Chapter 48 #4
“Okay, Boss. We’re all set. It’s your call. We can still stop this if you want. Russia isn’t so bad, you know? I’m sure Misha won’t be too upset if we all relocate there,” I joke.
“That’s not an option,” my brother says, glancing at his watch. Once he sees it’s a quarter to midnight, he nods, giving me the go-ahead.
“Merry fucking Christmas, Anna. I hope you know what you’re doing,” I say with a sigh before texting Stella.
We watch through one of the monitors Stella reaching for her phone. After reading my text, she looks at the camera and nods. Kirill and Kostya remain by the door while she enters the room where Annamaria and Matteo are holed up.
“Is it happening? Did it start?” my mother asks frantically, barging into the room with Frankie, Izzie, and Darius at her heels.
“Fuck! You told her, baby?” I blurt out when my dads, Vincent, Gio, and Dom, also appear behind them.
“She’s Anna’s mother, Lucky. She deserves to know what’s happening to her daughter.”
“Snitch,” I chuckle, but the joke, just like my laugh, falls flat.
Frankie throws me a sheepish grin before sliding onto my lap, Darius leaning against me while my mother stands watching the screens, my dads standing silently behind her. Izzie moves quietly to Marcello’s side while he remains rooted to the spot, never once taking his eyes off the monitors.
We hold our breaths as we watch Stella say something to Anna. The monitors can only show us what’s happening, not let us hear what they’re saying, which, under the circumstances, works in our favor.
“Oh, my poor girls,” my mother sobs as she watches Annamaria and Stella fall into each other’s arms. Stella whispers something into Anna’s ear before pulling away and rushing out the door.
On another monitor, we watch her wipe at her tears as she heads for the stairs, Kirill and Kostya following her out of the club.
Everyone’s attention shifts to the screen showing Anna with Matteo, her saying something to him.
“I can’t watch,” Mom says, already crying.
“Maybe we’re all wrong and she won’t go with him,” Frankie says, but not even she believes it.
“Damn it,” Gio curses when we see Anna struggling to help Matteo out of his chair.
Looks like the Boss of the Cosa Nostra is having a hard time walking on his own.
Not exactly ideal when they’re about to make a run for it.
I bet Stella’s the reason his leg is so fucked up.
It’s a miracle the man survived her assault.
But by the way he’s looking at my sister, I guess the fucker had a lot to live for.
None of us are surprised when Anna helps Matteo walk out of the room, him limping while using her small body for support as she guides him out of the club.
“Where are they now?” Dom asks when the cameras inside Gio’s club no longer have them in sight.
“Just give me a second.” I press a few keys, pulling up footage from outside the club. Every Ring camera within the vicinity and every security feed with a clear shot of them comes into view.
We all watch Matteo and Annamaria step out onto the street, Matteo trying door handles in search of a car that isn’t locked. Anna is the first to find one. But then again, she knew which one to look out for.
Frankie holds my hand as Marcello turns away from the monitors and makes a call.
“I can’t believe this is happening. For a second, I really thought maybe she wouldn’t go with him,” Frankie says, a tear sliding down her cheek.
I didn’t.
If that were me and Frankie, I’d go to the ends of the earth to stay by her side, Outfit and Cosa Nostra be damned.
“Now it’s on them,” my father, Vincent, says. “May God watch over them.”
But I don’t miss the way he looks at Marcello before placing a hand on his shoulder and giving it a tight squeeze. “I knew you’d make the right decision.”
Marcello nods and puts the phone to his ear.
“Okay, Jude. It’s on you now, big brother. Don’t let us down.”
Jude
“Got it. Ring the alarm,” I say before hanging up the phone on my brother and starting the engine. “They’re on the move,” I holler, glancing over at my wife.
Mina nods, placing her hand over mine on the gearshift and threading her fingers through mine.
“We got this, Jude. We always do.”
God, I hope she’s right.
This was not how I thought this night would end. We should be attending Midnight Mass at this hour, not driving like madmen through the streets, hoping to spot my sister and her husband trying to escape Chicago.
“Are the twins still behind us?” I ask after a few minutes.
Mina looks over her shoulder at the car driving erratically behind us and laughs.
“By the bird Remus just threw at me, I’d say that’s a bloody yes,” she snorts.
“How can you laugh at a time like this?”
“Would you rather I cry, husband?” she taunts. “I told you from the start the man was obsessed with your sister. But did anyone listen to me? No. Now you all have to deal with the fallout of your own stubbornness.”
“You’re not helping, Mina,” I scold.
“And you picking a row with me won’t help the situation either.”
She’s right.
“I’m sorry,” I mutter, the wheels screeching as I take a sharp left. “I’m just…”
“I know, Jude. I know,” she says, running her fingers along the nape of my neck, soothing me with her touch. “It won’t be long now.”
I grip the steering wheel tighter.
“Just make sure the twins don’t let Marcello’s men pass them on the road. We can’t have too many people seeing what’s about to go down.”
“I doubt anyone will see a bloody thing in this weather,” Mina says, eyeing the storm outside.
Like always, my wife is right again.
The snow is coming down so hard that it blurs everything in sight.
Streetlights. The road ahead. Everything.
My visibility is shit. This is the kind of weather that turns a bad situation into a fucking death sentence.
And with the way I’m speeding to catch up to my sister and her husband, it’ll be a miracle if none of us gets hurt.
And just as I turn onto the street leading to LaSalle Street Bridge, that’s when we spot them. Annamaria and Matteo’s stolen car swerving across the icy road ahead of us, bypassing the few cars still out on the road this time of night.
Mina’s hand slips over to my thigh, her grip tight and trembling.
“Do you see Enzo or Alejandro anywhere?”
“Not yet,” she says, worry lacing her tone. “But isn’t that a good thing?”
“I’d rather know where they are. Text them and find out.”
“Just because we can’t see them doesn’t mean they aren’t here. They know what they’re supposed to do. Have faith in Marcello’s plan, luv,” she tries to reassure me.
“I’m fucking trying,” I curse before muttering a small prayer in my head, one meant to keep my sister safe. “This better fucking work.”
And just as the words fall out of my lips, the road ahead suddenly forks in two, one lane curving toward Lower Wacker while the other climbs toward the bridge.
Matteo’s car disappears behind a curtain of snow for a second before reappearing on the road leading to LaSalle Street Bridge.
“Fuck,” I breathe, gripping the wheel tighter just as I put the pedal to the metal. “Hold on!” I yell at my wife, needing her safe as I eat the distance between us and try to ram my car into the back of my sister’s.
I barely manage to give it a love tap before the car fishtails on the ice.
“Oh my God,” Mina shouts beside me, her voice sounding just as panicked as I feel right now.
We watch in horror as their tires lose traction completely, the back end swinging too far. The bridge railing groans when the car slams into it, the metal straining under pressure it was never meant to withstand.
Then it gives.
My sister’s car tips dangerously over the edge. For one terrifying second, it hangs there like the world itself is holding its breath.
And then, as if fate had always intended this to be their end, the car plunges over the side.
I slam the car into park and throw the door open, the cold punching the air from my lungs.
Everyone spills out behind me. Marcello’s men.
Mina’s cousins. Even the unlucky witnesses who happened to be on the bridge at this late hour.
We all just stand there. Watching as the car crashes through jagged sheets of ice, the dark water swallowing it whole.
Fast.
So fucking fast.
The taillights flicker beneath the surface one last time and then… disappear.
Gone.
She’s gone.
The realization lands heavy and final in my chest.
Mina wraps her arms around me, trying her best to hold me together.
I can’t look at her beautiful face.
I can’t look at any of this.
“Fuck,” I choke out, my voice rough and foreign to my ears. “It feels like my heart is being ripped out of my chest.”
“I know,” Mina cries softly, holding me tighter. Tears stream down her cheeks as she presses her face against my neck. “But she’s at peace now. She’s finally with the man she loves. Like she always wanted.”
It shouldn’t have ended like this.
Maybe if we’d had more time… maybe if we’d handled things differently…
“Stop,” Mina whispers as if reading my thoughts. “Just let her go, Jude. We’ve done all we could.”
I just hope it was enough.