alonzo knew that. He lived in a room with bars on the windows and steel plates covering his doors. He didn’t have friends. He didn’t spend money. He barely interacted with others until Elijah had brought him into his world of redemption. Alonzo had wanted to make some kind of a difference before he died. He’d accepted the territory because he had so many sins on his soul he knew he had to balance them out in some way. He suspected Elijah felt the same.

He glanced at his brother. He should never have brought Timur and Gorya there, but he’d needed someone he could trust. Arnotto had soldiers, and they all knew him. They’d worked with him. He just wasn’t certain whom he could trust to have his back. Still, now Timur was mired in as deep as he was.

Alonzo knew he’d been pulling away ever since Evangeline had come into his life. He’d been looking for a way out. He needed a way out. Elijah was right, the other bosses would want him dead, figuring he knew too much about their business.

He took a breath and let it out. There was no way out. If there were, Elijah would have been gone. He loved Siena and he would have left everything behind in order to protect her. Alonzo was trapped in the life and that meant he’d trapped Evangeline and his brother and cousins right along with him. More sins on his soul.

“Set up the meeting with Drake,” he capitulated.

“Cleaners are almost finished,” Gorya announced. “Bill said another ten minutes. Two trucks are already gone. We sent them out with the freight trucks. We have another ten minutes before the next scheduled departure.”

“Good,” Alonzo said automatically. Antonio Arnotto had a good system in place. He’d managed to stay under the radar of law enforcement for his entire criminal career. His vineyards had a reputation and his wines were sought after. Alonzo had stepped into his shoes easily, already knowing most of the ins and outs of the various businesses and how Antonio had set things up to run so efficiently, incorporating his criminal activities so smoothly with his legitimate businesses.

“What else do I need to know about tonight?”

“Three men disappeared tonight. One of them was a cop, and they’ll look at me very closely for that,” Alonzo said.

“You’re absolutely certain nothing can tie you to anything that happened tonight?” Elijah pushed.

“I’m certain.”

*   *   *