Chapter 139
Lucrezia
Inside The Hospital
We followed bloody tracks down the hall, where the carnage was even worse.
A pile of our men – all dead – spilled out of the elevator onto the floor.
The doors kept trying to close, but they hit the corpses and retracted automatically, only to try to close again.
Across from the elevator, we found more dead Cosa Nostra –
Along with the bodies of Lupo, Falco, and Scartellato.
Lupo looked like he’d been shot in the head at close range.
Four of our men stood in a waiting room, watching through a doorway as something happened on the other side.
In the other room were high-pitched screams of pain.
Serpente and Mangiavatt laughed like they found it funny.
Guercio looked disgusted –
While Cinghiale licked his lips lustfully.
As soon as they heard us, they whipped around with their guns –
“DON’T SHOOT!” Romeo barked, and they all lowered their weapons.
I stalked past them to see what they’d been watching –
And my stomach turned.
Dario Rosolini’s pregnant wife lay on the floor, curled up in a fetal position –
As Cesare viciously kicked her defenseless body.
I was numb to most of the heinous acts my brother committed on a regular basis –
But this?
This was over the line.
This obliterated the line like it wasn’t even there.
“WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING?!” I screamed at him.
He looked up at me, his features twisted with demonic glee, his face dotted and streaked with blood.
“Dario Rosolini’s not here,” he cackled, “so I’m taking it out on his bitch.”
I felt like I might puke –
Until Romeo stepped past me.
“You don’t want to do this,” he said in a low voice.
Cesare’s glee turned to rage as he pointed his gun at Romeo. “What the fuck did you just say?”
Having a pistol pointed at him didn’t rattle Romeo in the slightest. He said calmly, “Dario Rosolini’s coming up the stairs. We need to get out of here.”
Cesare’s rage turned to glee, and he howled with laughter. “YES! Let’s go KILL the motherfucker!”
My stomach twisted with fear.
He’s going to get us all slaughtered –
But then Romeo said, “He’s got two dozen men with him.”
It was a lie –
Or at best an exaggeration –
But it was a plausible one, and it made my demented cretin of a brother reconsider.
Then his bravado flared back up.
“We can take them,” Cesare said boastfully.
“On the way up here, I counted ten dead Cosa Nostra and fourteen of our men,” Romeo said. “Counting you, me, and the other four guys, we have six left. You really want to take on two dozen Cosa Nostra?”
Cesare’s face contorted in rage –
But even he wasn’t that stupid.
“Fine,” he snarled. “I’ll just kill his whore.”
He pointed his gun at the pregnant woman’s head –
But Romeo put his hand on Cesare’s gun and murmured, “Then Rosolini won’t know it was you who did this to him.”
Romeo had no way of knowing that for sure.
For all we knew, Rosolini might have captured one of our men and tortured the information out of him –
But our entire plan had been built around Cesare taunting Dario to his face as he killed him.
Not once had we ever let the enemy know who we were.
That simple detail hit Cesare hard.
“Shit,” he muttered. He seemed lost for a second – then quickly recovered. “I’ll write my name in her blood – ”
“We have 30 seconds at most,” Romeo said, “and then we’re dead.”
Cesare scowled in anger –
But he squatted down and loomed directly over the woman.
He hissed, “Tell your husband Cesare Caproni sends his regards – ”
Then he spat on her face and stood up.
“Let’s go,” he ordered as he walked out of the room. “Serpente, Guercio, Cinghiale, Mangiavatt – cover us!”
Romeo and I raced behind Cesare as he ran down the hallway, away from the dead bodies.
Our four men brought up the rear –
And then shots rang out behind us.