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“I knew this would happen,” Stefano said, shaking his head and glancing behind him at his underboss and son. “Didn’t I say this would happen?”
“You did, Father,” his son replied, nodding in agreement.
“Men like Gio are what give us a bad name,” Neri growled, slamming his fist on the table and causing it to shake. “Let’s be done with him already.”
“Now, now,” Alessandro said, raising his hand in the air slowly. “We need proof first, gentlemen.” I screwed my face up at the way he was talking, as if he was the authority here. “We can’t make a decision without verification.”
He looked smug, and I couldn’t help but sneer at him.
“We have all the proof you need.” Lorenzo flicked his wrist at me and I stepped forward at his command, trying to cool my features as all of their attention turned to me. “Romeo—Antonio’s firstborn son—went undercover because an associate’s niece was taken by Gio’s organization.” He paused, raising a brow, then looking back at me. “Tell them everything.”
I cleared my throat, pushing my shoulders back, then told them everything that had happened—sans what I did to Bailey. They didn’t need to know that part of what went on. Just the basics. Just enough to get Gio the hell away from all of us. “He called me to meet with him and showed me what was in those boxes that me and Dante had witnessed months ago.” I glanced at Dante, knowing that he wasn’t aware of any of this. “He’s shipping people in and out of the state and country. He’s buying them, training them, and selling them as well as taking people off the streets.”
“All we have is your word,” Alessandro snapped at me, clearly unhappy with the way this was going.
His tone bristled, causing a visceral reaction from me. I took two steps forward, coming in line with Lorenzo as I slammed my fists down onto the table, losing my shit once and for all. It wasn’t a clever move to make in a room full of the most dangerous people in the state, but fuck, he was winding me the hell up.
“I also have a woman at home who was raped over and over by him. You want me to ask her to explain to you how he beat her, how he dislocated her shoulder, how he plucked her from the street, then kept her locked up in a dog cage for months, only to pick her out again and destroy her completely?” I narrowed my eyes on him, lowering my voice. “Or maybe you want pictures? Maybe you want to see what that lowlife scum is up to?”
I backed away, pulling my cell out and clicking on the first picture, then threw it down onto the table. “It’s all on there for you to see. Every single thing he’s doing.”
The room fell quiet as they all passed my cell around, swiping through the pictures on the album I’d made and password protected. There was no way I was going to let anyone accidentally find those images.
Once the cell was pushed back toward me, I plucked it off the table, pushed it back in my pocket, and took two steps back. I hadn’t expected Dante to place his hand on my shoulder, but as I turned my head to look at him, I saw a compassion and understanding there that I hadn’t seen since all of this began. He got it now. The judgement I’d felt and seen from him dissipating now that I’d bestowed all of the information I had.
Lorenzo cleared his throat. “I propose that we not only remove Gio Pozzi from The Enterprise, but that we remove his entire family.”
“You mean there’ll only be four families left?” Alessandro asked, his eyes alight. He seemed to like that bit of information.
Lorenzo nodded. “Yes.” He glanced at Alessandro Roti. “We’ll split his territory evenly.” He paused, staring at each man in turn, then said, “All those in favor, raise your hand.” Lorenzo’s hand went up first, closely followed by Alessandro’s, then one by one, every man and their underboss voted to remove Gio. I didn’t know how this worked, but from what I was gathering, to put it through the vote, it was the boss and underboss who made the decision. All men in this room had a vote—apart from me.
I hauled in a stuttering breath, relief washing through me. This was the final point. This was what I’d been waiting for. Gio was done. And I was determined it would be at my hands.
CHAPTER 15
BAILEY
“Bailey?” Raf called from downstairs, his tone strained. “There’s someone here to see you.”
“Huh?” I asked my reflection in the mirror, frowning at myself. I was getting better at that—at looking at myself again. For the three weeks that I’d been in Romeo’s home, I’d avoided my reflection, not wanting to see the broken girl staring back at me. Too afraid to acknowledge what looking in my eyes meant, and the memories it would evoke.
But the more time that passed, the more I realized the broken girl waspartof me, and I could either embrace her, or let her destroy the rest of me unequivocally.
I had to make a choice. A choice that would slowly put me back together again, or instantly wreck me. It was hard because every fiber of my being wanted to take the easy way out—wanted to wallow in the trauma and pain—but I had to be stronger than that. I had to fight. Which was why I chose to put myself back together again.
I chose me.
For the first time ever, I chosemyself.
And damn was it freeing.
“Bailey!” Raf shouted again, shocking me out of my own head.
“Coming!” I replied, taking one last quick look in the mirror at my face and then what I was wearing. The dark-green maxi skirt hit at my ankles, a slit going up to my knee on one side. I’d paired it with a cream tank and then an oversized deep-V sweater. And I felt good. I felt…more like me again.
The old me was coming to the surface, and I knew in part it was thanks to Romeo. He’d taken the time to listen to me. He’d talked to me about the deep stuff but also the shallow stuff too. He was there for me in a way that no one else ever had been.
Our path had been littered with agony, but bit by bit, we were picking it all up and healing it…together.
