Give me a sec, Sal.
I launch my fist across the pock-marked fucker who threw me in here. He doesn’t even flinch, but that’s okay. He raises his hand, gun pointed straight at me, but before he can squeeze off a single shot, I dive at his feet, forcing him to the ground. I grip his wrist, slamming it against the leg of a nearby chair. The gun clatters to the floor and his fist cracks against my jaw as Salvatore yanks me by the hair.
Sonofabitch. I knew I shouldn’t have let it get this long.
My back arches, and I slice at the guy’s throat just as his fingers close around the gun. He sputters and gurgles, blood gushing from the wound as I drive my elbow into Salvatore’s chest. He flies backward, crashing into a bookcase. Volumes of hardcover books tumble from the shelves, falling to the floor around him.
I struggle to control my breathing, but the knowledge that I’m going to get my long-awaited revenge, that I’m going to watch the pathetic life drain from the body of this rat bastard and finally get on with my future, makes my heart pump fast and furious. Salvatore tries to shift his large body away from my foot before it crashes against his throat. He coughs and wheezes, his hands protecting his throat from the same kind of gutting I gave to his crony.
I lean down over him. “Sal, you stupid motherfucker. You knew I’d be back, didn’t you? Did you really think you could beat me? You caught my old man by surprise, but no fucking way were you gonna do the same to me.” I take my gun and run it down the side of his face, my chest heaving.
“Diego,” he whimpers. “Please. Show some mercy!”
“Mercy?” I hiss. “Your family. You betrayed your own family! And I’m gonna make sure you pay for that, just like Uncle Gio. Just like everyone else!”
“It wasn’t my idea to pull the trigger! I didn’t do anything!”
“Oh, but you did,” I growl. “You set him up. You got that fucking farmer to sell him out! You paid that bitch to distract me because you knew I could stop it!”
Salvatore weeps like a bitch, covering his face with his hands. “It wasn’t my idea! I didn’t give the order! Yes, I tipped off the farmer but only because—”
“I don’t wanna hear it, Sal.” My brain has been thrust into overdrive, flooded with sights and sounds and distraught cries, and I hear everything he’s telling me, but it’s just not processing.
There’s no room for rational thought.
Only rage.
“But you need to! If you’re gonna kill me, fine, but I’m not the only—”
“I know that,” I say through clenched teeth. The memories of Gianna’s tearful voice coming through the phone lines bubble up into my conscious, and I press my fingers to my temples to mute the din between my ears. I have him! I finally have him right in front of me! The last one!
He’s spewing bullshit because he’s scared.
Good.
He deserves this and more for what he did to my family.
I point the gun at him, my arm stiff as a hard cock.
“No, no, no! Diego, please, I can pay you! Tonight! Don’t do this! You have to believe me! I’m not the one you’re looking for! It’s—”
Bang! Crack! Bang!
His body jerks left and right as the bullets explode into the air, pelting his body with a close-range fury. I expel a long breath after the last bullet takes off part of Salvatore’s head, my shoulders sagging.
I stare at him for a minute, waiting for the heaviness in the pit of my gut to dissipate.
After all, I’ve just eliminated the final threat to my family.
I had to do this. It wouldn’t have ended with my father. This vendetta that Salvatore and the others had against him…it would have destroyed us all. My brothers Cristian, Vince, Antonio, and Tommy know it, too.
I needed to pull that trigger.
I needed to protect us all.
I sweep a hand through my hair.
The nightmare is finally over…
For the Marcone family.
But there are a lot of women in that dungeon downstairs whose nightmare won’t ever end unless I alert the cops.
I grab my phone and stab a few numbers into the keyboard. This prepaid phone is untraceable, so I know my tip won’t come back to bite me in the ass since I don’t need anyone else hunting me or my family right now. A deep voice answers.
“911, what’s your emergency?”
“Women are being held in the basement of Casa Ventura. There’s a sale about to be made. If you don’t get here yesterday, they’ll be lost for good.” I click to end the call, and reach for the door handle. If I don’t get my ass outta here now—
The prepaid vibrates in my hand and I accept that call, pressing my lips together.
Only three people have this number.
One of those three will slice me into carpaccio if he knows what I’ve done here tonight.
I raise the phone to my ear.
“Tell me you’re not where I think you are right now,” my brother Vince hisses into the phone.
Jesus Christ, news travels fast around here.
And Vince, my oldest brother and the new head of the Marcone family, doesn’t like to be left in the dark when threats of death and devastation loom over his inherited empire.
“I can lie if you want,” I say, stepping over one of the bodies and searching for an exit before I get hauled in with the rest of the scumbags downstairs.
“Goddammit, Diego! Do you ever think for just a second before you do shit like this? Do you really think it’s over? Are you fucking kidding me?”
“I did what had to be done,” I growl into the phone. “What you’ve been ignoring ever since Pop was killed! Always looking to keep your hands clean, right? Well, I like mine dirty. Means that I’m doing good for the family, which is more than I can say for you right now!”
Vince lets out a dry laugh. “You think you’ve done something good, huh? Your whole manhunt to pick off the bastards who were rebelling against Pop. Vigilante justice, right? That’s been your game?”
I rub the back of my neck as I jog toward a fire escape at the end of the hallway. The sirens are getting closer, and I need to get the fuck away from here. “Yep. And now it’s officially game over. Spoiler alert. I fucking won.”
“Enjoy it now, brother. Because when shit comes crashing down on us, retribution that we both know will come, you’re gonna be on the front line.”
Click.
I push open the door, but it doesn’t move. Stuck. Just great. I push and push., but it’s not until I shove my left side into it that it finally opens and I nearly collide with a dark figure skulking against the wall.
I squint in the darkness, trying to make out a face but he’s wearing a hat with the brim pulled down low.
Then I hear his voice and it sends a chill slithering down my spine.
Nic Fortunato, Via’s father clasps my shoulder with his massive hand.
It’s a powerful, menacing grip.
Much like Nic.
“You interfered with things you shouldn’t have, Diego. You cost me a lot of money tonight. You should have just done what you came to do. It’s too bad. I could have used you in my operation. Now I have a decision to make. Break my daughter’s heart…or put a bullet in yours.”