Page 38 of Amico
I swore to protect her. I swore I’d never stop. And I fucking failed, again!
The light that shines so bright in her quickly begins to fade, I realize I was always doomed to fail her. From the first time she was taken from me, to now. Her fire has finally gone out, and I’ll forever be guilty, punished, crucified with the reality that I couldn’t protect her. Not even in the end.
Chapter 26
Leonardo
6 months later
“I told you, kid,” I hear Nitti hiss at the new guy, a soldier not much older than I was when I joined the family. “You answer to Leonardo now.Capire?He’s the newcapo di tutti capi.There are no other bosses above him. Remember that!”
The prick slightly glares in my direction before heading back out the door he came through a few minutes before and I can’t help but let out a laugh. He has a lot to fucking learn, but good thing he has a patient teacher. I’ve knocked bigger attitudes off of lesser men, and enjoyed fucking doing it. Matteo comes to mind and I’m taken back to the night when everything I thought I knew in life changed in an instant.
I lean back in my seat at my desk in the office and sigh. I’ve won and lost more than I thought I ever would since then, and if you would have told me what I was up against, I may have never agreed to take on the job I did.
Nitti walks to the bar across the room and pours both me and him two fingers of one of my finest scotches. I watch in silence, the memories of those days still playing with my mind, like they have every day since Luigi finally met his demise. And like I know they will continue to for the rest of my life. I’ll always be haunted.
I can’t say I know what I did was right. But I did what I had to, and continued, despite what I thought was my better judgement to do what needed to be done. Regardless of if others thought it was right, and in hindsight of all that we found out after the Lombardi Family that the world knew was sabotaged and a new heir took his rightful place. Me. Leonardo Morreti. I’d rather rot in hell before taking my father’s name.
The only thing I wasn’t expecting, Nitti stepping down soon after and both him and Alfonso Capone giving me their blessing for taking full control of our operation. Something that hasn’t been done since Sofia’s father ruled, and something I wasn’t expecting, ever. Especially everything, and all the blood spilled between us in the takeover.
“That new guy is going to give you two a run for your money, I guarantee that,” Sofia says walking in the room, as if she knew I was thinking about her, her father, the family, and what it all means to me now. With our fronts finally united I feel the power I always knew was my own and know with the men I have behind me nothing can harm those I love most now. If only I had that kind of protection before.
Nitti makes his way across the room and hands me my drink. “Nothing our boy here,Amico, can’t handle,” he says, as I take my glass and cheers him. I give him a challenging look for him calling me a boy before raising my eyebrows in agreement and smiling and taking a sip of the 20-year-old scotch.
“Then again, the rebellious nature seems to run through all our family’s veins,” Sofia says before she pauses, getting lost in thought as it trails off to the one of us who isn’t present and she smiles softly before continuing. Looking up at me, she gives me a look of strength only a former Don’s wife could, and says, “Something I think you’ll understand better in the future.”
A knock sounds at the door and instinctively we all turn to look. “Boss,” the new kid says. “It’s time.”
Raising my glass, I take down the contents in one gulp and set the empty tumbler on a nearby table. Not sure if I am ready to face what I am about to, I know only one thing matters in the outcome. Finally getting what I fucking deserve and have wanted my whole damn life. I button my suit’s jacket as I exit the room and quickly make my way towards the back of the house. Sun light shines in from outside and I take a moment to stop and look in a passing mirror to make sure I “look the part.”
“Don’t worry,” Nitti says, as he strides up beside me. “The only way out of this, is walking through it. One way or another, it all stops now. Time to end something that never should have started in the first place. Agreed?”
I give him a tight nod in the mirror as he walks away before I look back into my own eyes. Nervous. Sweating. Slightly fucking more afraid than I have ever been before, I turn to the doors leading outside and see Nitti and Sofia standing beside them.
“You ready, Leo?” Nitti asks, making me slightly irritated and I don’t give a shit if he does notice. “Just by the looks of you, something tells me you’re about to take on the biggest fucking job you’ve ever agreed to. I want to know your head is in the game.” I look past him to the outside and feel the tension leave as what I needed to see comes into view. “If you do this,” Nitti says in a low stern voice. “There can be no turning back. There can be no doubt. You are all in.”
It is all clear, more than it ever has been in my whole damn life, and I don’t waste a minute longer as I confess the only truth I have ever known to be real.
“I made a promise to a girl a long time ago,” I insist, as Nitti and Sofia reach out and grab a door handle each. “I don’t break my promises, Nitti. The only oath that will ever matter most in my life, I gave to your daughter when we were kids.”
The doors open and my breath catches as I look out into the distance. Tears burn the back of my eyes as I stare out across the yard.
“I was ‘all in’ the moment I laid eyes on her.” She turns, and when she does her white dress catches the light as I watch my bride, my life, my whole fucking world smile back at me. Maria Nitti. I take a step outside and watch as her own eyes well up in tears. She walks towards me and I know she was right. Keeping her with me, near me, will always ensure her safety. The only mistake I ever made was letting Luigi in between us when he almost took her life a few months back. A mistake that won’t happen again as soon as I make her my wife. Unite our families, and finally put an end to the feud that has gone on way too long.
“I love your daughter,” I whisper. “And I’ll die doing what Ihave to do, to protect her, always.”
The End
