While I wanted to slice her throat from one side to the other, I knew I couldn’t. I knew, in the long run, we’d be safer if she still walked around, and I had to take my need for vengeance out on one person—Benito Fieri.
Tonight, the war with theFamigliawould be over because the infighting would begin. The second Eoghan slaughtered Fieri, things would get real messy with the Italians. Though the Rossis were second in line to theFamigliathrone, I’d bet my life savings that the Genovicos weren’t going to let them ascend without a fight. They’d start brawling and battling over who’d lead them, which would give us time to regroup.
Time we badly needed.
“What do you want?” she sobbed, breaking into my thoughts.
“Typical. Low pain threshold. What the fuck do they teach Feds at Quantico?” I grumbled.
“Apparently not how to be good at their jobs. If she was, she wouldn’t have been found out, after all.”
“I dunno, bro. What’s that old saying? About tangled webs and deceiving?”
Brennan grunted, but his boots echoed around the warehouse as he moved toward me.
The place was empty except for me and him, but that was because we did the wet work. Eoghan too, but his was from a distance. Someone had to take out the trash, and we were fucking good at it. Unfortunately for me, Caroline would end up in the ER tonight, not the city morgue like she deserved.
He flashed me his cellphone, and we shared a smile as I saw the picture Eoghan had sent over.
Benito’s corpse with a bullet between his eyes and my brother’s boot between his shoulders as he kicked him into the water.
Per Da’s rules, Eoghan wasn’t supposed to get that close to the fucker. Was supposed to shoot from a distance. It figured he had to get nearer, that he needed to make the bastard know who was taking him out.
This was personal.
The second Da had learned that Seamus was the intended target, he’d gone on a little rampage that not even Ma had been able to contain. There were a lot fewer Italians roaming around, let’s just put it that way. But he was out of sorts, and I couldn’t blame him.
Not knowing who to trust, who to lean on was wearing on us all.
While Fieriwasdead now—the plan for the assassination had taken three weeks of solid organization—there was no real justice in this world. Still, I breathed a little easier knowing that cunt was out of the picture.
Which let this one take front and center.
“W-What d-do y-you w-want?” she sobbed again.
“How is it you’ve been blackmailing me all these years?”
Her sudden stillness told me she hadn’t expected me to veer down that route.
“I-I haven’t.”
My fist sailed through the air before she could finish the sentence. She howled as her head flung back with the force of my punch. The move pulled at her roots and she hopped up and down, trying to find her balance once more.
“You think you can fucking lie to me?” I snarled, my hand coming to her throat which I squeezed. I squeezed so hard I knew I could drain her of oxygen without a shadow of a doubt.
“N-No! N-No! S-Sorry, promise I won’t,” she sputtered.
A calming hand was laid on my shoulder.
I cut Brennan a look. He stood there, utterly understanding, but it was still a wet fish to the face as I took a step back.
As she gasped for air, I got myself under control.
She could die tonight.
Or she could pay for her sins for the rest of her life.
I was too Catholic not to appreciate the latter.