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I shake my head, scoffing away his bullshit efforts to talk his way out of this. “You’re a disgrace toOmertà. There’s not a thing you can say to me that will make this go any other way for you.”
His expression darkens. Hell beckons.He knows he’s fuck out of options.
“I saved your life once, kid.”
“And you killed it, all over again. Do you know what they did to her in that basement?”
“Do you know what they’ll do to you once they find out you’re here?” He winces again as I spin him around and back him up against the sink, repositioning my gun under his chin. “Why did you come back, Frankie? For Ada?” He shakes his head, like he’s disappointed in me. “Forget her. I told you that before. She’s your downfall, kid.”
“Funny... That’s what Zaccaria said before I shanked him from hip to rib.”
His expression changes. “Why, you piece of—”
“I had his guts in my hands, Guido. The last thing he saw was me ripping them apart. The last thing he heard was my father’s name. You asked me if I was Lastra’s son—that’sthe first thing you ever said to me. I haven’t been for a long time, thanks to you and Zaccaria, but I’m making up for it now.”
“You took out your owncapo dei capi,” he splutters.
“First of four. Care to hazard a guess who’s next?”
We’re nose to nose now, staring down our past together.
“You’re out of your depth,” he hisses. “You have no friends in this city. No allies.” He stops when he sees my eyebrows lifting in contradiction. “You mean Razor’s kid?” He has the nerve to laugh. “O’Sullivan knows about him already.”
“Wrong answer. Try again.”
He pauses, trying to work out whether I’m bluffing or not.
“What happened to the poker face, Guido?” I taunt. “Too many sins weighing it down? Who pulled the trigger on my family? Was it you?”
He doesn’t answer.
“I thought so. That’s why my father’s underboss looked so shocked when you started firing at him.” Keeping my gun pressed tight to his chin, I reach for the knife strapped to my hip. “There’s just one thing I want to know before I open you up too, Guido. Why did O’Sullivan summon the Red Compass here today?”
“Can’t do that.” He shakes his head slowly like it’s a tough call. “I’m a lot of things, Frankie, but I’m not a snitch. And I wouldn’t be hanging around this bathroom trying to change my mind, not when Ada’s less than a hundred metres away with O’Sullivan’s gun pointed at her head.”
“Don’t lie to me!” I hover the tip of my knife over his heart.
“Her son’s here, too. Kirill’s keeping him trackside away from his mother, but you might recognise him if he walks on past.”
“You’re not telling me anything I don’t already know, old man. Semenov forced her to have his—”
“He looks like you.”
I freeze, and he smiles, knowing his words just cut me deeper than any blade.
“Same hair. Same eyes. Same attitude that will behisundoing one day. He loves too hard as well. Such a failing of you Lastra men. It makes it easy to twist your mind to another way of thinking. To spin lies into truth about your own parentage. Semenov may have shaved his head to make him look like a Bratva boy, but his blood doesn’t lie, Frankie. It’s always there, flowing right beneath his skin.”
“Shut your mouth!”
“She gave him up to save her own life. She gifted thelast part she had left of youto a sick bastard like Semenov.” He laughs loudly, as if it’s the best joke of all. “Lucky he’s only into little girls, eh?”
“I’m warning you…” I’m pressing the gun so hard into his chin it’s tilting his head sideways, but I’m the one who’s hurting the most.
Ada wouldn’t do that. She wouldn’t—
“She was done waiting for you, Frankie. She sold her soul for the price of freedom. That’s why she lives alone, why she’s permitted to have her own business, her own life… You returned to London for a memory, a deadcosca, and a son who doesn’t even know you exist.”
“Never!”I watch his eyes flare wide in shock, and then dull with pain as the tip of my knife sinks into the space between his ribs. “You once told me that a motherfucking storm was coming, Guido,” I say harshly as he collapses forward onto my shoulder. “You have no idea what’s about to hit London next week. Shame you won’t be around to see it.”
