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I was seventeen… We went with all the other couples. “Uptown Lodge. I remember.”
Leandro twitches.
“Paulie Barone wanted revenge on the Rigianos, so he ordered my father to take care of Leandro. I—I got wind of it, and knew he’d been hiding out with his mother in Pennsylvania until the heat between families died down. I didn’t tell my dad. I wanted to take care of it myself, with my crew.” Joey winces. “But we never found him… only his high-school girlfriend.”
“Wife,” Leandro corrects, making Joey flinch. “She was pure. Untainted by this life.” He motions around him.
“Right.” Joey inhales sharply. “We… we found her lounging in the basement of his mother’s place, watching TV, and—” He peers up to Leandro, carefully gauging whether to continue. “We took her out.”
“Liar!” Leandro stomps out Joey’s other kneecap, then calms while Joey screams in agony. He crouches and grabs Joey’s jaw to shut him up. “C’mon, rat. You sang so well in court. Sing now, for Alessia. The autopsy told me everything I needed to know about the Lucrazis, Joey. If you don’t tell her… things are going to become unbearable.”
“Boss,” Lenny interrupts.
“Quiet! I’m in the middle of something,” Leandro snaps, then turns to Joey. “Well?”
“W—we.”
My brow furrows at Joey. I’ve never seen him timid. Even with a gun to his head, he’s usually direct.
“We took turns with her.” Joey squeezes his eyes tightly shut.
Anger funnels through me like a broken dam. “While all of us were relaxing at the lodge, gushing over you boys? You were raping and murdering someone?”
Joey nods through the pain, then looks up at Leandro. “Please. I did as you asked.”
“Please what, Joey?” Leandro extends his arm with the pistol pointed at his head.
“I don’t want to die.” Joey shakes his head, tears flowing from his eyes.
I stare at him with utter disgust. There was never an ounce of truth in him. I was wrong before, in the grocery store. The rotted onion I picked up wasn’t me… it was him. There’s a dark part of me that’s happy he’s going first. Leandro is his judge, jury, and executioner. I’m just a bystander caught in the cross-fire.
“I hunted the others, you know.” Leandro’s grin remains intact. “Bruno, Stephon, Nick, and Rocco—”
My eyes widen. I knew all of them in a past life, and can hardly believe they were involved in such an evil hit. Especially Stephon – he didn’t have a bad bone in his body.
“—You’re the last.” He presses the silencer hard against Joey’s forehead. “The Valentinos love me. I’m their hero. Their own personal reaper. Little do they know, I don’t give a fuck about their family values, or who wronged them.” He stares at Tony and Lenny to make sure everyone understands exactly why he’s here. “I only care about my code.” Shthrmp! He shoots Joey in the shin, and we all flinch.
“Ahh!” Joey cries.
Shthrmp! Another shot goes off into his arm. Blood splatters all over my wall, and I can’t help but sob at the atrocity.
Leandro’s jaw is tight as he drinks in Joey’s pain. “For you, Marissa. There’s no one left.” He points the gun at Joey’s temple and gives him a cheek-to-cheek kiss goodbye.
Shthrmp!
Joey’s head crashes against the fridge, lifeless.
Chapter 3
Leandro
I snap my fingers at Lenny and Tony to clean up the mess. That’s why these two jerk-offs are here in the first place – to shadow me. Donny wants my methods. He wants to know how I’m such an efficient killer all by my lonesome? Fine, I’ll pay him back for the tip.
Joey’s twitching body lies in a dark puddle next to the fridge. It’s a beautiful sight. I have mental snapshots of all the other men who lived for years on borrowed time. My wife, Marissa, was a good kid. Straight A’s in school, found everything funny, and was loyal to the end. She made one horrible mistake though… she loved me.
I kick the corpse.
If I were different, she’d still be alive.
