Page 53 of Married to the Mafia

“Dad,” Rose says, going to get up. I tug at her arm and she retreats back to her seat. “What did they do to you?”

“They keep saying I’m some big mafia boss,” he replies. “I told them I had no idea what they were talking about, but they didn’t believe me. What’s happening, Rose?”

“What do you want?” I ask, interrupting their conversation.

Don Belucci nods to his two men and they move closer, pulling out guns. “You said this was a talk Don to Don, said you wouldn’t bring your soldiers if I didn’t bring mine.”

“I lied,” Don Belucci replies. “That’s why I’m going to be Capo dei Capi and you’re going to be buried in an unmarked grave. I’m going to take your little slut wife and give her to my son and watch her insides all come spilling out. I will lick her blood from her corpse and you will watch. You’ll see her cut into pieces and I will make you eat a slice before I finally let you die.”

I glance down at my watch. One minute to go. Just need to keep him talking.

“What you looking at the time for?” Don Belucci says. “Nobody’s coming to help you. The mighty Don Gianni brings me the woman I need, and not a shot needs to be fired. You walk in my door and hand yourself over and now I win. I shoot her father in the head.

“I take his post and I rule this country and my first decree is that the marriage is annulled so she can get shacked up with Ricardo. We follow the rules same as you. They get married. I get the post of Capo dei Capi and you get dead. You should have brought some back up. Instead,you thought I’d be honest with you. Dumb fucking assholes like all the Giannis.

“Oh, and I owe you one to the face for the way you treated my son. Going to take your eyes out for that one. What do you think of that, Dino? You can watch her get cut up and then hear her screams while I let my son saw her into a dozen pieces.”

I glance at my watch. Ten seconds. I get ready. “I think you’ve made one mistake,” I say. “Want to know what it is?”

He sneers at me as he gets to his feet. “What?”

“You talk too much.”

The bomb goes off.

There’s the deafening sound of an explosion from outside the front door. The wall of the room is cracked and starts to fall. The noise and dust are so bad I can’t see a thing for a second. He was right. I walked straight up to his mansion. With a car filled with explosives on a timer set just right.

By the time he reacts to the explosion, I’ve got my gun out and I’m already firing. His men are shooting blind and it’s luck who’ll win.

A bullet whips past me, another catches my shoulder. I hear a grunt and I wave my arm through the smoke filled room. Don Belucci is on the floor and blood’s spurting out of him. There’s something wrong with the picture, but I can’t work out what it is.

Rose’s father is leaping over the corpses of his guards, landing at my feet. “This way,” he says, tossing me a set of keys from Don Belucci’s pocket. Without stopping, he gets past me and runs out the room. What happened to the guy on the edge of death a few minutes ago?

We follow, Rose’s hand in mine. Men are shouting throughout the house, but we ignore them, getting out theback door a minute later. There’s a row of cars on the gravel, and Mr. Silver points to the nearest one. “Hit the button,” he says.

Bullets are firing after us by now, so I’ve no time to ask questions.

It’s a Porsche SUV in black, Don Belucci’s go to car. Armor plated I’m betting. I find the key on the keyring and hit the button. The engine starts before we’re even inside.

Rose and her father jump in the back and I get in the driver's seat, gunning the pedal as men run out the door, shouting our way. We race off, spitting gravel at them.

I handbrake turn around the corner of the house and tear along the drive to the country road beyond. I glance in the mirror and the front of the house is caving in.

No one’s living there again. I’m surprised the explosion didn’t take us all out. Guess we got lucky.

“Now what?” Rose asks, glancing from me to her father.

“Now we find Ricardo and kill that fucker,” I reply, yanking the steering wheel left and heading toward the city without looking back.

Don Belucci is dead. That makes Ricardo the new Don. I need him dead fast. I have to find him first. Corrado better have some news for me when we get back. “You all right back there?” I ask.

“Fine,” Mr. Silver says, but I can hear the strain in his voice.

“How bad is it?” I ask.

“I’ll be all right,” he replies.

Rose’s gasp tells me everything I need to know. She’s spotted something up with her father and whatever it is, it’s bad.

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