He slid out of the car, taking extra care with every move he made, and stood between the door and the car for a moment to steady himself. I watched him walk slowly toward the house, knowing every step sent jolts of pain through his battered body. But he’d never allow others to see that weakness. Regardless of how much the effort drained his energy, he’d maintain the image he’d worked all his life to curate.
To keep up my own appearances, I put the car into gear and pulled around the circular drive, heading through the front gate toward the main street. When he closed the front door behind him, I jerked the wheel to the side road and parked along the tall brick fence. With the car completely hidden from anyone inside the house, I jogged back to the front gate and slipped through before the panels completely closed.
The gun Damon always kept under the front seat was tucked securely in the band of my jeans. He had a bad feeling about what was happening, but he wasn’t as slick as he liked to think he was. I saw him slide a pistol under his extra-large scrubs shirt while I was driving. Whatever Marco said to him, it was bad enough to knowingly risk his life over. But the ominous feeling I had was a warning that it was more than a risk—it was a certainty.
When I reached the front door, I pressed my ear against it, listening for anything inside. Voices near the door. Shouting. Feet shuffling. Guns shooting.
But there was nothing at all.
Before opening the door, I took one last look around the exterior—and that was when I realized what was off about the entire scene.
Vincenzo’s car was gone.
As softly as I could, I opened the door and slipped inside, leaving it barely cracked in case I needed to make a quick exit. Standing in the foyer, I strained my ears to locate any noise that would lead me to Damon. Not hearing anything in the house, I recalled how far the basement was from the front door.
That was where I had to go—I could feel it in my gut. I withdrew the gun from my waistband and chambered a round, hoping the magazine was full and kicking myself for not checking it first. I followed the path I’d watched Damon take only hours before, until I stood in the ornate great room, staring at the spot where Leo and his men tried to beat Damon to death.
The door leading downstairs was blown off the hinges, pieces of it barely clinging to the screws. Splatters of his blood had dried on the wood floor, bringing the visions back to life in my mind again. Then I heard a muffled voice. A man’s voice. With my gun ready, I began my descent down the steps, treading lightly in case the creak of wood gave away my presence.
The basement was huge—matching everything else in the enormous house. The long stairway led to a long hallway, with seven doors that were all closed. I crept through the mostly dark area with only a handful of night-lights to guide me. Stopping at each door, I pressed my ear against it and lingered only a second or two before moving on to the next one.
“Leo, you’re our uncle. How could you do this to us? We’re your blood!” Marco’s angry voice echoed down the hall, revealing their location. “Look at Damon—you almost killed him, when either of us would’ve died for you.”
“I can’t really expect you to understand right now, Marco. You would have, though, had your brother became the boss of the family over you. If you had to take orders from him every fucking day. If you had to watch him promote his son ahead of you at every turn. Lucky for you, you’ll never have to face any of that.”
“How? How the fuck did you pull all this off? And right under Dad’s nose.”
“Haven’t you figured it out yet, Marco?” Damon asked, and I felt my heart jump through my chest. “He partnered with Geno.”
“What?” Marco’s stunned reply matched my own reaction.
“Good job, Leo. I give credit where credit is due. You played this game to perfection. Killing Jillian’s mother was a nice touch, knowing we’d place the blame squarely on Lorenzo and annihilate him because of it. Brilliant plan to eliminate all the competition along the way.”
I covered my mouth with my open hand, controlling the screams building inside my chest. More answers were coming, and I didn’t want to do anything to stop their discussion. Damon wasn’t finished, I could tell by the way he spoke—slow and meticulous, spelling out the plans of Leo’s betrayal. Leo hadn’t answered—I wanted to hear his confirmation that Damon’s accusations were true.
“Not everything went according to plan,” Leo began, his smugness oozing off him and filtering into my ears. “You and Jillian were supposed to die on the street—both times. Those fucking idiots couldn’t hit the broad side of a building. They had every opportunity to finish the job on all occasions. Jillian was supposed to run off to save her mother, and you were supposed to chase Jillian to save her, then you’d all three die together. But you fucked that up too, so her mother had to die alone.
“But you know what they say…if you want something done right, you have to do it yourself. So, it’s up to me to take you two out of the equation, and then I’ll move on to Vincenzo and Lina, right after he tells me where he hid Maria.”
“You had a disabled woman killed, Leo?” Marco was still in shock, trying to catch up with the conversation. I knew exactly how he felt.
“When those idiots fucked up and only injured Damon, I went to the hospital that day to prevent any suspicions. I had to play the doting uncle, after all. Geno originally issued the order, but I decided to make a move while you were laid up in the hospital. So I flew to New Orleans, drove to a little town called Abita Springs, and found one Annemarie Hart. We drove her to the outskirts of Manchac Swamp, and I shot her in the back of the head. We only kept the sitter alive to lure Jillian back home. She was going to die too, but you sent your men down instead of showing up yourself, even after I’d made sure word was sent back to Vincenzo. No matter, though. It’s been a long time coming, but your time has come, Damon. Say goodbye to your brother.”
I heard Leo rack the slide of his pistol.
I pictured him taking my mother into the swamp. Her wheelchair couldn’t have been easy to push through the mud and the muck, bouncing over uneven earth and sinking into the soggy ground. She most likely knew what was happening to her…she must have been scared out of her mind. Then he killed her out there—where no one would ever find any evidence to link him to her murder.
A contradiction of emotions I didn’t understand overcame me—a raging storm of vengeance and a peaceful notion of closure.
Without giving my plan conscious thought, I twisted the knob and pushed the door open. Damon and Marco were each tied to their chairs, and Leo stood on their left side with his gun at the ready. Shock from my intrusion registered on all their faces, but only one of them concerned me at that moment.
Leo threw his head back, roaring with laughter. “This day literally couldn’t get any better. You walked right into my hands.”
“You killed my mother.”
“Yes, I fucking did. Now put that fucking gun down. You don’t scare me, little girl. You don’t have the balls to shoot me.”
“Maybe you’re right, Leo. Maybe I don’t have it in me to kill a man in cold blood.”
His sardonic chortle was meant to be a snide sneer at me. His last hateful jab to tell me how much he disapproved of me and my weakness.
But I wasn’t weak.
I vowed never to be weak again.
“But I’ll never know for sure until I try.”
His surprised reaction only lasted for a millisecond before my finger squeezed the trigger.
Then he wasn’t laughing anymore.
The one act I thought I was incapable of committing had come so easily. Watching his lifeless body fall to the floor wasn’t what shocked me. Knowing I’d just killed a man wasn’t what rendered me speechless. Thinking about the repercussions of what I’d done wasn’t what scared me.
I’d just killed the man who mu
rdered my defenseless mother…and I didn’t feel bad about it. At all. My mind didn’t know how to process the enormous change. The significance of my actions was multifaceted. I’d have to face Vincenzo for killing his brother…I’d have to face Maria for killing her husband…I’d have to face Damon for killing his uncle. But none of that mattered because I’d avenged the best woman I’d ever known.
What frightened me was I didn’t know who I was anymore.
Chapter Ten
Damon
For a moment after Jillian opened the door, I thought I was hallucinating. Maybe the concussion was actually a worse head injury than they realized. Maybe I had an allergic reaction to the medication. Maybe Leo had already shot me and I was dead. Because I specifically remembered telling her to leave—not to come inside the house. Then I remembered looking over my shoulder as she drove away, leaving me to finish the last of the family business I’d planned to be part of before she and I started our new life together.
The thunderous explosion of my .45 M&P firing dispelled any of those notions.
“Jilly, come over here and untie me, doll.” I purposely kept my voice low and calm to draw her attention to me.
The weight of her actions hadn’t sunk in yet. The blank expression on her face worried me. Was she in shock? How would she react when she realized what had happened? When that moment hit her, the last place I needed to be was tied to a fucking chair.
“How did you know, Damon?” The tone of her voice was bland. Lifeless.
“Jillian,” I replied, my voice firm and commanding. Her eyes rose to meet mine, but my Jilly wasn’t in there. She blinked a couple of times then seemed to come around somewhat. Her eyebrows drew downward, and the corners of her eyes crinkled in confusion. “Untie me, Jillian. Right now.”
She nodded and robotically moved behind me. I heard her lay the gun on the wood floor, and she began working diligently on the knots in the rope tied around my hands.
“Jillian, grab the knife out of my back pocket and cut the rope.” Marco looked over at me after he spoke to her and slowly raised his eyebrows.
The second she cut our bonds, I jumped out of the chair and gathered her into my arms. No physical pain I felt could match the pain I would’ve felt if Leo had shot her first. She melted into my embrace and laid her cheek against my chest. We lost ourselves in each other. Holding on to dear life and holding on for dear life became one and the same at that moment. She was my life—my reason for living, breathing, fighting, and loving.
“I killed your uncle, Damon.” She didn’t release me. She didn’t even look up at me. She confessed to it with no emotion in her voice. “I’m sorry you lost your uncle.”
“Jilly, I only care that you’re not harmed. I told you to stay away from here for a reason. If you’d been hurt…” She swallowed hard, and I watched as she pulled her brave mask over her face to hide the uncertainty in her expression. She was so courageous, faking it until she made it.
“Damon, I feel the same way about you. If you thought I’d let you walk in here alone and already injured, you don’t know me at all.”
She was right. Deep down, I knew she’d find a way to follow me. I shouldn’t have been surprised to see her standing in the doorway, though I still couldn’t say I was pleased. The chances she took were too great. “I know you very well, doll.”
“Then you know better than to tell me not to do something that’ll help you.” She gently pressed her cheek against my chest, still concerned with hurting me.
“I’ll never admit to that.”
When I felt her body shaking with laughter, I knew she’d be all right. Eventually. We’d have several nights of nightmares in the near future, whether she realized it or not. The mental pictures always returned, at first anyway.
“How did you know, Damon? What tipped you off that Leo and Geno were working together?”
“When Marco called, he said Leo told them that even Geno wanted Lorenzo killed to get him out of the picture. You and I knew that after the shootout at Geno’s business, but Leo wasn’t there when Geno’s Underboss and Consigliere left Lorenzo in our hands. Leo didn’t know what they’d said to us. There’s only one way Leo could’ve known what Geno’s plans were, and that’s if Geno told Leo himself. And the only way he’d do that is if they were in on this scheme together.”
“What happened when you got here? How did Leo get the upper hand on the two of you?”
“Fucking Geno ambushed us,” Marco interjected. “Dad had already left, and I was about to leave with Leo in tow. But Geno and a couple of his guys came in just before Damon did, so they got the jump on both of us. Once Leo had control of the situation, Geno rushed out through the lower garage. I have a feeling he’s on his way to Mom and Dad’s house to finish what they’ve started. We need to move.”
Jillian gave Marco the keys and told him where she’d parked my car. He rushed out ahead of us to pull the car around the front circular drive. I draped my arm around Jillian’s shoulders, and we walked out together…slower. Marco was tapping the steering wheel impatiently when I opened the car door.
“Man, you need to sit this one out, Damon. You’re moving like an old grandpa. Let the young studs handle the fight, and you watch from the sidelines.”
“I’ll show you ‘old grandpa’ when I kick your ass, Marco.”
He laughed as he peeled out of the driveway, burning rubber in the race to stop Geno’s plans. We met two teams of our men on the road headed for Leo’s house.
“You already called in the cleaning crew?”
“Yep. I’m surprised they didn’t already have the place cleaned in the time it took you to make it out the front door.”
My brother was a smartass, spouting off with his typical digs at me. Still, there was no one I’d rather have on my side in an all-out war.
“Marco, one day when you’re least suspecting it, you’ll wake up to find me standing over you. You’ll try to apologize for all these mean and hateful things you’re saying to me right now, but your pleas will fall on deaf ears. Then I’ll make your childhood nightmare come true when I throw you out of your apartment bare-ass naked and refuse to let you back in.”
Marco threw his head back in laughter. “That would be a funny sight, little brother, if you could actually pull off something like that. I’m really not worried about it, though. But if it makes you feel better to dream about doing it, knock yourself out.”
“I’ll lock your ass out. Your naked ass. It’ll be epic. That girl next door you’re always panting over will finally get an up close and personal look at the disappointment she’s dodged for months now.”
“If you weren’t already beaten to a pulp by an old, decrepit man, I’d kick your ass for that insult alone.”
“Can you two finish this sibling rivalry argument later? I’ve had a very long and stressful day already, and I’d hate to have to remind you both who the real boss around here is.”
Marco and I both chuckled, amused at how well Jillian fit into our family. She had that same air of her sweet personality from when I’d first met her, along with her Southern feistiness. But she’d also developed a definite edginess about her that wasn’t there before. She was every bit as sexy and feminine, but now enhanced with a hint of danger and a splash of darkness.
“We’ll settle that question later tonight. The first time you yell ‘god,’ I win.” I murmured my reply against the shell of her ear then watched the goose bumps fan out across her arm. Every fucking time. I fucking loved physically seeing how much she wanted me.
“As much as I’d love to have that very long, drawn-out argument with you, I don’t think either of us is in any shape to even think about it. I’ve been up over thirty hours now. As soon as my head hits the pillow, I’ll be out for three days straight. Any chance we can wrap this whole family war up in the next fifteen minutes so
I can get some sleep?”
“Let Geno show his face, and it won’t even take that long, doll. If he runs off and hides somewhere, we don’t have to find him today. His family is done and he knows it.”
“In that case, I really hope he’s on a flight headed for an island in the Caribbean to find a beachfront bachelor pad so you and I can go straight to bed instead of looking for him.”
“If there’s no sign of him at my parents’ house, that’s exactly what we’ll do.”
“When Dad sees you, he won’t give you any other choice. You should’ve stayed in the hospital like Matteo said.” Marco cut his eyes to the rearview mirror, shooting pointed looks at me as he spoke.
As my brother, he was just looking out for me, I knew that. But we both also knew why I couldn’t appear weak—especially at that time. The other families were watching everything unfold and waiting to make their decision. Would they back us or the Sanfratellos? Would one of the smaller factions make a play of their own? Leo had already dealt us a deadly blow by betraying us the way he did, showing our house wasn’t in order as it should’ve been. Division in our ranks couldn’t be tolerated. A show of unity and force couldn’t be delayed for even one day.
When we pulled into the driveway, I was relieved to see the gates closed and several of our best soldiers on active duty, vigilantly patrolling the yard. One glance at Marco and they waved us in. When my haggard appearance didn’t shock any of them, I knew word had already spread of what had happened earlier. That was for the best, though, because they’d be even more alert and observant while they stood guard.
Inside the house, I heard the low murmur of voices coming from the kitchen. We stopped to listen briefly before entering the room. That was a habit I wasn’t in any hurry to break. Knowing what I was walking in on had saved my life one too many times to ignore that instinct.
“That’s Carrie,” Marco whispered.
“Mama’s in there too,” I replied.
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