I draw my pistol and fire one shot, clean and deadly, straight into his chest. My lessons with Mattia are paying off. He crumples backward, and chaos erupts around the dock. Guns spit fire from both sides, bullets slicing the air. The leaders stand untouched in the middle, as their soldiers become the targets. A scream claws at my throat, but I clamp my hand over my mouth, forcing myself to breathe slow and steady. Shit.
“Abbastanza!”Enough!Luciano’s voice cuts through the gunfire like a blade. Silence snaps everyone into place, only a few muffled moans can be heard.
“Dove cazzo è?”Where the fuck is she?Oh shit, how did he know it was me?
I silently watch as everyone shakes their heads, except one tattletale. His sharp gaze locks onto me. I hear the footsteps coming before Carlo yanks me out from behind the barrels.
“Fuck’s sake, Charlie,” he mutters, half dragging me forward to Luciano. The disappointment is written all over his face.
Luciano looks like he’s going to explode, pure, blazing rage paints across his chiseled face. “Take her home,” he barks at Carlo.
“No,” I snap, refusing to back down as I try to shrug out of Carlo’s grip. “I’m not going anywhere.”
“Per una volta, smettila di comportarti come un monello e ascolta!”For once, stop acting like a brat and listen!
Vince’s eyes narrow onto me. “Chi è questo?”Who’s this?He already knows the answer, he’s just looking for confirmation.
“Charlotte Carlisi,” I say, extending my hand out to Vince. “Caterina’s daughter.”
He studies me hard, confirmation flickering across his face. “Sembri proprio lei.”You look just like her.He glances at Luciano. “This,” he gestures to the wreckage around us, “needs dealing with. Caterina’s daughter or not, she shot my man for no reason.”
“He reached into his jacket,” I start to argue, moving forward slightly.
“Stop talking, Charlie.” Luciano grabs my forearm from Carlo and squeezing tight, urging me to shut up. “We’ll repay you for the one man she killed, but not the rest,” Luciano says. “You have one hour to clear the bodies from our turf.”
Vince nods curtly as Luciano yanks me toward his car. “We’ll meet you all back home,” he says. He digs into my pocket, grabbing the Jeep car key and throws it to Stefano.
The drive home is suffocating, the silence between us stretching on for far too long. I steal silent glances over at Luciano, but his eyes never leave the road, his hands gripping the steering wheel so hard I fear it may break any second. I can’t understand why Luciano is so angry with me when they nearly killed one of us.
When we reach the house, I bolt out of the car, slam the door and run towards the front steps, desperate to escape him and the incoming lecture.
“I told you to stay here,” Luciano snaps, hot on my heels.
“So what?” I try to race to my room, but his footsteps are getting near, closing the gap between us.
“You don’t realize what you’ve just done,” he yells at me. He grabs the back of my neck and pulls me back to him, stopping me from moving.
“Yes, I do,” I say, dangerously trying to push out of his grip.
His eyes lock on to mine. “You know nothing,” he hisses. “You’ve started a war.”
“No, I haven’t. They were already coming for us.”
“You killed one of Vince’s men for no reason.” I shrink back against the wall. “You outed yourself as Caterina’s daughter and got three of our men killed! You have given him a reason to attack us. You played right into his game.”
“He was reaching for a gun,” I defend myself, but my voice is starting to tremble.
Luciano shoves his face close to mine, our breaths mingling, his piercing blue eyes blazing. “You don’t shoot unless you can see the gun,” he snarls. “Did you see the gun?”
“No, but—”
“You know nothing, Charlie!” He slams his hands on the wall beside my head. I stand my ground, refusing to flinch. “I’ve been doing this for over twenty years. If I tell you to do something, fucking listen for once.”
“But…” I whisper as he storms off, slamming the office door behind him.
Oh God, what have I done? I hurry to my room, praying to avoid the guys for the rest of the night.
24
