Chapter 47 #2
She presses in harder, Morgan turning blue before her eyes, and then Simeon says, “Now, Alice.”
She pulls away and Morgan gulps in huge bursts of air, a little of the color restored to her face as she struggles to breathe.
Alice wastes no time and slaps her hard around the face before she can recover, mirroring our punishment, our father’s preferred method, every time.
Tears are falling down Morgan’s face as she suffers the sins of the father and Rose says in an emotionless voice, “I want her to hang.”
My heart breaks for my sister because knowing that is exactly what her mom endured must be haunting her, knowing this woman ordered it.
“Please, let me go. I can stop this. I will sign the company over to you. I’ll walk away. Please. Tell me what you want. I’ll call off the hits and tell my family to back off. Money. We can give you money. Just walk away now.”
“No.”
My voice rings out loudly, and silence prevails as I hiss, “We wait. Call your contact at the convent. Call off the instructions regarding Sister Agatha. Call off your family and stand down the Monza mafia, and then we will talk.”
I reach down and retrieve Morgan’s phone from the table.
“Call them, you bitch.”
I accessed her phone by flashing it in front of her face and scroll through her contacts. “Sister Agatha first.”
I note the three numbers she called and hiss, “Which one?”
“The third one.”
I press call and hold the phone to her ear and as she hears the voice, she says firmly, “I’m calling this off. Stand down.”
I place the call on speaker and a woman’s voice says huffily, “You could have called earlier, ma’am, she’s already on her way.”
“Where is she?”
Morgan snaps, and Charlotte sighs. “Leave it with me. I’ll call Guiseppe. He’ll head back, but you do realize my cover is now blown.”
“It’s fine. Head back to your family.”
“And my money?”
“For fuck’s sake, you’ll be paid. Just, I’ve got to go.”
“Who was that?” I hiss as I cut the call, and Morgan’s voice is slower as she sighs, “Sister Charlotte to you.”
Alice gasps, “No way. Sister Charlotte! I don’t believe you.”
She cries, “But she helped me to escape.”
“It’s no wonder I consider you dumb.”
Morgan laughs softly. “She was working for me and only the stupid fucking gardener ruined our plan. Raphael had someone waiting and when you jumped in Stefan’s car, it changed everything.”
Alice sobs as Simeon comforts her, and Morgan groans. “This is hurting like fuck. If you can’t get me a doctor, at least give me some pain relief.”
Joseph interrupts. “No pain relief. You suffer, and just so you know, there is more where that came from.”
“I’m giving you what you want, you dumb prick. Answers, safety, and an ending. Just let me go, and I’ll give you the final piece. You would be fools to walk away from.”
I share a glance with my sisters because this could relate to the mysterious keys?
Joseph steps forward and glares into her pain-wrecked face.
“Tell us.”
“Only if you agree to let me go.”
“No.”
Joseph turns and says to one of the guards, “String her up.”
Simeon pulls him to one side, and I note their tense conversation and I say loudly, “Joseph’s right. Morgan has nothing. She is unaware of the keys.”
“Keys?”
Morgan’s instant reaction tells us I’m right. She attempts to disguise the confusion with a loud, “The keys. Yes, the keys. I have them.”
“Go on.”
Julius sits on the dining table in front of her.
“Where are the keys?”
“They’re, um, with my family in Italy. You will never find the keys.”
“What do they unlock?”
The guards string a rope from the rafters, and Morgan’s eyes flick to the makeshift noose, and she shivers.
“Um, money. Papers. A secret bank account.”
“Then why haven’t you accessed it if money is what you want?”
He asks a valid question, and she says quickly, “Because they are in the girl’s names. It only reverts to the estate if they are dead.”
“So why sell them? Suely it was in your best interests to kill the sisters, not sell them on the open market.”
“Because I wanted more. I’ve waited a long time to get Enrico’s money. One more year watching them suffer was my reward.”
“I don’t believe her.”
I step forward, firing a dismissive glare into her eyes.
“She doesn’t know about the keys. That is why our father was so worried when he gave them to us.”
Joseph adds, “Mom has the keys.”
“No way.”
Both Alice and Rose gasp and he turns to his brothers.
“She has nothing and is plucking things out of thin air to save her own skin.”
He nods toward the hanging rope.
“I’m so done with this shit.”
He turns to me.
“Just say the word.”
I stare at my sisters, wondering what to do. We are not killers, not even close. Can we really do this? End this woman’s life as she cruelly did Edwina’s and our father’s. Are we the same as her?
“I… I…” stumble over my words, Eliza’s declaration playing on repeat in my mind. She had the strength. She ended her stepmother’s life. Why can’t I?
Alice shakes her head, her frown deep and her eyes bright.
Rose inhales sharply and appears defeated.
My attention turns to the woman who made our lives hell and note the defeat in her eyes.
She’s lost.
Surely that’s enough and with the Ravera family behind us, it’s doubtful she can ever be a threat.
I place my hand on my belly, hoping a new generation is already forming and wondering if I can ever look my children in the eye, knowing I took another person’s life on purpose.
Then I gaze at my husband, his enigmatic expression hiding his revenge for his friend.
None of this helping him to heal, merely sending him spiraling into madness and I know this isn’t the right thing.
“No.” I heave a deep breath.
“Let her live, but make it a painful one.”
I turn to Rose, who is sobbing, dashing away her tears with her fingers.
“I’m sorry, Rose. I won’t let you be like her.”
She nods, accepting I am right, her head low, her shoulders slumped.
The three brothers share a moment and Julius stands, his gaze connecting with his brother Simeon. “Who wants to escort the ladies out of the room?”
I shake my head.
“We stay. Do what you must, but don’t kill her.”
Morgan begins to howl as Simeon seizes a machete from the box, and as he approaches, he cuts her other hand clean off.
Her screams echo around the room as Julius retrieves a hammer and smashes it against her right knee.
Joseph takes it from him and smashes the second one and she passes out with the pain, still bound to her chair.
The guards stand silent as one by one the brothers claim their wives, and as we walk out of the room, I don’t look back.