“Where did you find this?” I question.
“Sir,” Enrico mutters, “it was as you said, in the drawer, but…” his words taper off to nothing, causing me to glance at him. His gaze drops to the floor, which sets me on alert. “I think you may want to see this,” he tells me, turning and heading deeper into the office. Our footfalls are the only sound in the room.
When we reach the bookshelves, I notice they’re shoved aside. Someone found Lucio’s hidden room. I enter without concern for everyone else. I know what I’ll find. It’s been clawing at me since my phone call.
As soon as I step inside the hidden room, I feel red-hot rage course through my veins. I scrunched the folder in my hand as violence niggles at me, pushing and pulling at my mind. Revenge. Lucio’s body is draped in the chair as if he’d fallen asleep.
But he’s not sleeping.
His head is twisted obscenely. Blood has seeped through his crisp white shirt, and the mark of our enemy is carved on his forehead. But it’s not only my cousin who sits in this room, murdered. There’s another man, older, who has had his throat sliced open, his head barely hanging on by the spine attaching it to the rest of his body.
“Who the fuck is that?”
“We don’t know yet, sir,” Enrico informs me. “We’ve got Gian coming in to do a sweep of the scene before we get cleanup in here.”
Nodding, I blink away the red spots of rage that blind me as I spin on my heel and shove by the men who followed me into the chamber of horrors. I ignore my brothers calling to me as I make my way toward the exit. I need fresh air. If I don’t breathe, I’ll go on a killing rampage without asking questions. That’s not how I was taught.
My father was always precise in his vengeance.
And I will be too.
I slip into the car and tug the knot from the ribbon, causing the blood-red material to fall to the floor. Opening the folder, I scan the first page. It’s a letter addressed to me, from Lucio, explaining the evidence he found where the Santillo family are broaching on our territory. He found a mole who’s been feeding the assholes information about us.
I’m livid by the time I get near the end of his letter, but the last part stops me in my tracks.
Since you’re reading this,I have finally met our maker. So, there’s something I need your help with, cugino. It will destroy something delicate and precious to me when she learns of my death. I need you to go to her, to Raina Lombardi. Take her and keep her safe from the wrath that will soon fall on her. She’s too innocent for this life to be dragged into it.
I’ve never asked you for much, Franco. But… I loved her. She was my heart, my soul. And because of our blood line, I can’t be there to keep her safe. So, it falls to you. You’re in charge, and I’d not trust anyone else with her.
She’s alone in this world now. Her brother, Andrea, he’s bad news. You need to get her away from him as soon as possible. He’s fallen in with the Santillos and there’s no telling what he’ll do. Please. I beg of you, cugino.
Questo è tutto ciò che ti chiedo.This is all I ask of you.
My hands are shakingwith frustration, anger, and sadness.He wants me to fucking babysit his girlfriend.As irritated as I am at his letter, I know I can never deny his last request. He’s putting me in a position I shouldn’t be in. There’s a reason I don’t have a woman on my arm. This life isn’t made for loving marriages or relationships. This is an existence of bloodshed and pain.
The car door opens and my brothers slip in, not long after we’re joined by our driver.
“And?” Matteo questions, his eyes glued to mine.
“We need to take down the Santillos. They’re responsible for the death of our cousin.”
Gio rubs his hands together as if I’ve told him we’re off on a month-long beach vacation. That’s the one thing about my brother, also well known as The Player. He is excited about jobs that we do, but killing isn’t his forte. As the nickname suggests, he loves to play with his food before he makes the kill.
“I’m ready,” Matteo offers.
“So am I.” Gio smirks.
4
Raina
I’m still shaking. My body was long overdue to rest. Last night, my childhood home went up in flames and I don’t know who did it. I don’t know who I can set out to claim my revenge from because I didn’t see the men who ransacked the house.
When I heard a noise downstairs, I didn’t investigate. I did what my father always taught me to. I hid in my closet until silence greeted me. Then I smelled the burning. It slowly traveled upstairs and soon I was sputtering and choking.
Thankfully, Daddy had the insight to build me a small balcony and staircase that led down to the garden of our home. The police and fire department arrived, along with Andrea. My life blew up in a pile of rubble as I watched.
Daddy didn't come home, so I waited up most of the night. As much as I know he said he’d be okay, I have a bad feeling about the meeting he was heading to. This life is dangerous, I know it is, and something tells me that if he doesn’t call soon, something far worse than a general meeting has taken place.