31. Franco
31
FRANCO
S eeing someone put their hands on Caleb pissed me off with a fury I’d never fully experienced before.
To dare to point a gun at him?
I don’t fucking think so.
I’d faced instances of my family being threatened. Dante under the aim of a gun. Romeo being captured and hit. Liam beat up. Countless others. Even if they weren’t blood relations, every single person in the Constella was family. My family, a representative of someone I’d go to every end of the earth to protect.
But my son? My son ?
Wes pressing the end of his gun barrel at my son tripped me into a feral rage that I strained to contain.
I did. I tried to mask the pure anger and scorching malice that I wanted to unleash on that man. Caleb was just learning about me. He was already curious about why I—and everyone else at the house—carried guns.
I didn’t want him to fear me or what we did. I didn’t want to allow a barrier between us as he came to terms with the fact that his father was a trained killer, that I supervised soldiers capable of torturing our enemies and ending the lives of those who crossed us.
For him, to preserve my son’s innocence, I contained my wrath the best I could.
“I told you to get your hands off my son. Now.”
Wes sneered, heaving deep, spittle-flying breaths as he kept Caleb close. “Your son? He’s just a bastard no one wants.” He laughed hard once. “No one but those old fuckers. I killed the judge last week. But the old bitch didn’t care. She still wants me to bring this bastard to her so she can?—”
“No.” Caleb wrestled to get away. “You’re not taking me anywhere.”
“Shut up! Shut up, you little piece of shit.” Wes shook him a bit, growling with the effort. “I’ve spent years wanting you out of the way so I could have my woman.”
“My mom’s not your girlfriend,” Caleb shouted.
“She’s mine!” Wes roared. “If she won’t come to me and be mine, I’ll kill her! She has to be mine . I’ll order hits on every boss she has. I’ll follow her everywhere she goes and prove to her that she has to be with me .”
Romeo glanced at me, alert and on edge. He was likely making the same conclusions I was.
Wes was crazy. He had to be mentally unstable to act like this, but with his confession, he cleared up the mystery about who shot up the A&J Deli.
I bet Romeo was also thinking that it’d be nice to have Liam here. A sniper shot from a distance, and Wes would be dead.
Already, people were noticing the presence of the Constella men waiting for my order. They spotted Wes foaming at the mouth and acting like a lunatic.
And that wouldn’t fly. Not on my watch. Any one of these people near the hospital could call someone to get him and likely have him admitted to the psych ward where he clearly belonged.
Someone could call the cops and have him arrested. Maybe his connections would get him out and free, but that also meant the law enforcement agencies would butt into what was now a very personal matter.
Wes Morrison was a dead man walking, and I would be the one who’d have the pleasure of ending his life. All this pent-up rage I tried to contain in the face of the watching public eye, in front of my son, would be spent on ending his life.
Romeo nodded, showing me that he was ready. He was aware that we needed to wrap this up sooner than later. We couldn’t risk anyone intervening.
“Let him go.” I lifted my hand to tug at my ear, showing Caleb the tell that I’d just shown him this morning when we talked and played basketball.
He didn’t flinch or show a sign of fear. He also didn’t give away that he saw my tell.
Wes didn’t notice, scanning all the soldiers around us.
Then he moved. He growled and lunged for Caleb as he twisted and feinted, just like I’d advised him earlier.
Soldiers parted, letting him sprint toward Chloe and Tessa who stood together behind Romeo and other Constella men.
Wes shot, but he was too slow to hit anyone. The bullet went astray with his lousy aim, but commotion followed anyway. Passers-by screamed and ducked for cover. Others shouted to call the police. In the second that Wes fired, the soldiers were on him, taking his gun, restraining him, and bringing him into one of the cars where they’d wait for my order.
After the years of fear and anxiety he’d given Chloe and Caleb, his capture seemed so… anticlimactic. So weak and dull.
Chloe hugged Caleb tightly as they watched Wes get taken away. Even though it was only one gunshot that was fired, security was already rushing from the hospital.
“Go on,” I told them. “Keep an eye on your mom for me, okay?”
Caleb nodded, still hugging Chloe. “Okay, Dad. I will.”
Dad. My heart was full. It swelled with love and pride. Lurking in my mind, though, darkness grew and intensified.
Chloe caught my eye, and I knew what she had to be thinking. What she had to be feeling. She was well aware that I would kill Wes. She had to know that was coming. With a careful, stern frown, she nodded once, acknowledging it.
She could acknowledge that this was who I was. Not a bad boy her parents disapproved of, but her hero. Her protector. It wouldn’t be easy. She’d need to come to terms with this, and we would both need to explain more things to Caleb, but right now, it was time to kill this motherfucker and move on with our lives.
“Go on.” Chloe urged Caleb to go inside with Tessa. “I’ll be right there.”
I stood still, watching her come to me in the parking lot. After she pressed a soft kiss to my lips, she sighed and stared at me. “Be careful.”
I smiled. “I always am. Go on. Go help Nina. I’ll be back shortly.”
A slightly troubled expression covered her face as she backed up, but she nodded. “Thank you, Franco.”
I chuckled. “Oh, it’s my pleasure, sweetheart.”
I turned with Romeo to go to the cars.
“I ordered them to take him to the nearest warehouse.”
I nodded as I sat in the backseat with him and closed the door. “Good.”
I couldn’t wait to kill this bastard. She’d never have to fear him again. It sounded like he’d killed her dad, and I would find a way to handle her mother.
Nothing would ever stand in the way of my future with Chloe and Caleb.
No one would ever dare to pull us apart again.
My heart had always belonged to her. A part of me had already lived on in him.
We were a family, and after I got the satisfaction of removing Wes from this world and getting him out of the picture forever, all would be right in my life. Chloe had come to me and loved me, and she seemed to love me and accept me for the killer I had to be. Caleb had hugged me and called me Dad, already glad to give me his permission to marry his mom.
I smiled, watching the scenery blur out the window, content that finally, at last, my heart was stitched back together and whole.