31. Noah #2
He screams, tears streaming down his face from the pain. Snot drips out of his nose and spit dribbles down his chin. “Fuck you, man,” he wheezes.
“Keep talking, asshole.”
“He… he didn’t want yours or Elias’s help. He wanted to kill Lenetti himself, but he couldn’t do that while heading the QBM. He couldn’t risk a mafia war. He faked his death so he can plan out his revenge on Lenetti.”
“How did you meet up with Percy?” Del growls, grabbing Matt by the hair when his head lulls to the side.
“He found me.”
“How?” Del growls.
“I wanted Gio dead too,” Matt says, his voice raw and strained.
“My father, Lawson, was an Empire soldier until he got sick. Lenetti let him retire as long as I took his place. I was only eighteen. I didn’t want to join the fucking mafia.
I was pissed that my father agreed to this, but I had to do it or Gio would have killed me and the rest of my family.
“A few months after the Christmas Eve murders, I overheard Lenetti talking about what he’d done.
He was proud, the sick bastard. So, I snooped around and eventually found files on the men Gio hired to kill the wives and children of his rivals.
At least, I assumed they were the men responsible.
It had their pictures and names and their skills listed.
Addresses too. That’s it. I anonymously sent Percy the files with a note saying Lenetti hired them, hoping he’d investigate and start a mafia war.
When nothing happened, I accepted that I was stuck as an Empire soldier for the rest of my life. ”
“How did you get the files?” Del asks.
Matt’s lips form into a lazy smirk. “Did you know my dad taught me how to pick locks and break into safes? Gio’s safe was a challenge, but I managed to break in within ten minutes. He had the files in there, like an idiot.”
“What about the Lords? Why didn’t you send Finn the files too?” I ask.
“I did but either he didn’t get them, or he didn’t care. Or maybe he thought it was a setup.”
Matt coughs up blood, his face turning pale.
“Okay, speed it up. Can’t have you dying before you explain the rest. Get to the part about working with Percy.”
He wheezes a few times before continuing.
“My father was a lifelong smoker and he had emphysema. That’s why he left the Empire.
He was too ill to be of any use. After a few months, he became depressed and bored, so he’d spent his days gambling online.
He’d go broke then beg Lenetti to lend him enough money to cover rent.
He kept borrowing and could never pay it back.
Gio had enough. He ordered my sister and mother to be killed as payment.
He didn’t even care that I was one of his top soldiers.
I begged him to let me pay off my father’s debt.
All that got me was a beating for interfering with his order. ”
Goddamn it, Gio. Tears well in my eyes. I really do feel sorry for Matt. He didn’t deserve all the things that happened to him. He never asked for this life.
“Their deaths were the final straw. I wanted revenge, but I couldn’t risk reaching out to Elias and getting caught by Lenetti.
One night, I went to this bar on the Lower East Side.
I was planning to get wasted and jump off the Brooklyn Bridge.
I had nothing else to live for. That’s when I met Percy.
He’d been keeping tabs on the Empire. He knew what Gio had done to my family.
“We spoke for hours, and I told him Noah was alive. That’s when… we formed… our plan…” Crap, Matt’s slurring his words. He’s about to pass out. “To bring down… the Empire.”
And he’s out.
“Dead?”
Del feels for a pulse and shakes his head.
“I’m about 99.9% sure Matthew is the one who invited Elias to my father’s Christmas party,” I say and Del nods.
Elias said he only accepted because the invite stated it was a neutral night of festivities—it wasn’t. He’d planned to make connections at the party, try to steal some of my father’s powerful contacts for the QBM.
Perhaps that’s what Matthew and Percy had also planned. They knew Elias would accept and use the opportunity to help the QBM grow. Elias swears he had no idea.
I bet Matt also sent Finn our photos outing us as Colpa and the Marionette. I wondered how he figured out I was Colpa Sicario. Though, my father figured it out, so maybe that’s how Matt knew too.
“Hey!” Del screams into Matthew’s face and slaps his cheeks hard enough that Matt’s eyes pop back open.
“Is that it?”
Matt nods and tries to close his eyes again.
“Wait,” I say and move to stand in front of Matt. I grip his hair to hold his head up. “Are you sorry? For what you did to us?”
“Fuck no. I’d do it again,” he wheezes. “Kill me, you bitch.”
“Well, that helps my decision,” I say.
“What decision?”
“I was considering keeping him alive.”
“Seriously?”
“Don’t judge me! I was feeling sorry for him. He was screwed over by my father more than once. He reacted like you or I would have. We can’t fault him for that.”
“Don’t pity me, cunt,” Matt says and laughs. “I should have killed you myself.”
Before I can respond, Del sinks his knife into the side of Matt’s head.
“Asshole,” Del mumbles. “God, I hated him.”
“You were just jealous of him.”
“Jealous of what? He wanted you, but you were never going to be his. You’re mine. Only mine.”
“God, I love you,” I say with a laugh.
Del’s eyes widen. “I think that’s the first time you’ve said those words to me.”
“Officially?” I smile and bite my lip. “Yeah, I guess you’re right.”
“Say them again.”
“I love you, Delancy William Carter.”
“You know William isn’t my middle name, right?”
“I know! You never told me, so I made one up. What is it?”
“Gene. My mother wanted me to have a middle name similar to Imogen.”
Delancy Gene Carter.
I think I like William better. But I know Gene is special to him so, Gene it is.
I scan the mausoleum. Matt’s blood leaks into puddles below him and blood splatter covers mine and Del’s hands and face.
“Time to clean up?”
“No need. I’m going to bury him in the ground right over there where it’s caved in.”
“And you’re sure no one will find him?”
Del pulls me into an embrace and places a soft kiss on my lips before leaning back to move a piece of hair out of my face.
“I forgot to tell you. I bought the cemetery. I’m going to get it cleaned up and keep the grounds maintained for all the families whose loved ones are buried here.”
“You’re a good man Delancy Gene Carter.”
“How do you feel about burying both of our fathers here in this spot with Matthew?”
“That’s smart. Poetic justice of sorts. All the men who caused us pain, who tried to kill us, who died by our hands, buried in one place.”
“Exactly. And after I tear down this mausoleum, we’ll pour cement on top of their graves and build a monument or statue in honor of our mothers.”
“It’s a great idea,” I say and give Del a quick peck on the lips. “Alright, let’s get to work.”
I start cutting the zip ties holding Matt to the chair while Del clears out the rocks from the caved ground.
“We should go out for pizza after this. I’m really craving a slice of pineapple and ham.”
“That’s it. You’re dead.”