30. Noah
Noah
I t takes us nearly an hour to get to the Lower East Side from Fresh Meadows, Queens. My eyes struggle to stay open. Adrenaline has been pumping through my body for the past few hours and now I’m crashing. I also lost a lot of blood from being shot.
After Del proposed and I said yes, he kissed me until I was nearly out of breath. He only held back from fucking me in the backseat because my wound was still bleeding.
I called my father to tell him I was okay, and I’d explain everything once he meets us back at the townhouse. He was in the Bronx overseeing a large gun shipment with a new supplier when he got Percy’s call. He dropped everything to head to Queens but didn’t get far because of traffic.
“This is it,” I say. “I’m going to confront my father about the Christmas Eve murders and my mother’s death.”
Del wraps his arm around my shoulders and tugs me to his body before kissing the top of my head.
I have time to shower once we get to my father’s. Del joins me and helps me wash my body and hair. He dries me off, then stitches my bullet hole.
He loves taking care of me.
Because he’s perfect. I can’t believe I’m going to marry him. I never imagined wanting to willingly devote myself to one person, let alone a man.
Del sits on the bed while I change into a t-shirt and leggings. He’s holding a book in his hand when I walk out of the closet.
“Oh! My mom’s book!”
“ Deadly Deceit . I was reading the back. It sounds good. Creepy similar to what we just went through though,” Del says, handing me the small paperback.
“Right? I was planning on reading it but left it here and forgot.”
I flip through the pages and a piece of paper falls out. I crouch down to pick it up.
“It’s from my mom’s journal... it’s her handwriting.”
My hands start shaking, my heart hammering against my chest.
“My brilliant star,” I begin, reading her words out loud.
“I hope you know how much I love you and if you’re reading this, then I’m no longer with you.
I know how much you wanted to read one of my romance books, so I’m hoping you find this in time to escape.
Your father, as you likely know by now, is the Don of the Empire Mafia.
He’s led the organization since we moved to New York City fifteen years ago.
.. well before you were born. But he’s changed.
He’s become greedy for power. I overheard him talking about putting hits on the wives and children of his rivals: the Queensboro Mob and the Lords of Staten Island.
Innocent women and children. I could not condone this and when I confronted him about it and threatened to take you away and go into hiding, he got angry.
I never thought he would harm me, but now I’m not so sure.
I told him I'd stay, that I wouldn’t take you away.
I’m writing this note to let you know that I lied.
Our bags are already packed, but if something happens, and we don’t make it out, I’m hoping you find this note and you leave. .. escape this life.”
It ends there, and I wonder if she was interrupted or in a hurry and couldn’t finish. I remember seeing my bag packed in my room the night she died. I thought it was strange but didn’t question it, thinking maybe one of my father’s staff had packed it at some point.
“He did it,” I say, my voice shaking. “He put out the hits on the other mobs.”
“It’s true,” my father says, appearing in the doorway of my room.
“What the fuck?” Del seethes. “How long have you been there listening to us, Lenetti?”
“A while.”
Del takes my arm and moves me slightly behind him. Protecting me, as usual. My father frowns at the move. I expected him to be mad about me finding this out, but instead, he looks sad.
“Why?” I cry out, tears claiming my voice.
“We are the mafia, mio angelo” my father says solemnly. “We kill every day. We leave wives without their husbands, fathers without their sons, children without their parents. It is nothing but business. It’s something you will have to do when you take over.”
I shake my head. “That’s not how I will run this organization. That’s not who I am. I would never kill the one I loved.”
“I never meant for your mother to die. She found out my plan. She was going to take you away. I panicked, so I called the men I hired to take down the Lords and QBM. They were only supposed to scare her. They weren’t supposed to kill her or go after you.
They went off orders. I’m sorry, Noah. Those men weren’t professionals.
I found them through the black market and paid them a lot of money for their furtiveness. ”
I scoff, crossing my arms over my chest. Tears wet my cheeks, but I don’t wipe them away.
“Didn’t you think the other mobs would have figured it out? If all the Dons’ wives and children were killed but yours wasn’t?”
“I was hoping they’d find out. It was a power move. I wanted them to fear me. Show them why the Empire should be the only mafia in New York City.”
“All that death and for what? The Empire never gained sole power, and you’re certainly not the best. At least, not anymore. Was it worth it?”
He stares at me, not answering for several seconds. “I’m sorry your mother had to die.”
That’s it? He only regrets that my mother died?
“Did you know those same men forced Lance to slit his mother’s throat?”
My father starts at the words.
“Then they chased him, stabbed him, and left him for dead.”
“I’m sor—”
“What you did to Del and his family... to me... we will never get over that trauma.”
“I know mio angelo.”
I turn to Del and hold out my hand. He knows what I’m asking for.
“Let me do it, Noah,” Del whispers.
I shake my head. It has to be me.
Del gives me a curt nod and places a gun in my palm.
I raise it, pointing it at my father.
“You’re not going to kill me,” Gio says, though his face betrays his words. He’s not so sure I won’t pull the trigger.
“I won't?”
“I know you are Colpa Sicario. But I’m your father. You love me. You won’t kill me.”
I don’t know how he figured that out. I was always so careful. I could ask, but that would just delay the inevitable.
“If you know I’m a contract killer, surely that means you know I’ve killed people for the bad things they’ve done. And you’re amongst the worst.”
He closes his eyes and nods.
“You’re not going to call your men in here? Stop me from doing this?”
A single tear drips down his cheek and he swallows hard.
“If you’re going to hate me for the rest of my life, then no. I couldn’t bear it.”
The silence in the room is deafening. I at least expected him to fight for his life, but for him to just accept he’s going to die? That his daughter will be the one to end him?
It pisses me off.
“Just know,” he begins, “I’m proud of you. For never giving up on finding your mother’s killer. You’re ready to lead the Empire.”
“Fuck the Empire,” I say and fire the gun.