Chapter Forty-Six
Tierney
The following weekend, we were invited to dinner at the Ferrantes’.
The last thing I wanted was to see Vello again, but Tiernan and Lila pointed out that for my return to become official, it would be good to put everyone in the same room.
Send a message. Plus, I had a certain someone waiting for me in their basement I couldn’t wait to reunite with—my traitorous father.
I knew Achilles wanted him to marinate in his own misery longer, but knowing I was about to be on the same property as him and that he was suffering brightened my mood.
I sat in the back of Tiernan’s Mercedes while he drove to his in-laws’, staring out the window. Preppy Long Island mansions zipped past us, with their manicured lawns and German cars parked out front. I still couldn’t believe I was back on American soil and that Vello had permitted it.
“What made him change his mind about me?” I asked, eyeballs still stuck on the view. “I mean, other than beating him up.”
“Those weren’t beatings. We got…carried away.” Tiernan cleared his throat. “When Enzo and Luca finally tore us off him, they didn’t kill us. That was my cue that Vello’s power over his sons had dwindled.”
“So… Luca and Enzo chose Achilles over their father?”
“Apparently, Vello was almost as shit a parent as Tyrone. It’s common knowledge he’s hanging by a thread and about to kick the bucket.
That he hasn’t chosen a successor yet is pissing everyone off.
The Ferrante brothers decided to split the pie the way they see fit and appoint the don on their own terms.”
“And he’s agreed to that?”
I watched my brother through the rearview mirror. His mouth lifted at the corners derisively. “Let’s just say he didn’t have much choice.”
“Does he know Tyrone’s in his basement?”
“That would require him to use his functioning brain cells. And he currently doesn’t have any of those.”
“His condition has deteriorated?” My brows zipped together.
He just smiled serenely, the same smile he flashed his victims before decapitating them so he could have their skulls.
“Wait, but Achilles said he’s been demoted,” I said.
“He was,” Tiernan confirmed. “By Luca and Enzo. He’s ruffled far too many feathers, shitting all over Camorra operations twice in a row for you. The brothers have been calling the shots for the past ten weeks.”
“And no one’s asking questions?”
“They told the Camorra he’s abroad for an experimental treatment or some shit.”
This was a huge power shift that would change the fabric of the entire underground world. I couldn’t believe it had happened. Moreover, I couldn’t believe it had happened because of me.
I forced myself to relax for the rest of the ride there, knowing Vello was no longer a danger to me.
When we got to the Ferrante mansion, Enzo opened the door.
My heart sank, but I kept my smile casual.
I hadn’t seen Achilles the entire week. Not since he brought me wine.
I tried not reading too much into it. He had mentioned he’d give me time.
And I still needed it. But I also needed someone who wouldn’t treat me like I was a fragile little doll in need of saving.
“Tier-Tier, baby girl.” Enzo offered me a one-armed hug, his Adonis body nearly crushing me to smithereens. “You look fantastic for a girl who had her head blown the fuck up.”
I threw him a grin, strutting deeper into the lavish house. “And you smell amazing for someone who spews crap out of his mouth twenty-four-seven.”
Enzo linked his arm in mine, leaving my family behind. “I missed you.”
“Can’t blame you. I’d miss me, too. When’s dinner?”
“Soon, I hope. I’m starving. All I had today was twelve egg whites, chia matcha pudding, and some pussy.”
I gave him a horrified glare. “You gotta stop doing that to yourself, dude.”
“I know. But maybe one day I’ll like it. I mean, my friends love eating pussy. What am I missing?”
“I meant your diet. It’s unsustainable.”
“Of course it’s sustainable,” he thundered. “It’s how I sustain my six-pack.”
We sauntered to the dining room. Tiernan and Lila loitered behind, unpacking her breast pump.
As soon as we slipped into the corridor, Luca and Sofia came into view, huddling in what looked like a tense conversation. Sofia shook off Luca’s deadly gaze, flashing me a warm smile. She wrapped her arms around me in a quick hug. “Tierney, I’m so glad to see you up on your feet and well.”
“Thanks.”
Her swanlike features, her soft angles and elegant neck, and musical voice had a calming effect on me.
I didn’t know Sofia well, but she was very close to Lila.
The latter had good judgment when it came to people, so I decided not to hold Sofia’s marriage to her husband against her. It wasn’t like she had a choice.
“Did you get the pies I sent you?” Sofia’s lashes fluttered nervously. “Lila said you didn’t want visitors. I didn’t want to impose.”
“I got them.” My smile broadened. “They were great. Really made me push myself to the limit during all my PT sessions to burn those extra calories.”
Sofia giggled.
“Tierney.” Luca’s voice dripped with disdain.
His face was marred with faded purples and blues, and I had no doubt it was thanks to my revelation that he’d threatened to kill me.
“The only reason your brain is not smeared all over this Italian marble floor is because of Achilles and Tiernan. And because that floor costs more than your life’s worth. I hope you know that.”
“Oh, I know.” I smirked, sad I didn’t have hair to flip to annoy him further. “And rest assured, Mr. Cold Fish, I don’t care.”
Enzo snorted, and we rounded the hallway into the dining room. Chiara, the matriarch, stood at the doorway, greeting her guests in her prim dress and coiffed updo. She, too, curled her nose in disgust at the sight of me.
“If it isn’t the woman who handed my entire family to the feds.”
“Are the feds in the room with us?” I squinted, glancing around the room. “I don’t think so. I spared your family because of Lila and Achilles. Jury’s still out if I’ll extend the same favor to you, though.”
No part of me wanted to win her approval. She’d been a horrible mother, to both Achilles and Lila.
I let my shoulder brush against hers, proud of myself for standing up to the she-devil, when I saw something that stopped me in my tracks.
Achilles.
His shoulder was casually leaning against the wall, and he was holding a glass of whiskey, conversing with a woman I knew was Katya Rasputin without ever seeing her face before.
She had the Rasputins’ cobalt eyes, and the same composure of a cold-blooded serpent looking to sink its venomous fangs into an innocent.
A surge of dizzying wariness ran through me.
Tiernan lied. She wasn’t average-looking. She had that Slavic-model look—with a svelte figure and a face where everything was small and neat and pretty.
She looked just like any college girl. Pretty and youthful, in a black velvet minidress and kitten heels.
They weren’t standing very close, and the conversation seemed casual enough, but when he said something, staring at the bottom of his whiskey, and she giggled, demurely covering her mouth with her hand, an explosion of heat and anger detonated in my stomach.
Just having her in the same room with him made me want to shatter everything in my vicinity into dust.
Why was she here? Did he change his mind about marrying her? Did he have second thoughts after the dust had settled, and he realized he did want a little Mary Sue to pop out children for him?
I bled jealousy over the expensive floor, torn into a million pieces at the flirty gazes Katya threw Achilles from under her lashes.
She wanted him. And I wanted to kill her for it. If she didn’t keep her hands to herself, one of us was going to get what they wanted. And it sure as hell wasn’t going to be her.
I was so sick with rage that bile tickled the back of my throat. Not wanting to add vomiting on the dining table to my list of sins against the Ferrantes, I turned around with the intention of exiting the room, only for my sight to crash on Don Vello himself.
Or…what was left of him, anyway.
He was slumped in a wheelchair, a thin trail of saliva traveling from the corner of his mouth and down his chin. His pupils were blown, his expression blank. It was obvious he was out of it and couldn’t register me, or anyone else, in the room.
“You’re in my way,” Chiara seethed from behind him, which was when I realized she was pushing his wheelchair.
I stepped aside, my eyes following her as she positioned him at the head of the table.
It was impolite to stare, but manners mattered little to me where he was concerned.
Seeing the great Don Vello, who had ruled New York with an iron fist for as long as I could remember, looking like a pale, ghostly shell of himself, sent a thrill down my spine.
My gaze trekked down to his armrests, landing on his pinky-less hand immediately.
I did that.
Satisfaction prickled my chest, spreading warmth across it.
“é pronto, venite tutti a tavola!” Chiara waved a frantic hand, securing the brakes on the wheelchair with her foot. “We have a big announcement to make tonight, and it cannot wait. Sit down and eat.”
A big announcement?
I fell to the seat nearest to me, determined to pretend I wasn’t in full-blown panic mode. Humiliation seared my skin. Why was I forced to sit here and watch Achilles flirt with his future wife? And why hadn’t Tiernan and Lila warned me?
And here I thought getting shot in the head was the worst part of my summer.
Enzo plopped into the seat next to mine, patting my knee. “Will you let me sniff your lasagna?”
“Sure.” I snapped my napkin and rested it in my lap. “If you’ll give me a joint afterward. Tiernan and Lila are hiding all the tobacco, alcohol, and fun stuff from me.”
“You need to get out of that house. My sister treats everyone like they’re fresh outta diapers.”
“I don’t know how my brother lives like that.” I shook my head.