“It’s not—”
“You had his beloved son, your own nephew, murdered. Shot down like a fucking dog.” A hot rage fired my words, and my chest tightened. “You used Sapienti to assassinate him. Why? Why would you do that? Why hammer another nail into an already sealed coffin? Why?”
“It was a mistake, Dominic. Just a mistake.”
“You don’t make mistakes. I know that.” I paused, checking the chamber of the gun.
“Please, Dominic—”
“Where did your balls go, Uncle?” I looked at everyone assembled in the room. “What the fuck happens to these ‘powerful’ men when they sit facing the barrel of the gun rather than cocking it in the face of their enemy?”
No one answered.
“You’ve learned over the last seven years what it’s like to exist just outside, Dominic. To not quite belong. To feel an utter impotence while standing beside the hand that rules the world. You now know what it was like for me all those years. You can’t deny that you know.”
“I have no reason to deny it. You’re right. And you know what, it felt like fucking shit. But I didn’t betray my family over the shit cards I’d been dealt. You played us. You played my father. For years.”
“He’s not your real—”
Someone cocked his gun. I turned to find Salvatore stepping forward, his angry gaze on my uncle.
“You listen, old man. You listen now, and show respect. Sergio didn’t get to see his baby boy. He never got to say good-bye to his wife. To any of us. You took that away. You killed your own nephew,” Salvatore said, rage slicing through the calm. “Now, you listen.” The words were forced through gritted teeth.
Roman swallowed hard, his eyes glistening. Did he feel remorse?
Did it fucking matter?
“Before I kill you,” I said, drawing his attention back on me, “I want to know your involvement with Victor Scava.”
“Let me walk away, leave town, leave the goddamned country. I’ll tell you everything, just don’t—” His voice broke.
Fucking coward.
“Don’t what?” I probed, taunting. Hating him.
“Don’t kill me,” he begged.
“Get on your knees, and beg me not to kill you.”
He looked around the room. He had to know no one would help him. Slowly, and with trembling legs, he dropped to his knees before me. Fucking fool. Fucking bastard, coward, fool. Did he really think I’d let him live?
I noticed the ring he still wore. “Take the Benedetti ring off your finger.”
He looked down at his hand and then met my gaze. I think he decided this one he could concede because he wriggled the tight ring off and handed it to me. I set it on the desk.
“Please, Dominic, I’ll tell you what you want to know, just let me live. Let my family—”
I pointed the gun at his shoulder and pulled the trigger. Roman fell backward, and Gia screamed.
“She stays,” I said to the men at the door, my eyes on Roman.
“I’m not leaving,” she said.
I glanced back at her but spoke to the soldier. “Make sure of it.”
“Uncle,” I said, looking at him again. “Get the fuck up. Back on your knees.”
Salvatore remained silent but deadly beside me. He may have left the family, but this was what he came from. This wasn’t the first time he’d seen something like this. Not one of us was clean, not a single fucking one. Not even sainted, dead Sergio.
