CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Achilles
“Damn, that was one hell of a bite.” Enzo took a swig of his protein shake. “I’m surprised you let that mouth anywhere near your dick, bro.”
“Luckily I’m up-to-date on my tetanus shot,” I muttered, pacing my parents’ living room, waiting for my father to reemerge after getting stitched up by the family doctor.
“Yeah, some luck you’ve got there.” Enzo let loose a rancid burp.
“Bro, those protein burps are lethal. Stop drinking these shakes around us,” Luca grumbled.
“I can’t help it, okay? I have to hit my protein goal and that means a shake every three hours. This physique doesn’t just happen.” Enzo gestured to his admittedly sick form. “You are what you eat.”
“If that were true, you’d be a bag of dicks,” Jeremie said, eyes hard on his phone as his thumbs flew over the screen, per usual.
“Jeremie,” Luca barked. “Get the fuck out of this room, and never speak to a Ferrante like that again.”
Jeremie complied without even looking at any of us, shrugging off Luca’s shit-ass attitude. Enzo quirked an eyebrow at Luca. “Someone’s in a sour mood.”
“You shouldn’t let him speak to you like that,” Luca said, just as my father entered the living room.
His left hand was bandaged into a tight fist. His pinky was gone.
The doctor had to remove it. In the end, he’d learned the lesson Tierney had taught me years ago—that she was an untamable force, born to defy whoever tried to clip her wings.
I had nothing but respect for her. She had more courage and fire than all the mobsters I knew combined.
The room fell quiet as Dad assumed a seat on a plush recliner. Enzo stood and lit a cigarette for my father and handed it to him.
He took a long drag, closing his eyes. “I’m sending an assassin to deal with her.”
“A paid wet worker?” Enzo flipped his pocketknife in the air. “Rude. Why not one of us?”
“You’re needed in New York, Luca needs to go clean up the Sangue Blu mess your brother has created, and Achilles made it clear he would follow this woman to hell.” My father rolled his cigarette between his thumb and index, staring into space.
“All Achilles needs is to escort her there,” Luca drawled. “But he needs to be the one who kills her because he’s the one who screwed all this shit up.”
“It’s not as simple as all that. She’s family,” I contributed to the conversation.
“A family member who handed your neck to the feds before your cum dried inside her,” Vello clapped back.
“Lila won’t be happy. And Tiernan will likely start a war bigger than the one waiting for us in Naples,” I countered calmly. Things were complicated as it was without throwing a murdered socialite who was in bed with the feds into the mix.
“Every war has its casualties,” Luca said tonelessly. “Tiernan knows that.”
“Would you have let him kill Lila if she went to the feds?”
Enzo visibly shuddered. “I’d kill anyone who comes near her.”
“Tierney’s not Lila. Our sister minds her own business,” Luca parried. “And if Tiernan has an issue, he can take it up with me.”
I stroked my chin, working this in my head from all angles.
I usually enjoyed wet work. Killing quieted the noise inside my head.
Tierney, however, was a different matter altogether.
But that’s precisely why I had to take this job.
I needed to kill the one thing more powerful than my lust for the crown—to eliminate the only person who could be an obstacle on my way to world domination.
She was my Achilles’ heel.
But I wouldn’t let her bring me to my knees. Not again.
“How do we know we won’t raise FBI suspicions by offing her?” I asked. “Killing her would cut through all of the preliminary red tape that’s stopping Rothwell right now. He’d get access to our computers, phones, documents. Search warrants would be issued. Maybe even a few arrests.”
“We’re going to get rid of her offshore,” Dad said decisively. “No body, no crime.”
“I still think it’s less of a headache to incarcerate her somewhere far away,” I argued.
“If you don’t want to take her out, I’ll do it.” Luca unbuttoned his cuff links, rolling up his sleeves. “Naples can wait a few days. It’s not like Coppola’s going anywhere.”
“Why would I not want to take her out?” I huffed.
“Oh, I think we all know the answer to that question.” Enzo rolled his tongue to the side of his cheek and curled his fist, mimicking a blow job.
“Either you put her down humanely, or I’m sending Tristan Hale to do it.” My father turned to me. “He’ll make a show of it. You know his style.”
Hale was an assassin for hire. A private contractor. And a very twisted son of a bitch. No, thank you.
“I’ll do it,” I said flatly. Fuck it. I’d done worse and for much less.
Tierney Callaghan wanted me dead.
I wanted her, period.
Seemed like neither of us were going to get what we wanted.
“Don’t let me down again,” my father warned. “You hear me?”
“Loud and clear.”
“This is your last chance, Achilles. If you don’t kill her this time…” My sire leveled an emotionless look at me. “I’ll kill you both myself.”
I believed him. If I couldn’t do it this time, I’d be a liability the Camorra couldn’t afford.
On my way out of my parents’ house, I pulled out my phone and unblocked her number. The last message she’d sent me, from eleven years ago, popped up immediately.
Tierney: Please, would you just let me explain myself? I’m begging you.
I knew she was going to get rid of her smartphone before boarding a plane, just as well as I knew she was downloading all her data right about now, just in case. Tierney was a smart, seasoned Mafia princess. I had no doubt I’d catch her—just as I knew she’d make it challenging.
Achilles: I’m giving you a 24 hour head start, then I’m coming for your throat.
Two blue lines decorated the screen.
My heart nearly beat out of my chest.
Tierney: Why’d you let me go in the first place?
Achilles: No one deserves to kill you more than I do. I wasn’t leaving it to chance.
The truth was, I thought Vello might give her another chance. He didn’t. Now I had to eliminate her from our cat-and-mouse game. No matter. It was all becoming way too messy anyway.
Tierney: So you’re assigned to deal with me.
Achilles: Yes.
Achilles: It will be relatively painless.
Tierney: He was going to send Tristan Hale after me, wasn’t he?
Achilles: Yes.
She was typing for a while, but nothing came through. The screen darkened before my phone flashed again.
Tierney: Thank you. And if I manage to catch you before you do me, I promise to make it painless, too.
I watched her last message, my throat catching. So it had come to that. One of us was finally going to kill the other.
Achilles: May the best person win.