Chapter 34
NICO
I wanted to barrel out of my car but Antonio grabbed me as I opened the door. “Think this through. How are you going to play this?” His voice was calm and calculating. He was right, if I went there ready to kill the first person I saw, I wouldn’t get any information.
“I’m fine, Anto.” Taking a deep breath, I watched my best friend look at his father. Lorenzo nodded, and I took the gun out of the holster at my side as I got out of the car.
Moving quickly, I rang the doorbell and waited.
“How long does it take to open the door?” Anto asked.
“They don’t have staff,” I muttered, looking at his shocked face.
“There’s no money for it; they make it look like they have a staff and hire people when needed, but it was all on Emilia’s shoulders.
” My heart ached for my wife even more as I stood at the door of her home, knowing the terror she faced behind it.
With an ear-piercing creak, the door opened. “Nico,” Alessia said, her face scrunched up in confusion.
“Where’s your father?” I asked without pleasantries.
“He’s, umm, well, he’s not here,” she stuttered.
“Your mother?”
“I’m afraid she’s ill and has taken to her bed.” The young girl rolled her eyes and opened the door all the way. She motioned for me to come closer. “Top of the stairs, last door on the left.” She whispered.
Nodding, I moved toward the stairs before I stopped. Motioning to her with my finger, I directed her to come to me. “Get Gianna, pack your things, and Lorenzo will take you to my house.” I watched her face pale at my words, but she nodded and left the foyer quickly.
Quietly, I walked up the stairs, opening every door I passed. It wasn’t that I didn’t trust Alessia not to sabotage me, but I didn’t trust her not to either. The stark reality of something Emilia told me when we were first married makes my stomach roll.
“He used to parade his whores down the hallway right under my mother’s nose.” He was a disgusting human being, and the sooner I ended him, the better off everyone would be.
Reaching for the final doorknob, I glanced at Anto, who’d moved to my side. We both silently counted, and I swung the door open.
Francesca stood at the foot of her bed, head held high and glaring at me. I’d expected a weapon, but unless it was hidden in her dressing gown, she held none. “You weren’t supposed to be here so soon,” she spat.
“Where is my wife?” I growled, trying to keep my composure. If I grew any angrier, I’d shoot her before I got any information.
“My daughter is in the care of her father now. She’s none of your concern.” The sick grin that crossed her face made me see red. Lunging at her, I grab her arm as she turns, and that’s when I see the gun on the dresser. She would have been better off holding it; at least she’d have hope then.
Wrenching her arm, I turn her and twist it behind her back.
Her shrieks fill the space, and I grab the rope from Anton’s hand.
Grabbing the other arm, I tie them together and push her into the corner of the room.
Watching Francesca stumble and fall gave me some sense of pleasure knowing she’s now feeling some of the terror she allowed her daughter to deal with.
The older woman scrambled back until she was leaning against the wall. Her dark eyes narrowed on me, her jaw clamped shut, but she was calm. Eerily calm.
“I will ask you one more time before I start removing appendages. Where. Is. My. Wife?” My final word was said through clenched teeth.
“God willing, she’ll already be dead.” The woman smirked.
“I’ll ask you again, where is Emilia?” I leaned over her and waited. “You allowed your husband and son to abuse my powerful, strong, amazing wife. She sacrificed herself for her sisters, and you allowed that so I suggest you talk,” I said through gritted teeth.
“Don’t be so dramatic, Mr. Venosa; it’s not a good look on you.” She glared at me. Pointing my gun at the woman’s leg, I was ready to shoot until Lorenzo’s hand landed on my shoulder. Glancing behind me, I knew without a word from him what he wanted to say.
I could take her life, but I needed to save Emilia’s first. “I’m running out of patience, Francesca,” I assure her.
“She was ungrateful. All we did for her, and what did she do? Turn on us the second she had an opportunity. That girl made this entire family look like fools.” She spat as I drew closer to her.
“That’s where you’re wrong. Emilia brought validity to your family, brought honour back to the Carminatti name.
” I crouched where she was sitting, tied up, her piercing eyes staring at me.
“The night after our wedding, the four other heads of the Cosa Nostra met in my home. They all spoke to your daughter, and she was forthcoming and open about what was happening here. When she retired for the night, every man who sat at my table knew your daughter had more power than they’d ever thought of.
She was who they wanted leading your family.
” Taking a deep breath, I knew she wasn’t going to make it out of this house alive; hell, she wasn’t even going to make it out of this corner.
“The meeting I was at today was to organize a hit on your husband. He’s a loose cannon, Francesca, and needed to be taken out.
You would have been collateral damage also.
Emilia loves her sisters, so I made sure they would be safe.
I’ll move them into my home until they find their footing, but you, your husband, and this organization will cease to exist when I find her.
I suggest you talk before I decide to bring your other daughters down here and change my mind about them living. ”
“It was Mathias who took her. Vincent’s orders, obviously, but Mathias has been in love with her for years.
She was promised to him until you changed the plan.
He was the only one who knew it was her running this family, so he knew all her intel also.
” The woman was talking fast, and I knew from experience that the faster people talked, the more they hoped I wouldn’t end their life.
But I wasn’t a man who went back on his word.
Every person I’d promised to kill, I had. The woman snivelling before me would be no different. Even just to get revenge for my wife being raised by her. “What else?” I growled.
“They’d been stalking your home for weeks, when you found out the girls had worn wires to your home, Vincent was livid.
It sent him into a tailspin, and he decided to strike.
Emilia told Alessia that you were going out of town.
Such a stupid girl, what she would say over the phone I’ll never know.
So much for being the smart dona.” Francesca rolled her eyes.
“Where is she?”
“Nico, the tracker just turned on. We know where she is and have a team on their way.” Anto said quietly in my ear.
“You just lost the upper hand, Mrs. Carminatti. The funny thing is, with your daughter leading your family, you would have been exactly what you’d always wanted.
Under Emilia, the Carminatti family was feared, and the people in high positions had taken notice of things that had never happened under your husband.
He was a joke, a liability, who would never have been given access to any position higher than what he has now.
” Standing from my crouching position, I raised my gun toward my mother-in-law.
“Emilia was your ticket out, but you were all too narrow-minded to see it.” Without another word, I pulled the trigger, and she slumped in the corner.
Her death was much quicker than she deserved, and for that, I would always be filled with regret.
One last glance at her, and I turned to the door.
“Get her sisters out and blow it up. I want nothing left of this place in the morning.” I walked past Lorenzo, knowing I didn’t need to give him any more orders than that.