When I rise, Enzo and Romeo step forward, taking Emiliano from the Soldati and bringing him back inside.
I follow after, to find Sofia sitting on the last step of the staircase. My face scrunches when I see mascara streaking down her once-pretty face, and she quickly jumps to her feet when she sees me.
“Oh, Rafael. Thank heavens you’re here.” Her tone is saccharine-sweet, and she rushes closer. “The compound was attacked while you were away, and?—”
“I’mfullyaware of preciselyeverythingthat happened in my absence,Matrigna.” I spear her with a pointed look, and she pales considerably. “And I’m here now to ensure the culprits responsible pay the ultimate price,hmm?”
She purses her lips together, glancing around, probably in search of Antonio to tell her how to react, but when she comes up blank, her sense of self-preservation kicks in.
“Forgive me, Rafael. I don’t know what I was thinking.”
She rushes forward, all signs of sweetness gone as desperation overtakes her features. “It was all Antonio. He said Sebastiano would be Don if I helped him to get rid of you and Alessio?—”
I reel back as though I’ve been physically hit, shaking my head in disbelief. “Alessio died in a car accident…”
She shakes her head, her dark, bedraggled hair swishing around her shoulders. “No, no. It wasn’t an accident. Antonio had the car tampered with?—”
“You stupid bitch.”
Antonio’s voice rings out like a whip, cutting off Sofia, and she shrinks back in fear. “I—I only wanted my daughter returned to me, Antonio.” Her eyes fill with tears when she turns to me. “Taking Aurelia was not part of the deal, and now Conti refuses to give her back. Aurelia was never supposed to be there that day. Conti was supposed to end you and Giacomo.”
The truth of her words hits me like a sledgehammer as I recall Antonio’s angry words from the day of Papa’s funeral.
It should have beenyou.
I swing cold, dead eyes back to regard my treacherous uncle, my feet moving closer to him as I growl dangerously. “You orchestrated the deaths of my father and brother. My sister is lost to us. You tried to kill me.Andyou’ve handed the woman I love back to the man who will deliver her to a fate worse than death.”
I extend my hand, palm facing up, and Gianni immediately passes me a loaded gun. I pull back the slide and aim it directly at Antonio’s head. “Fabiano was doing your bidding, wasn’t he?You’rethe motherfucking traitor. You’ve been the one calling the shots all along?—”
“You don’tdeserveto leadla famiglia,” Antonio bellows, his face turning bright red as contempt drips from every word. “You’re exactly like your damn father. Thinking with your fucking cock instead of doing your duty to this family.”
My jaw tics as he shuffles closer with slitted eyes. “He knocked up yourwhoremother and killed anyone who dared to disapprove, leaving the Caruso family with men who areunfitto lead. Men who shy away from the old ways ofCosa Nostra. Pathetic,weakmen like you, your father, Alessio?—”
Lip curling in disdain, I pull the trigger, and the bullet rips through Antonio’s jowly neck. He cries out, the sound garbled as his windpipe fills with blood. His eyes are wide when he clutches the wound as he falls to the floor, and I slowly walk closer.
His eyes blink rapidly when I reach him and, for the first time, I see genuine fear in his gaze. The sight fills me with renewed energy as I bring the notched gun up to level it at his face.
“Weak?” I tilt my head to one side, regarding him with blank eyes. “Was that what you called me?”
He tries to speak, but it sounds like he’s drowning in his own blood, and I smile right into his eyes as I pull the trigger. The bullet hits him right between the eyes, and Sofia shrieks as Antonio instantly stops squirming.
No one makes a sound as I flip the safety on the gun, continuing to watch as a pool of blood streams from the forehead of the man at my feet.
“Who’sweaknow,Zio?”
My question hangs in the air for a long beat before I turn to face my waiting men right as Santino DeMarco strides through my front door like the motherfucker owns the damn place.
Dark brown hair falls across his forehead as he extends his arms wide with his white shirt unbuttoned almost to his abdomen. His green eyes are filled with their usual flippancy when he slips his shades from his face with a shit-eating grin.
“My father sends his regards. And the location of that asshole Conti.” He quirks a dark eyebrow as I stride past him and out the front door.
“You’ll hold up your end, DeMarco,si?”
I stop on the top step, looking back at my unlikely accomplice.
“Must say, I’m surprised you offered yourPrincipessaas my wife in exchange for our muscle, but I won’t say I’m sorry about it?—"
“It’s analliance.” My snarl cuts him off, and he holds his hands up at either side of his head. “It seems betrayal has become an epidemic withinCosa Nostra, Santino. Alliances like this will keep us all from descending into madness like motherfucking Conti,capisti?”
