It seemed as if his blue-green eyes dared her to say it again, but then he took his hand out of his pocket, empty-handed and stood.
She had never seen anyone defeat the boogieman, but she felt his admitted defeat when he coldly walked past her.
Or he simply gave up.
Either way, Maria had gone through enough suits, seen too many people die, and now her beloved brother taking a fucking sharp object to the eye. If One-Shot, or anyone else out there, wanted her, she prayed for a quick end and wished their asses good luck.
Leo getting hurt was her one and only straw … Maria Caruso was done. With the suits, the family, all of it. Absolutely done with the men telling her how to live her life, only to give her nothing in return. She could run circles around the Caruso soldiers, and if they couldn’t see what she was capable of anymore, then fuck them.
Maria walked through the eerie hospital, heading toward the entrance where she could not only see but hear the pouring rain through the glass doors. The Kansas City weather couldn’t make up its mind this week. The only good thing about the pouring rain and sunny skies switching between each other was that the flowers would grow beautifully.
When the sliding glass doors opened, Maria’s gold-colored hair violently spun around, whipping the air and her angelic face. Stepping under the awning, it was the only thing that saved her from getting soaked … unlike him.
Her green eyes landed on the man who stood on the opposite side of the cover, dripping wet like he had been waiting right where he stood for a whole week, just waiting for her to leave.
As the navy blue Dodge Charger pulled up between them, she carefully watched his face, not finding him surprised in the least at the car that separated them.
Putting her hand on the door handle, she was about to pull it open but couldn’t find it in her to do so.
“You never finished telling me how you knew I was heartless,” Maria yelled over the car and over the raging storm for him to hear her.
“Don’t get in that car, princess, and I’ll tell you,” Dominic said with pleading eyes.
Staring at the devil’s son, she started to let her fingers—
The sound of the passenger side window rolling down, followed by her name, had Maria looking in to see Kayne.
The thud of her heart had her gripping the door handle and pulling it open.
Getting quickly in the car, Maria had to keep her face straight forward.
Watching Lucca be disappointed was enough for one day. She wasn’t sure if she could handle Dominic’s heartbreak after seeing it the last time.
Her face forward had her missing one thing, though …
The threatening stare each men gave the other … both promising death.
Twenty-One
My Last Name isn’t Caruso
Maria clutched the door handle in a life-and-death grip as Kayne drove away from the hospital. She needed to get as far away as she could from the two families. Fury had beaten at her every day for a week to find the one responsible for hurting Leo.
Both families had felt the painful whiplash of One-Shot, but it was the Carusos who were feeling the lash the most. Dominic’s claim that the none of the Lucianos were responsible were beginning to fall on deaf ears with the Caruso family, except for Lucca.
Maria still remembered the devil coming to her mother’s funeral, pretending to give lip service in the face of their father’s grief.
Dominic asking her to dance right before the moment that Todd was killed: Was it just a coincidence? Or was it a clever plan carried out by one of his minions just to cast a shadow of doubt that it was someone else?
Or could it be the scariest thought of all … a Caruso?
A Caruso trying to take her father’s throne ….
Maybe she was missing the obvious, and it was Lucca himself. Lucca didn’t hide the fact that he hated their father; he’d told her himself. She just thought, if he wanted to do it, he would fucking do it.
Sleep deprived, Maria rubbed her tired eyes as she tried to gather her sluggish thoughts to figure out who was responsible for putting Leo in that hospital gown.
Whoever had rigged the SUV had known it was used to transport Leo and her to and from school. So, had the bomb hit its target, or did it miss it?
If it was a family member, not only did they come for a child of Dante’s, they broke one of the most heinous family rules—not to hurt children. Anyone under the age of eighteen was off limits, no exceptions. It was a rule brought in under her father’s order. Before then, the mafia always did what they had to do, taking a child’s life if needed, no matter the cost to their souls. Whoever One-Shot was, he was no different than Lucifer and would be punished no differently either.