Ferro’s tire iron, the weapon he uses to beat his opponents to death because he believes it’ll make him more legendary, is so caked in dried blood it looks twice as thick as it should.
We’ve been killing since the moment they ripped Goldie from my arms.Before it all started, I might’ve vaguely thought that killing men I didn’t know would make it easier.It doesn’t.I see each and every man whose life I ended tonight every time I close my eyes, every time I let my mind wander.
It’s wandering a lot now that I don’t have a next kill to focus on.
The only bright spot is knowing I’ll see Goldie soon.
She’s waiting for me at the end of this last ride.And willing or not, she is mine now.In body if not in spirit.But that will come too.I will entertain no other thought.
Ferro’s mansion looms before us at the end of the long driveway as we pass through the tall iron gates surrounding the estate.Those gates are guarded by angry-faced men armed with machine guns, reminding me that we might have won today’s battle, but the war is not over yet.
I am a soldier in that war now, even though it is not my own.
My own war is still waiting for me, thousands of miles westward.A war I’ve been dreaming of waging for almost a decade, ever since my family and I lost the last one.I’m the sole survivor of that war.It’s on me to restore my family’s honor and avenge the deaths of everyone I ever loved at the hands of an evil man—Dante Moretti.
Used to be just thinking his name would fill me with a renewed life, as rage and hatred for him burned through me.But even that fire isn’t enough to warm me this morning.Only Gianna’s golden light can do that today.
But my revenge is coming now.And soon.
I am here, helping Ferro win his war so that he will help me win mine.
I am here, giving Ferro what he needs, so that I can give Gianna what she needs after it is all done and victory and vengeance are both mine.
I am here because I lived for revenge and didn’t realize in time that it had changed.Didn’t realize I’d rather live for Gianna before I destroyed her life.
I tried to fix it, but it was too late.Tried to make sure she and her family got away safely, but failed.
No one must ever know I tried now.
No one must ever even suspect it.
But I will always know.And hope it doesn’t make me the monster she now sees me as.
Ours is just one car in a long line of them.Like a funeral procession returning for the wake.Ferro opens his door and steps out before we’re even fully stopped in front of the mansion’s front door.
He throws his head to the sky and howls at the rising sun like some confused wolf.But there is nothing confused about him.He is the devil who beat the night and can now bask in the sun for eternity.He is thecapo dei tutti capitoday, the ruler of the New York Mob, more than just the king of kings.He is the only king.
Last night’s war eliminated all the important members of the Five Families that used to rule the New York Mafia via the Commission.This morning, he will instate himself as the only ruler.
New York is his.
“Bring me the fiery Codelli woman,” he bellows at his second in command, a stocky man half a head shorter than me who fought like a lion by Ferro’s side all night.He’s as drenched in blood as Ferro is.“And bring me a priest.I want to marry her.”
The sigh that slithers over everyone gathered here is far from enthusiastic.
I grab his shoulder.“I’ll get her for you.But we should get cleaned up first.”
“Why?”he demands, his black eyes full of the kind of intense light I’m only used to seeing in my own when I’m thinking of all the ways I will make Dante Moretti suffer before I kill him.
“Because women are fickle like that,” I say.“You try to marry her with the blood of her family on you and you’ve lost her forever.”
And because I don’t want Goldie to see me covered in that same blood.
Ferro grins at me.“You know what, you’re right.You usually are.”
He turns to the gathered men.“Get cleaned up first.Then we’ll have a wedding.And then we’ll celebrate.”
He strides into the house, his second at his heels.
