“Okay. Thank you.” I wiped my tears. “What about Leo?”
“Whatever you do, don’t tell him I’m coming.”
“Don’t kill him, Don Bellomo. I beg you. I came to you to save him. Please.”
“Just like you trusted me and told me everything, you’ll have to trust me with what comes next. It won’t go unrewarded.”
CHAPTER 31
Ravenna
Everything was happening so fast. After Don Bellomo shot Nicole’s husband, bullets started bellowing around along with the crying of Leo’s brother. Leo grabbed me and pulled me down to take cover, sheltering me with his body while he fired his gun right and left.
Don Bellomo spun, pulling out a second gun, and stood in front of Lina, shielding his wife and both his sons. “This is for torturing my son behind my back, you fucking bastard.” His arm stretched toward Don Lanza, who was on the floor, inspecting Domenico’s wound with one hand, the other stretched with a gun, too. “Tell your men to retreat or you’ll never seeyourson again.”
“Cazzo?!” Don Lanza exclaimed. “Basta! Tutti! Subito!”
The booming of the bullets died yet it still rang in my ears, the air fogging with smoke and adrenaline.
“You took Mario?” Don Lanza fumed.
“Si,amico mio. Surprised? Does it fucking hurt?”
“Where is he, Tino?”
“Safe. For now.”
“What do you want?”
“My family. All of them. The doctor and her family will be under my protection from now on, and you can kiss our fucking business and friendship goodbye.” Don Bellomo pointed at Domenico’s body with the gun. “And I want that fuck.”
“He’s my cousin, Tino. You already shot him. It’s enough. I don’t even know if he’ll survive.”
“I don’t give a fuck. He doesn’t get to live after what he’s done to my own son. It’s either him or the two of you.”
“I didn’t stab you in the back, Tino. Your wife came to me, begging me to lock your fucked up boy up, keep him somewhere safe so he’d never come back, soyou’dbe safe. I was doing her and you a favor.”
“Enough lies!”
“She’s right here. Fucking ask her.”
“It’s true,” Leo said. “She set this whole thing up with the Lanzas. A favor for a favor. Domenico torturing me in exchange for marrying Nicky.”
Oh my God. I glanced at Leo. He must have been devastated. How did he remain in control all this time? How did he come face to face with Lina and didn’t murder her? Oh my God. Did he kill Nicky instead? No. Even if he wanted to, he wouldn’t have killed her baby. Was he able to finally take control of his own violent impulses?
“I didn’t ask them to torture Leo,” Lina said quietly. “I only asked they’d make sure he’d never come out. You have no idea how scared I was when I thought you were going to die.” Her voice cracked with tears.
Don Bellomo howled like a stung wolf, bearing his teeth at her as if he were going to tear her limb from limb by them like a real animal. “How could you? How could you?!”
“I was terrified of losing you again,” she said as quietly as before. “How couldyounot understand?I’m obsessive to a fault and possessive as fuck, but I’ll always protect and care for you. Every single thought, every goddamned action of mine revolves around you. You don’t understand how deep you’ve carved yourself inside me. I’m ready to give up anything and everything for you.”
Don Bellomo’s face suddenly softened by those words. They must have carried a certain sentiment to them they both related to on a deeper level.
“I’d do anything so I wouldn’t lose you, Tino.” She shrugged. “Anything.”
My gaze kept bouncing back toward Leo. I was worried all this affection his ex was showing to his father triggered him or forced him to relapse. I held on to him, begging him to stay with me, to focus only on me. Perhaps my love for him could be a distraction good enough. Any impulsive mistake now could cost us our lives.
“She was just a kid. What’s your fucking excuse?” Don Bellomo directed his anger toward Don Lanza. “You didn’t do it as a favor. You did it because you wanted to. You gave my boy to Il fucking Coyote, knowing exactly what he was going to do to him.”
