I glanced from Castello to the panicking Ricardo. Why was Castello doing this? Why would he leave such a decision up to me?
I looked back at Castello. “You know I don’t want to see anyone die.”
“So you want me to spare his life? After he betrayed me?”
My lungs started to constrict inside my chest as my breathing became shallower by the second. “I don’t know what you want me to say.”
He started toward me, still wearing the mask he had pulled on the second we walked into this room.
“Do you think this man deserves a second chance?”
“Don’t we all?”
He smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “And what if I told you that betraying me, helping my brother plot against me, isn’t his only crime?”
I kept his gaze, refusing to cower away from him. “I don’t care about what he’s done. Death can atone for nothing.”
He cocked his head to the side. “And why do you think death can’t atone for anything?”
“Because when the guilty is dead, they feel nothing. Only the living left behind carries the weight of an injustice done unto them.”
The way his mouth pulled up at the corners made me think he already knew. He expected me to say no to killing this man.
He stopped two feet away from me. “Do you remember when Vico killed your father? Murdered him in cold blood?”
Anger raged. “Of course I do.”
“Do you remember what it sounded like, the sound of the gun as Vico pulled the trigger?”
I clenched my teeth. “What are you doing, Castello?”
“Do you remember the scent of your father’s blood as it dripped on the floor?”
“Stop.”
He stepped closer. “Do you remember what it felt like watching the life drain out of your father’s body, knowing there was nothing you could do to save him?”
Tears blurred my vision while pain seared the inside of my chest. I closed my eyes, desperate to get rid of the images Castello was causing to pour back into my mind.
“Do you remember what your father looked like as he took his last breath?”
“Please stop!”
He grabbed my arms and jerked me closer. “Do you remember the smug grin on my cunt of a brother’s face after he pulled that trigger? After he killed your father?”
God!“Yes! Yes, I remember!” Tears streamed down my face, the image of my father’s lifeless body next to a gloating Vico finally tearing my soul in two.
“Good!” Castello jerked me once more. “Look at me.”
I continued to sob.
“I said look at me!”
I opened my eyes and stared into his.
“Remember that pain, Tatum. Remember that image of your father as he died in that chair.”
“Why?” I whispered between clenched teeth.