“I warned you that the next time you hurt me, we’d leave.” Elenora’s voice was cool and calm. Chilly, almost. “You’ve everything you want in life, so just leave us be.”
“Give me my daughter, and you’ll never see me again.”
“Why? So she can be treated like dirt in that house? Be undermined by your mother and hated by your father? The only way you’re getting her is through me.”
“She’s my blood, and that means something to me.”
I peeked around the corner and saw Theo’s back was to me, and over his shoulder was Elenora with a gun pointed at him.
No!
“I don’t love you—”
“No one loves you, Elenora.” Theo half laughed. “Not me, not your parents, not even your boyfriend Francesco, who let his family kill your sorry excuse of a brother. You have no one, so put the gun down and do what you’re Goddamned told!”
Oscar came into view, and he too was holding a gun that was pointed at Theo. Oh, my God, he’s out numbered! Why did he come here alone?
“You’re never going to leave us, are you?”
“Not while I’m living—”
Bang!
Theo’s entire body jolted as he took a step toward her then collapsed to the floor with a heavy thud. I covered my mouth in horror and fear as she lowered the gun and let out a cry of her own. I quickly threw myself into a closet and pulled the door close to my trembling body, as tears streamed down my face.
“We need to leave now,” Oscar yelled. “Come on, the guys will be here to clean this up, and we can’t be here.” I could hear them approach and prayed they wouldn’t notice the closet door wasn’t shut tight. I knew she wouldn’t hesitate to kill me too.
The moment they stepped out of the house, I flung myself into the room and dropped awkwardly to the floor over his body. I struggled to roll him onto his back, and he blinked up at me in confusion as he made a strange sound.
“No, no, no, no…” I sobbed as I pressed my hands against the hole in his chest. “Stay with me.”
“K-k,” he tried to say, and I grabbed his hand and held it tightly.
“I love you,” I choked through my tears.
“Kill her,” he whispered with one last effort before his body went slack, and I knew he was gone.
I sat back against the wall with numb legs and cradled my swollen belly. The only thing that ran through my mind in that moment was he wasn’t thinking of me. Even with his last breath he was thinking of her.
I watched as my mother’s eyes drained of life, her head slumped to the side, and her hand went slack in mine. I placed her still warm hand on her stomach and shifted my weight back on my heels as her words spun in my head. I looked up at Francisco, the gun hung as though heavy in his hand. His horrified expression told me this kill would haunt him forever.
“She could have killed you,” he whispered, and I nodded, knowing he was right. Mama had been determined to hurt the Capri family, to make them pay for what she thought they’d done. It was only a matter of time before she succeeded. “I’m so sorry, Sienna.”
“Don’t be.” I stood, brushing the dirt from my knees. “You’ve done enough for me. I’m only sorry that you had to be the one to… to do it. I know you loved her.”
He gave me a tight nod, then he stood and walked to Piero. He handed him the gun and continued to walk away.
“Sienna?” Andrea’s soft voice found me. “Cuoricino, are you all right?” I looked at Elio’s pale face as I took a moment. He didn’t approach.
“I think…” I paused as I remembered my mother’s last words. They repeated over and over inside my head. “I think I’d like to go inside.”
“That’s a very good idea,” she said as she placed her hands on my shoulders and steered me in that direction.
Elio moved then. He stepped in our path and stood tall and dark. He didn’t speak right away, so I looked up and noted his ticking jaw.
“What did she say to you?” His voice was cold and distant. Some might have been upset that he hadn’t asked how I was, but I knew him better than that. Clearly, I was fine. The fact that someone had slipped by his people and tried to hurt us would have been heavy on his mind.
“She said Oscar killed my father.”