Page 75 of Tortured Hearts
For a man who has a loaded Glock aimed at his head, my father doesn’t flinch. Instead, he pulls his gun and points it at me. “She cried for you, you know. When Henry attacked her, she screamed out your name.”
I block the image trying to force its way into my head. “I’ll give you three guesses. Each wrong answer will cost you a limb.”
“I only wish you could crawl back from Hell to watch what’s about to happen to her.” Closing his eyes, he inhales whatever fucked-up excitement those words invoke before opening them with a smirk. “You could say it’s twenty-two years in the making.”
The grandfather clock explodes, chiming out the midnight hour.
Showtime.
“Sorry. I’m afraid that ‘indulging your delusional bullshit’ is the wrong answer.” Aiming the gun at his kneecap, I pull the trigger. He drops to the floor with a howl, his cigar skidding across the marble along with his gun. Kicking it across the room, I stare at the blood pooling at his feet. “You have two more guesses. Think carefully, Marcello. You only have oneknee left, and no one to push your wheelchair.”
“Vai a cagare!”
I feign a wince. “Ooooh, tough luck.” Another pull on the trigger, and his other kneecap shatters. “While manywouldlike for you to ‘eat shit and die,’ you’re now ‘oh’ for two.”
He rolls to his side, blood pouring from his wounds. “I’m going to make you wish you were never born!”
“You’re thirty-five years too late. Also, you still haven’t answered the question. What happens next,Dad?”
“Killing me won’t stop what’s already in motion. You think the tide turned for you ‘a few days ago?’” He lets out a rattled laugh. “Boy, you’ve been a part of this story much longer than that. I have plants everywhere. Ones you’d never dream are plotting against you.”
Likewise.
“It’s true, you’ve done a shit job of cleaning up after yourself. While poor Henry is resting in pieces, you’ve left the other offshore account holders very much alive to contradict your story.” I click my tongue. “There’s that god complex fucking everything up for you again.”
“Wrong. They’re all dead.”
“Then why is there fear in those words?”
“That’s not fear, boy, that’s shame at having such an idiot for a son…” He glares at me, nostrils flaring. “Once word gets to the Authority, they’ll make an example out of you, so think carefully about your next move.”
“Actually, Marcello, you have that backward,” comes a voice from the doorway.
Fuck. Me.
For once, the element of surprise catches us both in a one-two punch. The room falls deathly silent as we both turn toward the door where Toscano stands along with the other three members of the Authority … and they’re not happy.
My father has the nerve to laugh. “Benito, your timing is impeccable, old friend. The traitor has arrived. Take him out.”
However, all that confidence short-circuits when four guns draw, then aim at his chest.
Who’s the trapped rat, now?
One by one, he meets the eyes of the remaining bosses of the Five Families, reality finally sinking in. “What is this?”
Toscano is the only one to speak. “It’s the end of the line, Marcello, for you and your twenty-year deception.”
I expect a last-ditch Hail Mary attempt at pinning his sin on me. Instead, he slumps onto his side, a fascinating mix of disgust and resignation on his face. “You’re all betraying your oaths.”
“No, we’re honoring them,” Toscano counters flatly. “You’ve forsaken the Five Families for personal gain, Marchesi. You no longer have a place among us.Ciò che il sangue lega, solo la morte spezza.”
What blood binds only death breaks.
My father’s complexion turns the color of spoiled milk as he glares at me with hatred. “What the fuck did you do?”
“I ‘learned a thing or two.’ Isn’t that what you wanted?” I lean down on my haunches, ensuring the icy smile on my face is the last thing he sees. “The answer to ‘What Happens Next’ is you realize I took a move from your playbook. Instead of taking matters into my own hands, I took them to Staten Island. So you see, Marcello, there’s no ‘next move.’ I’ve already been crowned at the end of the board.” I aim the gun right between his eyes. “Checkmate, bitch.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
