“As soon as the men leave, we can get out of here,” I take a seat momentarily, slide the hood off my head and it falls heavily on my back as we wait.
I wring my hair out before putting it up again. My wet hoodie is sticking to my back like a spitball. I gulp water from the stash in my backpack and hand it to Sal.
He chugs water. “It’s not safe.”
“You have a better idea?” I stand and remind Sal who he’s talking to with my posture. Technically, after tonight the family belongs to me.
Fuck.
“You stay with Angelo. I’ll go when my brothers arrive to create a diversion.”
“Hell, no, I’m going too.” Besides, I outrank Sal.
I don’t see this ending well because this position will make it impossible for me to ever have a man who truly loves me. I’ll always have to question their motives and loyalty.
And to marry any man outside of the family or another mafia family for alliances is not going to look good to my men when they’ve been trained to hate Sal’s family. But stranger things have been known to happen.
As don of the family, I’ll have no life, I’ll never be safe, and I’ll never be able to have a family. Men won’t say it, but there is a higher rate of mortality for those at the top of the mafia hierarchy and the number of men that could be my suiters has just been reduced to zero.
“Fine.” He gives in and checks his gear before he swipes a sleeved arm across his eyes to clear off the water from the rain.
The target on my back is nothing compared to the target there will be on it once I have the seat. I’ll always have the threat of assassins just like Dante, and they will be people I don’t know or wouldn’t suspect.
There will not be any down time for me now. Not until I have total control and respect of my family. A family of many families and off-shoots that make the entire machine work.
Peace is always sought over war, but it’s only a matter of time before someone gets greedy or skims money and they have to be dealt with. I will have to give those orders. And then there is the bigger pictures, the turf wars and new upstarts and moles within our own organization.
I’m no fool as to how Calabrese ended up where he did. It took more than my brothers’ cunningness. He didn’t need a ton of help, but some of Angelo’s men had to be involved in their scheme.
But I don’t have time to dwell on this, it’s just a conspiracy theory that plays in my mind. I need to focus on storming the compound, making my brothers pay, and finding Sofia. Thankfully, she’s still alive from what Angelo told us and I pray to God it’s true.
“Alright, I guess we’ll be able to get out with the chaos. But what of Angelo? He’s pretty weak.” Sal reads my mood and knows I’m not sitting this out.
“He’ll be safe here. The compound will be empty, and once we free his men, they can get him.” I shrug as I have no fealty to Angelo other than my promise to free his men. I owe him nothing. But they will only be freed if they are on my side and help our cause. I’m confident they will. Being locked up for a day gives a person lots of time to think and get pissed-off.
I pull Sal aside. “Besides, if he doesn’t last until morning, he’s lived longer than he would have if we didn’t rescue him. I’m fine with that.”
“Me too,” he concedes as he dries off his weapon and pulls a new clip out of his vest and loads his gun again.
We hear a loud explosion, and we look toward the road, smoke and fire are billowing in the rain which has slowed down.
“That’s our cue,” Sal gives me a tentative look and we both turn to Matteo who puts two fingers up, using them as directional cues for us to move forward.
“Let’s move,” Sal reiterates standing directly behind Matteo. “Mow down anyone walking. Protect Francesca first and foremost,” he tells his number one man.
We break into a run for the front gates, and I chuck an empty water bottle over my shoulder.
Vehicles are leaving the compound like ants to a picnic, and no one thinks twice about us as we arrive at the road safely. The low-lying clouds and mist blur our vision, but we are still able to make out numerous fires and more explosions flare up over the hillside.
A huge vehicle comes toward us, and I prepare to pull back, but Sal recognizes someone in it as a friend, and not a foe as Matteo comes to a halt and starts rattling off in Italian.
I can’t suppress a smirk when I realize it’s Dante and Marchello in the front with men hanging out the windows waving at us like they’re a boy band. Well, they are a band of sorts I guess, and I take a second to enjoy the familiar sight of friends and . . .family. Yes, we’re a brotherhood, but family.
They stop. “Brother,” Dante smiles, “it was splendid. Get in, get in.”
No sooner are we in, the door isn’t closed and Marchello taps the side of the vehicle, saying, “Andiamo.Andiamo.”
“Where to now?” Marchello asks calmly as we drive.