Unspoken Betrayal (Casino King)

27. Vitorio

The room is so quiet that I can hear the floorboards creeping beneath the weight of the men standing behind me. My eyes are so intently focused on the back of my brother's head that I imagine I have enough force in my glare to pierce a hole through his skull.

His words, his confession, keep looping in my mind, over and over again.

I did it for you. He killed our own father - for Sasha.

I want to be wrong. I want to have misunderstood.

But I know I didn't.

I can't see or hear anything else, with every atom in my body focused on Luca.

I see him slowly turn around, finally looking at me.

Our eyes lock across the space between us and his shoulders drop slightly. I watch as the arrogance in his posture dissolves. His lips tighten, his eyes widen, his nostrils flare and his cheeks flush dark red.

At his sides, his fists clench and unclench.

"Luca."

I say his name as though it were a rock that needed to be carved, the edge of my voice grinding over it, demanding it to shape my will.

He lifts his chin. Defiance crept across his face. His brows raise slightly.

"Vitorio." He replies, dry and cold.

"Did you kill our father?"

My heart is beating so loudly that I feel it might explode from my rib cage. It feels painful and tight. A heavy grip has taken hold of my stomach and the tension in me is like a lead weight.

I want to tear his throat out and rip his heart from his chest. I want to shred him to pieces and leave him convulsing in his own blood on the floor.

I step closer to him, slowly, my shoulders pushed back.

Sasha starts screaming.

"Luca do something. Luca. If you love me, you'll do something."

She runs towards Luca, scrambling over him, trying to wrap her arms around him.

"Luca, please, get me out of here. We can leave together. We can be happy like we used to be. Luca, please." She is whining and crying and begging.

Luca cringes away from her, shoving her hard and she stumbles backward.

"Don't fucking touch me." He shouts at her. "You never loved me."

"I did love you, baby. I loved you more than anyone I ever knew. Just get me out of here." Her tears fall pointlessly down her face because no one in this place feels sorry for her.

"You are a lying bitch. You put me in that position. I never would have had to do what I did if it wasn't for you." Luca snarls.

"I loved you. You are the one who left me after you met that bitch." She points an accusing finger at Nicki.

Nicki steps back, her hands up in confusion.

Luca turns towards Nicki and holds his hand out to her. "It's true Nicki. I told you that I loved you from the moment I saw you - all those years ago. I left Sasha because I knew, I knew I could never feel for her what I felt for you."

"I didn't even know you." Nicki stammers.

Luca's face heats with anger and he steps closer to her. "Just leave with me. I will prove to you that we were always meant to be together."

How can he be thinking about running away with Nicki, a woman who has time and time again turned him down, but he is obsessively chasing her - and not dealing with the most important thing. He killed my father. He killed his own father.

How fucking cold and twisted is he that can push that aside, and only worry about his own heart?

Luca reaches out and grabs Nicki's arm. In a flash, someone leaps between them, and Luca and the masked man fall to the floor in a tangled wrestling match.

Luca grabs the stranger's mask and rips it from his face.

Danny.

"Daniel?" Sasha shouts in shock.

"Fuck." Daniel mutters, pushing away from Luca and trying to pull his mask back in place.

"You - you know him?" Nicki asks, her brows knotted together.

"Technically, we are still married, seeing as he refused to sign the divorce papers two years ago." She snaps at Daniel.

Nicki's cheeks turn pale. "Danny?" She says with a soft whimper in her voice. She looks defeated and confused. He hurriedly pushes himself to his feet. "Nicki…"

"What is going on? You knew who she was all this time?"

"Listen - I can explain - "

"Danny? Did you have something to do with my father's death?"

"Nicki - just leave with me now - come - run away with me - we can disappear…"

"Are you fucking kidding me?" Nicki screams, throwing her hands in the air.

Luca starts laughing and Sasha looks disgusted. "Why the fuck does everyone want this piece of trash?" She sneers at Nicki. Luca turns and slaps her hard across the face. "Don't you ever talk about her like that?"

"Daniel, don't leave me here," Sasha screams, as Danny turns on his heels and runs, pushing through the side door. She tries to go after him, but Luca grabs her, throwing her back into the room.

"Enough," I shout, as the last piece of my patience cracks away.

I pull the gun from my hip, flick the safety off, and point it directly at my brother's head.

"Did you kill our father?" I demand.

"He did. I was there. I saw him." Sasha stammers loudly.

"I wasn't asking you. Keep your fucking mouth shut." I snarl at her.

The grin on Luca's face churns my stomach. He laughs, low and dark, like a rumble growing from the pit of the earth where the dead decay.

"Tell me to my face, Luca. Did you fucking kill our father?"

He shrugs, casually, as though he is deciding what to order for lunch.

"I killed him. Your father. Yes. He was never my father though. He never treated me as a son. He loved you. I have no father. I chose not to have a father. That man was nothing to me." He waves his hand through the air in a dismissive gesture, as though our father was someone to chase away on a breeze, the same way one would wave off an annoying insect.

"He was your fucking father," I shout in anger, the edges of my world slipping. "He was there for us, every day. He took care of us and taught us about the world. He was an incredible father."

Luca shakes his head. "You were the golden child Vitorio. So, I became the devil."

He laughs again, and my control disintegrates.

I run, charging straight into my brother, body slamming him to the floor. He lands with a loud slap against the wooden beams. The air is forced from his lungs in a heavy punch of my fist against his chest. He wheezes and gasps in fright, caught off guard by my sudden attack.

I have never felt such anger in my life.

Luca's men spring to action around us, drawing their weapons, and standing to protect him.

Gunshots fire around me as I wrap my hands around my brother's throat.

I hear Nicki screaming. I hear Marco shouting something, and Sasha crying.

Bullets fly past me, whipping the air against my skin.

Luca is kicking and punching, trying to rip my fingers from his throat.

I can see the life slowly draining from his eyes, and my heart is tugging at me.

I can't kill him.

I can't be the same as him.

My grip softens, ever so slightly, and I see the relief in his expression.

I take my hand off his throat and before he can say a fucking word, I punch him as hard as I can. The sound of his nose snapping gave me the satisfaction I needed. He will get what he deserves, but it will happen in the right way.

I lean away from him as the gunshots seem to have faded.

I glance around me, suddenly aware again of everything else happening.

Luca's men are kneeling on the ground, with their hands behind their heads.

Ricardo did switch sides after all and turned on them the minute they launched their attack. His team has them locked down.

Marco is pacing in the room addressing everyone.

"Now is the time to choose where your loyalty sits and what standard we will and won't accept within this family." He looks around himself, making sure he has everyone's attention. "Are you still with Luca, the man who murdered his own father in cold blood? The man who murdered my brother. Or are you with me and Vitorio - against him in every way? And against his business."

The crowd starts shouting in support of Marco.

I hear people screaming.

"Kill him."

"He's a murderer."

"He doesn't deserve to live."

I look down at my brother. He is weak, defeated, and pathetic.

Then I push myself to my feet. I roll my shoulders back, I am angry, I want justice, but I am not going to murder him in cold blood.

I hold my hand out to Luca. "It's over Luca. You have to face the consequences of what you've done, whatever the family decides they are."

Luca reaches up to take my hand. He shakes his head, looking miserable.

He pulls himself to his feet with his hand clasped over his bleeding nose. The blood is oozing through his fingers -- thick, dark red slime that runs over the back of his hand.

Then Luca tilts his head to the side as he stares at me, and the look in his eyes tells me that he is smiling.

"Fuck you." He snarls as he drops his hand away from his face, his teeth are coated red with blood and his smile looks psychotic - painted with death.

His fingers wrap around the handgun at his side.

"For fuck's sake Luca, it's over," I say, stepping towards him to take him down again.

Nicki screams as Luca lifts the gun and fires a shot.

From behind me several shots fire in response to Luca and I see the bullets slamming into Luca's chest. His body jolts and spasms with each impact. As he falls to the ground, I see the life leave his eyes. Without realizing it, I am also on the ground, gasping in pain. I glance down at my stomach -- at the blood gushing out of me. My breath catches and each time I move agony shoots through me.

I drop my head back against the ground, clutching at the bullet hole in my stomach.

"Nicki." I say breathless and desperate.

I turn my face towards Luca and stare at his lifeless eyes.

"Nicki." I say again, and I feel her drop to my side, her knees in the pool of blood around me. I stare at her legs as the blood soaks into the fabric of her pants.

"Vitorio. Look at me. You are going to be ok. You are going to be fine." She is crying as she pushes her weight against her hands which are pressed over my stomach.

I choke at the pain beneath the pressure of her touch.

"Stay with me." She shouts, but her voice is fading.

"Vitorio."

I want to hold onto her, but I can't lift my arm. My eyes begin to blur and fade and water.

I can hardly see her face anymore.

I hear her voice from somewhere far away, and I want to call out to her to tell her not to leave me here alone, but no sound comes out when I open my mouth.

Then everything falls silent, cold and empty and oblivion drags me downwards, into nothing, as though I have fallen into a dark ocean and the water is stealing me away.