Page 123 of Dreadful
“Yes. Tell me, and maybe I’ll spare you.”
“And Tallie?”
He snorts. “Your bitch is a lost cause. I know who she is. I put the pieces together after I followed you to the North End, and I saw her walking to the bakery, too. Antonella always did love those naïve old men. It makes sense that she would take her to them. After the carnage that girl left behind in her little vendetta, I have a score to settle with her. She’s not leaving this house alive. But you…” He wags his finger at me. “I may make an exception for you if you just tell me where Vinnie is.”
“Sev…” Tallie stirs in my arms, and I draw her closer, cradling her in my arms, so she can whisper without my uncle hearing. “Sever…I love—”
“Don’t you dare fucking say it. You can tell me after this, but not before,vipera, got it?”
“Severino, my boy, what don’t you understand about this situation? There will be no ‘after.’ You might as well let her have her last words now.”
“Please listen, Sev.” Tallie’s voice is a mere breath, so I lean toward her until her lips brush my ear. “Do what you have to. He’s giving you an out. Forget the vendetta. Save yourself. Just let me go.”
She clings to my forearm, and I kiss her temple. My eyes burn as I make my vow, and I hope it’s not the last thing I do.
“No. I’m not leaving you. Never again,mia bella vipera.”
My mind is still working at a glacial speed, but my mother was indeed right. Adrenaline and hate are helping me push through, and the haze is fading from the corners of my vision. As much as I don’t want to take my eyes away from Tallie, I have to trust that our plan is still solid, and she’ll be alright. While I pretend to keep looking at her, I assess our surroundings in my periphery.
While Tallie and I spoke, Claudio had the audacity to order my mother to move his food and wine to the chair beside her. He chews on a piece of steak as his fingers drum on top of the expensive tablecloth my mother is so obsessed with. His gun lies in front of him. My mother sits smugly beside my uncle, leaning into his space as if he cares at all that she’s there.
Raze still lies motionless on the floor, mere feet from me. He’s breathing, thank God, but my eyes catch on a shadow at his hip where Roman kicked his shirt up. But it doesn’t look like a bruise…
It’s a gun.
Fuck yes.
Roman and Tiero might’ve done what Claudio asked them to do, but they left me a weapon to fight back with. Claudio didn’t make them stow the guns away in his gun cabinet after they frisked me. That’ll be his last mistake.
I kiss Tallie’s temple one last time before gently laying her down on the ground.
“Leaving the girl behind? Smart move. She’ll be dead soon, anyway. But you’re not going anywhere without answering my question. Where. Is. Vincenzo?”
I lunge for the tablecloth and yank it off before Claudio can grab his pistol. Plates and glasses crash to the ground, and I use the chaos to grab the gun Raze is carrying on his hip. I’m shielding Tallie again and pointing the barrel at Claudio before my mother even has the chance to scream.
She leaps up from the table and backs into the wall. All her previous bravado has disappeared as she inches toward the kitchen door. Ironically, it brings her closer and closer to me, but I don’t dare take my eyes off of Claudio.
I don’t see Claudio’s gun on the table anymore, but somehow his table setting remained intact.
“I thought things like that only happened in movies…” Tallie grunts as she tries to sit up.
“Don’t hurt yourself,dolcezza,” I grit through clenched teeth, biting back my chuckle.
But when Claudio sips his wine as if he doesn’t have a care in the world, that simple action does me in, and a laugh barks from my chest.
“What’s so funny, boy?” He glares at me over his wineglass. “Where’s my capo?”
“He’s where I put all the other bodies,zio.”
“And where is that? I don’t have the patience your father did,bastardo.”
“You want me to be direct? Alright. His head has been stripped, bleached, and processed for my collection. But his body…well, that’ll one day be in the wine you’re drinking.”
A small amount dribbles down his chin. “Excuse me?”
“I buried Vinnie in your precious vineyard,zio. You’ve been wondering why I don’t drink it, but you’ve never questioned where I dump the bodies you’ve made me kill. I actually got my inspiration from you. Up until recently, I chopped off their heads and dumped them in the river. When my father died after drinkingyourwine, though, I thought to myself, ‘How could I possibly get Claudio back?’ I’ve been wanting vengeance ever since I thought Tallie died that night we tried to escape, so I thought it was fitting. Depending on your winemaking production time, you could’ve been drinking decomposing bodies for weeks, if not months.”
“That…that’s not possible.” Claudio’s face twists as the wineglass trembles in his hand.
