AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I watched the screen as Enzo and Constantine approached the room a few seconds later, their weapons drawn, stealthily and cautiously moving.
“The Feds are on your ass,” Alessandro warned as Enzo and Constantine went into Bianca’s old room to face off with the woman who had forever altered their lives.
Nico was on his knees by Alice’s side, his hands behind his head.
Alessandro shot the three of us a look, letting us know to remain quiet; then he hit a button on the panel so we could all hear what was being said in the room.
“Let me out of here or the man your sister loved dies,” Alice warned, but she had to know she’d already lost, right? How could she not?
Enzo was hesitating. Constantine too. I could see it in their body language. The expressions on their faces. They didn’t want to watch the man their sister loved die.
I ran my hands up and down my arms, trying to erase the chills beneath my top, but it was pointless. Even my teeth were clicking from nerves.
Alessandro pressed a button to mute the sound in the room and said over his comm, “Twenty seconds until you have company from the Feds.” He pressed the button again, and I missed whatever conversation happened in that time, but on the second screen, I saw the Federal agents gaining ground, nearing their location.
“Just shoot her,” Nico urged. “I should’ve figured this out long ago. This is my fault. Just kill her, and—”
“Weapons down!” armed agents yelled from the doorway, rifles in hand.
And during the distraction, Alice’s focus shifted, and I knew what was coming. Because I knew Enzo.
He lifted his weapon despite the Feds’ orders, and Nico shifted to the side, falling to the ground to give Enzo space to shoot her.
Alice went down. Almost in slow motion. Or maybe my brain had glitched. I wasn’t sure. But the gun had fallen from her hand, never discharged, and she’d landed facedown.
Agents barked out orders for Enzo to lower his weapon, and he slowly set down his rifle and went to his knees, hands behind his head.
His gaze lifted to the camera as he was cuffed, and he mouthed words I knew he’d meant for me to see: “I’m so sorry.”
“Alice had a gun, and he had no choice. The Feds saw that, right?” I sputtered, pretty much talking to myself in the safe room. My head and heart weren’t on the same page right now. Both were pulling me in two different directions. Confused. Scared. The fog of shock hadn’t been lifted.
All I could focus on right now was that Enzo was in cuffs and in the back of an unmarked vehicle in the driveway. Constantine and his father had yet to be cuffed, but Hudson was outside talking to someone from the FBI task force.
“Can’t we go out there?” Isabella asked her brother, and he shook his head.
“Not until Hudson lets us know it’s safe. I don’t want them taking you all in for questioning if I can help it,” Alessandro explained, and the idea of being in an FBI interrogation room with my below-par acting skills wasn’t the best idea.
Angela’s eyes fixed to the screen as the Feds escorted Giovanni from the property alongside Nico. “Alice didn’t kill her dad.” Her tone was soft, a bit unsure. “It’s over, though. It’s all finally over.” She faced me and grabbed my hand. “I’m so sorry you were dragged into our mess. I broke my promise to your parents to protect you.”
“But I’m okay,” I reminded her. “It’s Enzo I’m worried about. If Hudson was able to pull off a miracle and get the Feds to show up so fast, then—”
“Hudson will get him out. The Feds have to follow protocol, though, and Enzo killed someone right in front of them,” Alessandro cut me off, his gaze going to his mother, and she let go of me. “I need you to try and keep calm. I know with everything that’s happened, that’s a big ask, but please. Enzo’s feeling pretty fucked up right now, knowing you had to watch all of that, trust me, I know him. And then he killed a woman for the first time in his life. And—”
“For a notorious charmer, you’re failing to calm anyone down,” his mom interrupted him.
Alessandro frowned, then in a softer tone shared, “Hudson called in a favor to the governor minutes before everything went down. He offered the Brambillas on a silver platter if the governor could ask the Feds to assist us this morning and ensure all 911 calls were intercepted,” he went on, searching my gaze. “This way, the governor and ADIC get credit for taking down the most powerful Italian mafioso family on the East Coast. Shit like this helps win elections, I guess.”
“The ADIC?” My voice was so freaking small right now. And the governor governor? Like of New York?
“The assistant director in charge at the field office in New York,” Alessandro clarified. “He’s been building a case against the Brambillas for years, so Hudson had a feeling it’d only take a nudge from the governor to finally close in on them today.”
I had so many questions, I didn’t know where to start. “But was the crime boss even here?”
“No, but the Feds can use the cleaner’s files Hudson shared with them as a means to arrest him and search his properties,” Alessandro went on, and Angela reached for my hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze. “And since Giovanni and Nico are alive, I’m sure they can offer additional intel to take down the Brambillas in exchange for immunity.”
“Hudson couldn’t help my brothers thirteen years ago,” Isabella spoke up, “but you can trust us when we say he’ll be able to help Enzo this time.”
“Because of the Brambilla deal?” I needed this all spelled out for me, and I was still shaken up and in disbelief at what had happened this morning. I’d yet to process the danger. Or the lives I’d witnessed Enzo take before my eyes.
