Chapter 25
CASTELLO
I sat silently in my car, staring at the gates of my old home. The gates of hell. I wasn’t the type of man to regret decisions I’d made. No matter if the decisions were right or wrong, I would twist the consequences in such a way that it would suit my needs. I had the power and the means to do that. In my world, there was nothing that couldn’t be fixed, that couldn’t be manipulated…until today.
I left her. I walked out of the bedroom and out of the house without looking back, and I left her. It was the only way. My decision was based on the fact that Tatum and my child would have been better off without me. I was nothing but a bad habit, and I knew I had to erase my existence from their lives.
It was the most difficult decision of my entire life, and I had weighed up all my options, carefully considered every outcome. And it all came down to them being better off without me. Uncle Gino would have taken care of them. I would have made sure that they had everything they needed, but I would have done it from the shadows. Kept them safe without being a part of their lives.
Fucking idiot.
I wasn’t even gone for twelve hours before Uncle Gino got word to me that Tatum had been kidnapped. She was taken out of the house without anyone noticing. How the fuck did that happen? The only conclusion was that there had to be someone on the inside. Someone with authority, with influence. Someone who knew the security system like the palm of his hand.
Giovanni.
I glanced next to me. Giovanni had told me everything before I sliced my blade across his throat. Now the fucker was bleeding all over the upholstery of my Aston Martin.
It wasn’t that hard, to make him talk. It appeared that the big-ass motherfucker who had been the head of my security didn’t like pain. Especially after I injected him with a special mix of muscle relaxants, of which one was a little bit of curare. Incredibly hard to come by. But not for me.
So while the fucker was unable to move, yet feel every sensation, every ounce of pain, I made him scream out the truth. I made him cry while he told me everything. While acid burned his retinas, I listened carefully to every word he screamed out. Pulling out one nail at a time, I listened to him telling me my twin brother wasn’t dead. That the coffin we buried that day alongside my father was fucking empty.
Blood dripped down Giovanni’s face as I carved two deep slits down the side of his nose, creating tears of blood. He sobbed like a motherfucking baby, begged like a damn coward. He couldn’t do anything while I cut his dick off, slowly, painfully, edging the knife through his skin inch my inch, dragging it out.
They had no idea what I would do for her. What I was capable of when it came to my woman. If I weren’t so desperate to find her, I would have taken two minutes to try and digest the fact that my twin brother was still alive, they had been using me, plotting against me all this time. But they underestimated me…and they would pay for it with their lives.
I got out of the car and heard the slamming of car doors behind me. Uncle Gino refused to let me do this alone and brought an army of his own. I walked up to the gate, and the security guy approached me.
“Mr. Fattore.”
I aimed my gun and pulled the trigger before he could say anything else. As his lifeless body dropped to the ground, I grabbed his security tag that hung around his neck and opened the gates. I held the gun out, aimed at the security camera, and shot it into pieces.
Rain started to pour down, rumbling thunder echoing far away in the distance. Not even the storm raging above us was any match for the anger that raged inside me. They chose the wrong fucking woman, the wrong man to fuck with.
The sound of footsteps smashing in the rain that pooled on the asphalt sounded behind me. I was thankful for the support, but even without them, there was no way I would leave this goddamn house without Tatum.
I walked up the stairs and knew there were two men standing on the other side of the door. I knew the security layout of this goddamn house better than anyone.
As I reached the top of the stairs, I pulled out a second gun. One kick and I broke the door down, two gunshots going off at the same time, and I didn’t even look at the bodies that fell to the ground.
Within ten seconds, more security came rushing to the foyer, but with the amount of ammo I had behind me, they didn’t stand a fucking chance. Bodies fell like flies, but I didn’t give a fuck. All these motherfuckers deserved to die.
I stood in the foyer, gripping the guns in my hand tight. The men behind me searched the area before they flanked me with their guns aimed, ready to shoot on sight.
There was no fear, no panic. Just sheer determination to get back what was rightfully mine and to end this war once and for all.
“Carlo!” I yelled at the top of my lungs, my anger bouncing off the fucking walls. “I know you’re here, you son of a bitch!”
Silence.
“Carlo!”
“Hello, brother.”
I looked up, and true as God, there he stood. The spitting image of me.
“Where is she?”
“Is that any way to greet your dead brother?”