Lucretia turns toward me, her face flawless in the moonlight. Her red lips are a temptation no man could ignore, and the earnest question in her eyes is like a dagger.
“Just tell me why,” she says softly. “I want to understand you.” She reaches out and takes my hand again. “Please let me.”
If her eyes were a dagger, her words are an executioner’s axe. This is it. The moment when I have to tell her the truth and let her judge me, judge my actions. I thought I could put it off, could keep putting it off—but she’s right. Before she walks into this nest of vipers, she should know why I’ve set all this in motion. If for no other reason than to protect herself—if she knows who she’s dealing with, she’ll be better able to avoid their pitfalls.
I keep her hands in mine and begin. “Several years ago, my father and Vincenzo Roman made a deal to split the drug trade in certain areas of their territory with the Manchellos and the Fontanas. This was back when the government still had the war on drugs and was cracking down on drug routes from South America. My father still had supply lines that could be trusted, and the Manchellos and the Fontanas had territories that needed product. They worked out a deal. The deal went on for a few years until the drug war eased and more supply lines became available. The dispute began then. My father and Vincenzo wanted to maintain the same deal. The Fontanas and the Manchellos wanted to change the terms to favor themselves more now that they could source product from outside the families.”
She squeezes my hands, her lips pressed together tightly.
“The dispute grew larger and larger. The other families washed their hands of the matter and decided to let the four of them—Milani, Roman, Fontana, and Manchello—scrap it out among themselves. It turned into warfare, lower level dealers and players getting hit here and there. But the Fontanas were running out of money—mainly because of bad deals your father made on other fronts. He convinced the Manchellos that the deal with Vincenzo and my father had to end, and the only way to end it was to take out my father and Vincenzo.”
Her shoulders tense, but she doesn’t look away. She already knows what’s coming, but I can’t stop. The story is a thorn inside me, one I’ll never be rid of.
“They hatched a plan and set it in motion. It worked to a degree. Sarita made a call and lured my father to one of the Manchello delis, the back room a den for gambling and business. She claimed she had a deal to propose. My father accepted the meeting, but Vincenzo wasn’t with him that day. My mother was.” My lungs go tight, my heart rampaging in my chest. “It was a trap. They shot both of them down. I was there that day, too, waiting in the car and fucking around on my phone. I was still just a stupid kid, but I ran as soon as I heard the shots. I saw your father jump in a car. He had the gun in his hand. My mother was dead before she hit the ground. My father only lived another moment and died in my arms.” I close my eyes, and the phantom gunshots still ring in my ears. I can still hear my father’s labored breath. “It was the worst day of my life.” I swipe a hand down my face. “I took over the family after that, but the buzzards came and picked through the empire my parents had built. I was too young to know what the fuck I was doing, but I eventually figured it out. Then I worked for years to build it back to what it was, to make it stronger, to become powerful enough to hurt the people who hurt me.”
Tears roll down her cheeks, and I pull out my kerchief and wipe them away as gently as I can.
“I-I didn’t know.”
“You couldn’t have.” I wipe more of her tears. “But after that day, I couldn’t think of anything but revenge. I soaked in it, obsessed over it. I made plans, several of them, which all ended in your family and the Manchellos dying screaming.”
“I’m so sorry, Mateo.”
“You didn’t do anything, princess. Not a damn thing.” I sigh and dab more tears from her beautiful face. “Back then, I didn’t care. I wanted to hurt every Fontana, every Manchello. I wanted to take you from your parents and degrade you, make them watch as I hurt you. And then I’d come for them.”
She leans away from my touch. “That’s why.” She swallows thickly. “That’s why you came for me that day at the cathedral.”