“See, funny thing about that is the moment we started going legit, you signed your lives away with every dotted line,” I explained. “So no, there isn’t a law to get you out of another law. I can take this to court and win in five minutes. I double-checked with the five we have in our pocket.”
“Do you have any idea what you’re letting her do, Col?” Harrison snapped. “Tossing away years of friendship over a disagreement?”
Father laughed. “Is that what you think this is? If I’d walked into that trap you set for me with the burial grounds, I’d be the one who’s ruined and in jail. You know all that already and still you said fuck all to me, throwing your lot in with Harvey O’Hagan, of all people. The bastard’s been gunning for me, and you were about to hand me over on a silver platter. Hell yes, I’m letting my daughter light your ass up and burn down all you’ve created. Get the fuck out of my sight, and you better have my money in a week, or I’ll introduce you to my negotiation skills reserved for those who are late on their payments.”
Both men stood to leave and were flanked by our security, giving me a chance to unfold the paper Luca handed me.
My people are in place. The signal is ‘greedy tyrant.’ Here’s to a new king.
None of this made sense, but I didn’t doubt it was the message. It clearly meant something important, and I was glad Harrison never got it. Who knows what those words would trigger? Feeling restless, I rose and walked over to the guys.
“You know what, Colmazio, you’re not a king at all. You’re just a motherfucking greedy tyrant,” Harrison bellowed across the bar, struggling against Boykov and another one of his men.
Realization slammed into me, and I turned back to where Daddy was sitting alone. “No,” I screamed, running toward him as fast as I could, but the shots were already fired.
thirty-one
Daddy’sbodyjerkedastwo bullets found their mark in his chest, but I didn’t slow down. I leaped, crashing into him, knocking the chair to the floor, and I used the momentum to roll us out of the way. Hooking my hands under his armpits, I dragged him backward to where a smaller second bar was located. The air echoed with gunfire, but I only had one thing to focus on, and it was the man in my hands.
Finally secure behind the bar, I laid him down and ripped open his vest then his shirt. The bullets missed his heart, but I knew they had pierced his lung as I heard the wetness in his breath. “Hold on, Daddy, I got you,” I said, grabbing a rag off the counter and putting pressure over the wounds.
I smiled down at him. “It’s gonna be okay, they’ll send an ambulance, and we’ll get you to the hospital. Maybe this is a chance to do something about your heart? You’ll have a reason to be in the hospital for a bit, and no one would know. Then you’ll stay with me longer.”
He reached up and grabbed my arm, pulling me closer.
“Shh, Daddy, don’t try to talk. You need all the air you can get. Don’t waste it on me.”
That did nothing to lessen his intention, so I leaned close enough to hear him. “Journal thirty-four.”
“What’s about it?” I asked. “Is there something important there?”
“Everything, it’s everything…” He wheezed, then coughed, sending blood spraying everywhere. “Astin.”
“No,” I snapped. “No, don’t. I don’t want to hear it, Daddy. You aren’t going to die, I won’t let you. I just got you back. This was our time, Daddy. We were going to rule side by side, show the world what it means to be the Caprioni Family.”
Tears started to flow from his eyes as he looked up at me, and I could feel my own trailing down my cheeks.
“Astin, I love you more than anything in this world… never forget that,” he managed to get out between gasps.
“Please, Daddy, you don’t need to do this. Just hold on,” I pleaded.
His bloody hand cupped my face, and I clutched it to me. “Let them love you. I picked them for my precious daughter. They’re who you need to be the queen I raised you to be.”
“None of this makes sense, Daddy,” I sobbed, moving his head to my lap. “I don’t understand, you can’t leave me. This isn’t fair. I just got you back, and all we did was fight. I was awful to you and everyone else who’s supposed to be my family. How can I face them without you?”
When he didn’t answer me, I reached a shaky hand to his neck, hoping there would still be a pulse and he was just tired.
There was nothing.
My father, the king of the Caprioni Family Empire, was dead. The one man I loved with all my heart was ripped from me in the blink of an eye. Tears fell from my face onto his, mixing with his own, but when I tried to wipe them away, I just smeared blood all over him. Taking my sleeve, I used that instead, letting his blood stain the white fabric, but I didn’t give a fuck. Nothing mattered now, there was nothing left for me. Everyone was gone, lost to this life that I’d been born into.
Well, they weren’t going to take me down that easily. They had no idea what my father’s men created back in Huntingford.
But they were about to.
Taking a deep, shuddering breath, I closed my eyes and reached down deep, letting loose the chains they’d put on my darkness. They thought I didn’t know, but I wasn’t ignorant of the evil that lurked within me. The problem was once I set it free, I didn’t know how to come back from it. Right now, there was nothing to come back to, so what was the harm?
A cold, detached feeling took over my body, slowing my heart rate, easing my breath, and settling my mind into a state of hyperfocus. Reaching out, I slipped the gun hidden under Father’s jacket and the extra magazine he had in the inside pocket. A trick he told me saved his life more than once over the years. I grabbed a small knife and sliced off my sleeves allowing me more freedom from the billowing fabric. With one final glance at the body that once held my father’s spirit, I stood and entered the fray.