All I ever wanted was for her to be safe. To be at peace, to sing and laugh and fuckinglive.
Now Giuliano Moretti’s knife is at her throat, and it’s my fault.
“Let her go.”
White hot fury consumes me at the sight before me. Cas is clutching desperately at my father’s arm, as if hoping by some miracle she will be able to push him away.
But I know my father, know that knife.
I know that whatever soft old man act he was pulling has now disappeared into thin air.
This is the true face of the disgraced Mafia don.
“You know the lengths I have gone to,” Giuliano growls. “If you think for one second I’m letting this opportunity slip away, you’re gravely mistaken.”
I slowly get to my feet, keeping my hands up and palms open. But my eyes are on Cas, scanning every inch of her face which is streaked with tears.
“This is between you and me,” I say slowly. “Let her go.”
“Renounce your claim to the Guild.”
Giuliano’s grip on Cas tightens, and she winces as the blade presses closer to her skin. A thin line of red appears, a whisper of blood against her neck.
My heart slams against my ribs, each beat a countdown to disaster. I can’t let this happen. I won’t.
I need more time to think.
“You think they would welcome you back when they realize you’re the one who’s been selling us out to the Cartel this whole time?”
“I’ve been cultivating a relationship with Amos Rubio far longer than you’ve been don, boy,” Giuliano sneers. “He’s been more than eager to help me out ever since you came to power and cracked down on the activity inElectrix.”
“You let the Cartel operate on Guild territory?”
Giuliano laughs. “I would let anyone operate on Guild territory for the right price. There’s no prize for taking the moral high ground, Rocco.”
“Is that why you put people like Claudio Lazzaro on your payroll?”
I see Cas tense up at the name in my periphery, but I don’t look away from my father.
“Lazzaro was a useful asset.”
“Lazzaro was an abusive drug addict.”
“Which made him easy to control.” Giuliano shakes his head. “You know nothing of leadership if it took you this long to figure that out. Control is everything.”
Without warning, Giuliano grabs Cas and pulls her off the couch. She yelps as the knife momentarily presses into her skin once more before she can scramble to right herself, her back now against Giuliano’s chest.
“Every man has his weakness, Rocco,” Giuliano drawls on. “Lazzaro’s was drugs. But it seems you and Carmine have something in common.”
Cas thrashes against his firm hold.
“It was a stroke of genius, I think, forcing him to smuggle his daughter back into Brooklyn so that she was within arm’s reach. It kept him very motivated indeed. So much so that he killed himself instead of sharing my secrets.”
He turns his vile face to Cas’ ear. “All so I wouldn’t have an excuse to seek you out and kill you myself. But it seems fate was just saving you for this exact moment.”
I take a step forward, hands twitching with the desire to wring his neck.
Giuliano’s eyes narrow, his grip on Cas tightening. “Don’t,” he warns, pressing the knife harder against her throat.
