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“Okay,” she whispers weakly around a fit of sniffles.
Dragging her back into my arms, I give her the longest hug of my life, wishing I never had to let her go. That feeling of failure in my stomach hardens.
I kiss the top of her head and help her to the bed, mouthing another, “Thank you,” to Eden as I walk out and return to the living room.
Everyone turns their attention at the sound of the door suddenly slamming. All of us reach for our weapons. Dante storms around the corner, dressed in scrubs.
“What the fuck happened to my house?” he yells, looking from the bullet hole in his couch to the covered-up dead body on the floor. “I’ve been trying to call Eden for an hour, and the cameras were down. Where the fuck is my wife?”
I hold a finger to my mouth. “She’s in Amara’s bedroom with her.”
“Are they hurt?”
“No, but I’m trying to hide this from her.”
He scoffs. “Antonio, this is getting bad. You need to leave the country with Amara and never come back.” A groan leaves him while he scrubs a hand over his face. “I came as quickly as I could, but it seems I was too late.”
“Eh, I wouldn’t consider that,” Julian comments. “I mean, you could’ve been shot.”
Dante shoots him a death glare. “All of you, out of my houseright fucking now!”
“I’m sorry,” I say, shame filling me.
I told him it wouldn’t come to this, and I broke my word again.
It seems that’s all I do anymore.
He inches closer, blinking at me. “You’re dripping blood all over the floor.”
I hold up my arm and inspect it. “Yeah, I’m sorry about that too.”
“You need medical attention!”
“Good thing you’re here, then.”
Thirty minutes later and post Dante tending to my gunshot wound, I’m driving Amara, Eden, and Dante two hours away, ready to cash in a favor. Jerry, a six-foot-nine retired football player who moved off the grid, told me there’s always an invite if I need it.
Well,afterI persuaded the governor to override the city regulations that were stopping him from building on his property. He has a guest home, and that’s where they’re sleeping until the morning, when I can fly them out.
Leo is on a flight to Chicago so he can bring Clara back to New York. After that, I’ve chartered a private plane to take them to Italy to stay with family.
Dante waits until Amara is snoring in the backseat before asking questions. “What’s your plan with this, Antonio? Let Sonny be boss, or whatever you call yourselves, and leave with Amara. You’re too good for this life.”
I pay him a glance while merging on the highway. “I’m definitely not too good for this life. Sonny will die for this.”
Eden pokes her head between us to join the conversation. “I vote on killing Sonny.”
Dante winces at his wife’s nonchalant tone. “You aren’t spending time with him anymore.” He glowers at me. “You have her thinking she’s some mob wife now.”
“Sonny wants to kill you too,” she tells him, chomping on gum. “You’re also Vincent’s son, another man in the way of him being boss. And I think I know how to get him.”
I jerk back to briefly glance at her. “Tell me more.”
46
“Don’t you dare cry over a Lombardi,” Benny grits out. “They aren’t worthy of your tears. They deserve to bleed out.”
My father hasn’t said a word since we left Dante’s. He’s waiting to speak with me privately.
