“We can’t trust him with that task. I’ll go instead,” she said. “Let me be the liaison.”
My dad shook his head. “It’s way too close to Illiana for me to be comfortable. Until that woman is in the ground, you need to stay close to me.”
“I can take care of myself, Dad,” Callista retorted.
My dad stuck out one of his tree-trunk arms and rubbed his hand down the back of Callista’s head. “I know you can, pumpkin, but a dad needs his peace of mind. I’d be too anxious. Don’t worry. Illiana’s day is coming, and once she’s behind us, I’ve got a whole list of responsibilities for you to take on.” He looked back at me. “That just leaves Art.”
“He’ll fuck it up,” I said.
The barrel of the gun pushed against my head a little. “You’re already doing a fine job of that.”
“Knock it off,” my dad said, “but I agree. You’ve proven that you can’t be trusted with this task. You’ve said more than one thing that’s made me think I should have just taken her out when I had the chance. So I’ll leave it up to you, Ash. You’re the brains. Either I can kill her, or Art can be the new liaison. What’s your pick?”
I was biting the inside of my cheek so hard that a metallic taste seeped into my mouth. The silence I left in the wake of the question was long and drawn out, but my dad didn’t rush me or press, only sat waiting while I mulled it over.
“I guess,” I said, “Art will be the new liaison.”
The gun finally retracted from against my head, leaving a pulsating soreness behind. My dad stood up from his seat. “Very good.” He looked over my shoulder. “Let’s go to the office. I want to talk about the specifics to make sure you don’t fuck up too.”
“Yes, sir,” Arturo said. The back of his gun tapped down on my head as my dad ambled around me, and then I sat wordlessly and listened to their footsteps retreat down the stairs.
Callista leaned forward in her seat. “Ash—”
“Don’t.”
“I tried,” Callista said.
“This time,” I spat back. “He’ll kill her inside of a week. Hope you can live with that.”
With that, I stood up off the couch and made my way out of the living room and into the entryway. At first, I planned to head up to my room, but then it occurred to me that I had to give Denise a fighting chance. I turned and ran out the front door and down the sidewalk to where we kept all of our cars parked. Unlocking my car, I climbed into the driver’s seat and kept one foot in and one out while I pulled out my phone. I navigated to my most recent texts with Denise and started a new one.
There’s been a problem, and things have changed. Meet me at the safe house ASAP.
I hit send and then pulled my other leg into the car. I reached out and grabbed the door to the car and started to pull it closed, but it was caught and held in place. My entire body buzzed with anger as Arturo leaned down and smiled evilly at me. “Going somewhere?”
Chapter Twelve:Denise
I was forced to sit in silence in Illiana’s office while I waited for her and Carmine to arrive. After realizing that I’d been caught in a lie about Callista, I considered making a run for it. There was no way Illiana wasn’t going to kill me after she found out that not only had I made contact with Callista, but with Gabriel as well.
For some reason, Ashton slid across my brain, and I couldn’t keep myself from wishing that I had a chance to talk to him before all was said and done. I wished I could tell him about the realization I’d had about Carmine so that he could at least follow the thread. I wished I could tell him that I had feelings for him, too, even if those feelings were complicated for me because of my station in life. I wished I could ask him if he’d really be okay with us just being related in name alone, or if he ever wanted more.
Sitting in isolation on the precipice of death really gets one’s mind going.
“Become an official Carducci.”
That would be a lot nicer if it meant something deeper. Always floating so closely to Ashton, I never stopped to think how truly compatible we were. If hehadbeen proposing to me instead of just asking me to swear allegiance to his dumb dad, I might have taken the plunge. As stupid and impulsive as that would have been, as much as it made no sense to marry someone for whom you were still trying to sort out your feelings, I would have taken a few happy days as Ashton’s wife over dying without anyone by my side.
My mom raked across my brain, the mother who raised me, not Illiana. Renee was halfway between two homes, having lost her husband and all of her children in the span of a year. She was the only person who’d ever truly loved me, and I repaid her by running and making promises that I could never keep. Would she be okay? Hopefully, her family, her real family, would wrap around her and love her as much as she deserved. The Binachis certainly weren’t up to the task.
Then Gabriel, my poor half-brother who was living his happy life with his family and had no idea of the shit storm that was headed his way. With me out of the way, there would be nothing stopping Anthony or Illiana from digging the Varassos up and forcing them back into this life that they fought so hard to get out of. If I could go back in time, I’d change the way I handled things with them. I would tell them everything—the truth, not just the tailored version I used to get on their good side. I’d want Gabriel to know that I did it for him.
The few people who I actually felt any concern for would all suffer because I wasn’t strong enough to keep myself alive, and worse, I was going to die, not even knowing why. How did Illiana find out about Callista and me being in touch in the first place? There were so many questions I had that I wished I had answers to.
None of that would ever happen. Illiana would walk in this room in a few minutes, and I’d be shocked if she even got all the way in the room before blowing my brains out. At least I didn’t have any affairs to take care of. I’d die how I lived, with nothing.
The door opening sent my heart into overdrive. It was pounding so hard that I was convinced it was going to come blasting out of my chest. I fully expected to get a bullet through my skull next, but the door closed, and then a couple of sets of footsteps padded across the floor behind me. Illiana and Carmine passed me on either side as Illiana moved to sit down in her office chair behind her desk, and Carmine moved to stand behind her.
Very calmly, Illiana folded her hands together and set them on top of the desk. She looked across at me. “So. Why don’t we just start at the beginning? When did you meet Callista?”
