Page 94 of Read This Before the Villain falls in Love with You

Luca turned his back to the table. He met Nonna's stare across the rug, gave her one short nod, and buttoned his jacket.

Chapter 37

LUCA

The audit in Palermo gave us the names we needed: Salvatore Barone had sold out the routes, playing both sides while taking meetings with Bellini. He didn't survive the hour after we got the proof. We tracked the rest of the rot straight here to the Bellini stronghold, carving through every compromised traitor until only the head remained. Now, thick gray smoke hangs over the courtyard fountain, and Don Vincenzo Bellini slumps against the marble basin with two men left, his ruined suit soaked in red, still clutching a pistol like it can save him.

I level the barrel straight at his chest, finger steady on the trigger. "Drop the fucking gun."

He spits blood onto the flagstones and keeps the gun raised. "Moretti. Always so tidy. Your father was the same. Look where that got him."

Matteo flanks left, breathing hard, cut still bleeding above his eye. Enzo covers the archway behind us.

Gravel crunches beneath my boots as I take a slow step forward. "Gun on the stone. I'm not saying it again, Bellini."

He laughs, wet and mean, and coughs up crimson onto his ruined collar. "Or what? You think you frighten me, boy? Your uncle was a coward, and you're just like him."

Matteo wipes blood from his brow with the back of his sleeve. "I vote we just shoot this bastard and save the conversation."

Enzo shifts his grip on his rifle with a grimace. "Seconded. My fucking feet are killing me."

Bellini's eyes flick to the blood pooling on the stones. "Go on. Finish it. Your father was weak, and you're just a boy playing boss."

I take one step closer. "You had twenty years. You used them poorly."

He raises the pistol another inch. I shoot him in the hand. Bone and metal go in different directions. He howls and drops to one knee. The two remaining men start to move. Enzo drops the left one clean. Matteo takes the right with a shot that makes him swear about the recoil and his shoulder at the same time.

Bellini clutches the ruined hand and bares his teeth. "Do it then. Make it ugly. Your parents screamed. I want you to remember you can still enjoy it."

My boots step across the gravel toward the fountain. I press the cold iron of the muzzle straight between his eyes, holding his gaze without a word or a blink.

The steel stays perfectly steady against his skull. "I used to think I owed you pain. I do not. I owe my family a clean end."

He opens his mouth for another insult. I fire once. He falls backward into the broken fountain. Water turns red around his shoulders and stops meaning anything.

Matteo lets out a shuddering breath. He lowers his pistol with a visibly shaking hand. "God in heaven. It's actually over."

Enzo doesn't move for several seconds, staring down at the crimson pool spreading across the stones. "Twenty years," he whispers, his knuckles white against the metal of his rifle.

Enzo lets out a ragged exhale, running a palm over his tired face. "We made it through. Everyone is alive back home."

Matteo looks up at the clearing smoke, his chest heaving with quiet relief. "Let's get back to the estate. Nonna, Sofia, Nora... they need to know we're walking out of here alive."

Enzo secures the strap of his rifle across his broad chest with a slow nod. "Let's go home, Luca. It's finally done."

I holster my weapon and roll my shoulders, letting out a breath. The courtyard is silent now, save for the fountain water spilling over the rim.

I turn toward the gravel drive where the trucks idle. "We're moving out. Call Adrian. Tell him the estate can stand down."

We move out through the ruined archway while the last of Bellini's men either run or surrender to the sweep teams outside. The war ends the way I should have ended it years ago. Clean. No extra cruelty. Just done.

The drive back to the estate takes forty minutes that feel like ten hours. Matteo and Enzo argue in the front seat about who took out the machine gun nest on the stairs, but I barely hear them. All I can focus on is getting back through our gates. Knowing everyone is safe in the main villa.

At the estate, the heavy iron gates grind open. Nonna is already in the mansion with clean towels, her face tight until she counts our heads. Sofia stands right behind her, flanked by Adrian. And right beside Sofia, crossing her arms against the chill, stands Nora. Still wearing one of my shirts and dark jeans, pale, alive, and glaring like she wants to murder me for taking so long.

Nonna points a wooden spoon directly at my chest. "Shower. All of you. Then eat. Adrian, make sure Matteo doesn't bleed on my rug."

Nora marches straight toward me, ignoring the blood smeared across my tactical gear. "You took your sweet time, Moretti. I was about to negotiate Bellini's surrender over speakerphone just to speed things up."