Page 68 of Blood Money

“That was just sad.”

He sneered. Ballsy fucker. God, I hated him before, but I loathed him now.

“Remember a little trip you took to Grand Rapids about, oh, ten years ago?”

At first, he looked confused, but then he started laughing maniacally.

I ground my teeth but stayed quiet.

“You were such a sucker. My only regret is that I didn’t fuck her before I had them hit her. It would’ve been epic. Her bent over with your baby hanging down in front of her while I shoved my cock in her. And she was so fuckin’ pitiful. ‘Boohoo! I hurt! Boohoo! I’m scared!’ Do you think your little bastard died right away, or do you think it died in the hospital?”

Rage engulfed me, my entire body shaking as I fought not to lose my cool. Agony over a loss I hadn’t had time to process had me reaching into my jacket again. I pulled out my pistol, then the silencer, which I calmly and meticulously attached to the barrel.

Inside my head, chaos reigned as I screamed and destroyed everything around me. Yet to the casual observer, I was cool, calm, and collected.

“Vittorio?” Catalano said. I could hear the uncertainty in his tone. He was wondering if this was a scare tactic. He had no idea I was past that.

“Boss,” Dario called out as I lifted my arm. But he was too slow.

I shot Mario in the dick, reveling in his cries as the darkness seeped through my veins. He passed out again, but I heartlessly waved the ammonia under his nose again. He coughed and choked.

“Grandfather sent me to do it!” he immediately shouted in a high-pitched tone. “He wanted her to die, too, but I let her live!”

The vicious blackness closed in. I placed the gun to his forehead.

“You little pissant. You ain’t got the guts. Gabriel will have your ass and you know it,” he sneered.

Disrespectful to the end.

He tried. I’ll give him that.

“That’s something I’m willing to face,” I coldly replied as I pulled the trigger.

“Vittorio!” everyone yelled at once.

Dario jumped in front of me and grabbed my face. Eyes wild, he stared at me. “Jesus fucking Christ, what did you do?”

My chest was heaving as I stood there without answering. Finally, I replied, “He killed my baby.”

“Oh fuck,” Dario mumbled.

“Have you lost your ever-loving, motherfucking mind?” Gabriel asked me. “We have shit blowing up all over the place, and you killed our only source of information at the moment!”

Staring into space, I sat in a dusty chair in the kitchen of the shithole Mario was now rotting in.

“Vittorio. Are you listening to me?”

I blinked. Then I made eye contact. “I hear you. I’m not sorry. But he wasn’t going to tell us anything. He tried to kill us, Gabriel.” I fought to swallow down the bile that rose in my throat. “He killed my baby, and he did it following our grandfather’s orders. Kendall was supposed to die too. The only reason I’m not on a plane to Sicily this very second is because I know that evil fucker has too many people there. But the next time he comes back to Chicago to visit? I’m putting a bullet between his eyes too.”

“Christ.” Gabriel ran a hand through his hair, making it stand up wildly. I’d laugh if I had it in me at the moment.

“Somehow, our precious patriarch found out Kendall was pregnant. Of course, he never told me. I have no idea if it was him that got to Kendall’s grandmother, or if she just thought she was protecting her granddaughter. Either way, Kendall believed I knew about the baby, and that I didn’t want it or her. It was a boy.” Though I sat there for all intents and purposes as an emotionless statue, I was broken. A single tear fell and rolled down my face. I felt it drop off my chin.

“Vittorio,” Gabriel said, his voice cracking.

“I dideverythinghe asked.” I slammed the side of my fist on the beat-up table. “He promised me that if I did what he wanted, he would leave her alone. I didn’t contact her. I didn’t so much aslook her up. I studied business. No, I didn’t graduate, but I’ve worked for The Family every day since I left school. Why? Why would he do that? Why did he hate me so much?” I cried, defeated and devastated.

“I don’t know,” Gabriel murmured as he slowly shook his head.

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