Trembling, I think of Alessio’s mother and how Silvio dealt with her. I can’t let anything like that happen to Frankie. I won’t.I am a Morelli and I am stronger than I know. I am a De Luca and I have teeth.
Rocco’s hand tugs at the tie of Frankie’s bikini top as she struggles. The guard watching is too caught up in the action to notice me stepping into the room behind him. “Every man gets a turn… but I get her first,” Rocco promises him.
A cold anger I’ve never known takes hold of me as I take aim and everything happens very quickly. The gun goes off and the guard by the door collapses. Rocco spins and prepares to hurl the knife at me. I fire the gun again and his weapon clatters uselessly by his side as my bullet strikes him in the throat, thethree-headed wolf my target. He gurgles and gasps, his eyes filled with rage and shock. I aim higher for the second shot and finish him.
Frankie shoves his body off of her and his eyes stare up at the ceiling, unseeing. I just killed two men. I hear several pairs of feet thundering our way. “Fix your top,” I tell Frankie in a strangely detached voice. “Where’s Armando?”
She hurries to cover herself, her voice shaking. “They carried him off in another direction. He was unconscious when I last saw him. I don’t know.Caterina...”
The darkness that carried me the past few minutes evaporates like mist, and I sink to the floor. My strength is wavering under crippling fear and the heavy weight of consequences. I killed two men. I killed Alessio’s cousin. Frankie wraps her arms around me, holding me close. I can’t tell who’s shaking harder, me or her. Running at this point is impossible and we both know it.
The first person who enters the room isn’t a guard though. It’s Valdo, holding his own gun and staring wide-eyed at the carnage. Should I apologize for killing his cousin? Did he like Rocco? I can’t remember. I can barely remember where I was ten minutes ago. Everything feels like a dream.
Guards soon surround us. “Another De Luca killed by a Morelli,” one of them says, spitting on the floor beside me.
Maybe our families are forever destined to fight, I think to myself.Maybe me falling in love with Alessio and trying to get him to fall in love with me was never going to fix everything anyway. Maybe another war within the Trio is inevitable.
Because I know without a doubt that if I die today, my brothers will burn Las Vegas to the ground in retribution. The cycle of violent revenge never ends in the mafia.
Another man steps forward, grasping me roughly by the arms and yanking me to my feet. “I say we handle things now before the Capo returns.”
The murmurs of agreement are interrupted by a boy’s shout. “I am your Capo’s son, and I order you not to touch my sister-in-law or my cousin!” I could weep with relief and anguish both seeing Valdo standing as tall as he can, pointing his gun at six grown men. His hand trembles ever so slightly, and I know he’s afraid. Of course, he is. But he is brave, and he’s a De Luca, and they all know they’d be skinned alive if they dared harm him.
“Very well, little man,” the first one says, his bow only slightly mocking. “But our Capo will be here soon, and he will see to it that these whores are punished for what they’ve done today.”
We’re locked back in the room we’ve occupied the past few days, both of us too shaken to speak. We’ve seen no sign of Armando. He’s probably dead, and Alessio is in Italy, thousands of miles away. There’s no hope for us, is there?
What seems like an eternity passes until loud voices fill the hall outside our door. Silvio. He’s here. We’re about to die. No, he’ll do worse than that first.
The door opens, and it’s not just my father-in-law who strides into the room with murder in his eyes. My husband is with him. Alessio is here, but there is no warmth in his gaze when our eyes meet. I can't breathe. He’s standing beside his Capo and ready to obey his commands. I think of his mother and how he was ordered to watch his brother kill her. What will his orders be today?
35
Alessio
My father arrived only a few minutes before me, waiting for Enzo to join him. If I'd been any later… I don’t even want to contemplate what might’ve happened.
“What are you doing here?” he asks when I walk in the front door. “I told you not to return without your sister.”
“The trail went cold, but I left good hunters in Switzerland to find Sofia. I hear my wife has misbehaved. You don’t really expect me to miss out, do you?”
“My son is dead, Alessio,” Enzo says. “Blood cries out for blood.”
Giving my uncle my creepiest grin, I promise, “I want blood as much as you do.” I touch the tattoo on my throat to seal my oath. It’s not a lie. I just didn’t clarifywhoseblood I want.
I see the suspicion in my father’s eyes, but I know how much he enjoys believing I’m just like him. “I admit I’ve enjoyed her body, but I was starting to get bored,” I lie, grateful I’m not having to say these things in front of my wife. “It’s time for Sil,Jr. to be avenged at last… and Rocco. Two De Lucas killed. We should wipe out all the Morellis, including Nico’s little brats, shouldn’t we?”
My father’s proud look in response to my words would make one think I made the dean’s list at school or some shit like that rather than suggesting we murder babies.
Accepting my presence, he tells the others what he has in mind. If I were a normal man, I might vomit. But experience leaves me unsurprised and I’m more than capable of playing along, charging up the perverts of my father’s trusted circle and making them believe I’d really allow any of them to touch a single strand of hair on my wife’s precious head. The only people getting fucked over today will be any man who stands against me.
Valdo hovers at the fringe of the excited men, his eyes wide with worry. I shoot him a look, silently ordering him to go. He doesn’t need to watch a parent die at nine like I did… even a monstrous one. Thankfully, he obeys me, slipping away before our father notices.
Armando is nowhere in sight. My best friend, my closest ally is probably dead, but nothing can compare to my all-consuming concern for Caterina. I must push away the intense feelings she invokes. They won’t serve me now.
My father pulls out the key to my mother’s old bedroom. I’m glad I have no memories of her here because these quarters will soon resemble a blood bath. I storm inside like a man hellbent on vengeance, my eyes sweeping over Caterina as she rises to her feet. Briefly our eyes meet and I have to keep my love locked away before it’s my undoing. I glance at Frankie instead, but my blood still boils seeing these two unarmed girls, wearing nothing but swimsuits and clinging to each other while facing ten seasoned killers.
My father opens his mouth to pass judgment, Enzo nodding in approval. They are the only two men not currently armed so I won’t start with them. Most of these guards are my father’s favorites. Older men. Men who’ve grown fat and lazy. Speed will be the key.
