Page 59 of No Greater Oblivion

I bring my gun to the back of Jaume Pons’s head and pull the trigger. His body collapses and blood spills across the tile floor. Dimitrio flinches and looks away.

“Was that all of them?”

He responds with a nod and doesn’t speak as Paco and Rodrigo drag Pons’s body across the room. Paco pauses to lift up the tarp concealing the mountain of corpses and Rodrigo tosses Jaume Pons into the pit with the others.

Since the lounge is no longer an option, we’ve resorted to conducting business in an abandoned warehouse about a half hour outside of Vic. There’s nothing around us but land and empty road for miles which makes it the perfect place for frequent comings and goings. We move in and out of the city undetected, which is the most important but being this far out in the countryside our options for body disposal are limited. I haven’t decided if they should be dumped in the Ter or burned. The Ter would be easier but the drive to the river is another hour east of here. Burning them would make for a cleaner disposal but will take forever and it’s already three in the morning.

“Now that Pons is gone, I want Coppola and Ferrer taken care of.”

Dimitrio asks, “When?”

“Next weekend if we can manage it. Sandro won’t want to leave Regina without a proper bodyguard so we have about ten days at best. Who do we have at the villa?”

“Victor Mestres and the rest of his group. They’re solid men, I trained them myself.”

“And at El Rey?”

“Beni’s team plus the usuals.”

I take a deep breath and remove the bloodstained rubber gloves from my hands and toss them into a nearby trashcan. “Okay…” I nod slowly. “Okay.”

“Who do you want to go pick up Ferrer in Santa Pau?”

“You and Mauricio. Keep him close. From now on, groom him like he’s next in line for the throne. His loyalty to us needs to be bone deep.”

Dimitrio’s lips part and when I think he’s about to say more, something stops him.

“What?”

His eyes drift to mine. For a moment, I see a reflection of myself looking back at me, the subtle familial resemblance between us never so prominent as it is right now.

“Do you know what you’re doing?”

“I always know what I’m doing.”

“Really?” He tilts his head in the direction of the tarp. “The Alejandro I know wasn’t in the habit of killing innocent people.”

I ignore him as I head upstairs and exit the basement. Dimitrio follows close behind.

“They’re civilians, Alex. If the other families find out⁠—”

“I control the twelve families. And whoever doesn’t think so is fucking lying to themselves. I don’t need anyone’s permission and I’m not going to stop.”

I approach the front door but he side steps me, blocking my path.

“Those men you killed today were people. A nephew, uncle, brother. Do you think because they were related to someone on Sandro’s side it gave you the right to move them across the board like pieces in your game? Do you think it gave you the right to kill them?”

I grab him by the front of his shirt and push him out of the way but Dimitrio is just as tall and strong as I am. He pushes my arm away and slams a hand against the front door, keeping it shut.

“Diego was right. You’re spiraling. This bloodlust of yours is completely out of control. I understand how you feel about Sandro⁠—”

“What the fuck do you know about it?”

In rare form, there’s a softness in Dimitrio’s voice when he speaks. “I know you’re afraid of losing Dahlia. And you absolutely will by turning into someone she doesn’t recognize.” He reaches out and grips me by my shoulders. “Listen to me…killing innocent people isn’t who you are. Yes, it’ll turn Sandro’s people against him out of fear he can’t protect them and their families from you. But it’ll also create more enemies out of very dangerous, very capable people. If you set a precedent for breaking the twelve apostles’ honor code and finding twisted ways to work around it, you’re opening the door for anyone else to retaliate against you in the future.

“Think about Dahlia and her cousin. Think about Oscar and Pedro who’ve been with the family for years. Think about me.” His eyes darken as he studies me. “What do you think Sandro will do when he finds out you’ve been hiding another Narvaez bastard right under his nose all these years? He’ll pick us apart one by one.”

Only two other people know the truth about Dimitrio’s parentage. Diego’s suspected for years but never said and our cousin Antonio is perceptive enough to have guessed but never confirmed his suspicions. I only found out because as a teen, I overheard my parents talking about it and Dad made me promise to keep it to myself.