Pictures of Vernon, Crow, and all my men who don’t have one ounce of Italian blood in them.
And lastly the photos of my heart.
My pale skin, gray-eyed and black-haired man, and little man.
My Russians.
“That little boy.” I make sure to squat down so I can be at eye level with Gabriele. “I found the boy you always wanted, Gabriele. He is mine. My legacy.” Gabriele narrows his eyes angrily at me not expecting it. “That lovely Russian boy with Solonik as his last name will one day be the heir of the Parisi legacy. You will fall tonight… but my son, my Azariel.” I smirk enjoying every second of this. “He will rise.”
“You stupid cunt!” Gabriele spats angrily at my feet and becomes crazed, ripping the photos in two. All but one.
I smile when he picks up the photo I kept with me all these years waiting for this day.
Gabriele’s shocked face makes this even more thrilling. “So, you know… How?”
“Mom loved to mention how I looked nothing like you, Gabriele.” I teased. His nostrils flare as he narrows his eyes at me. “Imagine my surprise and delight to find out I wasn’t blood of your blood. I’m his. Renata’s first and only love.” I point to the man in the photo. My biological father. “That’s why you hated me so much, wasn’t it? I was the daughter of the man she always went back to even after giving you Arianna and marrying you she still went back to him.” I leaned closer to Gabriele’s face. “She gave him what she never gave you. Her heart.”
He smiles evilly at me. “Her heart?” he laughs. “I could give a fuck about her heart.”
“No. Not her heart.” I match his evil grin. Enjoying every second of shoving the knife deeper into his black heart. “A son.”
Gabriele’s eyes grow big with surprise written on his expression. “You lie. She couldn’t have–”
“The first boy, the one you still grieve for and the one you craved so much, he lived and he shares the same blood as me.” I smile wider now. What a sweet way to fuck with this man. Mom was pregnant yes but it was before Gabriele learned of Reign and while she was in the hospital giving birth she had the nurse switch her baby with one that sadly died that night. It was fucked up and equally genius of Renata.
Our family is all kinds of messed up. Gabriele took out his anger on us because of the boy he never had and mom wanting to save the son she had with her true love sacrificed Arianna thinking Gabriele wouldn’t hurt his own blood like he would kill the boy if he found out he wasn’t his. Then my mother went back to Reign and got pregnant with me and for some reason she couldn’t give me away. Perhaps the reason was because I looked just like the man she loved and I was the last piece of him she had left. She had to give up one child. I choose to believe she couldn’t go through that twice. I’m glad she did because although she sentenced me to a life in hell with a man who didn’t love me, I’m glad it happened that way because the boy got to live and in turn I had the greatest gifts life could’ve given me. My sisters. I had to live in hell but Mom made sure to give me two angels to keep me from losing faith and even when all I felt was anger and pain, I still felt their love and that was more than enough for me.
“I should have killed you the moment your whore of a mother died. I should have gotten rid of you but it was so much fun watching you break.” Gabriele laughs as blood pours from his mouth.
Sighing, I rise to my full height and take my gun out and point it at him. “You should have killed me, Gabriele but you didn’t and now we’re here.” I look him in the eye and make sure he sees me. Really sees me. “I planned on prolonging your pain but what’s the point?” I moved the gun around. “There’s nothing left of the man you once were. No empire. No legacy. Hell, even your body is giving up on you.” I smile as he winces in pain when he tries to crawl. Well, look at karma work. She’s one sweet bitch. “See you in hell, Gabriele.”
One shot between the eyes ends Gabriele Parisi’s life.
That’s how his story ends.
Alone in the basement he used to torment me and my sisters with nothing to his name and no allies. Lonely. Broken. Miserable.
Nothing.
Because everything now belongs to my Azariel.
As I watch the life leave Gabriele’s eyes I think of my life and of the future.
I didn’t have a fairytale childhood but I did have two beautiful lights with me guiding me when I was trapped in darkness.
Now Renata’s and Reign’s son I didn’t get to have him until I found him years later.
That boy is now a man.
A man who cares for me without knowing he shares my blood.
Turning away from Gabriele’s dead body, I walk towards the door and knock on it once and when it opens a smile breaks free. One that matches the smile of the man that greets me. “All better now?”
Staring into those eyes that remind me so much of my mother, I whisper. “Yes, Crow.” I reached forward and took his hand. “I’m glad I found you.”
“You turning soft on me, darling?” He rolls his eyes, reminding me so much of myself. I had to stop myself a thousand times from telling him who I was from fear of his rejection but then he slowly let me in and now that I finally learned to let others in I don’t need to hide anymore. I can love him freely.
Laughing, I look at him. “Will you stay with me?”