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Chapter Twenty-Six
SALVATORE
I don’t think I have ever been so fucking out of sorts before a kill before. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that the guy I am about to kill is sitting next to me in this SUV on the ruse that his daughter and son have been taken somewhere for their safety due to their threat against then and now I am getting him to safety as well. But where I am taking him is the exact opposite. One of the other conditions that I was given by Gabriele DiGiovanni, was that I had to kill Baptiste, my father-in-law, at a certain location.
We pull up into the thick sand surrounding this little beach house in the middle of nowhere. It looks like nothing special; abandoned after a storm or something, but it is entirely private. It is just the place where no one will gear screams...or gun shots.
My thoughts are with my wife as we escort him inside. I hope that no matter what happens to me here that she has a safe and happy life.
I see no signs of anyone else around the front of the house as we get inside, but I know instantly that I am not here alone. And this is not something I bargained for. I walk in, and the exits are all blocked instantly by Gabriele's men, and Gabriele himself stands on the top of the staircase overlooking us with a smug gleam in his eye. Of course, he couldn’t let this go without fucking witnesses, without him watching the light go out in Baptiste’s eyes.
There are so many things wrong with this scene, and I instinctively step in front of Baptiste because this is not going at all as planned. There are too many eyes on me for me to shoot Baptiste Funar and get away with it. It doesn’t matter what I have been guaranteed; two can keep a secret only if one of them is dead. That’s something I should have remembered before I came on this foolish trip.
See because now, Gabriele has me in a vulnerable potion. Either I can go ahead with killing Baptiste and hope that Aria isn’t labeled a traitor right along with myself. Even if I had a way to get a message to her to tell her to distance herself from me, she won't do it. She will be loyal to me, even at the end of it all.
I can't allow anything to happen to her. She has one through too much pain and suffering in this life already. I already know what I will have to do in order to save her, and I say my goodbyes in my head. It was amazing while it lasted; more time in the sun than I ever deserved, a man who makes a living as an assassin.
"You do not have to keep acting as if you are protecting him, Moretti," Gabriele says with a dark chuckle that makes my spine tingle in the worst way. If ever there is a man in this world that truly makes me fear for anything, it is Gabriele DiGiovanni. It is not so much that I fear for myself, I fear for those I love and for his complete unpredictability.
"This is not exactly what I was agreeing to, Gabriele," I say coolly as I look around at the sheer number of men crammed into this place. My men could certainly take some of them out, but they would never win. I would not even fair well. And Baptiste would likely still die in a shootout situation.
"I never specified whether or not there would be witnesses. This changes nothing. You have an order to follow, a job to do. So, do it, so we can celebrate," he says, causing his men to cheer. Then, he ticks his head to the side, and I watch as Andrei is brought out, looking to be in worse shape than the last time I saw him. I am not surprised at this. No matter his involvement, he is nothing but my motivation. His eyes seem to be kind of dead, though it’s hard to be sure under the bruises. He is being brought out to remind me why I am here.
"Andrei!" Baptiste gasps, finally showing some emotion for one of his children. I try not to scoff. My sudden want to protect him and the Clan does not mean I forgive him for anything.
"Yes, your son has been very helpful to us," Gabriele says, addressing his brother-in-law who comes out from behind me. I hiss, annoyed that he is not even trying to protect himself here and know that it is time to sacrifice myself. I don’t know if it will save him, but it might save Aria.
I bow down, kneeling in front of them, placing my glock on the ground. My hands are up in surrender. "I hope you appreciate why I can no longer agree to this, but I do so in peace. I hope you still plan to leave my dear wife out of this as you still get what you want. He is yours." Guns are turned on my men as another of those dark sounds comes from Gabriele's throat.
But before anyone can make a move, shots are fired at random from outside the house, and we are all forced to take cover. The doors are free now, and I gesture for Funar to run, thinking this is someone here for his protection. But Gabriele moves so fast, shooting him down. I suppose he figures he can go out with a bang. Baptiste lies motionless next to me as I crawl, my glock back in my hand, as Ion, Mariana, and a good portion of the Clans bust through the door, surrounding us.
The shooting stops, and guns of taken from Gabriele's men and mine.
"You are charged with the attempted assassination of Mariana Vasile," Ion calls out, a gun trained on Gabriele. I am sure this is end of him, but at the last second, men leap in front of him as bullets fly. Gabriele goes down, and there is blood, but I can't tell if he is fatally injured or not. But as hidden guns are pulled, I know I need to get out of there to my wife. This is Clan business now.
