Dead Man's Hand: A Small Town Romance (A Good Run Of Bad Luck Book 1)

by Giulia Lagomarsino

  “I’m not disgraced,” Knight said, almost like he was offended. “I got out of the business.”

  “You couldn’t even kill one woman!”

  “Yeah, and I bet you’re happy about that now, seeing as how you’re with her brother.”

  My gaze snapped to Ciara’s. “You hired the hit on my sister?”

  “Not me personally. My father did, but this asshole failed.”

  “I didn’t fail. I chose not to kill her because I found out she was innocent.”

  “And she nearly killed you,” I muttered.

  “I learned my lesson. Can we get to the point here?”

  “I’m still trying to wrap my head around the fact that I’m in the room with mafia people and an assassin,” Jo said, shaking her head. “I mean, not that you’re in the room. You’re on a screen…”

  I rubbed my hand over my forehead. Jo was so out of her depth right now. “Look, we needed help, and he was the only one I knew that I could turn to.”

  “He has no loyalty,” Ciara snapped.

  “He has plenty of loyalty. I need you to trust me on this.”

  “Oh, that’s rich coming from you. You want me to trust you, but you’ve been hiding things from me since the day you brought me home. Every time I think we’re on the same page, you throw another bombshell at me.”

  Knight started chuckling. “This would be the time that you confess the last thing you’re hiding.”

  I glared at him just as Ciara stomped over to me, grabbing me by the shirt. “What else are you hiding from me?”

  “It’s nothing bad,” I said, prying her hands off.

  “No secret is too small,” Knight added. “Trust me, I’ve been there.”

  “Would you shut the fuck up?” I snapped.

  Ciara backed up. “You tell me right now what you’re hiding or I’m out of here.”

  “Why can’t you just trust me?”

  “Because you never tell me anything! Or are you worried that I’m going to run back to my family? Have I not proven myself enough to you? What more do I have to do to show that I’m on your side?”

  I didn’t want to say. It wasn’t my place to say anything. I glanced at Knight, who stared at me with a bored expression, like he couldn’t care less what happened. I hated him for putting me in this position. But Ciara was right, I either trusted her or I didn’t. She had fought alongside me. She hadn’t left me to die. If I didn’t trust her now, I would never get her trust in return.

  “Carly isn’t dead.”

  Ciara’s mouth dropped open as she stared at me. “What?” It came out as a whisper.

  “Who’s Carly?”

  “My sister,” I answered Jo.

  “Hell, I need to write this all down in a book to keep track of who’s who.”

  “I thought she died in a car bombing,” Ciara mumbled.

  “I thought she did too. I only found out when she came back with this asshole to dismantle my family.”

  “Why…why aren’t you with her? I mean, you’re family. Why didn’t you stay together?”

  I hung my head in shame. “Because I did something unforgivable.” Looking back up at her, I finally confessed the worst thing I had ever done. “I killed my brother.”

  She balked at me, obviously shocked by what I said. “Okay,” she said calmly. “But there had to be a good reason for it.”

  I shook my head, wishing I could tell her differently. “My father was sick and Alessandro took over operations. We had some bad shit go down with the Russians, and my uncle gave me information that my brother had been working behind our backs to help the Russians. I bought it,” I said shamefully. I scrubbed my hand over my face in frustration. “I should have listened to him when he told me it was all lies, but my uncle had been manipulating me for years, and I didn’t know it. And then he showed me a video of Alessandro planting the bomb under Carly’s car. It was a fake, but I was so enraged that I believed it. I didn’t listen to anything my brother said. I just put a bullet in his head and…”

  “Holy crap,” Jo muttered.

  Ciara watched me for a minute, her face a blank slate. I couldn’t figure out what she was thinking, and I was terrified that at any minute, she would walk away from me, disgusted by what I had done. I hated that Knight was witnessing all this, that he brought this up in the first place. I knew I needed to tell her, but I had hoped to do it in my own time. Now it was out there. Everyone knew my final secret, what led to my downfall made me the man I was today. Maybe knowing that was enough to make her finally leave me.

  She turned to Jo. “Would you give us a minute?”

  Jo nodded and slid from her barstool, hurrying out of the room.

  Knight cleared his throat. “Call me back when you’re finished.”

  After everyone was gone, Ciara walked over to me, her hands immediately coming to rest on my chest. “The nightmares, they’re of your brother, aren’t they?”

  I nodded.

  “And you thought I would judge you for what you did.”

  “Don’t you? I would.”

  She shook her head slightly. “Do you judge me for fucking men for whatever my father needed?”

  “Of course not, but that’s not the same.”

  “Yes, it is. We’re both a product of the lives we were born into. But the man you were is not the same man you are now. All it takes is one moment in time, one wrong decision to make you completely change your life.”

  “But I haven’t changed,” I said tersely. “I killed a man that was following me up to the cabin a week ago. I tortured him for information and tossed his body down the mountain.”

  “Was he going to kill you?”

  “That’s besides the point.”

  “No, that’s exactly the point. We’re both still fighting to break free of that life. And honestly, if it hadn’t been for that accident, I might have never gotten out. You saved my life in more ways than one that night. The way my father sent me in to manipulate you, this might have been my last job, and he wouldn’t have cared. Just like your uncle didn’t care that he manipulated you into shooting your own brother.”

  “But that doesn’t make me a good person.”

  “If this was a year ago, would you have saved my life?”

  “Probably not,” I admitted.

  “Would you have protected Jo at the cabin? Would you have brought her with us, or would you have considered her a liability?”

  “Well, she’s still a liability.”

  “But you’re protecting her,” she smiled at me. “That’s not the man that I heard all those horrible rumors about. In fact, had I not had amnesia, I wouldn’t have fallen for you. I would have assumed it was all an act, but I got to know you as you are now. You’re a good man. So, let’s figure out how to move forward from here. Let’s get out from under my family and move on with our lives, living it the way we were always supposed to.”

  I sighed, resting my forehead against hers. I didn’t deserve her loyalty or her faith in me. I wasn’t a good person, no matter what she thought. But I had fallen hard for her, doing things I never would have done before. She made me want to be a better man, someone that fought for the people around him instead of just for territory or money.

  “You really want to tie yourself to me?”

  She grinned, pressing a kiss to my lips. “You’re the only person I want to be tied to, for as long as you’ll have me.”

  I sighed, stepping back from her. “Then we have to do something that I never thought I would do.”

  “What’s that?”

  “We have to go see my sister.”

  39

  Antonio

  “I’m so nervous,” Ciara muttered beside me as we drove through the small town where Carly lived with her husband and their daughter.

  “There’s nothing to be nervous about. She’s like us, just trying to live a normal life.”

  “Yeah, until she finds out who I am, and then she’ll want to kill me.”

 
; “She’s not going to try to kill you,” I muttered. “She lives a different life now.”

  “I never said she was going to kill me. I said she would want to.”

  I wasn’t sure what she had to be nervous about. I was the one Carly hated. Ciara was insignificant to her. But I was the one that had destroyed our family.

  Jo leaned forward between the seats. “Can I just say that it is fascinating to have so many killers in one family? I mean, life was pretty boring back in Black Hawk. Not that I want to witness a bunch of men being slaughtered, but this is definitely an interesting spin on my life.”

  I glanced out the window at the very small town that we passed through. It was quaint, cute even, but so different from the mountain cabin I had stayed in for a little over a year. I wanted desperately to go back there and just live out my life with Ciara, but I knew we had to stop this or we would always be running.

  I pulled over to the side of the road and parked in front of a row of town houses. The dogs started barking, scratching at the door to get out. They needed someplace they could run around. I stared up at the front door, hoping they wouldn’t turn us away. We didn’t really have anyone else we could turn to at this point. Knight had made it very clear that while he had been willing to help us out to a certain extent, he wanted no part of what happened from here on out.

  “Are you ready?” Ciara asked.

  “I’m ready,” Jo said enthusiastically. “I have to pee.”

  She flung the door open without another word and ran up to the house, the dogs chasing behind her. It was clear Ciara wanted to follow her, but she hung back, because she knew I needed her right now. There was no point in delaying. No matter what happened between us, Carly would either help us or turn us away. Ciara got out and I met her at the sidewalk, holding her hand in mine. The door swung open and Jo didn’t hesitate to fill my sister in.

  “Hey, I’m Jo. I’m with these two,” she said, jerking her thumb over her shoulder. “Long story, but big shootout. Lots of running, and now I really have to pee.”

  She squeezed past her, making her way inside as the dogs shoved past Carly too. Carly stared at us for a moment, but I couldn’t read what she was thinking. There was a time that we were so close, I could tell what she was thinking based on the expression on her face. It looked like I wasn’t the only one that had changed.

  “What are you doing here? I made it pretty damn clear that I didn’t want to see you again.”

  I squeezed Ciara’s hand and climbed the steps to her townhouse. “Can we talk inside?”

  She crossed her arms over her chest and glared at me. “No.”

  “Carly, I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t important.”

  “Momma.” A little girl ran up behind her, grabbing on to her leg. I slowly looked down at the little girl. She looked just like Carly, but she also had my mother’s eyes. I bent down, releasing Ciara’s hand as I smiled at the little girl.

  “What’s your name, princess?”

  She pouted, her brows knitting together. “I’m not a princess!”

  I barked out a laugh, glancing up at Carly, who looked down at her daughter with pride. That was when I noticed that she was pregnant. I slowly stood, staring at her stomach. Swallowing hard, I realized that my sister had really done it. She’d broken free from the family and started all over again. It gave me hope that I could have that too, the family and the home that was filled with everything we didn’t have growing up.

  “You’re having a baby,” I said around the croak in my voice.

  “Which is why you shouldn’t be here,” she said with little heat in her voice. Her face softened as she stared at me. “Antonio, we agreed to stay away from each other because of the danger. You can’t show up here. Not to mention that I’ve gotten enough heat in this town because of my connections to the family. You showing up here is only going to cause problems.”

  “I know that, but this is a problem that isn’t going away.”

  Sighing, she stepped aside. “Fine, but you can’t stay.”

  I nodded and walked inside, looking around her very normal house. There were no guards standing at attention. There were no priceless relics to show off to guests that showed up to gawk. Her townhouse was filled with toys and soft blankets, pictures of her family. It was all so normal.

  “This is nice,” I said, turning back to her. “You’re domesticated.”

  She didn’t smile like I had hoped. The dogs continued to bark and paw at the back door. “Can I let them out? They’ve had a long drive in the car.”

  “Fine,” Carly huffed, just as Jo emerged.

  “God, I feel so much better. You have no idea how bad I had to pee.”

  “Jo, can you let the dogs out back?” I asked.

  “Sure, that’s what I’m here to do. Avoid getting shot and be the official dog watcher.”

  Carly watched her go and then turned back to me. “What’s so important that you showed up here? And who is she?”

  “This is Ciara O’Sullivan.”

  Carly’s eyes went wide and she stepped back, grabbing onto her daughter. “Why would you bring her here? Are you trying to get my family killed?”

  “Carly, it’s not like—”

  “Don’t give me that shit! You brought someone from the Irish mob into my house? Antonio, I told you I was out, and now you’re leading them right to my fucking doorstep!”

  “She’s not—”

  The front door swung open and Josh stood there, staring at us in shock. “Uh…Antonio,” he laughed slightly. “You didn’t say you were coming.”

  Carly narrowed her eyes at him. “He didn’t say he was coming? What does that mean? Have you been talking to him?”

  Josh looked between me and Carly, clearly not sure what to say. “Um…just once? Maybe twice?”

  She gaped at him. “You talked to him behind my back and didn’t say anything?”

  Josh pointed at me, obviously wanting to rat me out. “He called me. I just answered the phone. I didn’t even know he had my number. What did you want me to do, hang up on him?”

  “Yes!”

  Another man walked in, frowning at everyone. “What’s with all the yelling? That’s really not good for the baby,” he said, punching Josh in the arm. “Have some respect for the pregnant lady.”

  He walked over to Carly, rubbing his hand over her belly, like he had a right to. My jaw clenched and my fists tightened as I watched him touching my sister. I didn’t have any right to be angry, but I didn’t know this man.

  “Get your fucking hands off my sister,” I growled.

  He glanced up at me, frowning. “Your sister?” He turned to Carly. “I thought all your family was dead.”

  “They were supposed to be.”

  Ouch. I couldn’t pretend like that didn’t hurt.

  The man grabbed my niece out of Carly’s hands, bouncing her on his hip. “Why are you holding her? Don’t you know you could strain something. We have to take care of baby Cortell.” He turned to Josh accusingly. “Why are you just standing there while your wife holds your daughter? Asshole.”

  Jo walked back into the room, stopping when she saw all the newcomers. “Whoa, talk about a party. Are these more mafia people?”

  “Mafia people?” the man snorted. “Not likely. Who are you?”

  “Jo.”

  “How did you know my name?”

  Jo frowned. “I don’t know your name.”

  “You just called me Jo.”

  “No I didn’t. You asked who I was.”

  “Yeah, and you said Jo.”

  “Because it’s my name,” Jo said testily.

  “Oh,” the man nodded. “You’re Jo. I’m Joe, Josh’s brother.”

  “That’s not confusing,” Carly muttered. “Who is she? And why is she with you?”

  “Better yet,” Joe, the other man, responded, “who are all of you?”

  “Can we just sit down for a minute?” I asked again. “I promise, I’ll get to all that
.”

  “I can’t believe you were talking to him and you didn’t tell me,” Carly said, shooting Josh a death glare.

  “It wasn’t his fault. I called him.”

  “Yes, but why did you call him? If you needed help, you should have called me.”

  “It wasn’t like that.”

  “Then what was it like?” she snapped.

  I glanced over at Ciara, mortified that I had to admit this. “I was calling because…I needed help with Ciara.”

  “And how was Josh supposed to help with that?”

  I cleared my throat. “It was…relationship advice.”

  It went deadly quiet in the room until Carly finally answered.

  “Oh. Well…”

  “You know how it was for us,” I cut in. “It’s not like we ever had relationships, and I didn’t want to screw things up with her.”

  Ciara laughed beside me. “Yeah, you did plenty of that.”

  “I was trying, okay?”

  “Wait, what does this have to do with why you’re here?”

  I looked back at Carly. “Ciara was sent to find out if I was Antonio Scavuzzo, and if so, to get close to me.”

  “Well,” Carly pursed her lips. “Isn’t it so nice that you brought her to me.”

  “She was in an accident before I even met her. In fact, that’s how we met. Her car slid down the mountain, and I was there.”

  “Great, so she’s been playing you all along.”

  “Carly,” Josh cut in. “I don’t think that’s how it went.”

  “It’s not,” Ciara piped up. “I didn’t remember anything up until we were attacked a week ago. My father sent some men after Antonio. That’s when it all came back to me.”

  “And you believe this shit?” Carly asked.

  “There used to be a time when you trusted me implicitly.”

  “Yeah, that was before you killed our brother.”

  The jab hit like a hammer to the chest. And she was right. I hadn’t proven to be trustworthy. She had every right not to trust me right now, but this was bigger than just me, and I had to do what I could to protect her and her family.