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PROLOGUE
Palermo, Italy
The Fiori house was frozen in time. It was like someone turned the hourglass on its side and stopped life from going on the moment Grazia closed her eyes. We were all here waiting for her to wake up, life frozen still.
Caught between my brother-in-law —Don Salvatore Fiori— and my oldest brother —Don Giovani Caputo— I was crushed by the silence they seem to be so comfortable with. My hands were shaking and I could feel the cold kiss of sweat going down my neck. I was many things, but helpless wasn’t something I knew how to feel. Still, there was nothing I could do to help my sister out of that coma. The doctors took the bullet out, but they couldn’t do anything to help her eyes open. Now all there was left to do was wait, and time was mocking us, dragging its seconds and making them seem like days.
The other two men appeared content on the outside, but I knew better. A hurricane was brewing inside of Salvatore. The bastard didn’t have many qualities in my life, but he loved my sister more than he loved life, and not having her around was carving pieces out of his very soul.
On the other side of the room, my brother was like a statue, posted in front of a window and looking down the Tyrrhenian. He must feel as restless as the sea biting the shore down below us. Father was dead and Giovani was Don now. How many years has it been since he took command? Three? Five? More? I couldn’t remember, but it was different now. Giovani was a good man and a respected Capo. He deserved more than the fractured pieces of the empire father left behind. After Grazia ran away to marry Salvatore, Giovani was the one who kept thefamigliaintact. Now he had to face the whole world while they looked down on him because my brother allowed Salvatore to kill our father.
Fabiano Caputo was a piece of shit and taking him out was an act of mercy on the world, but the Mafia was not seeing it that way despite the fact that seven sons let someone execute their father —the Don— no matter how much he deserved it. He let his mistress run the show and that almost got Grazia killed. That wasn’t something any of us could forgive. They had to pay.
When I couldn’t handle the pressure anymore, I got up from my chair and cleared my throat, attracting their eyes to me.
“I’m going to go sit with my sister.”
Salvatore nodded and Giovani returned silently to watching the water, so I left. Outside the study, not much was different. There were other people in the house, like the butler, the doctors, my brother Giani and his wife who were in the kitchen, but no sounds were traveling through the air. I hated the silence. It felt like we were mourning.
Grazia was in her master bedroom, in the middle of the bed, surrounded by tubes, monitors, and other things that were brought from the hospital when Salvatore refused to leave her there. He picked out the best team of doctors Italy had and flew them here to look after his wife, but until now, no one could do anything while her body was healing.
When I walked in, the nurse in charge of watching her at all times stepped out in silence, allowing me to take her seat next to the bed. I took Grazia’s hand into mine and the demons inside me started to settle down. She was warm, she was here.
We were eight kids and she was the only girl. I loved all my fucking brothers, but she was the closest in age to me, only three years separating us. While my brothers were older, Grazia and I grew up together. We shared the same room and played together in the back yard. It may not be the same as the bond my twin brothers —Goliath and Gaspino— had, but it was more than other siblings had and I needed her to be fine.
I’ve been through a lot of shit in my life. Fabiano made sure I had more bad days than good ones, but I came out on top of that. I had bruises and scars on my heart, but I lived. Losing Grazia would be the hit that breaks me.
An anxious fear gripped my throat and I choked on my own tongue. The darkness that lived inside of me was coming alive, swallowing me. It was something I’d had to fight for as long as I could remember and most days I’d lost that fight, hiding inside a glass of whiskey, but lately booze and drugs were not enough to numb me anymore. Everyone thought I was the reckless kid who loved a good time more than his own mother, but that kept me sane through days so dark I couldn’t even imagine the light.
I was struggling to catch my breath and not let the anger take over my thoughts when the door opened, and the woman standing in the door didn’t help. She didn’t help one bit.
Pina Bernoulli; young, blonde and beautiful, covered in tights and an oversized hoodie. She was looking at me with doe eyes the same color chestnuts get when they’re ripe. Pina was always a nice girl, too shy for her own good, daughter of Fabiano’sconsigliere, and Ariana’s younger sister. The two Bernoulli girls couldn’t be more different. Ariana was a sneak who wanted attention so much she jumped into bed with my father to get it, and when Grazia became a problem, she hired a hitman to take her out, paid with Father’s money to do so. The old man was stupid enough to believe a hot, young girl was after him for his personality and it cost us all a great deal. It almost broke our family.
No, Pina was not like her sister. She was the girl who chose jeans and sneakers over expensive dresses, and never made too much noise so people wouldn’t look at her. Damn, I couldn’t remember the last time she had the courage to look me in the eye, but that didn’t make her innocent. Blood makes the woman, and her Bernoulli blood was everything I hated. We don’t hurt women, so Ariana was let to live but Salvatore made sure she wasn’t going to set foot in Italy while any of us are alive. The worst was behind us, but I couldn’t bring myself to forget Pina. I wanted to hurt everyone who hurt my sister, and her name was on that list.
“What are you doing here?” I bit down.
“I…” she sobbed, “I came to see Grazia. Giovani… umm,DonCaputo, said I could stop by today.” She looked tired and sad. My sister was her best friend after all, but that didn’t change much, did it?
“What do you want to see? If Ariana succeeded?”
From the way she jumped, you might have thought I slapped her across the face.
“Grazia is my dearest friend.”
“And the woman who wanted her killed is your sister.”
“Garon…”
“You need to leave. Grazia’s… there’s nothing to see. She’s not awake.”
Pina’s eyes saddened when she looked behind me where my beautiful sister looked like she was sleeping.
“When will she be awake?”
“No one knows.” I sighed. “They don’t even know if she’ll come out of this.”
“She has to!” Pina snapped right away. “She has to, Garon.”
