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No one answered.
“You’ve learned over the last seven years what it’s like to exist just outside, Dominic. To not quite belong. To feel an utter impotence while standing beside the hand that rules the world. You now know what it was like for me all those years. You can’t deny that you know.”
“I have no reason to deny it. You’re right. And you know what, it felt like fucking shit. But I didn’t betray my family over the shit cards I’d been dealt. You played us. You played my father. For years.”
“He’s not your real—”
Someone cocked his gun. I turned to find Salvatore stepping forward, his angry gaze on my uncle.
“You listen, old man. You listen now, and show respect. Sergio didn’t get to see his baby boy. He never got to say good-bye to his wife. To any of us. You took that away. You killed your own nephew,” Salvatore said, rage slicing through the calm. “Now, you listen.” The words were forced through gritted teeth.
Roman swallowed hard, his eyes glistening. Did he feel remorse?
Did it fucking matter?
“Before I kill you,” I said, drawing his attention back on me, “I want to know your involvement with Victor Scava.”
“Let me walk away, leave town, leave the goddamned country. I’ll tell you everything, just don’t—” His voice broke.
Fucking coward.
“Don’t what?” I probed, taunting. Hating him.
“Don’t kill me,” he begged.
“Get on your knees, and beg me not to kill you.”
He looked around the room. He had to know no one would help him. Slowly, and with trembling legs, he dropped to his knees before me. Fucking fool. Fucking bastard, coward, fool. Did he really think I’d let him live?
I noticed the ring he still wore. “Take the Benedetti ring off your finger.”
He looked down at his hand and then met my gaze. I think he decided this one he could concede because he wriggled the tight ring off and handed it to me. I set it on the desk.
“Please, Dominic, I’ll tell you what you want to know, just let me live. Let my family—”
I pointed the gun at his shoulder and pulled the trigger. Roman fell backward, and Gia screamed.
“She stays,” I said to the men at the door, my eyes on Roman.
“I’m not leaving,” she said.
I glanced back at her but spoke to the soldier. “Make sure of it.”
“Uncle,” I said, looking at him again. “Get the fuck up. Back on your knees.”
Salvatore remained silent but deadly beside me. He may have left the family, but this was what he came from. This wasn’t the first time he’d seen something like this. Not one of us was clean, not a single fucking one. Not even sainted, dead Sergio.
But still. Loyalty ruled, and treason called for death. In this case, a slow and painful one.
“Victor Scava,” I said.
Roman held his injured shoulder and glanced beyond me at Gia.
“I want a deal,” he said.
“No fucking deal.” I cocked the gun, ready to shoot again.
“Wait!” Roman cried out. “I have information for her.”
I glanced at Gia, where Roman was also looking.
“About her brother.”
“Don’t fucking play games—”
“Wait, Dominic,” Gia cried out, running to my side and griping my arm, the one that held the pistol.
I thrust it backward, holding her just behind me. My bullet would find its right mark this time.
Roman started to talk. “Angus won’t give Victor the rule of the family soon enough. He wants to take it from him.”
“Angus Scava is what…is he even sixty? Victor thought he’d just hand over the rule of his family?”
“Victor was gathering supporters.”
“You being his number one?”
“No. My loyalty has always been to our family.”
I aimed at his other shoulder.
“No!” He held up both hands. “Please!”
“You’ve always been loyal to you, Uncle.”
“What do you know?”
Gia’s voice stopped me from pulling the trigger.
“A federal agent turned up dead yesterday,” Roman said. “He too was branded with the same brand as your brother. He was Mateo’s contact.”
“I don’t understand,” Gia said, her desperate gaze on mine.
“Talk faster,” I told Roman.
“A deal,” Roman said.
“Dominic, let’s hear him out,” Salvatore said.
“Deal depends on what you tell us, then,” I said. “Start talking. If I even think I smell a lie, I pull the fucking trigger, understand?”
Roman nodded. “I stopped dealing with Victor about a month ago when Angus Scava got wind of what his nephew was up to. Victor wasn’t very smart in how he did things. He underestimated Angus. He thought an alliance with me would give him the leverage he needed to take over the Scava family. I…made a mistake.”
“Just facts,” I said. I had no interest in his lies.
“I promised to help him in exchange for new territory. Then, once,” he hesitated, choosing his words. “Once I took over, we would assassinate Angus Scava, who has no shortage of enemies, and Victor would take over as head of the family. I thought it would be easier to manage Victor than Angus. That’s why I went along with it.”
