I have my gun pressed under his chin before he can blink. My hand is steady even though the rest of me is shaking. “Say her name. I fucking dare you.”
Aurelio grins, blood on his teeth. “There he is.”
“Vin.” Matti’s hand lands on my shoulder. “We need answers first.”
I want to pull the trigger anyway, watch his brains paint the wall behind him. I just fucking want this to be over. But Matti’s right, so I lower the gun and step back, my jaw clenched so tight it aches.
“The restaurant,” I say. “Sophie’s restaurant. You bomb it?”
Aurelio raises an eyebrow. “Sophie? You call aputtanaby her name? And here I thought you were just using her to get back at her father for calling the cops on your little party.”
Ice floods my veins. I fucking knew it. “So you—”
“Know about Salvatore Bellamorte?” He laughs again, his accent thickening. “Please. You think I forget about this piece of shit man and his whore wife and daughter? I forget nothing. I’ve had eyes on that family for years.”
My stomach turns, staring at Aurelio’s scar, thinking of Sophie at 12, defending her mother with a knife. The same girlwho crawled to me with a washcloth in her teeth. The same woman who looked at me like I was the only fucking person in the room every single time.
I let out a dry laugh. “You mean you kept tabs on the people who know that that little girl is the one who scarred up your fucking face.”
Matti’s eyes pop open wide and Tommy whips his gaze from me back to Aurelio as Aurelio snarls. “Lies. All lies.”
I laugh again. My Sophie never lies. She doesn’t have to. “Yeah, that’s what I thought you’d say.”
Aurelio’s face turns red, his scar shining in the light. “No littleputtana—”
Matti grabs me as I lunge for him, and Tommy quickly interjects. “But you did bomb the Arsenal.”
“No.” Aurelio blows out a guffaw that shakes his whole 350 pound body, sweat staining his armpits. “Salvatore called a mutual friend about the party, and she called me. I sent in the police in my pocket to take advantage and get to you while you were distracted. But the restaurant?” He shrugs. “That was someone else.”
“Bullshit,” I growl.
“So stupid,figlio. Why would I bomb a restaurant when I could just wait for you to come home and put a bullet in your head while you’re sleeping next to her?”
I blink, seeing that image play out in my head: Sophie sleeping beside me, her hair spread across the pillow. The way she’d curl into my chest in the middle of the night like she belonged there or take my cock in her mouth as she slept.
“Someone else wanted to send a message,” Aurelio continues. “Someone who knew you were staying with her. You know I don’t use bombs. They are too flashy, too much noise.”
So then it was Rocco. But he’s not smart enough to be the mastermind, so Aurelio must have told someone else. Or Rocco wasn’t working for Aurelio at all.
“Still lying,” I say, but my conviction is slipping.
“Believe what you want.” Aurelio leans back as much as the zip ties allow. “But here’s truth, Vincenzo: You’re already distracted, already weak. You think you can run a family like this?”
“Shut the fuck up.”
“Your mother, God rest her soul, she understood her place. Never questioned me, never got in the way. That’s what a boss needs. Not a woman who makes you soft.”
“Is that why you put your hands on her?” The words are out before I can stop them. “Because she ‘understood her place’?”
His expression darkens. “Watch your mouth.”
“Or what?” I step closer, sneering, gun still in my hand. “You gonna teach me a lesson? You’re tied to a fucking chair, old man. Your empire is gone. Your men abandoned you. You’ve got nothing left except the next few hours of your miserable life.”
For the first time, I see something flicker in his eyes. Not fear exactly, but recognition. Like he’s finally seeing me as something other than the disappointing son who wouldn’t fall in line.
“You love her,” he says, almost surprised.
I don’t answer, not even in my head. Because I’m realizing for the first time how much Sophie is like my mother. And that Matti was right when he said,You’re acting just like him.
