Chapter 56 Serafina
SERAFINA
As I take a parting look at Lev and the rest of my family, weight settles in the base of my stomach.
Anxiety.
Reality.
I’m dragged away from everyone. From Zeno, Nero, Vanessa, and Anastasia—all people much better trained in what I’m about to do.
If I fail, who knows how Alessio will react?
The psycho might laugh it off, say something about me fighting until the bitter end.
Or, he’ll react how others might expect him to—and this will be it for my life.
He yanks me through the double doors of the hotel ballroom and down the hallway, passing the lobby, uncaring about the hotel guests who glance up at the bride with the huge dress consuming so many of the gleaming tiles as her groom scrapes her across the floor.
And away from the elevator that’s supposed to take us to the honeymoon suite.
No. No, no, no, no. This can’t be happening.
“Wh-where are we going?”
I never would have thought I’d be begging Alessio to take me to a hotel room, but if he doesn’t turn around, that’s precisely what’s happening. Of the numerous courses of action Lev and Anastasia invented, no one planned for Alessio to be taking me away.
He’s supposed to go to the hotel room, then pour himself a drink I can spike. Not this.
He doesn’t answer until we reach a black town car parked by the curb, made darker by the fact it’s night out and the moon is concealed behind clouds.
He heaves opens the passenger door, all but tossing me inside, very nearly slamming the door shut on my dress—not that I care.
It’s a monstrosity, taking up so much of my immediate view, and I shove the material to flatten it into something semi-comfortable.
He slides into the driver’s seat and flicks all the locks shut before starting the car.
“You really think I’d fuck you here when your lover, brother, sister, and all the people who care about you are a few floors down?
” He chuckles darkly, the interior dash’s lights not enough to erase the shadows surrounding him.
“No, no, my sposa.” Bride. “We’re going home to your new life. ”
No. His house is far away, and crawling with his own staff, soldiers, and people who’ll be on his side. I can’t murder him on his own property; it’d be a suicide mission. I can’t drug him while we drive either, not without a drink. It leaves the knives strapped to my thighs, which he’ll see coming.
With each turn of the wheels, more and more of my self-preservation remains behind. This is why it was a stupid plan. This was exactly what Lev was worried about: all the unknown possibilities, how Alessio’s actions could alter what we presume would happen.
“I really wanted to get started on our life,” I try weakly, hoping he plays into the lie. Though, who am I kidding? Even I can hear my own pretence.
“Don’t play me for the fool.”
“Why do you want this?”
His jaw tightens ever so slightly. “I’m righting a wrong. You were always supposed to be mine, by contractual right.”
“No, that’s not enough. You’ll limit yourself to a life of unhappiness for a piece of paper?
Alessio”—I twist slightly, facing him head-on—“your father is gone.” Because of you.
“Mine is too. No one here cares if we uphold it or not. Can we acknowledge it was a deal made back when Ursin needed your father’s help and move on?
You and I don’t have to live with the decisions they made. ”
“The thing is, Serafina, we do. That’s what upholding a legacy means.”
“At the price of your own happiness?”
He scoffs, glancing at me before giving the road his attention as he gets on the autostrada leading out of the city. Every spin of the wheels is another round of losing this game I’m attempting to win but already lost because I was playing on an entirely different board.
“I’m a Capo. Happiness isn’t in my future. Never was, never will be.”
“It can be.” My hand rests on his sleeve, empathy for him poisoning my throat. At this point, talking is all that’s left. “It’s not too late, Alessio. Deep down, you’re a good man. You were kind during our relationship.”
You weren’t. You were a stronzo, but if this is what you need to believe, so be it.
“That entire relationship was a lie.”
“It doesn’t have to be. Drop me off right here.
” I gesture to the side of the road, uncaring that it’s a field and, without a phone, I’ll be relying on another vehicle driving by to pity the bride hanging out in the countryside at nighttime.
“We’ll annul this, and no one has to know why.
It’ll be our business. You continue being Capo and find yourself a woman who’ll be content by your side. ”
He’s silent for a minute, fingers drumming along the steering wheel. His eyes pinch in the corners, and maybe, just maybe, I’ve convinced him. This might work… He’ll release me without violence.
But then, he laughs. And laughs. And fucking laughs. It’s chilling to the core, and my hand inches towards my hip, wondering how the hell I’m supposed to lift the massive skirt and retrieve a weapon without him noticing.
“Your attempts are cute, I’ll admit. Futile, but charming.” His eyes slide to my lap. “You want to know why we’re skipping the hotel and going home? Because I’m not as fucking stupid as you all think I am. You think I don’t know you’re strapped?”
Well, shit. That decides it.
“Killing me is how you hope to get out of this marriage, except nothing will free you, not even my death. By all rights, you’re a Vitale and will be treated as such.
Even without me around, war will rain down upon your brother and the Bratva scum you love so much.
Your half-sister and your lover. You really want that? ”
Since he knows about them anyway, I lift my skirt and manage to undo one of the knives, not entirely sure what to do with it yet.
The city falls away into countryside, rolling green hills on either side of us that appear as black, menacing lumps.
A few cars are driving the same road, and a transport truck some ways back, their headlights harshly bright.
“Alessio, this marriage isn’t lasting longer than this car ride.”
He smirks as I bring the knife between us. “You don’t even know how to use that.”
“Is that a dare?”
“I’m driving,” he states in a bland voice, gesturing to the road ahead.
“Hurt me, and the vehicle loses control.” His foot presses heavier on the gas, throwing me back into the seat.
The countryside speeds past us in a blur of green and blue as we zip by various cars, Alessio’s maniacal laugh growing with each one.
“Give up, Serafina. Once we’re home, we’ll seal the marriage, and the games end.
I’ll chain you in your room if I must. Put the knife down before you hurt yourself. ”
I stare at the weapon in my hand. Lev never covered being trapped in a car with the maniac, which means coming up with a new plan. Something he won’t see coming. A brief idea that slips between my increasing panic.
I twist it around to my own neck, blade lightly pressing into my throat. The car’s speed slows back to normal—even slower as Alessio grimly watches. “Put the knife down.”
“Pull over, and I will. You mentioned what’ll happen to me when I kill you, but what about you? What happens when you arrive on the night of your wedding without a bride? Looks pretty bad, won't it? My brother won’t take that sitting down.”
Finally, finally, something flickers in his eyes. His hands clench a bit tighter around the wheel as he slows again, some of the cars we sped by now passing us. “You won’t harm yourself, so end the games.”
“It’s not a game.”
Taking my life isn’t my endgame, but it might be an option if my actual plan doesn’t work. Could I actually? Not suicide, but an injury certainly.
While he’s distracted, I flip the knife around in a move taught by Anastasia, swinging it into an arch towards my thigh. It diverts his attention from the road long enough that his head twists my way, a hand darting to snatch the knife.
With a speed Lev trained into me and the opening Alessio himself gives, I spin the knife again and stab it into his thigh, forcing it through squishy flesh and hard muscle as blood spurts over the dash, my arm and face, and onto my dress.
He howls in pain, his control on the vehicle slipping, but I quickly reach over to grab the wheel. He fights me for it, the car wagging back and forth between lanes, earning honks from vehicles behind us.
What I don’t count on is the merging lane we’re coming up beside—and the truck driving in it, honking at us.
There’s a smash—metal on metal.
We both slam forward, my arms landing on the dash, knife slipping to my feet. The car screeches across the road, towards the opposite side.
Alessio curses, trying to maintain control, but he sends the vehicle off the road, the speed and force throwing the car to the side.
Suddenly, the night sky is upside down, stars a scattered blanket.
Green grass surrounds me.
Right before a sea of darkness drowns me.