Page 71 of Satin Empire

Even with my eyes closed, the light is blinding. I blink a few times, my ears ringing from the monstrous sound, but I can’t hesitate. Whoever’s up there is likely just as stunned, and I seize the initiative by charging into the first room I see.

There are three men inside, all in various states of waking up. I kill the first, shoot him straight in the chest, and turn to take out the second but he’s already dropping to the floor. I shoot anyway, jump onto the bed, and finish him off from an angle. Saul’s in behind me, and he kills the third, before someone further in the house returns fire.

It’s chaos from there. Men are shouting in Russian and my guys push forward. It takes two more flash grenades and a lot more shooting until we finally break into the master bedroom, the place riddled with bullets. I’m shouting at them to stay down, don’t move, and I pull the trigger when I see one of the fuckers twitch. His head explodes in brains and skull fragments, and then I’m kneeling on another guy’s back, his hands behind his back and my hand in his hair. I yank it until I can shine a light in his face?—

And Jasha Aslanov grimaces back at me, flinching away from my flashlight.

Nobody moves. All the sound in the room disappears. I have him—my knee’s in his back, my gun’s at his head—and all I have to do is pull the trigger. This man, this bastard, he’s caused so much trouble for my family, he hurt so many of us, he got me shot and killed Dante, and his cronies nearly hurt my wife. I’ve spent years fighting him, and now here he is, finally under my gun.

“Carlo, report.” Renzo’s voice comes through staticky. I raise it up to my mouth.

“I have him.”

The words hang there. And I still haven’t decided. Do I pull the trigger? Do I end this now?

“You have Jasha? You have Aslanov?” Renzo’s voice again. “We want him alive. Bring him in and get out of there right now.”

I don’t have to obey. Accidents happen all the time—I can claim Jasha fought me, he went for a weapon, he had a knife. There are a million reasons why I should pull the trigger right here and now.

Except my Don wants this man alive.

“Carlo.” Saul’s at my elbow. “Carlo, come on, get up. We were too fucking loud. We have to move.”

“I should do it,” I whisper, staring down at the piece of shit beneath me. “It would be easy. It’d end everything.”

“Renzo wants him alive.” But Saul doesn’t move to stop me.

“Do you think they cared if they left Dante alive? Do you think he cared about anything?”

Saul doesn’t answer. What’s there to say? In the distance, sirens blare.

“Go ahead, you Italian coward, kill me,” Jasha wheezes from underneath me. “Go ahead and do it.”

That finally breaks the spell. I shove my gun into my waistband and haul the fucker to his feet. He wants to die because that would be easier and better than what we’re going to do to him back at the house, and I won’t give him the mercy of a fast death.

Instead, Saul and I drag him downstairs, past our staring men. The house is a nightmare of blood, corpses, and destruction—the cops are going to have a fun time with this shit. None of it matters. We get Jasha outside, down the stoop, and shove him into my car. Saul gets into the back with him, and I get behind the wheel. Someone else will drive Saul’s car home.

I can see the red and blue lights bouncing off the houses as I peel out and wheel around back the way we came. I burn rubber, screaming the wrong way down a one-way street, and burst out into traffic, laughing to myself as some of my rage finally extinguishes, as an enormous weight that’s been wrapped around my brain finally begins to float away, and I feel like I’m a new man again, born into a better world with a real future ahead of me, and it feels so fucking good.

Chapter 36

Alana

Niccolo runs around in the garden with Brando and Cassie while little Vincenzo teeters around them, laughing every time he falls over.

I love watching my little brother play. Orsino doesn’t let him spend much time with other kids his age except for his fancy private school, and it’s nice to see Niccolo letting loose and having fun. He seems like he’s really enjoying himself, especially with Brando, that kid’s a freaking monster. Adorable, but full of energy.

Maddie’s digging down in the garden and she waves when she spots me standing on the back porch. Allegra’s down there with her, both of the women suntanned and looking happy as they keep an eye on the kids while yanking up weeds. I wave back, but I don’t go down to talk to them. Instead, I wait for my mother to come up next to me.

“This seems like a nice place,” she comments, giving the girls a friendly wave. “But that is a whole lot of plants. You don’t garden, do you?”

“Not yet,” I say and resist the urge to tell her that I can do whatever I want these days. I’m not under Orsino’s thumb anymore, not like she is.

But there’s no reason to be cruel. She wasn’t happy about coming here at first, but I think she can see how good it is for Niccolo to run around with the other kids, and everyone’s been really kind and accommodating. I know Allegra and Maddie are giving us some time and space to talk for a little bit before coming over.

“Really, Alana, I almost don’t recognize you. I remember Gran used to try to get you in the back yard all the time, but you refused.”

“I was a little kid back then. And I hate when you talk about Gran like that.”

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