26. Salvatore #3
I climb over David, slipping my knife from my belt.
“Boys!” he shouts, forcing them into position.
My stomach drops as I see a third pair of Crows approach Ophelia, and now I’m totally fucked.
Someone will die tonight. I either kill the Crows and save Ophelia, or I fail these boys.
Boots scrape against the ground. I look up, seeing two boys standing over me, both holding a knife at my face.
If I kill David, these boys kill me, and then how do I protect Ophelia?
If I set my men on the rest of these boys, I become an even darker, more unforgivable version of myself.
There is no resolution…
And David knows this too as he flashes me a smirk from the ground, feeding off my struggle.
“Perhaps you’re having second thoughts about the contract.”
I grind my jaw, glancing briefly at Robert and the assassins who are all silently telling me no.
“If I sign this contract and hand the empire over to you, what happens?”
“My Crows will fly. And with your empire, I will become the most powerful man in the city’s underground. Renato failed, but I’m rebranding his vision and turning it into my own. With the help of your men and your riches, I will solidify the Crows, making even the police force work in my favor.”
“Like a real-life Gotham…” mutters Ophelia, staring vacantly into space.
My heart breaks right down the middle. I become just another person who lets her down if I refuse to sign this contract.
And if I kill these boys, I never have a chance to save them.
I think back to the attack, to the memorial I arranged for Wilson. I’m no better than the man in front of me. I murdered a man to silence him. I organized an event to cover up the truth.
A boy shot himself in the head that night, the others sentenced to a lifetime behind bars.
Ophelia is right. Innocent people died. And they died on my watch.
“What if I let you kill me?” I say, watching David.
“Salvatore!” sobs Ophelia from the chair, tears rolling down my sunshine’s face. “Please—”
The boys shove the guns harder into her temple, silencing her.
“Heroic,” chirps David, peeling himself off the ground.
“You can have the empire, the mafia, the business, fucking everything, including my life, if you leave these boys alone and never hurt Ophelia again.”
“And who will hold me accountable?”
“Karma will figure out the rest. Somebody will find a way to knock the ladder and make you fall.” I flash Robert a quick glare as we reach a silent agreement.
You can buy assets, all the riches in the world, but you cannot buy people and loyalty.
And I trust my men to fight until the very end, protecting Ophelia as a way to honor my death.
“Salvatore,” chokes Phee. “Please.”
“Another word from the girl and my Crows shoot.”
“And what happens when their leader is choking on his own blood, unable to give the order?” shouts a strange voice, the front door flying open.
The figure rushes over to Ophelia, punching the boys straight in the face, knocking both down.
I have plenty of time to ask questions later. Right now, David needs taking down, and I must strike while the iron is hot.
The sudden disturbance seems to have thrown the Crows off. They charge over to the man, shooting, but he rolls to the ground, missing every bullet, army-crawling his way over to David.
“Grab Ophelia,” he instructs as he approaches David.
I look up, and time stands still as I stare into a pair of freakishly familiar eyes.
The rebel.
The one and only—
“Ben,” I murmur under my breath.
“Go to Ophelia.”
I race to the other side of the room, slipping my knife, attacking the zip ties.
I glance over my shoulder, seeing Ben tease his knife over David’s chest.
“Look what the cat dragged in,” cackles David. “I’m surprised you made it this far after your sister-in-law sold you out.”
“Surviving is easy when you know how to do it right.”
“Hiding is barely surviving,” quips David. “You were always going to be found, and I’ll never forget that look on your face when you returned from your little hiatus, looking like someone had died.”
“People were always dying.”
“Yes,” says David. “And you thought you could save them. Just a hopeless little boy with wasted dreams.”
“That hopeless little boy ended the Crows. And he’s back to do it again.”
I stop cutting the zip ties, slowly turning around. “Humor me some more, why don’t you?”
Ben laughs, squatting over David. “I murdered him in his sleep, cut open his throat and watched him choke on his own blood.”
“You wouldn’t hurt a fly.”
“No, but I wanted to hurt him. Renato was old. He had the brains, but his body was wasting away. Killing him was easy. Everyone has to sleep and drop their guard for a while. Renato tried his best, barricading himself in his room just in case one of his boys turned on him while he was sleeping, but none of you did,” says Ben.
“Remember the breaking and entering workshop? He taught us how to break in without being caught, and then he proceeded to lock himself away in his room at night. I played my cards right, regained his trust and went in for the kill.”