Headlights, headed straight for me.
So this is it. It’s almost amusing: the new Don Castellani, taken out like a stray in the road.
And the only thing I regret is that I won’t see Teddy’s smile again before I die.
CHAPTER40
SANDRO
When the hit comes,it’s not as hard as I expected, and it’s from the side, not the front.
I go flying across the road, landing hard on asphalt with an elbow in my gut, winding me.
The car swerves but drives on without stopping, not even a screech of breaks to suggest they tried to avoid me.
I’m yanked up and out of the road. A limping Johnny Jacopo dumps me down onto the opposite sidewalk, and I sit with my feet in the gutter, holding my head in my hands.
Everything hurts.
Jacopo sits next to me on the curb, and looks at me. His face is covered in blood, his eye is closing up, and there’s a cut on his cheekbone that will probably need stitches. I’m sure I don’t look much better.
Our fistfight seems so childish now.
“You okay?” he asks gruffly.
“You saved my life.”
“Let’s not get hysterical.”
I lie back on the sidewalk, and I can’t stop the laugh that comes out of me. “I can’t believe you saved my fucking life.”
“Quit laughing, you’re going to get us noticed.”
I let my chuckles die into a sigh and fold my hands gingerly over my belly, sore from the punching, not to mention the elbow I just got during Jacopo’s lifesaving push.
“I’m not fit to lead this Family,” I say. It’s the first time I’ve admitted it—to myself, let alone out loud.
Jacopo says nothing.
“I’m not.” I sit up again, staring at a candy bar wrapper in the gutter. “Am I?”
With a sigh, Jacopo says, “No, Sandro. Right now, you’re not. But your dad was worse, if it makes you feel better.”
It stings, having him agree with me, but more surprising is the fact that that’sallit does. Not that long ago—ten minutes, even—I would have gotten mad at him, just for confirming what I already know.
“I don’t think that car intended to stop,” Jacopo says after a while. “ Did you get a look at them?”
“Headlights were in my eyes.” I don’t add what I nearly want to, which is that the only thing in my mind as death approached was Teddy McCallum’s beautiful face.
“Whoever it was, they were gunning for you,” Jacopo says, looking down the street. “I didn’t catch the plates. Too dark. Too focused on saving your stupid ass.”
“If they were trying to kill me, they failed.” After a pause, I add, “Thanks to you.”
Jacopo touches his cheekbone tenderly. “Forget it. I’m not expecting a medal for it. Come on. I know an all-night clinic where they’ll clean us up and won’t ask questions.”
I stagger up to my feet. “Do you…need to tell Miller where you’re going?”
Jacopo winces, and I don’t think it’s from prodding his cheek. “You know what, that conversation can wait. He isnotgonna be happy with me, and I’m in enough pain right now.”
