Chapter 56 Vin
Vin
Irun my tongue over my teeth, tasting copper from where Matti’s fist connected with my jaw yesterday. It’s swollen, throbbing. I don’t blame him for the hit. I would’ve done worse if the situation had been reversed.
To be honest, I needed it. I needed to literally get punched in the face to realize that this shit has to end. No more procrastination.
Aurelio dies today.
Tommy and Matti flank me as we enter the Edge, our footsteps echoing on concrete. Aurelio’s chained to a chair in the center of the room he’s been in for weeks now, bloodied and defiant. Even now, beaten and bound, he wears that fucking smirk like he’s in charge.
“Took you long enough,” he rasps, spitting blood at my feet.
I ignore him, turning to my brothers. “You checked in with the women? Everyone get their chance to take part if they want?”
I don’t ask if anyone checked in with Sophia. Of course they didn’t. They don’t know what Aurelio did to her and her family. But Sophia got her revenge better than any of us. Death takes him just once, but my woman made him wear her mark for a lifetime.
Tommy nods. “Giovanna says that her life is too perfect to mar with any thought of him.”
“Siena said the same,” Matti adds, his voice tight. “She’d rather focus on Emilia than the death of a shit stain.”
Their babies. I shove away the image of little Emilia in Sophia’s arms, how natural she looked holding her, before I spiral on how I’ll never see her hold our child.
“He hurt a lot of people,” I say, my voice flat. “But us? We’re the ones he hurt most. We’re the ones who take it from here.” I pull my gun, check the chamber. “We all get our shot.”
Aurelio laughs, the sound wet and broken. “You’re really doing this? Over a woman?”
“Which woman?” I ask drily. “My mother? My first girlfriend? My sisters-in-law? My—”
I stop before naming Sophia, before I have to name what she is to me. And what she isn’t.
He spits again. “I didn’t go after your little chef, Vincenzo. Is that really what made you finally grow a pair? You’re weak.” He sneers at me through split lips. “This has nothing to do with her.”
“You’re right, it doesn’t. But it has everything to do with the non-stop bullshit you’ve inflicted on the people who trusted you and supported you, from your own sons to innocent women and children.”
He snorts. “No one is innocent.”
My finger tightens on the grip of my gun. “You want last words or not?”
Something flickers in his eyes. “You need to know: I didn’t kill your mother. Someone came for me and got her instead.”
The confession hits like a punch. All these years, and he never said it out loud.
“The same will happen to each of you,” Aurelio continues, his gaze locking on mine. “And your women. Starting with you, Vincenzo. The Irish don’t play games. You’re betrothed to marry the boss’s daughter. If you choose the Bellamorte girl, they’ll kill you both.”
Silence drops like a blanket.
I feel Matti and Tommy turn to stare at me. My jaw clenches.
“What betrothal?” Tommy demands. “What the fuck is he talking about?”
I don’t look at them. Admitting it out loud makes it real, and I’m not ready. But fucking Aurelio just forced my hand.
“There’s a contract,” I say, my voice rough. “An alliance with the Irish. I marry their daughter when I become boss or we lose all the work we’ve done to gain access to the ports.”
Understanding crashes across their faces as they learn the reason I pushed Sophia away, the reason I’ve been a miserable bastard for weeks. They glance at each other, then back at me, and I see the decision they make: solidarity in front of Aurelio. Questions later.
“He’s the fucking boss,” Tommy says, his voice hard. “He’ll marry who he wants.”
Aurelio laughs, the sound scraping against my nerves. “Then you’ll be at war again. You’ll lose the ports, all your income. You’ll be sitting ducks for the Albanians.”
“Fuck it,” Matti growls. “Vin doesn’t have to do shit, especially if it’s a deal you set up. He makes the rules now.”
“What do you know about who makes the rules?” Aurelio’s voice drips with venom. “You’re children playing at power. The Irish will—”
“Enough.” My voice cuts through the warehouse.
I step closer, staring down at the man who raised me, who beat me, who taught me that love was weakness and loyalty was bought with blood.
“I always knew I’d marry for an alliance, and this is the right one.
” I meet his eyes, letting him see the truth.
“I’ll always put the family first. Unlike you. ”
I lift my gun and take aim, and Tommy and Matti follow suit. I know they’ll aim for his head. I’m aiming for his heart.
Aurelio’s face twists with rage. “Malocchio!” he spits. “The evil eye on all of you, your wives, your—”
The gunfire is deafening.
All three of us open up at once, emptying our clips into him. The sound echoes off concrete, brass casings hitting the floor like rain. The air fills with the silence of death.
I’m calm as I stare at his body. There is no struggle for breath, no wheezing through punctured lungs. His body is lifeless, his eyes wide, his jaw dropped open, half his head missing.
I feel nothing. Without Sophia, there is just this: family, violence, and death.
I walk over to Aurelio’s body, his lifeless gaze seemingly locking on mine. I feel no regret, no hate. Just absence.
I’ll never win his respect now, but I never would have been the son he wanted. It doesn’t matter now. Because I’m the boss, and I’ll be the boss the family needs. Starting with putting the final bullet in my father.
I press my gun to his forehead.
“You taught me well by showing me what not to do,” I say quietly. “I will have the respect of my men and my family because I’ll always put them first. If you had done that even once, we wouldn’t be here right now. I’m going to do it every day for the rest of my life.”
I pull the trigger.
The gunshot is quieter than the others, final and absolute.
Matti moves forward, presses two fingers to Aurelio’s neck. “He’s gone.”
I’m already walking toward the door.
“Vin—” Tommy starts.
“Clean this up,” I say without turning. “There’s something I have to do.”