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I swiped to the next video on the iPad that was an audio recording and pressed play as my heartbeat pounded in my ears.
“We had a fucking deal. We got rid of Vincenzo for him, and you would make sure Camilla married Giovanni. Why the fuck has it been a week since Camilla met him and we have heard nothing?” The familiar, sleazy voice of Francesco echoed through the device. I froze on hearing my name. But what came next had all the colour drain from my face.
“We still have a deal. But the family needs time. Salvatore needs to ensure it is the right time to approach Giovanni with this.” Toni’s voice came through firmly and clearly. I would recognise it anywhere. The voice of a fucking traitor.
“You tell Salvatore that I did not risk everything to sit and fucking wait for my daughter to become a Boss’ wife. I want your end of this fucking deal to be finalised as soon as possible or…”
“Or what Francesco? Do not threaten Salvatore Buccini. We can quite easily throw you to wolves if you do not play nicely.”
“This was his idea! He came to me with this arrangement! To kill his brother and frame the Leones! I can just as easily go to the commission myself!” Francesco raised his voice down the phone.
“And who do you think they will believe? A grieving brother or a rival Boss?” Toni chuckled.
There was a long silence and I stared blankly at the iPad.
“Fine. Tell Salvatore he has two weeks. I have already waited two years to make this marriage happen and I am losing my patience. You back out of this and you will have enemies surrounding you in every territory.”
The phone call ended and I sat motionless. All I could focus on was my breathing. The heavy breaths in and out, my chest rising and falling, nostrils flaring as I tried to take in as much oxygen as my body needed to not pass out. I couldn’t… believe it. Yet, I had just heard it with my own ears.
Salvatore with the help of Toni plotted his own little brother’s death. Why? Why?
“As I said before, you can choose to do what you want with this information. If you want us to take it to the commission for them to deal with the injustice themselves than we will but we thought you- “
“No.”
Riccardo paused at my interruption. I glanced up at them for the first time since the audio played and by the looks on their startled faces, I knew I looked like a monster.
“I will deal with this myself.”
I stood up abruptly, taking the file and iPad with me. I nodded at Angelo, whose own face looked pale and sickly from shock, to follow me out.
“Giovanni!” Riccardo called from his chair. I turned slightly not really seeing him through the rage that had now manifested through every fibre of my body. “You owe us for this. But don’t think we are allies now. Only a monster can take out another monster. You will do well to remember that.” He said in warning, reminding me that even though they were not responsible for any of this, we were still rivals. I halted in my steps towards the door and spun on my feet to glare back at them both.
“Olivia. The shooting. Was it you?” I growled, but I already knew the answer.
“No. She’s far too pretty to kill.”
My jaw ticked and I grabbed the door, slamming it open violently as it hid the wall, the noise echoing around the room. I could barely see or hear through my shock and anger as I stumbled out of the building into the daylight again. I squinted my eyes against the blinding sun as I heard the beep of the Lamborghini unlock. Climbing in, I gripped my hair in my hands as Angelo started up the engine silently and sped us out of the city back towards Verona. As we reached the open roads that snaked around the rocky landscape of the coast, I couldn’t take it anymore. I couldn’t bear to be in this small space. I needed air. I needed to breathe.
“Ferma l'auto. Adesso! (Stop the car! Now!)” I ordered.
Angelo swerved to the edge of the cliff and turned off the engine as I climbed frantically out of the car. I hunched over, hands on my knees as my head spun and the bile rose in my throat. Taking deep breaths in through my nose and out of my mouth for a few minutes, I started to regain control over my body and slumped to the dirty cliff edge.
I had no idea how long I sat there for, staring out over the horizon but I felt every emotion possible in that time. Disbelief, shock, denial, confusion, betrayal, despair, disgusted and enraged. That last one was the one that stuck. How could he do this? How could he murder his own brother?
So, he was in love with mamma… he believed me to be his son… was it all out of jealousy? That Vinny had everything he wanted. There had to be more to it than that? I was willing there to be more to it? Something unforgivable that papi had done but no matter how hard I racked my brains I knew there was nothing. Nothing except… me. Vinny was next in line to be Boss because Sal had no children. But he believed he did. He believed it was me that should take over. That I was his rightful heir. And he wanted mamma for himself. The only person in the way of getting everything he wanted was my papi. The cold, hard truth was right there staring me in the face. And now I knew he was capable of killing his own blood, I knew in my heart it was either him or Toni that must have put the hit on Olivia. They just weren’t expecting me to jump in front of the fucking gun.
An hour or so must have passed as I sat with my volatile thoughts before I heard Angelo’s boots on the road behind me.
“You will speak a word of this to no one Angelo,” I spoke firmly, and I knew he was nodding behind me.
“What are you going to do?”
I gazed out at the horizon as the sun started to set. This was the moment that would change everything. My entire life was about to implode but I knew what I had to do.
“I am going to kill Salvatore Buccini on what he thinks is the best day of his life. I am going to rip the floor right out from underneath him,” I gritted through my teeth as my brain swirled with a vengeful plan.
“From this moment, I pledge my loyalty and allegiance to you as Boss,” Angelo bowed his head as I stood up and took his hand. He knew what this meant.
