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I am pulled toward the center of a massive room that was probably a hive of industry in the past. There are many businesses like this that collapsed when the dollar did and never recovered.
A lone chair sits in the gloom and I know what happens next and plead, “Please, Connor, don’t do this. I will tell my grandfather you helped me. Whoever is paying you will never be a match for what we can offer you.”
He says nothing at all and forces me into the chair and it’s at this moment I realize I need to fight for my life and as I kick out, he removes his gun and holds it against my head.
“Game over, Serena.” He growls as he holds a cloth over my nose and the strange scent is the last thing I remember as I drift into blissful unconsciousness.
* * *
A sharp lightwakes me and I blink as the light is directed in my eyes, momentarily blinding me.
“Wake up, honey.” A woman’s voice reaches me, and I blink as a figure swims into view.
I stare in disbelief at the familiar face as my Aunt Giselle stands regarding me with a slightly crazed expression in her eye.
“I’m so glad you made it to my party, Serena.”
My aunt stands before me with a gun pointing at my head.
“What’s going on?” I say fearfully, hating how weak my voice sounds.
“Revenge, honey. Pure, delicious revenge.”
“For what?” I’m confused, and she laughs madly before snarling, “For my family’s sins. The sins of my father, my mother, and my brother. You will follow your father to hell, and I will delight in watching the pain on my parent’s faces as they lay you to rest, knowing there was nothing they could do to save you. They will understand how I felt when they killed my baby. They will live with the pain for the rest of their miserable lives knowing how that feels. To lose someone who meant everything and to know that I won in the end.”
“What are you talking about?” I say it steadily because it’s obvious my aunt is consumed by madness and she hisses, “They denied me a normal life. They told me my baby had died and forced me to marry a man who made my skin crawl. I despised him.”
She snarls, her face etched with hatred, and snaps, “He never loved me. He used me to gain even more power. To become part of the Vieri family and find a way into the Dark Lords.”
She shakes her head. “He was obsessed with it. Consumed by it and he tolerated me all the time my father was the Supreme Dark Lord.”
She faces me and sneers, “I knew that as soon as my father died, Carlos would dispose of me too. He hated being married to me. He brought his whores into our home and got one of the maids pregnant. He flouted his bastard son in my face, knowing I couldn’t have children because of the complications my own child caused.”
She stops and then cocks her head to one side. “Did you know I was raped, Serena?”
She sighs heavily. “By five men who thought it was a fun game. They weren’t laughing when my father cut the smiles off their faces. I enjoyed that because I asked to be present. To watch them beg for mercy while his enforcer dismembered their bodies, starting with their dicks. They were castrated and then died a slow torturous death and yet it wasn’t enough. I wanted more. Not marriage to a man who was no better than they were.”
I watch her pace around the room, waving the gun in the air as she screeches. “Benito had it all. A loving wife who adored him, two sons and a daughter to make his family complete. He was a bastard, though. Much like Carlos was, and it didn’t take much to convince him that we could have it all by cutting our father out.”
She hisses. “He was weak, he always was. I was the strong one, but I was a woman. Women don’t get to run mafia families. They must know their place and marry into them instead. I begged to succeed my father, but he laughed in my face. Then he arranged my marriage to Carlos and removed me from his protection.”
“Why are you telling me this?” I interrupt and she turns, her eyes flashing in the darkened room.
“Because I want you to understand why you must die. I hate to do this, but I need to be cruel to be kind. You see, your fate will be no different from mine. You will not be heard and married off to someone of power who will strengthen the Vieri organization. I am sparing you from that, so you should thank me for my compassion because I wish someone had put a bullet through my brain rather than subject me to a lifetime with Carlos Matasso.”
I watch as she grips the gun tighter and turns, a mad gleam in her eyes as she says sorrowfully, “I hate to be the one to do this, Serena, but you should blame your grandfather. Your brothers will also thank me when I arrange their own passing. I have already taken steps to bring their lives to an end. One by one, his soldiers will fall, and I will have won the game. My parents won’t recover. There will be no one left to fight for them and the Dark Lords will move in and take over and I’ll be free to live a happy retirement knowing justice has been done.”
“You’re mad.” I say through gritted teeth, and she stops and stares at me with a crazed look in her eyes.
“I am your savior, Serena. You should thank me.”
She turns and appears to wipe a tear from her eye, and I’m suddenly aware of Connor behind me. He cuts the ties binding me and presses his gun in my hand and my heart beats so fast I can hardly catch my breath. He is helping me. I don’t understand why, but I will not waste this golden opportunity.
I take a deep breath as my aunt turns and raises the gun to my head and I whisper, “Please, Aunt Giselle. Don’t shoot me in cold blood. I don’t want to die alone. Please will you hold me.”
She leans down and stares into my eyes with tears pouring down her face and she strokes my cheek with the gun and whispers, “You are so beautiful, Serena. I always thought of you as the daughter I lost. She would have been around your age, and I watched you grow with a heart full of sadness at what I was denied.”
She strokes my face and then leans down and kisses me softly on the lips and her gun is just behind my head. The tears are wet against my lashes as I struggle to keep my emotions in check and she whispers, “Please forgive me, my child. I love you, but this is how it must be.”
