As difficult as it was to drag myself away, I opened the door to the car and climbed out, and I moved quickly over to Cherri’s car and climbed in. Knowing that Ashton would wait until I was safely out of the vicinity, I didn’t even pull on my seatbelt before driving off. I got out of the area first, then situated myself, plugged my phone in for the long drive, and got my seatbelt on. I settled in and let the monotony of the highway give me the space I needed to daydream about living in California with Ashton and my mom.
What a beautiful life that would be.
Mornings by the beach, afternoon picnics, evenings spent staring up at the stars. My mom was a very low key, low maintenance person, so having her with us wouldn’t be a problem. In fact, I had a feeling that Ashton and my mom would get along really well. They had the same calm but strong energy. If I could have spent some more time around them, maybe I wouldn’t be so erratic and impulsive. I could only hope that Ashton would eventually look my mom up and keep an eye on her once I was gone.
When I pulled up back at the Costa estate, Carmine was sitting outside, waiting for me. He stuck his arms out to either side of his body. “What the fuck? Where the hell have you been?”
“Things have changed. I need to speak with Illiana.”
Carmine furrowed his brow. “Is everything okay?”
“No, Carmine. Everything isnotokay.” I tapped his back as I passed him. “As a matter of fact, call everyone. I’ll be in the dining room.”
There was no hesitation or slouch in my steps as I moved into the house and to the right into the dining room, where I’d enjoyed many fake family meals over the years. I didn’t want to be boxed into Illiana’s office, especially not with all of the available Costas staring me down. If I was going to die, I wanted it to be in a place where they would always have to remember me unless they sold the house and moved out. The chair I usually sat in was on one of the sides, but I pulled out the chair at the head of the table that Illiana typically sat in and sunk into it. After a few minutes, several shuffling footsteps broke the silence as my family filled the room. Bennett and Cherri sat in their typical seats to the right of the head of the table, while Carmine went and sat in his normal seat to the left.
Manny walked toward his seat, but when he saw where I was sitting, he moved over and sat next to Bennett, where Sid would sit if he wasn’t back in Texas. The last to enter the room was Illiana. She stood over me for a minute, almost as if she was waiting to see if I would move, but when I didn’t, she walked down to the other end of the table and sat across from me. An unknown power flooded into me, knowing that Illiana had been forced to bend to my will if only a little.
“Well, this is dramatic,” Illiana started. “Tell me, where have you been?”
“I’ve been with Ashton Carducci,” I replied.
Everyone at the table exchanged shocked looks apart from Illiana, who just stared back at me, unphased. “Is that right?”
“Yep. I’m in love with him. In truth, I have been for a long time, ever since I met him along with the rest of the Carduccis about five years ago.”
Carmine looked over at me. “What are you doing?”
“I wanted to kill you, but I knew that I wouldn’t be able to do it without help. I sought out Callista for this help, and she brought her brothers and father into the fold. You interrupted our plans a little bit when you sent me to Philly, and when Anthony caught wind, he cowboyed my plans and tried to use me to help him rope in the Binachis and the Varassos. The only thing I succeeded in doing was getting the Binachis killed and letting the Varassos become ghosts in this world. Anthony dragged me back here, planning to kill me for not succeeding, but Ashton saved my life, and in exchange, I was to infiltrate this home and take it over from the inside out.” At this, I tossed a glance over to Carmine. As expected, he shifted uncomfortably in his seat and turned his gaze away from me. “I always hated you for what you did. Making children, abandoning them, and then bringing them back to be your little minions. It’s disgusting.”
“Denise,” Cherri hissed.
“But you know, while running around between the Binachis, the Varassoss, the Carduccis, and the Costas, I’ve come to understand why you did it. This world is ruthless and underhanded. Every single person is playing a losing game, and it’s just a matter of who can hang on the longest. A woman with hooks in every major crime family in the United States,that’sa woman who can hang on the longest. So if it’s a decision between helping Anthony Carducci kill you or helping you kill Anthony Carducci, I choose you. I know that I’ve betrayed you, all of you, and I’m prepared to pay for that crime with my life. All I ask is that, once you’ve finished with Anthony, you let Ashton live.”
Bennett, Cherri, and Manny were all muttering in shock. Carmine was staring straight down at the table, looking as if he was ready to blow something up, and Illiana was just staring back at me.
“You were going to give us up?” Cherri asked, and her sadness nearly broke my heart.
“It’s a hard lesson you’ll learn in this life,” I said. “If you aren’t looking out for yourself, someone will get you.”
Illiana had a small smirk on her face, and it grew wider and wider. “Well, this is the oddest way I thought I’d ever be proud of you, my dear. You’ve fooled four families. The ultimate con.”
“I learned from the best,” I responded.
“Playing double agent to save your own skin? You are most certainly my daughter.” She folded her hands together. “And I respect those who prove they have theskinfor this world, so I will make you a deal. You help me see Anthony under the ground, and I will let you and Ashton go free.”
Bennett scoffed. “No way. She was gonna roll on all of us. I won’t have it.”
Illiana held up her hand, and Bennett silenced immediately. “What do you say?”
I folded my hands to mimic Illiana. “I say Ashton is getting out of townbeforeit starts.”
Illiana’s smile got larger. “You always were the smartest of my children. Very well. Ashton may go first.”
“Tell me what to do,” I said, “and you can consider it done.”
She held out her hands. “Why fix something that isn’t broken? You’ve manifested a perfect plan here, so let’s not waste it’s intelligence and prowess.” She turned and locked eyes with Carmine and then looked back at me. “You will go back to Ashton Carducci. You will do exactly as you’ve done here, tell him everything. Tell him that you confessed it all to me, that you’ve agreed to be an agent for me, but convince him that you are going to be an agent of his instead. Set up my assassination, except when you show up to kill me, we’ll do all the killing instead. It’ll be a clean, quick sweep. Anthony and Arturo. I’ll spare Callista. Without her family, she’ll have no choice but to fall under my rule.”
I thought about the in that I truly believed Callista had at the police department and knew that she had more than one resource she could access to get out from under Illiana if she wanted to. “Understood.”
