Page 76 of Luca

“You think this is over, Luca? You really think with me out of the way, you’ve won? You’re nothing more than a street punk who married my half sister. You think the Irish are your saving grace? That what, you were going to be the new head of the Cataldi empire with my slut sister by your side? These Irish assholes aren’t going to allow that.” Carlo laughs. “You played right into their hands. They aren’t going to protect you now that they’ve captured the big bad wolf.”

“Jesus Christ, Carlo. You’re fucking delusional,” Finn says to the man. “The big bad wolf? You’re nothing more than a sniveling asshole who was riding daddy’s coattails. You could have walked away with your life, but you decided you wanted to play Mafia don. Too bad for you no one wanted to play with you. You really should have left well enough alone, but you made a grave error in judgment when you decided targeting women was going to give you the upper hand. All it did was make me and my cousin hungrier for your blood.”

Carlo’s eyes widen when he hears the word cousin and he turns to me. “You fucking rat.”

I smile. “Surprise, motherfucker.”

Rage takes over Carlo’s features before his hand dives under the pillow next to him and he raises a .38 Special in my direction, firing off a shot. I duck to the side and he misses before I hear the familiar sound of a muffled pop coming from Finn’s gun. Carlo howls in pain, bleeding profusely from his right arm that he was holding the gun with. It drops from his grasp and Finn swipes it from the bed. Carlo grabs his shoulder, his breath coming out in harsh pants between clenched teeth.

“You think killing me is going to somehow save your sorry ass?” I ask, raising my gun to his forehead.

“No. But if I’m going to hell, I’m taking you with me, you fucking rat bastard.” The defiant sneer on his face makes me want to laugh.

“Actually, no. You’re not.”

Ozzy steps into the room, and Carlo’s head tilts back, a pained fuck falling from his lips.

“Now, now, boys. Don’t kill him too fast,” Ozzy says, walking up to the bed with an eerie smile on his face. “I haven’t had my fun with him yet.” The MC president digs his gloved finger into the bullet wound Finn gave Carlo, and it takes every bit of strength in the soon-to-be-dead man to not scream out in agony.

“You fucked up, Carlo. You went after what’s mine. Twice.”

Before Carlo can utter a word, Ozzy pulls a mean-as-hell-looking knife from the sheath at his waist and plunges it into Carlo’s stomach, staring into his eyes as he twists it.

“Hurts like a bitch, don’t it? Funny thing about stab wounds to the stomach. It takes a few minutes for them to kill you, but it’ll be the most painful last minutes of your life. I bet if I keep the knife inside you, it’ll buy me and my friends some extra time.”

“You all have no idea what’s coming for you,” Carlo says, his wild eyes darting between the three of us as sweat pours down his face. “You think you’ve won? I’ll see you all in hell before long.”

“Maybe, but it won’t be today,” I tell him, raising my gun to his forehead once again.

I fire the shot, and he falls back on the pillow, brain matter and blood scattered across the headboard behind him.

My eyes stay fixed on his prone body, lying lifeless on the bed. He was the sum of all of our nightmares, all of Giada’s fear and pain. There isn’t a living man in this house who his evil hasn’t touched. And it’s over. We’re free from the nightmare he held us all in. We’re free. And so is my wife.

“You okay, cousin?” Finn asks.

“Yeah,” I say, thoughts running through my head about what this means for my future with Giada. She’s free to live however she wants. Wherever she wants. “Let’s get this cleaned up.”

Ozzy calls Cash and Knox and instructs the men to park behind our truck on the side of the property. The nine of us load everything that could contain any blood evidence in the back of Ozzy and Knox’s trucks, including two dead bodies.

“What about Carlo and the other guy?” I ask Ozzy.

“We know a farmer who likes to keep his pigs well fed. For a certain fee, the bodies will be gone by daybreak.”

That leaves me with disgusted images running through my mind as we drive back to the clubhouse. Knox, Cash, Cillian and Eoghan drive past the turnoff, heading to the farm Ozzy mentioned while we continue on the road that leads back to my wife. Apparently, Cillian is keen to meet this pig farmer to see if he’d be interested in potentially working with the family if the need were to arise.

Finn and the rest of the Black Roses head into the clubhouse, but I stand outside and stare into the night sky. Dawn will be breaking soon and with it, the start of a new life for Giada and me. We’re truly free now. There is no more Cataldi organization. There is no more looking over our shoulders, wondering when Carlo is going to make his next move and if we’ll be in time to stop him. He can’t hunt Giada down if she decides to leave. She's free to do anything she wants, and I’m free to do the same.

Neither of us has ever been faced with a choice to live however we like. I’ve spent the last seven years trapped in a role I hated to the depths of my soul, but I did it to bring down the man responsible for my parents’ death and his entire organization. I finished what I set out to do. Francesco is sitting alone in prison with mere months left to live, his empire in ruins. He holds no power, putting all of it in the hands of his son, who is on his way to being pig food. My purpose for being in Boston is over. I can start a life with my family out from behind the shadows of my time with the Cataldis. It’s a heady feeling, one that I’ve never really let myself think about, and now I’m not sure what the hell to do.

“Luca Bennetti,” I hear Giada call from behind me. “You scared the absolute shit out of me.”

I turn and find my wife stomping toward me with her hands clutched into tight fists and an angry scowl across her mouth. When she gets closer, I see that she’s been crying.

“Why are you crying, sweetheart?” I ask when she stops less than a foot from me. I want to reach out and touch her beautiful face, to pull her into me and feel her pressed against me. However, the look on her face tells me I may not want to let her that close to any vulnerable appendages.

“Well,” she says, cocking her head to the side. “Finn thought you were right behind him when he walked through the door. He beelined straight for Alessia and started making out with her like a damn teenager.” I chuckle at her indignant tone but quickly school my expression, noting the fire in her eyes and not the good kind. “Everyone was inside, too wrapped up in their women to realize you hadn’t come in. When I didn’t see you, I thought you were fucking dead!” she yells. “I stood there crying for a solid minute before Finn realized what was going on and told me you must be outside. You scared me half to death, Luca.” Tears of anger and relief spill from her eyes and I close the gap between us, not being able to hold myself back.

“Shh. I’m sorry, sweetheart,” I coo into her ear as sobs rack her body. “I’m here. I’m safe. We’re safe.”

---