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Giuseppe cries out in agony while bending over. “You fucking son of a bitch!”
I rush over to Emelia, as does Giulio, and I begin to untie her. Her neck is bleeding, and my mother’s pearls lay all around us. When I shot Salvatore, the knife must have slipped and nicked her neck. But the pearls stopped it from hitting her jugular. My mother’s pearls saved my wife.
I hear a gunshot, then turn to see Giuseppe with his gun in his good hand and Giulio on the ground. I reach for my gun but am stopped when her father points his right at Emelia.
“Stop or she’s fucking dead, and you will be wearing her brains.”
“What is it you want? Your sons are dead now. You can’t take over Seattle. You are in too deep, Giuseppe. You fucked up, got too messy, and thought you could outsmart me.”
“I did once, remember?” He tilts his head and looks at me with cold eyes. He steps closer, keeping the gun extended.
Mine is on the ground where I placed it before I untied Emelia. I see her hands moving slowly in my peripherals, untying herself the rest of the way. I don’t bring attention to it.
“You do remember, right?”
I give him the look the Grim Reaper would.“No. I don’t recall a time where you ever outsmarted me, Giuseppe.”
“Really, how about when I killed your coward father?”
Suddenly, Emelia moves fast, and she grabs the gun. While Giuseppe is distracted and looking at her, I kick the gun from his hand, and then I grab him, wrapping one arm around his neck while my other restrains his arm behind his back. He weakly tries to make his way out of my grasp, but he doesn’t succeed.
“Don’t you ever speak about his father like that again. You have always been weak, Father. You hit me and Mother to make yourself seem bigger. Hell, you sent your teenage son in to do the hard work for you to kill my husband’s dad.” Emelia holds the gun straight out, pointing it at him.
She is covered in blood from the punches and smacks to the face, and her dress is torn in places, but she manages to still look like she’s unbothered and in control. There is the power I wanted from her all along. From day one, I told her I needed her to look strong, be strong, and gain power, and here we are full circle, and she is the representation of the most exquisite creature in the world.
“I never wanted a fucking daughter. I begged your mother to get rid of you.”
Emelia laughs, but it’s a delirious, unhinged laugh. It even putsmeon edge.
“Oh,Daddy, what ever will I do, knowing that?”
“Baby? Give me the gun. I will take care of him.”
She shakes her head. “No. This is my time, Nico. I want to earn a place in this world. Why not now? Make my father proud. I will be like the son he never had, because those two fuckers were just as pitiful as him.”
I don’t expect what happens next. She points the gun down and pulls the trigger, shooting him in the foot. I let him go, and he falls to the ground, screaming.
“That’s for the day you pushed me down the stairs.” She shoots his other one.“That’s for the day you hit me with the butt of your gun and made me bleed, then didn’t let me go to the doctor. And this…” She points the gun at his chest. I hold my hand out and warn her, but she ignores it.“This is for killing my husband’s family.”
She pulls the trigger, and he falls to his back and lets out guttural noises that pull her lips into a wicked smile. He isn’t dead yet, but there is no way he’s getting up anytime soon.
Phillip and the other men come rounding the corner, and I’m on Emelia, taking the gun from her hand. I put the safety on and slide it in my holster.
I grab her face and see her eyes glazing over as she looks at her father on the ground. “Emelia? Baby, are you in there? Baby!” She is zoned out and completely gone.
“Phillip, get Giulio to a hospital, and you two, take care of her father. Somewhere he can't be found.” I bark out my orders before I pick Emelia up. I carry her out of that garage and to the car.
Starting the engine, I keep trying to pull Emelia from her dazed state, but I get nothing. I drive to the hotel and get her inside and in the shower. It isn’t until then that she snaps, and with the loudest scream I’ve ever heard from someone, she unleashes everything built up inside her.
I hold her tight as she screams, not trying to stop her or contain her, just to keep her safe. I let her feel, let her breathe, let her be free.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
EMELIA
I wakeup to the light coming through the window. My face aches, and my body feels heavy, like I was hit by a car. I look around the room and see I’m alone. I look down at my body, and I’m covered in scratches and bruises, and I’m completely naked.
Slowly, the memories of the night before come flooding back. I remember blacking out in the bathroom, then coming to with my father, brothers, and Natalia surrounding me. I remember Natalia calling Nico, and me screaming for him not to come. I wince remembering the pain from each hit from my brothers and father.
