Page 81 of Blood and Lies (A Twisted Duet 1)

“Incentive.” She smiled maliciously, victoriously, and I wanted to wipe that smile off her face with my goddamn fist.

Vico dropped my father into a chair next to Mrs. Fattore, and when my dad saw me, he moaned and whimpered with the gag fixed in his mouth.

I started to shake as new tears blurred my vision. I couldn’t take it. I couldn’t handle seeing my dad like this.

I launched forward and placed my hands on the table right in front of Mrs. Fattore. Castello tried to grip my elbow, but I jerked out of his reach.

“Let my father go.”

“I’m sorry, child, but I can’t do that.”

“Let my father go, and you can kill me. I won’t fight you. You can torture me, kill me as slowly as you want, I won’t fight, as long as you let my father go!” Desperation clung to my every word while I tried to bite back more tears. Castello cursed behind me, but I ignored him. This was no longer about just us. His mother had turned the tables by bringing my father here, and even though we never saw eye to eye, I would gladly trade my life for his.

“You see, Tatum”—she glanced from my father to me—“I can’t do that since we plan on killing you both. That has always been the plan.”

My father’s blue eyes watered when he stared at Mrs. Fattore in horror. Me? My stomach had dropped to the soles of my feet, my heart pounding as if it wanted to break through my ribs.

Vico smiled. “We never planned on making any trade. Your father had been put under the impression that we would trade your life for his, but that was never our intention…was it, Castello?” He glanced over my shoulder at Castello, and I turned to face him.

Dark eyes bored into mine. “No, it wasn’t,” he admitted. “But things changed.”

“Oh, nothing has changed.” Vico ripped the gag from my father’s mouth. “Tell them. Tell them who had Carlo murdered.”

Sobs wracked my father’s body, his face cut and bruised from what looked like one hell of a beating. Blue eyes that mirrored my own stared at me, pain, sorrow, and so much regret clouding them.

“I’m sorry, Tatum.” He swallowed hard. “I had him killed, but—”

Vico stuffed the gag back in his mouth, and I no longer registered any voices, any sound—nothing. The only thing I heard was my father’s word, my father’s admission of what I had hoped like hell wasn’t true. All this time, whenever Castello told me about my father’s role in Carlo’s death, I didn’t believe it. I convinced myself they were all wrong. But now, it seemed that the only person who was wrong…was me.

“I think the man isn’t done speaking.” Uncle Gino rounded the table to stand next to Castello.

“Oh, he is,” Vico replied with a hiss.

Castello glanced at Uncle Gino, then at me, and then looked at his mother. “Let the man speak.”

She shook her head. “We heard enough.”

Castello walked up, menace and conviction plastered on his hard face. “I said, let the man speak.”

“I’m sorry, Castello, I can’t allow that. And this brings us to another issue.” She glanced around the room as if she was addressing the whole crowd. “I love my son dearly,” her stare returned to him, “but I no longer believe you are the right leader for this family, and neither does the majority of everyone here. The responsibility of leading and protecting this family is no longer yours, my son.”

Castello straightened his shoulders, but he didn’t say anything. The look of defeat on his face spoke volumes.

Why wasn’t he saying anything? This wasn’t a goddamn democracy. How could they just decide he was no longer the leader? He was the one who told me they had certain rules they had to follow. Surely, getting rid of the leader wasn’t so fucking simple

Vico stepped right up, putting his face inches from Castello’s. “I’m sorry, brother, but you blew it. You are no longer in charge.”

And then Castello smiled before laughing maniacally. “You think I didn’t know you would do this, that you would challenge me?”

“No challenge necessary, brother. It’s already done.”

“And I suppose if I challenge you, you will tell the rest of the family that I killed Nicollo.”

Gasps and curses erupted. Shivers broke out over my body as panic flared up, threatening to burn to me to ash.

A man I didn’t recognize jumped from his seat and yelled, “Where is my son? Where is Nicollo?”

Castello still smiled. “Well, he sure as fuck isn’t here, Uncle Roberto. And you know why? I killed him. I put my gun against his head and pulled the motherfucking trigger. Go have a look. His corpse is probably still lying right there where I left him.” He turned to Vico. “Right, little brother?”

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