Chapter 33
Presley
Iwasn’t sure what to make of what had been set up when I walked into the gym, and I was even less sure now that I’d been forced to take a seat.
It was our dining room kitchen table, but it had been moved to the center of the gym. Seated on one side, blindfolded, gagged and zip-tied were my parents. Reaper sat next to Scotty, glancing between where I was walking and where Scotty stood. He emanated a whine like he knew I was in danger.
Scotty had encouraged me to take a seat on the opposite side, with the wave of his gun toward my family.
I should have known this would be his play.
Deep down, I knew he was capable of truly heinous things, but I still doubted that he’d ever hurt us.
I thought we were his chosen family, and yet, here we were.
“We’re going to have a family meeting, right here and right now.
It seems things have gotten a little out of hand as of late, and I’d like to clear them up,” Scotty started while taking the fourth chair and keeping his gun on my parents.
He also had a trigger remote in his other hand, which meant he had another weapon somewhere, set up on a remote switch.
It would fire if he released it or pressed the button.
I sat stiffly. “Mom, Dad, I’m okay. You’re okay. We’ll get through this.”
Scotty mocked me. “That’s the spirit, Presley. Let’s have a positive outlook.”
“Why are you doing all of this? I thought we were your family.”
Scotty scratched his jaw with the barrel of his gun before letting out a sigh. “First of all, you’re to blame for it escalating to this level, Presley. You murdered the son of one of the most powerful families in the mafia. The Vissimo family is now after me because of your little temper tantrum.”
Good. I hoped they would target him and eventually kill him. Reaper laid on his belly and began slowly inching closer to my legs. I held my hand out for him to smell. If Scotty sicced him on me, I wanted to make a connection with him first.
“As far as you being my family, that never changed, but what did change was my need to get back in the game. While everyone was so eager to hide, I had built my entire life around navigating organized crime. I’m good at it.
There’s not just a legacy to be had here; there’s a family name we were supposed to create.
Kyle, you fucked that up.” He scolded my father by raising his voice, but then, softly his gaze returned to me.
“At first, I had no idea they had a plan in place. I knew about the Adesso’s past and my link to them, but I didn’t think Markos would be pulling them into that.
Regardless, once I found out, I wanted to continue with the alliance because I would have prevented them from ever hurting you.
But the twins came and fucked everything up. ”
I faintly corrected him, “It wasn’t the twins who forced me to kill my grandfather.”
“That may be true, but you wouldn’t have been afraid or even known who Markos was if they hadn’t planted the seed.”
I knew my mother and father wanted to ask this, so I did it for them. “How could you ever agree to align yourself with him, knowing the vendetta he has toward my family and toward Juan’s?”
Scotty glanced at his phone briefly before explaining, “The Mariano family has owned my loyalty for longer than any of you have been alive. Even when Kyle decided to go rogue and kill Ivan Varga, I nearly died myself because I was supposed to owe my allegiance to Markos. He’s one person you can’t simply walk away from and hope they don’t come to collect.
Markos asked me to murder Lucian Adesso all those years ago and plant the playing card simply because he knew it would instill the need for vengeance in the three sons left behind.
How he planned to utilize that hate was not my business. ”
“It would have worked,” Scotty continued. “If your heart hadn’t been broken, you wouldn’t have felt the need to have someone try and heal it. You wouldn’t have gotten attached to Adrian, and he wouldn’t have fallen for you.”
I shifted in my seat, irritated all over again at the mention of Adrian. He didn’t deserve to be manipulated the way he was, none of them did, but I cared less for his brothers since I was nearly positive they had something to do with killing Adrian.
“So what now? Why are we sitting here?” I asked.
Scotty pulled the hammer to his gun back and leaned forward.
“I need everyone on the same page. Presley is to marry into a family of my choosing; she will create an alliance for us. Kyle, you will come back to the game and reemerge as The Joker. Rylie, I used to like you, but honestly, if you wanted to remain here or fuck off, I couldn’t care less.
It would actually help if Kyle was single for our debut back into the world of organized crime.
I’ve yanked Decker’s father-in-law, Charles Shaw, into this.
He invested about half a million dollars into my little come back plan. He wants a cut.”
My dad’s nose flared in rage.
“Once everyone agrees, and I’m able to leave here safely with Presley, then I’ll have someone come in and untie you both and let you go,” Scotty explained, right as the gym door opened and Gio walked through.
He aimed his .45 caliber gun at Scotty’s head without hesitation. Reaper snapped up with a growl.
“Come join the party, Giovanni,” Scotty said happily while waving his gun at my parents and revealing his trigger switch.
If I could get it from him safely, then Gio could shoot him.
“Gio, he has a trigger switch. Wherever the guns are, they’re aimed at my parents,” I warned as his arm remained raised.
“Lower your gun first, Scotty,” Gio warned.
My uncle flicked his gaze quickly to the door where Gio had come through. He was wondering where Kingston was. I had no doubt he was about to order Reaper to attack Gio, so I quickly ordered him first.
“Sich hinlegen.” Stay.
“Since you’re standing here and not dead, I’m going to assume you killed Markos?”
“You assume wrong,” Gio said easily.
Scotty smirked while waving the trigger switch around. “Do you think you’re fast enough to save them, Gio?”
I tried to catch his gaze, but his eyes never left Scotty. “I might not be, but she is.”
He gestured toward me, but Scotty didn’t fall for it by looking over. “She doesn’t have a gun.”
Gio finally began lowering his weapon as if he were finally agreeing. “Fine, how about we both lower our guns then?”
Scotty watched him shrewdly, but I was still focused on how Gio said I was fast enough.
He was telling me something. I didn’t have a gun, so the only thing I could be quick enough for would be grabbing the trigger switch.
If I grabbed it before Scotty let go, then the automatic firing wouldn’t go off. Did that mean Gio planned to shoot him?
Gio was still lowering his weapon when Scotty had set his gun firmly down on the table, with a thud.
It was that moment that I caught the slightest movement above me, it was near the attic hatch of the gym.
I wanted to follow him with my eyes to see what he was doing, but I was too worried Scotty would see where I was looking.
“How about we toss them,” Scotty offered, gesturing toward the firearm.
Gio’s jaw clenched tightly, but he didn’t react.
Scotty continued, “We’re going to count to three.”
Kingston was on his belly up on the upper ledge of the ceiling, near the windows of the gym.
“One.”
Gio’s gaze never wavered as he watched Scotty’s movements.
“Two,” Scotty drawled, and my heart began to thrash in my chest.
Gio finally lowered his arm, as though he was about to toss his gun to the ground. When Scotty got to three, he tossed his gun off to the side, letting it drop to the mat.
Kingston roared from his position, “Shoot him, Gio! The trigger wire’s been severed.”
Reaper’s ears twitched right as Scotty yelled, “Toten.”
Gio still had a hold on his gun, but as he raised it, nothing happened. Meanwhile, Reaper whined while pushing his ears back. “Toten.” He ordered once more. Again, Reaper’s ears went flat, but he didn’t go after Gio. He laid down with another whine.
Scotty faltered. I swung over to figure out what was happening and why Gio wasn’t shooting.
“Gio?”
His arm shook, but his trigger finger wouldn’t budge. That’s when I saw the blood leaking down through his dark sleeve, coating his fingers. The gun slipped, and he stumbled back.
I knew Kingston would take the shot; he’d take Scotty out. Except there was suddenly a new fear cracking open my chest. Henry walked into the room from the side door, where the lockers were, and his gun was aimed directly at Kingston.
No.
“You didn’t realize Gio had been shot.” Scotty chided, like I had disappointed him, “You also didn’t catch on to Henry being one of Markos’ men.” My eyes grew as my heart tried to catch up with what that meant. I stood from the table, feeling like I was moving in slow motion.
“I’ve trained you not to miss little details like that. Look what it’s done now. Why did you think I was so willing to toss my gun away?”
Because he had Reaper, and I stupidly thought he would assume his dog would attack us. I thought we’d had him. I assumed for once we’d have the upper hand, and I was so tired of losing to him. He’d taken so much from me, and now…Gio. When was he shot? Why was Henry aiming his gun at Kingston?
My voice cracked as I called his name again, “Gio?”
I was numb as I dropped to the mats and began to crawl over to him.
My mom and dad were trying to talk around their gags, and I saw my dad’s wrist was bloodied.
The small blade in his palm, that had been cutting through the plastic, was nearly through.
Scotty must have forgotten he’d trained my dad first; he had to have known he had extra weapons on him.
My only focus was on the blue-eyed boy who had always been my sky and had brought me the stars. I placed his head in my lap as I stroked over his forehead. A tear slipped down my nose and landed on his face.
“Why didn’t you tell me you were hurt?”
He smiled up at me while reaching up to trace the tear. “I’m sorry I was mad. I know you don’t like it when I am.”
A sob caught in my throat as I held his cold palm to my cheek, but then reality hit me like a train, and I realized he’d been shot.
He was shot. He was dying in my arms while I was sitting there crying as he talked about meaningless things.
My hands began moving as a cry broke from my chest. I tugged at his vest first, ripping off the Velcro and trying to get it over his head. Right as it came free, I noticed another firearm tucked into the waistband of his jeans, along with a few throwing knives.
“Presley, we’re leaving. I’m giving you this one kindness before putting a bullet in his head,” Scotty yelled, but right as he did, I grabbed the gun from Gio’s belt and aimed for him.
My finger brushed the trigger when there was suddenly a shot ringing through the room.
It was so loud it felt like something burst inside my head.
There was so much pain, I dropped the gun and began screaming.
No, Scotty was screaming. He was angry with Henry, who was still aiming at me.
Had he shot me? Something wet trickled down my cheek as Scotty continued yelling, and then he aimed his own weapon at the man.
Gio held me to his chest protectively as I watched Henry get shot down.
Within a blink, Scotty appeared next to us.
“I’m sorry, Presley. Are you okay? Tell me you’re okay.” He gently touched my ear, and that’s when I realized something burned my cheek.
“Just grazed you.” He looked relieved, and I realized two things in that moment.
One: I could only hear out of one ear.
Two: Scotty was distracted.
I had begged my father to spare his life when he wanted to kill him last year. I always gave him the benefit of the doubt. Not this time.
This time, I slid the knife from Gio’s belt, and I lodged it into Scotty’s chest with all the force I could muster.
His face twisted in confusion first, and I hated how I focused on the green tint to his eyes. How they reminded me so much of my father. I hated how familiar they were.
“You just keep trying to break me, and I’m done,” I whispered while he gaped down at his chest.
His hand gripped the hilt, where he began to pull. The blade clattered to the ground in a bloody mess as Scotty struggled to his feet. Kingston had come down and had a gun trained on my uncle, but so did my father. He’d cut through his ties and found a gun.
Scotty’s eyes widened as he took the gun being aimed at him by my father. “You’ve taken too much this time, Uncle.”
I closed my eyes as the shots rang out, and when Reaper’s wet nose touched my hand, I sank my fingers into his fur. We’d both lost him. The version of who Scotty once was to us.
Now he was gone.