Now they know where to find the poison I’d planted, and I’d also given them the name of it since I’m not certain they would’ve found it themselves otherwise. By morning she should be in handcuffs, arrested for the murder of her husband—one night of terror and confusion before the curtain drops.
I went to bed not thinking about any of it; once it’s done, there’s no point. Uncle Guy would set up a jailhouse meet in the next day or so so that I could tell her all about it. Until then, it was time to turn my attention elsewhere. There was still a lot of work to be done before I made my final move. Speaking of which, I need to call Mem and find out if he’d started things on his end.
I hadn’t called him since the attempted hack because although I trust him, I can’t help but think he was involved somehow. I know that he works with some pretty influential people who do things the rest of the world would never hear about. He never went into detail, of course, but some things you only need to read between the lines.
When I try putting it all together, that’s the only thing that makes sense, but I don’t have either the time or the inclination to spend any real time looking any further into it. I know in myself that nothing and no one can stop my forward projection, that I will destroy Ricci and everyone who had a hand in hurting my mother no matter what.
I’m not sure how long I’d been asleep when some distant sound woke me. I looked at the clock; it was just after three in the morning. What was that noise? It came again, like a cat crying out. No, not quite. I slowed my breathing and locked down my other senses until I pinpointed the sound and where it was coming from.
My flight reflex kicked in, and I rushed from the bed, flung open the door, and booked it down the hallway. I reached the door where the noise was coming from, Natalia’s room, and thrust the door open. What I saw made me see red. I moved faster than the two people on the bed would expect and tore Ricci away from his daughter.
I looked at him as he scrambled to get up off the floor; I came from this. I hated him more in that second than ever before. Natalia screamed when I reached for him, and then I heard footsteps rushing towards the room. I looked over to see Jr. wide-eyed and scared. “Cover her up, get her out of here.” He must’ve seen the intent in my eyes because he came forward instead.
I could see the struggle in him; protect his sister or his dad. He knew that if he left me there with him, he’d be an orphan come morning. “I said, go.” He jumped at my authoritative tone, but it was too late. Sal came bounding into the room with Fabrizio, guns drawn. I could see the confusion written all over his face as he took in the scene. I saw realization dawn as he looked from his traumatized granddaughter to his half-naked son, who was now cowering on the floor as I held him by his throat.
“You, armalu, cani, serpenti,” Sal rushed forward and started kicking Alonzo, who wreaked of alcohol and wasn’t doing much to protect himself. Fabrizio finally got him out of my hands and away from his father, taking him out of the room, screaming gibberish. Sal went to Natalia, who was shaking and making animalistic sounds. Jr. gave me a strange look before walking over to join them on the bed. Me, I was livid.
I made my way back to my room with the intent of getting dressed and getting the hell out of here for some fresh air. My phone lit up as soon as I walked in with about a dozen missed calls and texts from Pop. I called him back on autopilot.
“Gabe, what the hell happened? My men heard screaming and sounds of fighting.” How the hell close are they? In the courtyard?
“I’m fine!” I couldn’t even bring myself to describe what I’d just walked in on.
“I’m coming in; I’m almost there.”
“Pop!” He hung up, and I rushed to get dressed. I don’t want him here; I don’t want anything that I do to come back on him. I made it outside just in time to hear the squeal of tires as he pulled up outside the gate.
GABRIEL
I had to move and speak fast before anyone inside realized we had a visitor. Pop was in no mood to take my word for anything, so I jumped in the backseat before he could get out of the car and ordered Tommy to drive.