CHAPTER 30 #3
The sound echoed through the chapel and I jolted as I saw Adamian slump down the bench, a hole right through the centre of his forehead.
The look on his face was one of utter betrayal and shock.
I almost smiled at that – his pet project of many years turning on him at the end.
Ha! Didn’t see that one coming, did you, you old bastard?
Dio moved away from Daniel and collected a gun from one of our men, standing back a distance, but keeping the weapon trained on Daniel.
“What is…?”
Whoever the guy who stepped forward, outraged, was, he didn’t get to finish his question. Another shot rang out from Daniel, and the second man dropped to the ground, shot with the same lethal accuracy.
“Taking out the competition, I see?” Rafe spoke up. I watched as he moved towards Daniel, his posture relaxed, a gun loosely held at his side. Dio already had a gun pointed at Daniel too, always covering my brother.
“Grigor built the empire, but little of it is family any longer.” Daniel shrugged. “His men are loyal to me now.”
Then he looked at the remaining soldiers who were spread through the small chapel. There weren’t many left. All of the men who had been sat in the pews when I arrived, were dead and their bodies spread across the space, along with many of the soldiers who had lined the walls at the beginning.
“Stand down,” Daniel commanded.
No one moved at first and Daniel’s voice hardened slightly.
“Now,” he added and one by one, weapons lowered. Rafe’s men, several of whom I recognised, stepped back, but did not holster their weapons.
“You think you get to walk out of here now?” Rafe questioned. He was short of breath, as shown by his fast moving chest, but the words came out controlled and steady.
“I know I do. You don’t want to start a war. You don’t have the means,” Daniel countered arrogantly.
“Oh, I have the means. I have the men, and I certainly have the firepower, but you’re right. I don’t want to start a war.” Rafe was playing, and from the look on his face, he was having fun.
“You need allies. The fact your family houses the last of the Adamian blood line guarantees you our allegiance,” Daniel offered cooly.
“And we should take your word for that? Because you treated me so well in the time I was with you?” I sneered angrily.
“Screw you! I will never have anything to do with that family of psychos!” I announced bitterly, glancing to Rafe, wanting him to hear me.
Daniel deserved to die. I did not want Rafe to let him walk.
“As my sister told you, she is a De Santis.” Rafe looked to me briefly with a tiny nod that reassured me. “And I can assure you that my family has no need of your allegiance. In fact, I’d rather say you’ve overplayed your hand here, Daniel.”
“Aye. I’d say Danny boy here got way too big fer his britches,” Arran agreed, and when I glanced to him, I could see he was still seething over Cal getting shot.
“You see, we came here tonight with he intention of getting back my sister, and our brother, but we also had another plan. To eradicate your entire family for what you have done. That plan was enacted, for the most part, earlier this morning, when many of my men, along with our Irish colleagues took out all of your warehouses, clubs, bars, and even that shitty little restaurant. Your men were eliminated for the most part, and any stragglers we will catch up with in time. This chapel, and the men within it, are about all that remains of your so called empire.” Rafe explained cooly.
“Lies. I’d know…”
“From whom would you know? Your men are gone. Your locations are ash,” Dio cut in.
“Cara…” I turned at the sound of Dante’s voice behind me and saw him struggling to drag himself closer to me. I went to him, scared he’d hurt himself and crouched down.
“Stop moving, Dante, please,” I squeaked as tears formed at just looking at him in that state again.
“Give me the gun….” he gasped. “That fucker…hands on y-you. He dies…give me…” he was straining to get the words out. I didn’t even know how he was conscious. He had to have lost so much blood and be in so much pain.
“Did he do this?” I asked. “Hurt you? T-torture you? Was…was it him?” I whimpered.
“Give me…gun…” He looked up at me with so much pain and anger, and I knew the answer. I knew he had at least ordered Dante to be torn to pieces, even if he hadn’t done it himself.
“No,” I swiped my arm across my eyes to clear the tears. “This is my fight. I’m ending it.”
“Cara…” He looked to me with panic and I leaned in and pressed my lips to his.
“I’ve got this. Believe in me,” I whispered, then I rose to my feet and stepped forward, the gun steadied in my hands and raised, pointed right at Daniel. Rafe was talking, but I couldn’t hear the words over the ringing in my ears.
“You killed my Mum!” I announced loudly.
Bitterly. Silence descended around me. “She wasn’t a good person, but no one deserved the death she got.
You had me attacked, multiple times. You kidnapped a man I love, and tortured him for weeks.
You had my brother shot, and your men shot Cal.
You hurt me. You planned to hold me prisoner and use me as you saw fit,” I explained calmly, coldly, determined.
“You are even more of a monster than Adamian and I’ll sleep a fuck of a lot better knowing you no longer walk this Earth. ”
“Have you got this little girl doing your dirty work, De Santis?” Daniel sneered.
“I’m no little girl,” I told him firmly, then I squeezed the trigger without a moment of fear or hesitation. I didn’t close my eyes, braced for the recoil, determined to hit that bastard right and end him for good.
This blood line I came from, this sick twisted family who had broken me in so many ways, they ended that day. They didn’t get to live another day, to pose a threat to me or to people I loved. I had never been surer of any decision I made in my life than I was when I fired that bullet.
It hit Daniel in the neck and he slammed his hand over the wound as blood poured and spurted from it. He dropped to his knees, his shocked eyes on me.
“Where’s that trademark calm now, Daniel?” I asked as I stepped toward him with a smile on my face that might have been partly hysteria. In that moment though, all I felt was rightness and calm.
Daniel’s men reached for their weapons as they moved in fast, but they stood no chance. Rafe’s men were ready and they took them out in seconds.
Daniel fell backwards to the ground, blood still spurting, gurgling sounds coming from him as he choked on his own blood.
“I told you you’d die bloody,” I reminded him, then I turned and walked away. It was over.
“Cara!”
Dio immediately crossed the room toward me while Rafe nearly stumbled trying to do the same. His breathing sounded awful now—ragged and uneven from overexertion. I turned towards him and met him halfway.
“Easy,” I whispered as I caught him before he lost balance. His hand gripped my arm hard enough to hurt, my shoulder and wrist screaming at me in agony, but I kept my mouth shut. Rafe needed me.
He looked me over frantically as he pushed himself to standing again and took his weight from me. He studied me like he couldn’t believe I was standing there.
“You’re hurt!”
“I’ll live,” I shrugged. “We need to get Dante to the hospital. His injuries…they’re bad.”
I looked over and was relieved to see Dio was there with Dante, wrapping a coat around him and talking. He’d cut the rope free from his wrists.
“We will,” Rafe agreed easily.
Behind us, Arran was helping Cal sit upright while yelling at Dom and Joey for medical supplies. Cal looked pale but conscious, his hand locked tightly around Arran’s wrist.
“You shot Daniel,” Rafe said, like he was in shock, not me.
“I wanted him dead.”
“You were so strong, Tesorino. I am so proud of you, but from now on, how about you leave the bloody parts to me, okay?”
“How about from now on, we try to avoid the bloody parts?” I suggested.
“We can certainly try,” Rafe agreed as he wrapped his arm around me and pulled me into his side.
We started to move towards Dante and Dio, just as Dio got the big guy to his feet. He was trembling and swaying, but Dario caught him with a grunt.
“Whoa…” I gasped.
“I’m fine,” Dante lied immediately.
“You can barely stand,” I pointed out.
“I am standing,” he rumbled, and it was so familiar, that directness, that bluntness. I had missed it.
His battered mouth curved slightly, as I started crying, mostly with relief.
“I be-believed in you, love, and you…you did it,” he rasped.
“It’s over,” I whimpered with a nod.
Dio leaned over and brushed against my hand with his free one. Then Arran was behind me, Cal leaning heavily against him but conscious and smiling as always.
“Cal!” I breathed.
“I’m okay. The bullet went straight through. I’ll be fine,” he reassured me fast.
“Damn idiot, playing hero when he shouldnae have even been here!” Arran grumbled. I looked to Cal again and we shared a conspiratorial smile before I rushed to them both and wrapped my good arm around the pair of them as much as possible.
They both held me too, and I just pressed against them for several moments, so grateful they were there, that they had found me and come for me.
All around us, the chapel was wrecked, bodies everywhere, blood sprayed, gore and chaos.
The remains of my sperm donor’s empire lay scattered across the stone floor.
Daniel was dead. There was no one left who would or could want me for a power play any longer.
The fight was over, and with a small spark of hope, I felt a little like I had won.
“Jesus Christ. Must you all paw my sister?” Rafe asked, but it sounded light, almost a joke.
Dio looked deeply amused, which allowed me to let out the breath I was holding. If Dio thought he was joking, he was. No one knew Rafe better than him.
“You should be grateful, really,” he told Rafe
“Should I? How’s that?” Rafe stared at him flatly.
“Of course. Cara has excellent taste.” Dio leaned in and kissed the top of my head as he smiled at Rafe smugly.
I barked out a laugh, but Rafe looked personally offended by all of us.
“None of you are funny,” he grumbled.
"Cara thinks I'm funny. Says I make her laugh," Cal piped up immediately.
“That concerns me too,” Rafe said.
“Come on, we need te get the walkin’ wounded te the clinic. We’ll discuss how many mental health issues yer sister has, that mean she wants te be wi’ any of us, later,” Arran joked.
I was smiling as Rafe pulled me back to him and wrapped his arm around me, leading us out of that nightmare scene and hopefully into a calmer and safer future.
The men I loved surrounded me, safe and alive.
They’d be okay. We all would. That was definitely a win.
Whatever came next, I felt stronger, more whole, and ready to keep finding myself.
I knew I wouldn’t have to do any of it alone either and that made tomorrow look a lot brighter than any tomorrow’s I’d faced for a very long time.