Page 104 of Mafia Star

Good. All accounted for.

“Doppio controllo.” Double-check.

We can’t leave until we’re sure they’re all dead. Our cleaners will be here soon, and they don’t need any surprises. We don’t need anyone trailing blood down the street or calling Dillan or one of his cousins. They’ll leave the bodies, but they'll make sure we don't leave any casings or other ballistics evidence behind. I pull out my phone and wake the screen. I already have the text typed out. I hit send. Our team is five blocks past where we left the SUVs. They’ll be here within minutes. Within half an hour, from the outside, it’ll look like they just closed up early.

We’re all wearing gloves in case we need to touch something. I walk around the back of the bar, stepping over the two bartenders. I look in one of their fridges and spot what I want. Cheap fuckers.

I’m leaving a calling card. A bottle of donkey piss prosecco. I wouldn’t water my weeds with this shit. No one said these Irish had taste.

“We’re good.”

Matteo comes to stand next to me as I come out from behind the bar. All said and done, it was over in five minutes. Probably not even. They were all armed with more than just a knife. They had the means to defend themselves, but they weren’t ready. Some had their backs to the door. Dumb motherfuckers. That’s what you get. You’re the first ones dead.

We head outside once the cleaners start work. Steve hasn’t moved from the spot where we left him. We have one more stop before we can go back to my parents’ place. We pack into our vehicles and ride in silence until we get to an establishment in Queens. Just having hair as dark as ours is enough to raise eyebrows around here. Luca’s driving the other SUV while I drive the one I’m in. We pull into an alley and turn off our headlights. We leave the engines idling. No one says anything as Steve slips out with his rifle.

From the driver’s seat I have a clear view as he makes his way to the fire escape along the side of an apartment building. He scales it with ease, jumping to pull down the ladder, then pulling himself up to the first rung. Then he’s running up to the third floor on silent feet. I know because my window is open, and I don’t hear a single sound on the metal. He’s pretty much overhead at this point. It’s cramped, but he settles onto his belly.

We’re all in tactical gear, but Steve has an action camera affixed to a helmet. I pull out the app on my phone that receives his transmission. I watch him adjust his position, so he must be looking through his rifle’s scope. He moves his head, so I have a view through it. I can see Lorcan Cullen getting a blowjob from a stripper in his office. He manages this club, and he’s a total bag of shit. He’s sixty-eight years old and a former NRA member. He’s Finn’s godfather along with Sean and Shane's, Finn’s younger twin brothers. While Steve worked his magic to destroy all the O’Rourkes’ investments, Carmine did a little digging to find out who Steve’s girlfriend’s been cheating with. Whaddya know? This fucker is her sugar daddy.

Besides being gross as fuck, turns out Lorcan has been one of Steve’s clients since Steve got his license eight years ago. Steve suspects they hooked up during a client dinner in a restroom. He remembers his ex-girlfriend disappearing for a while, supposedly in line for the restroom. When he thought back, he remembered Lorcan took forever at the bar. He claimed he’d had to step outside to take a call. Now Steve thinks they were fucking somewhere. That was four months ago. But he admitted, for all he knew, she could have been with Lorcan before dating him. It could have all been manipulation.

The camera shifts a little, but I can still see through the scope. He moved it down to the brim of the helmet, so he could use the scope without me losing my prime-time viewing. Lorcan's pushing the girl off his dick, wrapping his hand around it to stroke it. From his expression, he’s just about to come. Then he jerks, then does nothing.

Wow.

Steve is a better sniper than any of us could have imagined. No wonder the Kutsenkos hired him. He hit Lorcan in the pterion. It’s just above the ear and the weakest part of the skull where three different bones meet. There’s an artery— the middle meningeal artery —that runs underneath it. That bullet did a lot more than just rupture it and cause an epidural hematoma. The caliber of the weapon likely exploded the circle of Willis, which supplies much of the blood to the brain. It might not have been instantaneous death despite him going still, but he definitely didn’t survive it.

I watch Steve climb back down the fire escape before getting into the car. He closes the door softly once he’s in the seat behind me. We pull out and call it a night. We’re exhausted by the time we get to my parents’ home. But I’d call the night a success.

I slip into my bedroom and spot Beth fast asleep. I pause to watch her for a moment. She can never find out how blithely I entered that bar and shot those men. It wasn’t like this afternoon where they attacked us first. It wasn’t even a fight. These were executions. That’s the monster this life has made me. That’s what makes all of us morally black just like society believes. But in our world, morality is absolute, even if the outside world thinks ours is situational.

Either you honor the rules, or you don’t. When you do, you have the chance to live. When you don’t, you can pretty much guarantee your own death. It’s why Luca, Carmine, and Gabe surviving what they did to Anastasia Kutsenko is unbelievable. If they weren’t part of the don’s family, they would be dead. The O’Rourkes done fucked up. And now they’ll understand that I’m no different from any other man in the underworld. Come near the woman I love, and I will burn your world down.

I slip into the shower and run the shampoo through my hair. I’m unprepared for soft hands to skim over my skin from behind. The shower pouf rubs across my back then around to my belly as Beth wraps her arms around me, pressing her body to mine. I rinse my face and hair before turning around.

“Piccolina.”

“Daddy.”

We say nothing else as I lift her left leg to my hip. I maneuver between her legs and thrust into her. She grips my shoulders, squeezing each time I surge into her. Some of our most meaningful conversations happen while we’re having sex because there’s nothing more intimate than making your body one with someone else. But this time, neither of us says a word until we come together.

“I love you.”

We grin at each other when we speak at the same time. I’m glad I already put my discarded clothes in a trash bag. They were gross. Blood splatters far more than you’d expect. Before I can grab it once we’re out of the shower, she snags the bleach from beneath the sink. I reach for it, but she twists away. She lets her towel drop to the floor before bending over to pour a small amount onto the tiles. She’s thorough, pouring out a little more when she needs it. She starts from as high as she can reach, which is above anywhere the water sprayed, until she reaches the floor. There isn’t a single inch that doesn’t get scrubbed at least three times.

When she’s done, she rinses the sponge and puts it and the bleach away. She turns to the sink and washes her hands. She hangs up her bath towel as I watch her. Neither of us speaks. After I hang up my towel, she offers me her hand and leads me into the bedroom. We climb into bed, and she drapes her arm and leg over me as I stroke her back. Cleaning the bathroom was acceptance. She knew what I did tonight, and she didn’t shy away from it. Cleaning the bathroom was another way she’ll protect me. How did I get so lucky?

“This isn’t over, is it?”

“No. It ties the score for now. But it doesn’t end it.”

“You’ve punished Alejandro and Shane. You’ve punished both families. But what about the agents?”

“I don’t know yet.”

That’s the best I can offer, and she seems content with that. She tilts her head back to kiss me. We cling to each other until we’re breathless. I fall asleep with the love of my life in my arms. I’ll live to fight another day.

Epilogue

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