Maria (The Family Book 4)

by Angelique Jones

  “No, Nico, I loved you. You became family.”

  “Loved me? Christ, you don’t know the meaning of the word. If you ever loved anyone, you would have killed yourself long ago and put us all out of the misery of having to deal with you. My family was fine until you came into our lives and ruined it. Everything that has been done to my sister was in vengeance against you. Dom nearly left the family because of you. Then instead of letting him come home, you forced him to marry that Genovese whore Tori, and he turns against his own sister. Lucca hasn’t been right since he met you. Even our own father turned against Maria. Then, when I think you can do no more harm, you force Maria to marry Nero. You force my sister to marry a Genovese. Everything wrong in our family started with you. You brought every evil done to us. You and those Genovese.”

  “You turned Maria over to Caterina, knowing what she did to her.”

  “Please, Maria was never in any danger. Basilio was in control of Caterina the whole time. We had worked it all out. We knew that if Maria thought that they had me, then she would do anything to get me free. We needed her to get us Nero and Tori. I couldn’t be involved in it if I had any chance of taking you and the rest of them out.”

  “The rest of who?”

  “Lucca, Dom, my father, and the children. Once the rest of you were out of the way, I could take over my family and the Genovese family through Maria.” Nico said as if it was the most obvious thing.

  “Jesus Christ, Nico, that could have never worked. You have to know it would never have worked. You never wanted to be involved with the family business. You had a life away from all of this waiting.”

  “A life that you forced on me. A life you convinced my father was best for me.” He snarled moving closer.

  “Nico, I did it out of love. This life, there is no future to it other than pain. Stop now. Stop and come home with me. All will be forgiven.”

  “I don’t want forgiveness, Angie. I want your life. I want my father’s and brothers’ lives and the lives of your children. It will all be mine, and Maria will finally be free of all of you. It’s fitting that you’ll be the first to die, since you are the cause of it all. I just wish that I could let you live to watch the rest of them go before you, but I will be sure that each knows that it was you that…” he ranted, but never got to finish.

  It took one shot. A single shot to the heart, and he fell to the floor. Madness could not be reasoned with. It could not be turned from its path. With dead eyes, she watched Basilio as he took in the situation with a panicked glance and fled, but she didn’t pursue. Walking to Nico’s still body, she sat down on the step and set down the gun.

  ***

  There it was. When the explosion came, Nero released a breath that he hadn’t realized he had been holding. For almost a full minute, they waited before the vehicles revved to life. Like bats out of hell, they moved forward at the wall. Nero’s only thought was that these fuckers were going to get them killed before the second explosion went, giving them a hole for their vehicles. Bullets flew as the men jumped from the vehicles. The guards that had raced to the first explosion were unprepared for what had come in behind them. Taking the cover that the mercenaries provided, Nero led his men to the house. It was a fucking massacre. There was no mercy. Woman, men, it didn’t matter—if they’d raised a weapon, they died. Every door was kicked in as Nero searched for what he really came for. He finally found Jason hiding among Basilio’s family members who had barricaded themselves in a bedroom. The fucker was a coward and tried to run. It was a good thing that Nero had his men with him, or he would have died. With single-minded obsession, he dragged the fucker into the center of the room and beat him until he was a moaning mess. Pulling out a knife, Nero heaved in heavy breaths as he gutted the bastard, then castrated him, sticking his dick in his mouth. As he stared down at his handiwork, the silence that had descended over the compound was interrupted by the sound of a single shot. The place had gone so quiet that the sound was out of place.

  Grabbing his gun, Nero motioned to two of his men to follow him while leaving the others to watch the rest of the room’s occupants. Moving through the corridors, they checked the rooms as they went until they found her. He could see her profile slumped forward as she stared ahead. Moving into the room, he motioned for his guys to secure it while he went to her.

  “Are you hurt?” Nero demanded until he saw the blood flowing from her shoulder. “How badly are you hurt?”

  “It’s fine. The bullet went straight through,” she said hoarsely, her gaze turning to the body next to her. Almost reverently, she gently lay her hand on its head.

  Pressing his palm against the wound to try and stanch the blood, he asked, “Who is that? Basilio?”

  “No, he got away.”

  Goddamn it, motherfucker. The whole fucking point of this was to take that motherfucker out, he thought. About to ask her how the fuck she could have allowed that to happen, he stopped when she whispered, pushing the hair away so that the face was visible. “This is Nico.”

  Shock tore through Nero. The kid had been alive. Fuck, they must have been planning to use him as leverage. The Salvaticis would never forgive this. “Angie, I’m sorry. Had I known, we would have gotten him out before attacking.”

  “It wouldn’t have mattered, Nero. This isn’t your fault. I killed him.”

  “What are you saying?” he asked, her words not making any sense.

  Instead of answering him, she reached into a pocket and pulled out a USB drive. “Take this. Have your people find the control room with the cameras and make a copy of the files.”

  “Angie, what happened? Why did you kill Nico?”

  “I had to. He left me no choice.”

  “Angie…”

  “Just get the information that we need, Nero, and send some of your guys to me. I need to take Nico home with us.”

  “Maybe it’s better if they never know,” he said, wanting to protect her. He had never seen her like this. She seemed lost, even vulnerable.

  “It would be better for them, but not for Maria.” She turned to him, and he saw the woman behind the monster. “You’re going to be a father, Nero. Maria’s pregnant and scared to tell you. She’s scared that you will take her baby. I won’t let you take the baby from her, Nero, but I thought that you should know. Even with what Angelo will learn about Nico, I have to believe that he still would not have been whole without him in his life. I have to believe.”

  She rambled as her shocking words took hold. He was going to be a father.

  Dazed, he sat there until Matteo demanded his attention. “Nero, we have to move. The army is sixteen minutes out. If we don’t go now, we won’t make it to the airstrip.”

  Fuck. Standing up, he gave Matteo the USB and told him what they needed and to get everyone out of the house. He was going to torch it. Motioning his men to the kid’s body, he took Angie’s arm and pulled her up. “We have to go. They’ll take Nico.” Docile, she allowed him to lead her out of the house. Basilio’s wife, mother, daughters-in-law, and teenage daughter were outside when they got there, spitting at and cursing his men. He had planned to leave them, but Angie had other plans. He hadn’t noticed the gun in her hand until it was too late. It had taken only a few seconds for her to wipe out Basilio’s family with the exception of one girl. Dropping the gun to the ground, she never said a word and climbed into the car.

  For a long moment, Nero stared at the girl who hadn’t fallen to the ground to weep over her family, but instead, she stared at the car that Angie just climbed into. He had seen that look before; it was the same one that Angie had worn the first time he met her. Climbing into the car, Nero remained silent as they raced away from the burning inferno of death behind them.

  Chapter 18

  They were almost at the Salvatici compound. Looking at the body that was in the car with them, Nero felt sick at the thought of what the family was about to learn and have to face. He remembered with stark clarity the day he realized that his sis
ter Caterina, whom he had loved and cared for, had betrayed him. It was a pain that never truly went away, nor gave answers to questions that you searched for within yourself, wondering where you went wrong.

  Nero had watched the video file on the plane of Angie killing Nico. He knew that after watching that and hearing what Nico said that she had no choice but to kill the kid. If she hadn’t, he would have. The whole plane ride, Angie had knelt next to the bed where she insisted they place the boy’s body and held vigil. She never said a word; she just stared at it like she was searching for something.

  Pulling up to the gates of the compound, he watched as the guard came to the back, even though the driver would have told him who was in the car. Rolling down the window so the guard could get a look at him, he was shocked when the man said that Angelica wasn’t allowed on the property. Looking to her, he saw that there was no surprise on her face to the guard’s claim. What the fuck was going on here now? Nero told him that he would take the heat with his boss and that it was an emergency. The guard reluctantly let them through. Nero had in all truth thought that Angie had been bluffing when she said that she and Lucca had parted ways.

  Getting out of the car, he saw that Salvatici men were at the front door, waiting for them. Holding his hand out, Nero helped Angie from the car. Softly, she murmured to leave the body for now and walked beside him to the house.

  Instead of moving aside, one guard stepped forward with a disgusted look on his face at the sight of them together. “I’m sorry, the boss said that neither of you are allowed on the property. What he suggests you do, Genovese, is take your whore and leave.”

  Itching to beat the fucker into the ground at his words, Angie stopped him with a sharp shake of her head and stepped forward. “We won’t be staying long. Now move aside. I don’t want to hurt you.”

  Instead of moving, the fucker put his hand on his gun and said with undisguised hatred, “You know I can’t.”

  “Enough of this shit. Go to my car and look inside,” Nero growled at the fucker. The guy was reluctant but eventually went to the car. Pale-faced, he hurried back and told the others to move. Once they stepped aside, Angie didn’t hesitate in walking in.

  It was obvious everyone was in the living room. Guards stood in front of the doorway, palming their guns as she approached. Stepping in front of her, Nero entered first. It was a packet house with only the children missing.

  “I thought I told you that if you left that you would not be welcomed back,” Lucca said as soon as Angie entered, his tone deadly.

  “I won’t be staying long, Lucca. I’ve just come to bring you something.”

  “I don’t want anything from you.”

  “I know you don’t, but you’ll have it, anyway. In the back of Nero’s car is Nico’s body.”

  “Have you gone fucking crazy? Nico is dead. We buried him.”

  “You buried one of Caterina’s people. She never killed Nico. He has been in Mexico with La Puno familia.”

  “How would you know that?”

  “Because I and Nero’s people attacked the compound. Basilio escaped, but everyone else that mattered was killed.”

  Standing up, Lucca walked over to Angie. “You stupid fucking cunt do you see. Do you see the shit that your vengeance causes? I told you enough. I told you that I was finished with your shit. I told you I would handle it, and this is why. You got my fucking brother killed.” He spat, backhanding her before Nero realized what he intended.

  Blood poured from her lip where his hit had busted it open, but she didn’t move as her dead stare met his enraged one. “What happened? How did my brother die?”

  “I killed him. You’ll find a single shot to the heart.” She told him in even voice.

  “You fucking cunt,” he snarled before wrapping his hands around her neck.

  Disbelieving, Nero watched as they fell to the ground. Not fighting at all, Angie just lay there as Lucca tried to wring the life out of her. The whole room just watched, doing nothing.

  Lunging, Nero knocked Lucca away from Angie. Gripping her shoulders, he pulled her up and pushed her behind him as she gasped for breath.

  “Enough, Lucca. You don’t understand.” Nero yelled trying to draw Lucca’s deadly gaze away from Angie.

  “Oh, we understand everything,” Dom said, cutting in. “She’s been a blight on this house since the day she walked into our lives. She murdered her own family. Now she’s killing ours.”

  Hoarse laughter came from behind him at those words. Raising his voice to be heard over it, he said, “If she hadn’t killed Nico, I would have. He was in on everything from the beginning. He was working with Basilio and Caterina.”

  “You’re lying,” Dom hissed, trying to shake Tori off his arm.

  “I’m not.” Reaching in his pocket, he pulled out a copy of the USB drive and threw it at Lucca’s feet. “It’s all there. The video of everything that happened. He planned to kill you all down to the last child.”

  Silence met his words. When Lucca moved, Nero tensed, ready to fight, but he just leaned down and picked up the USB and walked away with his father and brother following.

  “Nero, you’re bleeding,” Tori said as her shocked gaze focused on his hand. Looking down at it, he quickly turned to Angie. Blood poured openly from her shoulder. The struggle with Lucca must have started the bleeding again.

  He stepped toward her, but she stopped him with a raised hand. “It’s fine. I’m going to see my children. Wait for me. When I’m finished, I’ll need a ride,” she told him before walking away. No one tried to stop her.

  Stepping beside him with tears in her eyes, Tori whispered brokenly, “What have we done?”

  Looking down at her, Nero could give her no answer. After watching what had just happened, he didn’t believe that there was anything that could fix what had been done.

  ***

  Staring at his wife as she knelt next to their sleeping daughter’s bed, Lucca knew that it was over and that he had only himself to blame. When she had left, he had been angry, blaming her for many things, including Nico’s death. When she ended up at Nero’s, he had been enraged. It was pure jealousy that made him believe that there was something going on between them. In all of the years they had been together, she never gave him cause to doubt her like that. Seeing her lean over and kiss Alexa’s forehead, Lucca stepped away from the door and waited for her. Moving into the hallway, she closed the door behind her and looked to him. There was no judgment in her eyes, yet he judged himself. Her lip was swollen, her neck held a visible imprint of his hands, and her black clothing was soaked with a shiny color where the wound on her shoulder opened and still bled.

  “The doctor has been sent for. He should be here soon.” Lucca said softly shame filling him at the sight of what he had done.

  “There’s no need. I’ve had worse. I’ll be fine.”

  “Angie, I…”

  “Lucca, there’s no need to say anything.” Stepping forward, she raised her hands and cupped his face. “This is for the best, at least for now.”

  Squeezing his eyes briefly shut at her touch he opened them and didn’t try to hide the pain that her words brought. “No, I’m sorry, baby. I was wrong. Please, just stay. Stay the night at least.”

  “Lucca, you saw the tape. Nico was right. Dom is right. I’m cursed. I tried to do the right thing, and I just ended up hurting the people that I love.” She told him. Defeat filling her face as her eyes misted with tears that refused to fall.

  “That’s not true.” Lucca denied.

  “Yes, it is.” She whispered with absolute belief in her word.

  “I can make you stay.”

  “But you won’t.”

  “I can’t let you go, baby. I won’t.”

  “I’m not asking you to. I’m just asking for you to give us both time. Give us time away from each other so you can decide if I’m what you want in your life.”

  “Do you think you going away will make me change my mind?”
/>   “No, but it will let you see things more clearly and let you decide what is best for your family.”

  “You’re my family.”

  “I’m your wife, Lucca. Your family are the men below that depend upon you to do what is best for them, and right now they are all thinking that you made a mistake. A mistake that they have had to pay for with blood again and again.”

  “Where are you going to go?”

  “To where it all began. It’s time I went home.”

  “Don’t get too comfortable.”

  “I love you, Lucca. I love our children. There is nothing that I wouldn’t do for you. I want you to remember that, no matter what you decide.”

  “There is no decision, Angie. There never has been. You have been it for me since the first moment I set eyes on you, and you will be it for me the very last time I close my eyes. I know that you think that being away from me will change something, but it won’t. It never has. So take this time if you need it, but in the end, you will be coming home. I know that you feel guilty about Nico, but that wasn’t your fault. I know that you could have brought him back here alive, but you didn’t because you were protecting me. You protected me, my brother, and father from having to take on the burden of his blood, just like you’ve protected Maria. You protected your uncle from having to kill his own child so that his wife could still love him. You protected Nero and his family when they would have been well deserving of your hate. You protect everyone willing to take on our anger, our pain, and our hate so that we aren’t forced to make the decisions that burden the soul with a guilt that can never be removed. You protect everyone, and what I’m asking you to do now, baby, is to take this time and realize that you don’t have to do it anymore. You don’t have to protect us anymore, baby. It’s time you let us protect you. It’s time you come in from the cold, baby. It’s time you realize that you’re not alone any longer. It’s time you realize that you have a family again, and we value you not because of what you do but because of who you are,” Lucca whispered softly. Leaning forward, he kissed her forehead gently and walked away.