AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Why hasn’t your boy called, Raffaele? It’s been long enough. It’s been hours.” Sal’s voice takes me back to the last time he and I spoke and it’s now that I remember he’s the one that gifted me tickets to the boxing event that took place on the night Ari was killed. I had enough tickets for all three of my children and myself, but at the last minute, I decided Sienna would stay and spend some alone time with her mother, thinking they needed the bonding, the same as I wanted it with my boys. I thought for sure when I broke the news to Sienna that she wasn’t going that she’d be crushed, but my daughter surprised me and seemed happy to spend the time with her mom.
I hadn’t thought of that until now, and something tells me Salvatore had been in on the whole thing. If that’s the case, he’s going to be the first to take an all-expenses-paid trip to the fiery pit he belongs in.
“He knows to call when it’s done and not a second before,” my father’s bitter voice bites out.
“It’s a waste of a ripe piece of ass if you ask me,” another male voice chimes in, confirming there are at least three people here.
“You wouldn’t be able to handle my granddaughter. Trust me, I’m doing us all a favor.” I clamp my teeth together at Rafe’s mention of my daughter. He isn’t wrong, and I may not have a confirmation on who he’s speaking to, but one thing I do know for sure is very few people in this world can handle her. If I wasn’t so damn certain Matteo is the only man that can, she wouldn’t be with him right now. I wouldn’t have made it possible for them to cross paths if he hadn’t been handpicked for her.
“I’m not so sure,” Sal states. “Look what happened the last time you killed one of the women Tony loves. He changed the fucking rules, Rafe, and because of that, he dominates what he should not dominate. Does he even know what you did to his mother? How do you think he’s going to react when his only daughter is killed?”
My back straightens, a rod of steel forming where my spine is at the mention of my mother. I shouldn’t be shocked, but for some reason, I am. She was killed in a head-on collision when I was in college. She was a passenger in the car with her normal driver. No one survived, not even the man that caused the wreck, so I never considered foul play. The other driver hadn’t been intoxicated. The roads were icy and slick. It was ruled an accident.
“He won’t be able to handle this blow. It’ll weaken him until he’s exactly where I want him, and that’s when I’ll make my move.”
“I think you underestimate your boss, Caputo,” Sal says with an edge of humor in his tone.
“Antonio is not the rightful Caputo boss. He never has been. I see now that he never will be man enough for the job, and sooner rather than later, he won’t be. I will. Tonight, gentleman,” Rafe chuckles, “is the beginning of the end for my son’s reign.”
Having heard enough, I increase my steps, quickening my pace while remaining as quiet as I can, which is damn near impossible with the amount of rage running wild through my veins.
I stop along the wall just before I step into their line of sight. Taking a shallow breath, I drop my left hand and grip the Beretta tighter in my right hand, readying myself but also needing all the strength I can muster not to pull the trigger on Raffaele too. He will die tonight, but not a second before he feels all the pain he can possibly withstand before I drain every ounce of life from his eyes.
Blowing out a controlled breath, I step into their view and raise the 9-millimeter in my hand, the same as Giovanni does beside me. The pop of the weapon in Giovanni’s hand sounds, a round hitting Marcel between the eyes, then I do the same, hitting my next mark in the same spot and taking my father’s bodyguard out. I didn’t know he was here, but that’s why I have to be able to react to the unexpected. Another pop from a round firing sounds, this time whizzing past my ear and nailing Sal in his forehead.
“Always was a little jealous that you took out all those bosses, and I didn’t get to claim one of them,” Giovanni says, stepping back up next to me.
“What the hell is the meaning of this, Antonio?” My father’s wide eyes meet mine as I point the weapon at the center of his chest.
“You murdered my wife and you tried to have my daughter killed tonight.”
“How the hell is he here?” Rafe spits, looking at Giovanni, rage palpable behind his brown eyes. “You’re supposed to be rotting behind the bars I made sure you ended up locked behind.”
“As you can see with your own eyes, there is no rot to be found on me, so I’d say you failed, old man.” Confidence rolls off my friend in waves, and though he may not have lied on the surface, seeing as his body is in better shape than it was thirty years ago, there is most definitely rot within his soul. But only he should know that. He probably doesn’t think I can see it.
Giovanni is a master of disguise. Even when we were kids, he could conceal his emotions and thoughts better than I could. It’s why when he made a pass at Ari when we were dating, I couldn’t see it for what it really was. He was simply trying to make her best friend jealous, but instead, his dumb-as-fuck self didn’t realize I was there watching. It cost us years of friendship and nearly a decade of his life locked away.
“At least you’re man enough not to deny it,” I say. “Too bad you weren’t man enough to face me like a fucking man eighteen goddamn years ago.”
“Whatever he’s back to filling your he—”
“It’s over, Raffaele,” I cut him off. “After I’m finished here tonight, there won’t be a speck of you to be remembered by anyone, not even me.”
