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CHAPTER TWENTY
Elena
LUCA REFUSES TOlet go of my hand. I think he thinks I am going to run off again. I won't. The hit-man is dead. The only one left that is a threat is the Cartel. Or more specifically, Ramirez.
He wants Chicago. He can't have it. They may not have been my target originally, but they certainly were once I found my dad and Luca. Whether I like it or not, I am the Princess of the Caruso Family. Or as Luca keeps reminding, the soon to be Queen. They threatened my family. They will pay.
I take slow steps into my mother's room. Luca told me the surgery was a success and that she was recovering. I'm not sure if I'm still mad at her. Her words hurt. I thought we were a team. I knew she had lingering feelings for Bosco. Not that I understood. I had never been in love. Not in that way.
Luca presses against my back. Silently encouraging me to get closer. My feet are planted firmly where they are. I don’t want to talk to her yet. I just needed a peek at her. I needed to see with my own eyes that she was alive.
Bosco sits by her side. His Capos spread around the room. He’s holding her hand. Looking at her the way I always imagined a man would look at the woman he loved. Damn. They really do love each other more than anything in the world.
I try to stop my shoulders from hunching. The action gives away too much information on my feelings. Ever since the first kill this week, I’ve had trouble hiding them. I think I subconsciously knew the end of my vengeance was coming. My task nearly complete.
Bosco spots me and rises to his feet. It must have jostled my mother's hand because her eyes flit open and scan the room. They land on me. I hold my breath wondering what she will say. She holds out a hand to me. I don’t move. Can’t.
After a beat my mother drops her hand. “I'm sorry Elena. I hadn't meant it the way it sounded.” She sounds sincere. I want to believe her. My walls are falling. I don’t have the energy to fortify them.
“It's fine.” I reply with a shrug.
“No it's not. You have always been my little warrior. I gave you a shitty childhood.” She’s not wrong. I give a little laugh.
“I had no complaints.” It’s true. I knew from an early age that there was a reason for everything my mother did. I never wanted to burden her with my frustrations.
“You're right. You didn't. You went along with everything I did. Never complained when I had you pack up your toys in the middle of the night, or run into the woods when our car was run off the road.” Those are just a small smattering of our obstacles.
“Would it have done any good?” I ask. My mother smiles.
“It wasn't the life I wanted for you.” I finally shuffle closer. Enough so she can grab my hand. I don’t yet squeeze it back.
“Nor I.” Says Bosco.
“Well it was the one I had, the one forced on me, but don't forget you suffered too. You may be blinded by a childhood love. I'm not. That man who you cling to so fiercely, he caused this. He could have prevented it, stopped it, ended it. He didn't.” I press a finger to my chest for emphasis. “I did.” Her eyes scan around the room. “I found the traitor in his family. I found the rapist. I found the rats. Me. The daughter he never knew existed. Born of the wife never good enough for his family. So forgive me if I am not so quick to bend the knee.”
“Elena.” My father says my name as he rounds the bed to stand next to me. I feel Luca’s presence nearby. My head is a mess. I need to make a decision regarding him. For now he is offering his strength. I take it. He clasps his hand to mine and entwines our fingers. He doesn’t say a word. Luca’s letting me do this my way just as he said he would. I breathe in his silent support and let it wash over me.
“Don't.” I say as I hold a hand up to Bosco. “I may carry your blood and by familia law need to marry and produce an heir, but I don't need to call you father to do it. I don't need to like you. Hell I don't even need to respect you. In a matter of weeks Luca and I will marry and together we will usher in a new era. One where the females are not seen as weak. They are not just breeders or toys for you men.” I look around the room. “Many of you don't know me. But I know each and every one of you. I know your dirty secrets. This is the only warning you will get. Clean up your act, or get out.”
Luca pipes in to finish my warning. “Because once we say I do. We'll be coming for you.” I hadn’t wanted him to speak. I’m glad he did. He knew before I did that I needed him to help show a united front to the leaders of this family. We turn to leave the room as it erupts in protest.
The men don’t know what I know about them. With a smile I turn back to them. “From my research, only two of you are true assholes and deserving of punishment. I’ll let you figure out amongst yourselves who they are. One of you beats his wife. Sent her to the hospital twice this year already and covered it up. The other is skimming from the men under him. Keeping the hard working soldiers below him groveling for scraps.”
With a smile, I grab Luca’s hand again. “Let them stew and sweat it out.” I whisper to him before the sound of one of the men rustling for his side piece hits my ears. I retrieve my knife from my pocket as Luca grabs his gun. While I have mine raised as a threat. Luca pulls the trigger.
The Capo of the fifth district falls. Blood running from his knee. Gino. “Elena gave her warning. This is mine. Do not cross us.” I give Luca's hand a squeeze before releasing it. I walk over to Gino. Using my knife, I tip his chin up. “Hit your wife Sarah again and I will personally chop off your cock, stuff it up your ass and leave you on your father’s grave to bleed out. Am I understood?” His eyes stare daggers at me. Whatever his thoughts are, I want to assure him mine are far my gruesome and painful. While his moves for retribution will undoubtedly fall flat. Mine won’t.
With a steady hand, my knife travels along his jaw and across his cheek. I press with just enough pressure for the top few layers of skin to break and blood to lightly drip to coat my blade.
Luca speaks. “She asked you a question.”
Hmm…maybe having someone to trust and have my back wouldn’t be so bad. I’m not there yet. I’m still not ready for the last of my walls to fall. If anyone will be successful, it will be Luca.
Do I want that?
“Yes, I understand.” Gino replies through clenched teeth.
“Good.” I smile kindly at him, though it is anything but. Then I tap him with the flat side of the blade on the cheek before walking away.
