Stay quiet. Stay down.
It repeats like a mantra in my mind until Guido punches me so hard in the gut that he cries out in pain, stumbling away and clutching his elbow while erupting into a coughing fit.
“Dad.” Giacomo steps up. “You’re too sick for this.”
“No,” Guido croaks. “He’s made a fool out of me. Out of all of us! Lived under my roof and tortured my daughter, stole from me, and trampled all over the oath I made him swear. I’ll kill him, I swear to God!” Guido surges forward, but Giacomo stops him by looping an arm around his waist and hauling him back.
“You will, Dad. But not like this. He’s done enough. Let me take over and I swear the end will be by your hand.”
I peer at them through foggy vision, blinking harshly as blood leaks from my temple. Deep down, I know I have to get out of this somehow. Giacomo’s promise to keep quiet about Aerin andmy relationship only holds true while I still have the ability to fight back. When that’s gone, Aerin’s fair game.
Keep it together.
“Fine,” Guido grumbles. Anything else he has to say ends up swallowed back down as a guard melts out the shadows and hands him his cellphone.
“It’s Aerin,” the man says.
Guido casts one cold look at me, then puts the phone to his ear and storms away out the door while talking far too rapidly for me to make anything out.
“Looks like it’s just us.” Giacomo smirks. “You take a punch well.”
My tongue sweeps around my mouth and over my teeth, then I spit the blood I gathered right into his leering face. “How long do you think you can keep this up?”
Giacomo doesn’t even flinch, but he straightens up and wipes his face with the crook of his elbow, transferring the blood to his sleeve. “Keep what up?”
“I took the blame. I did my part. But Aerin’s smart. Do you really think she’ll roll over and not work things out?”
Giacomo’s lips purse. “I do. Do you want to know why?”
“Enlighten me.”
He drops to his haunches in front of me and gazes upward, locking eyes with me. “Because she’s the one who told me about Pidge. Over lunch, before I took her to the bar. She told me about your friend and I forgot all about him until you both cameback from the cabin in one piece.” His eyes snake to my arm. “Mostly.”
She…told him about Pidge?
“That’s when I remembered. I realized you’re sneaky, Falco. You had a network I didn’t know about. It explains how you and Aerin went off the grid when I tried to blow the safehouse. So I tracked her phone, traced her calls and her texts and found one number I didn’t recognize. We called it. It pinged a tower and voila.”
Pidge.
Poor Pidge.
I roped him into this mess of a life and he died for it.
It’s all my fault. Giacomo tries to paint this like its Aerin’s fault, but there’s no way she could have known it wasn’t safe to talk to her brother back then. Even now, she’ll have no idea.
Giacomo pops his lips. “Killing him was boring. Easy, even. But you know the best part?” He stands slowly and I track him with my non-swollen eye. “Have you worked it out yet?” Leaning close, his breath cools the blood staining my face. “Why I called off the wedding?”
As much as I don’t want to give him the satisfaction, I shake my head.
“You’ve seen Guido. He’s getting sicker. Something’s wrong with his lungs, his kidney, and his liver. He’s safe because he thinks Aerin will take over and I’m going to let her. And then I’m going to kill her. But I couldn’t do that if she was tied down to the Irish, because then I would have more competition than I could deal with. So I worked out my own deal. All the drugs downstairs thatyoustole? Will be given to them for free. The ceasefire remains, peace blooms, and when Dad dies next month like I plan? A week later, Aerin will take her life because she can’t stand the pressure. And you?” He sucks on his teeth and smirks. “You’ll be dead.”
I surge forward in the seat until my head crashes against Giacomo’s and he stumbles back with a cry, falling on his ass. “You forget one thing,” I croak, utterly enraged from every word he’s spewed at me. “Aerin’s smarter than you give her credit for. She won’t go down without a fight, and Guido won’t kill me until he’s satisfied.”
Giacomo surges upward. “Doesn’t matter. If he doesn’t kill you, I fucking will.”
His fist collides with my face again and the beating resumes. My jaw strains, my teeth shake, and my brow swells so much that my eye closes over. When the chair topples over, Giacomo’s booted kicks crack then break my ribs. Soft tissue inside me bursts from the force of the blows and darkness calls me.
I hold on.
