Chapter 66
Cesare Caproni
Lucrezia was the one who asked Amato all the questions. I just kept my gun on him to make sure he didn’t try anything stupid.
“Wait,” Amato said, holding out one hand. “Let’s make a deal.”
“What kind of a deal?” she asked in a bored voice.
“I have a lot of money.”
“I heard you’re basically broke,” Lucrezia said.
“I heard you have to beg for cash from the rest of the Cosa Nostra,” I sneered.
“I put some away for a rainy day,” Amato said craftily.
“So you stole from your business partners,” Lucrezia said. Her voice turned sarcastic. “That makes me trust you all the more.”
“So I skimmed some off the top,” Amato said defensively. “But I did it for an occasion where I needed it – just like this.”
Lucrezia shook her head. “I’m not giving you a chance to send a message to the outside.”
“I can offer you tens of millions,” he pleaded. “Just let me and my family go – ”
“Fuck that,” I snapped.
“Then just let my wife and children go.”
“And my wife and kids!” Luciano wailed. “You promised!”
“I did, didn’t I?” I said –
As I raised my gun and shot him in the head.
Amato’s wife screamed, and kept on screaming –
As Amato stared open-mouthed at his dead son slumped on the floor.
“Shut that bitch up,” Lucrezia yelled over the old woman’s screaming.
Pop!
Blood spattered against the wall, and her body toppled backwards off the bed.
Amato looked around at where she’d been, then back at me. Tears streamed down his cheeks.
“You fucking monster,” he whispered, his voice filled with rage.
“Yup,” I agreed, and shot him in the chest.
Pop!
He collapsed backwards on the mattress.
I walked over and stood next to him, watching as he died.
His eyes locked on mine as the white sheets beneath him turned wet with blood.
His mouth moved without making any sound –
And then the light went out of his eyes, and he was still.
I loved that…
Watching their eyes when they died.
It was like watching a match slowly burn out…
The flame growing dimmer…
Then nothing.
Just… dead.
Romeo walked in and did a double-take as he stared at the bodies.
“Did you find the girl?” I snapped.
“No.”
“Then what the fuck are you doing in here?”
He held up the tablet computer. “Cicciobello wants to know what to do with the wife and kids.”
“You there, Cicciobello?” I said.
“Yeah, boss,” he said over the tablet.
“Kill them all.”
“Okay.”
“Wait!” Romeo said, his face pale.
I turned on him, rage burning hot as the sun. “WHAT the fuck did you just say to me?”
“Come on, man,” he whispered. “They’re just kids.”
I laughed. “So?”
“So you’re going to make them watch as Ciccio kills their mother? Or make her watch as he kills her kids?”
I looked at him for a couple of seconds.
“…you’re right,” I finally said.
Romeo stared at me in shock. “…I am?”
“Yeah.”
Lucrezia stared at me like I’d lost my mind.
“Hey, Ciccio,” I said.
“Yeah, boss?”
“Kill ‘em all at the same time.”
“Okay, boss.”
“Do it NOW. I wanna hear it.”
“You got it, boss.”
Romeo stood there, staring at me in horror.
There were terrified screams from the woman and kids –
Then three gunshots overlapped each other.
BLAM-BLAM-BLAM!
The screaming stopped.
Ciccio’s voice said, “Okay… it’s done.”
“Good. Stash the bodies and get over here.”
“Okay, boss.”
The tablet disconnected.
“Happy?” I asked Romeo.
He just stood there staring at me.
Without warning, I punched him in the gut.
He grunted as all the air rushed out of him, then sank to his knees on the floor.
I leaned down and hissed in his ear, “And do not EVER question me again. The next time you do, I’m gonna blow your fuckin’ brains out.”
Then I walked out of the room, arm in arm with Lucrezia.