Chapter 35 Alessio
Alessio
My father arrived only a few minutes before me, waiting for Enzo to join him. If I'd been any later… I don’t even want to contemplate what might’ve happened.
“What are you doing here?” he asks when I walk in the front door. “I told you not to return without your sister.”
“The trail went cold, but I left good hunters in Switzerland to find Sofia. I hear my wife has misbehaved. You don’t really expect me to miss out, do you?”
“My son is dead, Alessio,” Enzo says. “Blood cries out for blood.”
Giving my uncle my creepiest grin, I promise, “I want blood as much as you do.” I touch the tattoo on my throat to seal my oath. It’s not a lie. I just didn’t clarify whose blood I want.
I see the suspicion in my father’s eyes, but I know how much he enjoys believing I’m just like him.
“I admit I’ve enjoyed her body, but I was starting to get bored,” I lie, grateful I’m not having to say these things in front of my wife.
“It’s time for Sil, Jr. to be avenged at last…
and Rocco. Two De Lucas killed. We should wipe out all the Morellis, including Nico’s little brats, shouldn’t we? ”
My father’s proud look in response to my words would make one think I made the dean’s list at school or some shit like that rather than suggesting we murder babies.
Accepting my presence, he tells the others what he has in mind.
If I were a normal man, I might vomit. But experience leaves me unsurprised and I’m more than capable of playing along, charging up the perverts of my father’s trusted circle and making them believe I’d really allow any of them to touch a single strand of hair on my wife’s precious head.
The only people getting fucked over today will be any man who stands against me.
Valdo hovers at the fringe of the excited men, his eyes wide with worry. I shoot him a look, silently ordering him to go. He doesn’t need to watch a parent die at nine like I did… even a monstrous one. Thankfully, he obeys me, slipping away before our father notices.
Armando is nowhere in sight. My best friend, my closest ally is probably dead, but nothing can compare to my all-consuming concern for Caterina. I must push away the intense feelings she invokes. They won’t serve me now.
My father pulls out the key to my mother’s old bedroom.
I’m glad I have no memories of her here because these quarters will soon resemble a blood bath.
I storm inside like a man hellbent on vengeance, my eyes sweeping over Caterina as she rises to her feet.
Briefly our eyes meet and I have to keep my love locked away before it’s my undoing.
I glance at Frankie instead, but my blood still boils seeing these two unarmed girls, wearing nothing but swimsuits and clinging to each other while facing ten seasoned killers.
My father opens his mouth to pass judgment, Enzo nodding in approval. They are the only two men not currently armed so I won’t start with them. Most of these guards are my father’s favorites. Older men. Men who’ve grown fat and lazy. Speed will be the key.
“For these betrayals,” my father intones, pompously, “...it’s your Capo’s order that-”
“Down!” I shout at Caterina as I kneel to grab my second gun and pull my primary.
She doesn’t hesitate to comply. With both hands occupied, I open fire, killing the two men closest to me.
They fall as Caterina and Frankie are diving behind a large armchair.
Smart girls. Two more shots, two more dead men.
The next man fires, grazing my shoulder.
I hear Caterina scream, but I don’t even flinch.
Disgusted by his horrible aim, I kill him, too.
“You worthless piece of shit,” I mutter, sparing my wound one quick glance.
Another guard raises his gun to fire, and I’m not sure I’ll be fast enough. But Caterina is. Like a wild cat, she leaps from the floor and sinks her little knife into his shoulder, making him jerk his gun up as he fires. My job is simple after that.
“Where the fuck were you hiding the knife?” I ask her, more amused than I should be. She flushes, her eyes dipping down to her bikini bottoms. If things weren’t still so dire…
Enzo falls to his knees, his hands raised. “Don’t shoot me, Alessio! We can work this out!” I always knew my uncle was a fucking coward at heart. Just like Rocco.
The two guards remaining haven’t drawn their weapons.
They’re younger than the others and they’re confused, their eyes pinging between my father and me.
I know them well and have spent more hours working with them than my father ever has.
They went on the Bratva raid with me. It doesn’t change the fact he’s their Capo, the man they swore themselves to, but perhaps they’re trying to decide where their true loyalty lies.
The risk is too great for me to wait long for a decision.
“Choose now. Hesitancy won’t save you,” I warn them, aiming their way.
“Alessio!” my father roars. While I was preoccupied with these two, my father took his opportunity to grab Caterina.
His beefy hand is wrapped around her slender throat.
Her little knife lies on the floor at her feet.
One powerful squeeze could do a lot of damage and the thought of her suffering even a moment’s pain is unbearable.
“You traitorous, ungrateful rat-fuck piece of shit! Led around by pussy, betraying your own blood! I should’ve fucking drowned you as a child and strangled your mother after! ”
“But you didn’t,” I say, a twisted smile on my face.
“It’s a good thing Nico didn’t kill you in New York for the message I sent him. Gives me the satisfaction of crushing this bitch’s throat in front of you. I’ll do it if you don’t drop your gun.”
“Don’t do it, Alessio,” Caterina cries, still full of that spark I adore. “Shoot him before he can kill you.”
With a snarl, my father’s hand tightens around her throat, and her eyes bulge frighteningly. “Drop your guns.”
“Did you really think I’d go along with what you had planned?
” I ask, hoping to distract him while gauging the situation.
As long as I hold these guns, I have the advantage.
Oh, I’d throw down my weapons and surrender this instant if I could guarantee Caterina’s safety, but I know that’s a fucking joke. As soon as I’m unarmed, we’ll both die.
“I’ll break her fucking neck.”
He's strong enough to do so, just not as fast as he was. "Let her go, old man, and I'll drop my guns. Hurt her, and I'll skin you, nice and slow.”
The taunt fuels his rage, clashing with the mad delight dancing in his eyes, the same look he has when he tortures, the same one I saw many times as a boy, including the day when he reintroduced me to my mother.
His mouth has started to form another curse when I fire, catching him right between the eyes.
Dead. I don’t even feel a flicker of remorse.
His body has barely hit the floor when I rush to Caterina’s side, pulling her to me to check her neck and kissing her sweet brow.
“You killed the Capo,” one of the undecided guards whispers, plainly shocked.
I turn my guns on him and the other. “I killed who?” I ask them with the cold smile of the Reaper.
“Our Capo killed a dead man. It was none of our business,” the wiser of the pair answers at once. “We are your men, Alessio. Now and always.”
“Swear it.”
They do, touching the tattoos at their throats and bowing their heads.
Enzo hasn’t said a word since he knelt. I hate him, and I know he will cause me trouble in the coming days, but my uncle has been around for many years. He has allies. He’s spent more time golfing and whoring with the politicians and officials we bribe than I’ve ever even thought about, too.
“Your father’s actions forced your hand, but it will look more like ambition than protecting your wife if you kill your uncle now,” Caterina whispers in my ear. I shouldn’t take such pride in her cleverness when that’s all hers, but I do.
“I’ll be the youngest Capo the Trio has ever known. They’ll test me at every turn.”
“They will, but you’ll be the best Capo Vegas has ever seen. You’ll need allies though for a peaceful transition of power.”
She’s right, of course. I’ve already killed my Capo, an unforgivable sin in the Trio. I must play a longer game with Enzo if I’m to have a solid grasp on the reins of Las Vegas in the end. “You are quiet, Uncle. Is Rocco’s death so unforgivable that you wish to join him now?”
He slowly shakes his head. “He was my only son, but we all knew he was weak and stupid. I can still have another son.”
“Did my father think the same when he told you to kill me in New York?”
“No, that was Rocco’s idea. His pride was wounded by the beating you gave him. He was older than you. He was Sil’s friend and couldn’t understand why you weren’t hurting her. I swear, I wasn’t going to let him go through with his plans in New York.”
“Forgive me if I don’t believe you, and you were more than ready to take revenge on my wife. I’ve tortured and killed for far less, especially when it comes to her.”
Caterina stiffens by my side, soaking in that news while Enzo takes a shaky breath, ready to accept his fate. I would oblige but, while I hate him, he could be useful.
“For now, I believe you need some time to grieve and reflect before you decide if you’re going to be smart about things or not.
Take him somewhere safe until Don Vicini gives his ruling,” I tell the two guards.
“Oh yes, Uncle," I assure him when he raises his bushy eyebrows in surprise.
“I will face the Tribunal for my sins. If at all possible, I wish to maintain the peace my marriage bought.”
Granted, it could mean my death but at least I trust that no Morelli will allow Caterina to be harmed.
“Your shoulder,” my sweet wife whimpers once the men have left with Enzo. Those mesmerizing brown eyes of hers fill with tears and, distantly, I hear Frankie saying she’ll go get more help.
I glance at the wound, unperturbed. “I’ve suffered worse. You are safe, and that’s all that matters to me,” I murmur, holding her tighter.
The tears glittering in her eyes spill down her cheeks. “Alessio, you killed your father… for me. Why?”
I tilt her chin up with my index finger, gazing down at her beautiful face. Like a faulty dam surrendering to the force of a spring flood, my feelings for her won’t be contained any longer.
“Because he was going to hurt you, and I couldn’t let that happen.
The world needs more people like you in it and less like my father.
That psychotic murdering sadist was never going to get what he wanted out of our marriage, not from the moment I laid eyes on you.
” She melts against me, and there’s so much more I want to say, but the dead men surrounding us have witnessed enough. “Let’s get out of here.”
Holding her close, we walk down the hallway.
Frankie rushes toward us with Valdo. A fresh wave of relief greets me when they report that Armando is alive though wounded.
“Get the doc for him. I’ll be by his side shortly.
” I’ll need Armando more than ever, and I’ll need other men I can trust. I have calls to make, favors to call in and warnings to send.
“You have much to do,” Caterina says, recognizing the weight that rests on my shoulders.
She was born a Capo’s daughter. Now, she’s one’s wife.
She is even younger than I am, but I know she’ll be my rock for years to come, the one that no man in our world will realize I’m leaning against but the person who will mean the most to me for all my days.
“Yes, I do,” I sigh, resting my forehead against hers. “I wish for-”
“Time alone and for quiet. I do, too. Alessio, facing the Tribunal is no trivial matter.” She starts chewing on her bottom lip with worry, worry because she loves me. “If they don’t side with you-”
“It’s a risk I must take to ensure you are protected, Caterina,” I assure her, keeping my voice calm.
“Without the support of New York and Chicago, I’ll fail, and Las Vegas will tear itself apart trying to usurp my family.
I’ll face the Tribunal a million times to avoid that and to protect you…
because I love you.” Her teary eyes search mine as if she can’t believe her ears.
I regret that even if I can’t blame her.
“I do, my darling wife. I love you. I didn’t mean what I said in New York.
You may be trapped in this life with me, but that doesn’t mean I won’t try every day to give you your fairytales. ”
“The good ones, right?” she whispers, standing on her tiptoes to nuzzle my cheek. “Not the dark ones.”
“Only the good ones, my love,” I vow before lowering my lips to hers.