Chapter 50
Chapter fifty
Four bullets rest in the palm of my hand.
Tiny, lead missiles Dr. Reggiano and his team had dug out of my cousin’s body.
Four shots.
Hours of surgery.
And by the grace of god, he lived.
Slow, steady beeping of the heart monitor is the only thing that anchors me to the present. I sit in a chair pulled close to Matteo’s bed. My eyes are glued to the IV needle stuck in the top of his hand. Tubes are in his nose and machines are all around him.
“You just had to go outside,” I whisper, brushing a strand of hair from his forehead.
My mind recites every prayer I know as I wish for him to pull through.
Lucia’s screams echo through my thoughts and panic fills me as I wonder if my best friend is alive or dead.
My team along with Dominic’s people are currently trying to gain access to the footage at the pharmacy and nearby traffic cams to figure out where the kidnappers went.
The recent events are a blur in my memory.
While Matteo was being loaded onto the ambulance, bystanders told us that a gray sedan raced into the parking lot as Lucia and Matteo were leaving the store.
Masked men had fired a dozen rounds out of the window at them.
Matteo pushed Lucia behind their car, but had caught the brunt of the rounds.
While good Samaritans were giving Matteo CPR, Lucia had gone about ten feet away to call me.
A van came barreling into the lot and stopped near her.
Two masked men jumped out and grabbed her.
A struggle ensued and Lucia dropped her phone.
The men overpowered her and threw her into the back of the van, then drove away.
Tears fill my eyes.
A hand pats my shoulder.
Turning, I see Bruno sitting beside me. He insisted on coming to the hospital even though I had told everyone not to come.
The rest of my family is back being held captive at my house with a ton of guards posted everywhere.
I think about the text once again demanding that I dismantle my empire or there would be more bloodshed.
I can’t let everything my family has worked so hard for disappear but I also can’t lose anymore family members.
The Capuano Family has always been strong.
How is it possible that we are this vulnerable?
I try to swallow the lump that’s growing in my throat. I look over at Bruno who is sitting in silence. He stares at Matteo.
“Bruno, I can’t do this any more. Maybe I’m not the right person for the job.” I clasp my hands.
He sits up straight in his chair, surprise crossing his face. “What?”
“I’m the worst capo ever. A queen is supposed to protect her empire,” I whisper. “Instead I’ve allowed everyone I care about to get shot at, poisoned, or almost die.”
Bruno looks like he can’t even believe the words coming out of my mouth but he doesn’t reply.
“I told them not to leave,” I babble. “Now Matteo is full of bullet holes and Lucia might be…” I can’t even say the word.
“Don’t talk like that.” Bruno interrupts me.
“I let my father down. I’m supposed to be the fucking Queen, yet all my pieces are falling one by one.”
Bruno grabs my arm. “Cipriani Capuano, you’ve been doing this job for almost fifteen years and now you want to doubt yourself? All these years you’ve been victorious against external warfare but when it becomes internal you want to give up?”
Tears blur my vision. “I’m not good enough.
Every time I close my eyes, I see Gigi on the floor of that train car, Nonna laying with half a muffin in her hand, and Matteo shot.
Lucia is a prisoner somewhere with the people who want me dead.
All this happened to them because of me.
They were targeted because of me. And if I don’t dismantle the empire they won’t stop until everyone I love is dead.
If they die, a part of me will go with them.
I’m ruthless when it comes to my enemies, but when the people I love are being attacked, I can’t handle it.
” My throat burns and the tears spill over.
“Cipriani Capuano,” Bruno scolds me. “If you don’t stop talking crazy, don’t make me knock some sense into you.” He pulls me into a hug, his arms holding me steady as I crumble. “Don’t you see? That’s what these people want you to do. They are playing on your values of loyalty and love for family.”
I rest my forehead against his chest. “It’s too much, Bruno,” I whisper. “It’s too much. If Dad was here, he would know what to do.”
Bruno pats my back. “Not necessarily. Your father was a decent capo, but he allowed his emotions to start wars. You, Cipriani Capuano, are the best capo I have ever served under. You’re level-headed and calculated.
You always have a plan A through Z before you do anything.
No matter what happened all these years you never gave up.
Quitting is not in you. You wouldn’t still be here if it was.
” He pulls back and stares at my face. “I think you’re hesitant because you know this is an inside job.
Only someone who’s close to you would be able to attack the people you care most about undetected.
I think a part of you is scared of who it is because you know you’re incapable of harming someone who you consider your family. ”
I don’t respond and look at the ground.
“Farfalla, listen to me.” Bruno commands. “When you find out who the real person is behind all of this, no matter who it is, no matter what they meant to you, I need you to promise me one thing… Look at me.”
I meet his gaze.
“Promise me you’ll destroy him, even if it breaks your heart.
Do it for your father, for Gigi, for Nonna, for Matteo, for Lucia, and for me.
For all of us who are still standing even when we were supposed to be six feet under.
Destroy him even if it guts you. That’s the hardest decision a capo has to make when the family is involved: kill or be killed. ”
I wipe my face. “Madeline is the one who’s behind this. I’m sure of it. She used to work for the Marconi’s. She’s involved in a lot of shady dealings where she can get others to do jobs for her. She probably wants to take over our territory and form her own empire.”
“Madeline isn’t acting alone, I can guarantee you that. Sometimes the biggest suspect is merely a puppet with a puppeteer no one ever saw coming.”
Before I can reply, my phone vibrates on the windowsill.
I reach forward and unlock it with shaking fingers.
It’s a voicemail from Dominic.
“Cipi, come to the Winchester offices now, you’re never going to believe this.”