“Do you think you can kill me and walk out of here alive?” Jimmy says, his tone dripping in amusement, and I fucking laugh. The sound echoes around the room. I have no fucking idea what is going on, but I was ready to die, to have my brains blow across this room, to see my boy. . . but I’m pretty fucking glad I didn’t die before seeing this scene. “My son-in-law and his brother have forgotten themselves. Draw your weapons,” he states to the men in the corners.
They don’t move.
Clay lowers his gun to his side. “Draw your weapons,” he orders smoothly, and all four men retrieve their guns, aiming them at Jimmy.
Jimmy shifts his gaze across the cold concrete room, narrowing his brown eyes in contempt and. . .pride?
Casually, Clay steps closer. Reaching into Jimmy’s jacket pocket, he removes his boss’s Glock from its harness. Strolling over to the intercom attached to the wall, Clay speaks through it. “I have disarmed him.” He turns back to Jimmy, who is watching him like a shark biding its time, circling the situation with cunning and consideration before it lashes out. “You said it yourself, Jimmy. Trust is of utmost importance. We can’t have any liabilities. We can’t have anyone going rogue. Did you advice Alceu about taking out Bronson, about using us to avenge him and take out Dustin? And all those years ago when you locked Luca’s son in a basement, my half-brother, Alceu’s blood, did you ask if you could use five million dollars of The Family’s money?”
The metal door opposite me swings open and in walks a hunched old Sicilian man, but I’d know that face anywhere - Alceu. Flanking him are four guards.
What the fuck is this beautiful scene?
He might be white-haired, and slow moving, but his presence hasn’t lessened with his ever-aging body. He’s still a killer through and through. The ghosts of all the men he’s killed have darkened his eyes, making them dark pools of indifference. Of boredom. He’s seen it all by now.
Stopping at Clay’s side, he smooths down his black lapels. The scent of mint and cigars hangs around him like a low grey cloud. “My boy,” Alceu says to Jimmy, his tone hoarse in his old age and yet undeniably commanding. “It’s been a long time. Your guards, they don’t speak Sicilian? Australians everywhere. Such a beautiful country other than the language. . . The women, though. . . You have been keeping them all to yourself,se?“
“Alceu,” Jimmy coos. “I didn’t think you could fly. What a wonderful surprise this is.” He opens his arms, and they embrace, kissing each other cheek to cheek like the polite snakes they are.
I tug on my restraints, darting my eyes to Jimmy’s calf, remembering his blade.
Alceu steps back. “You left me no choice.”
“Perhaps we should discuss any issue without the boys,se?There is no need for the theatrics. It’s not long now and I’ll be stepping down anyway. Clay is ready to lead with my guidance, aren’t you,son?” Jimmy says, rolling the wordsonaround his tongue, showing possessiveness. Like he owns my big brother even now, even as he’s taking his place.
Clay moves over to me. Dropping to his knees, he unties my ankles as I keep watch over his shoulder. “Well, hello to you too, darling.”
“I’m sorry for the show, buddy.” He frees my legs and grips my shoulder, staring up at me. “I came as quickly as I could, but I needed to get the boss myself.Fuck, this is not how I planned this. I didn’t know about the shootout. I didn’t know he’d take you like this. Believe me.”
“All that bullshit you just said to me. About Konnor. About Dad. . .” I clench my teeth, eyeing him warningly. “What purpose was that?”
“I needed him to admit to knowing Konnor was Dad’s biological son. I’m sorry, buddy. Alceu needed to hear all of this from his lips. And that Jimmy was willing to kill you.”
He removes the bindings around my wrists, and I spring to my feet, shaking out the fatigue and pain in my muscles.
“Jimmy was willing to kill you.”
I have no idea why, but hearing those words spoken with sympathy and regret causes a sharp sensation in my chest. I saw for myself what he was willing to do, but. . . that’s business.
I bite back the churn of my stomach.
Business.
It’s why I killed my cousin. It’s why I kill. For him.For business.Feeling a sharp sensation in my chest, I clench my teeth, wishing the wordbusinesswas adequate enough to separate my feeling for Jimmy, slice them off at the head, and spill them out, let them go. There is no place for them inside me and yet, I idolised this man.
Wanted to be like him.
“The boy murdered my nephew.” Jimmy’s voice drags me to him, and I allow it to pull me right over there. Lurching forward, fuming, running on blood boiling hatred for the man who stole over a decade from me, I slam my fist into his face. His nose breaks. So does the skin on my knuckles.
Fuck, why do I feel so sick?
Alceu holds his hand up. “Enough of this. This is distasteful. I don’t need it. I’m tired. I’ve been travelling for the past two days.”
Jimmy stumbles back, hissing low before touching his nose as blood gushes from it. “The boy is wild,se?“ Attempting to stop the bleeding, he pinches the arch of his nose.
Grinning at the fucker, because I’m exactly what he taught me to be, I reference his teachings as I say, “Jimmy forgot himself.”
Clay pulls me backwards, and I let him. Flicking my body around, pain and confusion ebbing in my mind but still firing through my veins, I try to regain control. But anger and betrayal are chasing me down, bubbling to the surface.