I’ve defeated him.By my count, he can’t have more than five men left, given all the ones we killed today.
But he’s still going to win.
Damn that spawn of Satan.
Damn this curse of mine, which decided to take Goldie first before it deals with me.It’ll probably let me live now, most likely for a very long time so that I can mourn her properly.Which I will.Every minute of every day for the rest of my life.
“What now?”Caputo asks.
“I go home.”
Chapter38
GIANNA
I’ve been sittingat the kitchen table for so long my back and legs ache.The garden outside is dark, so dark I feel like I’m looking into a black hole—the void of the rest of my life, blacker than anything I’ve ever seen.
Dante keeps talking to me.I ignored him to start with, but then he had one of his goons slap me across the face for doing that.
“Sicily is lovely this time of year,” Dante is saying, and I’m now convinced he is actually insane.“Ever been swimming on the beaches of Sicily?The water is divine.”
“You should go,” I say.“And I hope you drown.”
Maria’s grips my forearm under the table so hard I’m sure it’ll leave a welt.But I’m done playing nice with this guy.I wish she’d put that knife she’s hiding in her skirt in my hand instead of giving me warning hand squeezes.
“Someone needs another little attitude adjustment,” Dante says and motions for the hulking, tall guy who’d slapped me before to do it again.He’s coming, but I’m ignoring him completely, looking at Dante defiantly instead.
“What?You’re not even man enough to hit me yourself?”I ask.
Dante gives me a serene smile.“I don’t hit women.”
And the goon chuckles as he raises his hand to slap me.And freezes mid-move as a deafeningly loud gunshot echoes through the silent kitchen.
The man who was about to hit me falls to the ground at my feet, dead, his cruel little grin still etched to his face.
“I’m here,” Matteo says from the doorway to the garage, speaking as much to me as to Dante.I almost don’t believe my eyes or my ears, and if it weren’t for the sunshine of his eyes warming my face, my whole body, I’d think I was hallucinating.
“What took you so long?”I breathe and smile at him.
But what’s he doing here alone?
Dante still has four guys on his side, and they’re all pointing their guns at Matteo now.
And they all start shooting at the same time.
Maria pulls me off my chair and under the table.I’m afraid to look at the garage door, terrified I’ll see Matteo lying in a pool of his own blood there.
But he’s not there.
More gunshots sound.Quick, superbly targeted bullets are flying across the room like whispers.
And then Matteo is by Dante’s side, holding his little black knife to the man’s throat.Dante’s men are all on the floor, some of them still moving.
“Do it,” I call to Matteo as I climb out from under the table.“Finish him.”
A pair of arms pulls me back as I try to run to him to be by his side for this, to make sure it really is finished.Rafaelle is the one holding me back and then my dad is standing before me, blocking my view of Matteo and Dante.
The joy of seeing my father after all this time is warring with my need to be by Matteo’s side.
