“You’re one to talk.” Everyone’s eyes darted toward where Uncle Gino sat. “You’ve been manipulating this family for years, and finally someone is starting to see you for who and what you really are.” He shrugged. “Pity it had to be your son, your own flesh and blood.”
“How dare you? Are you not my husband’s brother?”
Uncle Gino stood from his seat. “I was his brother. But he’s dead, and it’s a shame he’s not here to witness this, to finally see what evil runs through your veins.”
She sat back down, and I looked over to Castello. He was standing tall, proud, confident, but I saw the sadness in his eyes as he stared at his mother. No matter who she was or what she had done, she still remained his mother.
“Castello,” she started, “it is clear our family has been torn apart by your actions, but you still have a chance to fix it. This wretched woman needs to be buried, tonight.”
My heart stopped, and my stomach felt like it had been filled with concrete.
Castello walked back to me, putting himself between me and his mother, shielding me from her hateful gaze. “We have a deal with William Linscott, and I intend to keep that deal. When he hands himself over to us tomorrow, I will send Tatum home, as per my word.”
What the hell was he talking about? And why did my stomach clench when he said he’d be sending me home? That was what I wanted, right? To go home, to get away from him?
I moved closer. “Castello, what—”
He lifted a hand, silencing me like I was nothing more than a goddamn slave, and it stung more than it should have, especially after what I just heard.
His mother smiled, but it didn’t reach her eyes. “That was not part of the plan, son.”
“It is now.”
This time Vico spoke up. “You are choosing this whore over your responsibility to your family?”
Castello glowered his way, menace oozing out of every pore. “I am choosing no one. You want revenge against the person responsible for Carlo’s death, and I am giving that to you. William Linscott will hand himself over, and you will have your revenge. But Tatum will be set free.”
“No!” His mother shot back up to her feet. “Absolutely not. That woman will die along with her father.”
“No way!” The words just left my mouth, and everyone turned to face me, including Castello.
“Keep quiet,” he muttered under his breath so only I could hear.
I ignored him and glanced at his mother. “You can’t kill my father.”
“Oh, I can, child.” She smiled like she already tasted victory. “And I will, but you will die first.”
“No,Madre.She will not.”
Silence fell across the room. About twenty men went dead silent. Not even one breath could be heard. Castello and his mother continued to hold each other’s glare, animosity pulsing between mother and son like a lifeforce.
“Vico,” she said with a sordid smile on her face. “Bring him in.”
What? Who was “him?”
Panicking, I looked at Castello. The way he and Uncle Gino glanced at each other with uncertainty, it was obvious no one expected this.
Vico got up and walked with his head held high, his exuded arrogance nauseating me.
There was a door at the far corner of the room, and everyone’s eyes were glued in that direction. The amount of fear that ran through my veins made me feel lightheaded, my knees weak. But when that door opened and I saw who stood on the other side, my lightheadedness was gone, replaced with an explosion of dread and confusion.
“Dad,” I whispered, and Castello glanced over his shoulder at me, his expression carrying the same confusion.
My dad was gagged, his wrists tied in front of him. Blood covered half his face, and he walked with a limp as Vico dragged him toward the crowd.
Again, I looked at Castello. “What the hell is going on?”
Castello stepped closer to his mother. “What in God’s name do you think you are doing?”