Chapter 103
Lucrezia
Outside The Hospital
As I cradled my face where Cesare had struck me, I realized for the umpteenth time that I was dealing with a goddamn fucking idiot.
If Cicciobello and the others shot up the historic center of Florence, the cops would descend on them like locusts –
And they would be shooting to kill.
I had to admit, it was a clever ruse to draw off the cops who were still outside the hospital –
But Cesare was going to sacrifice half our men just so he could pursue his ridiculous vendetta against Dario Rosolini.
MORON.
And the fact that he’d hit me –
I wanted to cut his fucking balls off and stuff them in his mouth.
But right now, I had to salvage the situation as best I could.
I knew Cicciobello wouldn’t follow my orders over Cesare’s, so I had to be sneaky about it.
Nudge the tornado over a couple of degrees.
“You can’t send everyone to shoot up the Ponte Vecchio,” I said. “We need someone to intercept Rosolini if he slips past you.”
“He won’t,” Cesare said confidently.
“He got out of the mansion in Tuscany and reached the hospital without any problems.”
“Luck,” Cesare sneered.
“Then it would appear he has the luck of the devil. You want to gamble your revenge – all of it – on Rosolini not getting lucky again?”
Cesare was incredibly superstitious. I knew I could prey on that part of his feeble mind.
He glowered for a moment… then snarled, “Fine. We’ll use some of the guys here with us to keep watch.”
I’d gotten to him.
Now I needed to not overplay my hand.
“That won’t be any good if he roars out of here at 80 miles an hour. Keep somebody on watch out here, but send some of Ciccio’s men to intercept him halfway.”
“Fine – you can stay out here with Romeo,” Cesare sneered.
Which was fine by me. I had no interest in hanging out in the middle of a firefight.
“If Rosolini slips past me,” my brother continued, “you can chase after him.”
“I can’t do shit, and you know it,” I retorted. “At least post some cars between here and their mansion – just in case.”
Cesare looked angry –
But I could see I’d got him worried, too.
“If you see Rosolini outside the hospital, call me immediately,” Cesare demanded.
“Of course.”
That seemed to mollify him.
“Ciccio,” he grumbled into the phone, “send a car towards the hospital – ”
“TWO cars!” I yelled angrily. “Ciccio, send – ”
Cesare put his hand over my face and slammed me against the door.
My head banged against the window –
But it was the humiliation that hurt the most.
“ONE car,” Cesare shouted into the phone, “and have ‘em wait ten miles from the hospital, just in case. But the rest of you, fucking kill anything that moves.”
“You got it, boss.”
After he hung up, Cesare smirked at me. “Satisfied?”
I stared at him with a hatred as hot as the sun. “NO.”
“Too fuckin’ bad,” he sneered.
I looked away from him and stared out the window.
I had a .38 snub-nose pistol in my purse. It was just big enough to hold in the palm of my hand.
A part of me wanted very badly to pull it out and put a bullet in my brother’s head –
But that would have been stupid.
If I tried anything and he managed to stop me – which was quite likely – he’d kill me with his bare hands.
If I wanted my brother dead, all I had to do was bide my time a little bit longer…
And Dario Rosolini or one of his men might do the job for me.
So I waited.
As I waited, I consoled myself with a single fact:
Both Romeo and I would be outside the hospital, away from the gunfight.
We would survive, no matter what…
And Romeo would be a capable lieutenant once I took charge.
If Cesare got killed inside the hospital…
Then I could start our clan over again once he was dead.