AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I prayed with everything in me that someone would come, would save me, and here he is: my knight. My savior.
My everything.
Carmine takes a step back, giving me some room to breathe, but when he turns to Dante, it’s like I’m not even there anymore.
It’s like he’s talking about someone who isn’t in the same room, making decisions about my life without a care.
“She’s gotta go, Dante.”
“Go?” Dante says, his face blank, his body loose.
But I see it.
Most wouldn’t, of course, Dante is so careful with his emotions.
When I look at Carmine, I know he doesn’t.
Doesn't see the pure rage and aggression boil beneath the surface.
Someone deigned to threaten his queen.
“She’s planning something to ruin the family, Dante.” Carmine looks at me with disgust, remembering I’m here, then back at his son. “She has to go.”
“Go where, Carmine? You whack her, and the Russos come after us for revenge. They know about Arturo.”
“And how the fuck would they know about that? What’s there even to know, Dante?”
He steps closer to his son, both questioning and challenging him.
“The man died in a drive-by. Sad story, move on.”
“You and I both know that is the furthest from the truth.”
No answer from Carmine, and Dante just continues to stare.
It’s interesting to watch.
Not the two physically standing off.
But the internal battle of my husband, the war of his father versus his wife. The man he has spent his entire life convincing himself had some sort of redeeming qualities because it’s what his mother would have wanted.
God, our stories are so similar in that sense, aren’t they? And from experience, I know this moment hurts the most. When the mask drops completely and there is not a single good thing left.
And then he smiles. Carmine smiles at Dante and moves his head from left to right like he’s weighing something.
“Well. Fine. You got me,” he says with that smile like it’s a joke. Like he was caught stealing leftovers from a work fridge instead of committing murder. “That whore insulted the Carluccio name and tied herself to those fuckin’ Russos. I’m so fuckin’ tired of the men comparing the families, wanting to go back to the old days. To give back and help the city again, blah blah blah. All pussies, so fucking worried about coping charges—”
“Tony went down for that pump and dump scheme, Father.”
“He went down because he was being lazy and fuckin’ his goumad instead of keeping an eye on the business. But really, it worked in my favor. Paulie is much more malleable. So I let it slip that Tony was the one who called the hit on Arturo, got the Bianchi girl all riled up. She was already too friendly with Teresa; the two of them concocted some scheme and down went Tony.”
Does Teresa know that Carmine knows what she did?
And should I warn her?
“You set Tony up to fall?” Dante asks.
“No, but I didn’t stop it.” The sick smile crosses his lips again. “My name was on the papers, too, after all. Step in too far, I rile up interest in me.”
