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“Now!” She shrieks.
Valentine lets out a hoarse laugh. The other two men have their guns trained on her. “I changed my mind,” Valentine says. “You can go first.”
Amelia’s eyes go wide, and she jumps from the room just as the men squeeze their triggers. They fire multiple times, and I crawl to one of the dead guy’s guns and barely aim before firing at the two men. One is propelled into a wall by the shots, but the other spins and aims his gun, standing directly above me.
Six or seven shots fire into his back, and he falls on top of me.
Another shot fires while I shove the man off, and Valentine’s howl fills the room. I expect to see Amelia with a gun pointed at Valentine, doing the impossible for her, but it’s Anthony. Fucking Anthony, my brother who can never show up on time.
I let out a relieved laugh and run a hand over my forehead.
Amelia is a statue standing behind him, and he pauses before ending Valentine’s life. He locks eyes with me. “Do you care if I do the honors?”
“Just fucking kill him,” I say.
A last shot is fired, and Anthony turns to Amelia. “You’re sure there isn’t anyone else?”
She nods. “Positive.”
Ma kneels over Syrus, crying, and Anthony rushes that way.
I don’t turn to watch them. I don’t want to see the look in my little brother’s eyes when he sees that our father is dead.
I do, however, meet Settimo’s stare. He knows, too. And even in his weak state, there’s a strength there that only someone like him could have.
A don.
“Lorenzo,” Amelia cries, falling to the floor and wrapping her arms around me. She buries her face in my chest and weeps. I don’t know if it’s relief or the loss of something, but I hold her and kiss her head.
“It’s all right now, Kitty,” I promise. “It’s all right.”
“I love you,” she cries into my chest. “I love you so fucking much, and I need you to know it.”
“I do know,” I say, my eyes closing as the tightening in my chest releases. “And I love you too.”
“I don’t want to leave,” she says, her body tensing against me.
“Good. I don’t want you to leave either.”
She holds onto me tight and cries until finally, she calms down.
She lifts her head and looks between me and my father. “I’m so sorry,” she whispers.
I shake my head and give her a quick kiss on the lips. “Believe it or not, he would’ve wanted to go out this way. He died for his family. For honor. Not from some fucking heart disease… He knew what he was doing.”
Ma hurriedly cuts Settimo’s binds at his prompting, then crawls back to Syrus. Settimo stands. It looks like he may topple over at any moment. Amelia goes to help him, but I grab her arm and shake my head. He walks to Syrus and stands over him, with my mother and Anthony on their knees crowding him. He has a solemn but strong look on his face.
“Lorenzo, get Amelia out of here,” he says, never taking his eyes off Syrus. “The police will be here soon.”
