Chapter 5
”No,” Sera shakes her head in both shock and disbelief. “That’s not possible. He’s… he’s dead.”
Cupping her cheek, I turn her to face me. “He’s very much alive, Bellissima. He found you and brought you here.”
“No!” she snaps, yanking my hand away. She glares at me for a few seconds, probably hoping this is some joke. Honestly, I wish it was. It would make shit a whole lot easier. Instead, we’re all circling around the same questions over and over, hoping the answers don’t lead us down another rabbit hole.
“Sera,” Luca huffs. “He’s telling the truth.”
“What?…How?…Where is he now?” Her eyes soften, sadness and uncertainty filling them.
“Downstairs,” Luca answers.
Slowly, Sera pushes the covers off her body. She’s weak and clearly in pain, but she’s still the stubborn woman I admire. She crawls out of bed, wincing and stumbling, groaning through her pain as she clutches her ribs. She takes a second to catch her breath, leaning against the wall weakly.
After a moment, she lifts her chin, defiance blazing in her eyes, and then she’s marching past us, grabbing my gun from the bedside table as she storms out the room.
“Where are you going?” I sigh.
“To see for myself,” she mumbles over her shoulder.
Shit.
Luca and I take one look at each other before racing out of bed and sprinting across the room to follow. It doesn’t take much for us to catch up to her. She’s staggering down the stairs, limping and groaning, her defiance the only thing spurring her on. By the time she makes it to the bottom step, Enzo is already waiting for her.
“Where the fu—” she stumbles to a halt, breath catching in her throat as she faces the ghost she’s mourned for three months. “You’re… you’re really here?”
Enzo nods, stepping towards our leader. He opens his arms as if to welcome her and I half expect Sera to fall into his embrace and sob through her pain and grief, like she did with me months ago.
“Sera—”
Click.
Sera aims the barrel of my gun at Enzo’s chest, her hand shaking—something none of us expected. I don’t think Enzo could even predict this turn of events.
“Who do you think you are?” she sneers, her voice trembling with unmistakable anger.
“I can explain.” Enzo takes another step closer, pressing his chest against the gun, not at all fazed by it.
“Don’t!” she snaps. “You don’t get to say a fucking word to me!”
Enzo’s gaze flickers towards me. If he’s wanting help, he’s looking at the wrong person. He’s betrayed us all and it’s about time he faced the consequences. Bullet or not, he fucked up.
“Do you know how many nights I cried over you? How many times I wished you were still alive and that this was all some fucked up nightmare?”
“Sera—”
“Shut the fuck up and let me speak!” Her chest rises and falls so quickly it looks like she’s about to pass out.
Luca must sense it too, because he steps forward, resting his hand on her hip to anchor her. I love how in tune he is with Sera, comforting her without ever saying a word. It’s exactly what she needs, and I watch as he continues to be her strength, admiring the bond we’ve all created. In a way, I guess I have Enzo to thank for that, but I won’t be rushing to express my gratitude. He still hurt Sera, and he hurt me, too, damnit.
“My best friend died in my fucking arms, and all I thought about for weeks was your blood and how I couldn’t save you. Sei tutto per me,” she sniffs. “Those were your last words to me, remember?”
Enzo winces, his gaze shifting from Sera to me and Luca. “I remember,” he murmurs reluctantly, his jaw clenching.
“Funny how you remember that, but you somehow forgot to tell me you were alive.” Considering Sera was held captive for four days, and has been sleeping it off for three, her anger doesn’t waver. She’s matching Luca’s storm right now, and I don’t think I want to be in that path.
“I was protecting you, Sera,” Enzo tries to explain.
“Really?” She jabs the gun into his chest. “That’s the fucking explanation I get? After years of friendship and loyalty, that’s the shitty excuse?!”
“Plea—”
“No! You lied to me, to everyone! You fucking rise from the dead and expect me to believe that you did this for me, that you were protecting me? Giovanni did a better job than you!”
“Yeah?” Enzo growls back. “And look how that turned out for him; bleeding out in your fucking basement because he’d rather do the Verdi’s dirty work.”
Sera chokes on a gasp, stumbling backwards into Luca’s arms. A single tear rolls down her cheek that she makes no attempt to wipe away. Even Luca is lost for words as he holds her to his chest.
We knew Enzo had been keeping Giovanni locked up downstairs, away from Sera, but the way my cousin snarls makes me think he might be the cause of the bloodshed. He never sent the doctor to Giovanni’s aid the other night. In fact, he hasn’t let any of us see him since Sera’ was brought back.
“Leave,” Sera barks her order.
“No can do, baby.”
“Fine!” She re-aims the gun, this time pressing it under Enzo’s chin. Her wrath and stubbornness precede her, the room silent as her authority suffocates it. They’re locked in a battle, neither one willing to back down. It’s how they’ve always been. They’re either at each other’s throats or the best of friends. There’s no happy medium and I’m pretty sure Enzo’s reappearance has obliterated any chance of that ever happening.
“Do it. Because it’s the only way I’m ever leaving you again.”
A sob tears from Sera’s throat. I can see how torn she is, and as much as I want to step in, I know she needs to do this alone. She’s spent so long grieving, attempting to move on, and my cousin just re-entered her life like the past three months never happened.
“You and me… we’re done, Enzo!”
“Sera, please!”
Dropping the gun, she spins around into Luca’s arms. She doesn’t even look at me as she hands my gun back, hobbling away
“It’s nice to see she’s got you guys to take care of her,” he snarks, turning on his heel and heading into the kitchen.
I follow behind, though I’m not sure why. Call it intrigue, but I still have so many fucking questions. I’m torn between asking them and remaining loyal to Sera. Getting friendly with the enemy isn’t going to do me any favors.
“So how long was it before you fucked her?” His tone is full of accusation as he spins around, resting against the counter. The glare he shoots me is like a loaded gun. If looks could kill, I’d be lying in a pool of my own blood.
“That’s none of your business,” I grind out.
“Is it not?” He folds his arms, the leather jacket he’s wearing crunching as his muscles constrict. “Seems pretty convenient that as soon as I’m out of the picture, you dive right in.”
“Sounds like you already know the answer to your question, then,” I retort, not even attempting to hide the insinuation of my answer.
“You asshole!” Enzo lunges for me, tackling me to the floor in a split second. His weight pins me to the ground, his fist connecting with my already bruised face. I struggle against him, raising my arms to protect the area Luca didn’t manage to punish the other night, but my cousin is a lot stronger than me.
Pain radiates across my jaw, as I take punch after punch. Left. Right. Left. Right. My head swings side to side with each impact, my energy waning and vision blurring. I brace for another hit when all of the sudden, his weight lifts from my body and I’m heaved backwards.
“Where’s your fucking loyalty?” he pants loudly. Marco holds him back, preventing him from advancing any further.
“I don’t owe you any loyalty after what you did!” I spit out a glob of blood, swiping at my mouth with my forearm. “You had your fucking chance. You had over twenty fucking years to tell her how you felt. You lost the right to know about Sera’s life the day you died.”
“I did all of this for her!”
Matteo helps me to stand—which I need since Enzo just pummeled the shit out of me. “Then you should have tried fucking harder,” I snarl.
“And what did you do, cuz?”
“I’ll tell you what I did. I fucking treated her the way you should have all those years ago. I was there for her. I was her fucking shoulder to cry on while she mourned your death. I listened to her cry herself to sleep for weeks and when she was finally ready to see her worth, I gave her the goddamn mirror. That’s what I did!”
“Yeah?” he laughs incredulously, shaking his head. “You’re going to pretend like you did all this for her? Could’ve fooled me.” My brows furrow as Enzo pins me with me a knowing glare. “I know all about your fucked up situation.”
I stumble backwards. I’m not ashamed of what Luca and I have, but I don’t take kindly to our relationship being degraded, or my own intentions questioned.
A growl tears from my throat as this time I lunge for Enzo, but Matteo’s hold keeps me in place. Nobody gets to talk shit about our relationship. Nobody—not even my own blood—gets an opinion on what Luca, Sera and I have, and I’ll protect that until my last fucking breath. But then realization dawns on me as I remember the night Giovanni was shot, when he followed Sera out of the party because of something her father said. “You told her father.” It’s more of a statement than a question, one filled with more accusations.
“I had no choice. You were distracting her. She was meant to stay out of the way; your job was to advise her and you couldn’t even do that! I don’t care whether you and Fontana wanna stick your dicks in each other, but keep Sera out of it.”
His ignorance and self-absorbed opinions piss me off because Enzo doesn’t know the first thing about what Sera, Luca and I have. Of course he would see it as a weird situation, but to us, we’ve found our place. We’ve found ourselves with each other, and aside from the earlier fight with Luca and the recent kidnapping, I’ve never been happier. We’ve never been happier and it’s all thanks to Sera.
My fists clench as I struggle against Matteo’s hold on me. I can’t listen to any more of this. Just like Sera said, I’d have given anything to have Enzo alive. I wished so hard that his death was just some sick dream that I had to endure, but now it’s a reality, and the betrayal hurts twice as much as his death did. His obtuse opinion over our relationship only makes accepting his reappearance harder.
Shrugging out of Matteo’s grip, I glance once more at the man I once considered family. “Take Sera’s order and leave, Enzo. Because you’re not welcome here.”
Enzo lets out a deep chuckle that embeds itself in my brain. “You’ll have to kill me first.”
Cutting him with one final glare, I grind my words out for everyone to hear. “Be careful what you wish for, Enzo. It just might happen.”