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Not wanting to avenge Vinny’s death is a bad look.
I’m relieved he’s gone. Call me a heartless bastard all you want.
Just because he was my brother doesn’t mean I had an allegiance toward him once he started being dumb.
Blood is thicker than water, but it’s also harder to clean up.
20
After my father and Natalia’s wedding, the spotlight moved to Benny and Neomi’s nuptials. Neither wants to marry each other, and they made that clear the night of their engagement party. Benny took Gretchen, a housekeeper he regularly slept with, into the mansion’s billiards room. Neomi saw them, and in revenge, she joined them … with another man.
Even though I wasn’t in the room when said murdering happened and I didn’t ask for details, I heard them all. Neomi had dropped to her knees in front of the man, claiming an eye for an eye while appearing to prepare to suck the man off in front of Benny. So my brother blew the guy’s brains out. Hopefully, they had gotten all their hostility out of their systems because after today, they’re bound to each other until death.
Sitting in the cathedral pew, I watch Neomi walk down the aisle as the bridal chorus plays. I look away from her to Benny.
A very pregnant Natalia leans toward me and whispers, “Benny isn’t Benny-ing the way I thought he would.”
I smirk.
While we expected a miserable Benny today, that’s not what we’re getting. He isn’t staring at Neomi with disdain. He’s staring at her like a loving husband would look at his wife. It isn’tdramatic, like those crying grooms people rave about on social media, since I doubt he even has the emotional capacity to shed a tear, but there’s a look in his eyes I never imagined seeing.
I smile wide as they recite their vows and kiss.
Their union makes our family stronger. The Cavallaros are a resourceful family.
We’re all in the high of the romance around us … and then all hell breaks loose.
Two men enter the cathedral and start shooting.
I should’ve known we couldn’t get away withtwopeaceful weddings.
People scramble, duck behind pews, or reach for their own guns.
Benny tackles Neomi to the ground. My father shields Natalia and me before pushing us in the direction the priest is running while he stays behind. Surely, he knows the best hiding spot. Natalia blocks her stomach as we follow him. Unfortunately, the priest doesn’t care about our lives. As soon as he enters a room, he slams the door shut and locks us out.
Okay, rude.
God had better retract his ticket to heaven.
I check three doors before finding one unlocked. We run inside, lock it, and stare at each other in shock until the gunfire dies down. Crawling on the floor, I inch the door open, peek around the corner, and make sure the coast is clear before we return to the nave.
People are standing, readjusting themselves, and children are crying.
My father rushes over to us. “You two okay?” He stands back to scan our bodies and inspect us for wounds.
“Yeah,” I croak out.
Natalia flings her arms around him, and I walk toward a dead body in the middle of the aisle.
Poor Neomi.
Whoever the dead asshole on the floor is, he ruined her big day. I want to snatch my father’s gun and shoot him again just for that.
Inching closer, I spot another dead man slumped against the floor. Blood drips down the side of his head. Even though I don’t recognize any of the men as Lombardi doesn’t mean they aren’t. I only know a few of their men. At least none of them are Antonio. That’s all that matters to me.
“Has anyone seen my daughters?” Concetta, Neomi’s mother, yells.
We hear a sharp scream from a back hallway before anyone can answer her.
