“I wasn’t trying to kill you,” Xavier told me with a laugh. I looked at him for a moment, confused at the confession. If he wasn’t trying to kill me then what the hell was he trying to do? “Killing you like that would be too easy. Too clean. You, my darling girl, deserve to suffer.”
“All of this because I found out your dirty little secret?”
The sting of the slap heated my cheek and brought fresh tears to my eyes. “Because you’ve been trying to rip away everything I worked for. My marriage. My children. I’m respected and feared in this community. I have given them my blood and my loyalty, and you think you can come along and try to take all that from me?”
“Seems like you can preach loyalty, but you can’t keep it.”
He pinched my face in one of his hands. There was nothing gentle in his movements. Everything from his words to his touch radiated the hate he felt towards me. “I should have killed Maria when I had the chance. Or forced her to get rid of him but she was so desperate for a child.” I felt sick at the words. Luc was his son, his flesh and blood but Luc was only wanted when he proved himself to be of use to Xavier. I hoped Link never felt like he was just another cog in the machine. If I got out of this, I promised to love my son the best I could until my last breath. “You aren’t all that different,” Xavier said, looking down at me. “Trapping Luc with a child.”
I ripped my face away from Xavier’s grasp. “You have no right to talk about my son.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll make sure he’s raised right after you’ve gone. Fall into line the way Luc should have.”
“You think Luc will let you live after this?”
“You think I’ll let him live after all his scheming? Either of them? Lucas. Gabriel.”
Gabe? He’d been on the phone with him and told him to meet him here. He wanted Gabe to meet him so he must have been in on the plan, but if that was the case then why was Xavier talking about killing him?
Xavier clocked my confusion. “You and my son haven’t been seeing eye to eye, Mia. Someone needs to be blamed for your sticky end. A murder-suicide. A tragic conclusion to a messy affair at a home he bought for you both.”
The realtor. We were all confused at why Xavier had been in contact with them, looking for a property when he should have been focusing on things at home. Xavier had been piecing together a plan that would get rid of everyone that opposed him and left him in the clear and saw him slip back into place at the head of the table. After the mess of my return and Gabe’s handiwork, it wouldn’t be a stretch to sway the family to believe his messed up story was the truth. Even if they didn’t believe him, who would argue at the risk of joining us?
“Both of them ungrateful and stupid enough to think they could replace me. I’ll deal with you and Gabe—”
“Vittoria. You told Gabe to bring her along.”
“She’ll do what I tell her to,” Xavier said. “So desperate for approval and eager to please. She’ll help me get to Lucas.”
The deep, instinctive protectiveness I had over Luc forced my head up quickly, the only weapon I had, and connected hard with Xavier’s face. He hissed, head reeling back and when he looked at me again, a thin stream of red ran from his nose.
His hand came to my throat, pressing down on it and making it difficult to breathe. “You’re a lot feistier than I gave you credit for.”
Just as my vision began to spot, Xavier removed his hand, but I barely relished in the freedom before his fist connected with my side, knocking any remaining air out of me. The moment he stood up from me, I rolled myself onto my side trying to breathe through the pain. I was completely defenceless. Every clever remark, every unanticipated move meant nothing because Xavier had the advantage, and I was clutching at straws.
“I’m going to take great joy in killing that spirit,” he said. I looked to his chest where he’d stashed his gun. The fresh tears of pain misted my eyes as Xavier clucked his tongue. “Oh, Mia. I’ve already told you that’s not what I have in mind for you.”
The stables were pretty desolate. The wooden beams that supported the building were rotting in places and there were a few pieces of rusted equipment that had been long forgotten; troughs and buckets and brooms. I was surprised that it was still standing. No one had been here in a long time and I doubted anyone would visit it. He probably planned to let me die here alone, quietly losing my mind.
Xavier was walking away towards the door and kicked an old jerrycan so that it fell on its side. The realisation hit me hard. The pungent smell that was making my head throb violently was gas. This psychopath was about to burn down the stables.
There was another burst of adrenaline as I looked around wildly. Panic and pain were fighting to dominate my body. With all my effort, I pushed myself unsteadily onto my knees and then to my feet, heading in the opposite direction where another set of doors laid. Xavier was quicker than me, uninjured and in control of the situation. I’d barely made it a few steps before he stopped me. His fingers pressed the bullet wound and made a broken scream escape my lips and tears fall. He shoved me forward roughly so that my chin hit the floor as I landed, stomping down on my injured shoulder and earning another cry of agony. The pain was more than I could handle. Nausea and dizziness took over me and I dry heaved. I would either vomit or pass out.
“You deserve to burn, Mia.”
His footsteps grew gradually fainted as he walked away from me. In the silence of the stables, I heard it. The scratch of a match and the flame flickering into existence. From the corner of my eye, I saw the flame as it licked a nearby beam and ignited rapidly, spreading along its length and across the floor. Xavier moved away from it quickly and struck another match, walking away and tossing it. The brightness of the flames forced me to shut my eyes as they erupted around me, chasing away the cold space and roaring ferociously.
This couldn’t be how I died. This couldn’t be what happened to me, the way my story ended. But it felt so easy. I could just close my eyes and let the heat take me. Then I thought of Link and Luc and my family, and how much I wanted to spend my life with them. I wanted to grow old and watch my family thrive and flourish. There were things worth fighting for. There were things that required me to be alive.
My boy needed me. My beautiful baby boy relied on me to fight through this and win because if I didn’t, if Luc didn’t, then he’d be left at Xavier’s mercy. Link would grow up to be used as another pawn in the game until he proved useless. The reality of what would happen then spurred me to move.
Rolling over with immense effort, I managed to sit myself up again. If I didn’t start moving quickly, I really would burn to death.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Lucas
Idrove back to Dante’s house, not trusting him behind the wheel. We were both pissed at the situation that had unfolded in front of us. The audacity of Angelo to try and play us and think he could get away with it. He’d pinned his colours to the wrong mast, and he paid for his mistake with his life.
