Glancing at Enzo, he continues, “When you texted, you told me you have an alliance with these other families.They’re counting on you to create chaos so they can swoop in and take advantage.”
Motherfucker.He already filled us in on Enzo’s plans while we drove here, but hearing it again calls up the same rage.It’s not enough for him to take my wife.He thought he could destroy my family too.
“But think about it,” Alessandro urges.“What are a couple of low-level families going to do that the combined forces of the Santoros and Vitalis can’t?”
Enzo rolls his shoulders back and lifts his chin.Dammit.He senses trouble the way an animal would by sniffing a scent on the wind.“This was a mistake.It’s time to go.”He wraps a hand around Sophia’s forearm, and she looks at him, letting me see her face and the worry in it.
Alessandro shakes his head.“I can’t let her go with you, brother.I’m sorry, but I can’t.”
“Enzo,” Sophia murmurs.“You’re hurting me.”
“This is a mistake, Enzo,” Alessandro insists, gripping Sophia’s hand tight even as Enzo tries to pull her out of the booth.“How far do you think you’ll get before someone tracks you down?You abducted her.And I’m sorry, but I can’t let you get away with that.”
“Oh, you can’t?”Enzo asks, and I know what he’s going to do before he does it when he pulls a gun and aims directly between Alessandro’s eyes.
There was a time not that long ago—this morning, in fact—when I would have loved nothing more than to watch someone lodge a bullet between the eyes of my family’s nemesis.
Now, I’m glad for another reason, as it gives Enzo something to focus on besides me easing the door open slowly, silently.
“It doesn’t have to be this way.”Alessandro is calm, quiet, his free hand raised while he keeps a grip on his sister with the other.“Don’t do something you’ll end up regretting.I’m doing this for both of you.”
“You’re just like all the rest of them,” Enzo snaps while I slowly raise my gun.Sophia practically leans across the table, attached to both men.There’s plenty of room to get a shot off without risking her.
“What do you mean?”Alessandro asks.He must see me from the corner of his eye, but he’s disciplined enough not to glance my way and ruin everything.
“I’m not good enough for her.I’m not good enough for any of you.The fuck would you know about it anyway?”Enzo demands, his voice rising in volume and pitch.“You were born into your world.Set up from birth.You’ve never had to prove yourself.You’ve never had to do a damn thing but be Alessandro Vitali.I fought and I scraped to prove myself, and it still isn’t enough.Even you don’t think it’s enough.”
“Please, Enzo,” Sophia pleads.“Don’t do this!He’s my brother.Don’t you know how this will hurt me?”
It’s the dismay and fear that decides me.I didn’t want to do this in front of Sophia, but he isnotgoing to make it possible to keep her out of it.Better this than forcing her to witness her brother’s murder.
Which is why I pull the trigger and send a bullet smashing into Enzo’s left shoulder.
Everything happens at once.
Sophia screams.
Enzo drops the gun and releases her.
Our guys jump up from their seats and swarm him.
Not before I burst out of the kitchen.“Sophia!”I shout over the cacophony.
She whirls around, her mouth hanging open, tears streaming down her cheeks, before she scrambles out of the booth.“Dante!Thank God!”
“Thank God?”Enzo blurts out from the floor.Even now, blood pouring from his wound and surrounded by armed men, the sick fuck can’t face the truth.“What did they do to you?Who did they turn you into?”he demands in a voice laced with pain.
I don’t want to look at him another minute.“Get him out of here,” I tell the guards.“We’ll deal with him at home.”
All that’s left is the deep and unexpected pleasure of drawing my wife into my arms, holding her close, burying my nose in her hair while I stroke it and she weeps.This is a gift, one I don’t deserve, and could be why I cherish it like I do.
“I was so worried.I didn’t know what he was going to do next.”She sobs against my chest, almost clawing at my back.
“Shh,” I whisper.“I won’t let anything happen to you.I would destroy the world if it meant keeping you safe.”It’s the first time in a long time I’ve spoken words like that, but it feels right.It feels true.I whisper my vow into her ear while Enzo is led out of the diner, where Nico and Cesco meet them in the parking lot.
“I need to tell you something…” She looks up at me, her tear-filled eyes shining and bluer than ever.“In case I don’t get the chance again.I… I think I love you.Don’t get freaked out, but I would kick myself if anything ever happened and I didn’t get the chance to say it.You can just leave it there if you want, I understand, but?—”
All I can do as my heart threatens to burst is touch a finger to her lips and shake my head.No, I don’t deserve this happiness, but I will spend the rest of my life earning it.“You don’t have to.I know what you mean,” I admit with a smile.“And I love you.”
