Serafina’s eyes filled with tears but she shook her head.
Samuel stumbled inside, looking dazed.
Serafina’s face twisted painfully before she looked at me. “Please let us leave, Uncle. This war is because of me, and I can tell you I don’t want it. I don’t want to be avenged. Don’t rob my children of their father. I’ll go to Las Vegas with Remo where I belong, where my kids belong. Please, if you feel guilty for what happened to me, if you want to save me, then do this. Let me return to Vegas with Remo. This doesn’t have to be an endless spiral of bloodshed. It can end today. For your children, for mine. Let us leave.”
Her eyes begged me but I looked away and at Remo. My hatred burnt brighter than ever, realizing he’d taken more than we’d ever anticipated. “Is she speaking in the name of the Camorra?”
“She does. You breached my territory, and I breached yours. We’re even.”
“We’re not!” Samuel roared, stepping forward, swaying. Remo lifted his gun a couple of inches and my fingers on mine tightened. One bullet was all it took…for what exactly? Turn Remo into a martyr his brothers and the Camorra would go into war for? Because killing him wouldn’t bring us Serafina back.
“You kidnapped my sister and broke her. You twisted her into your fucking marionette. We won’t be done until I’m standing over your disemboweled corpse so my sister is finally free of you.”
Serafina looked close to tears. “Sam, don’t do this. I know you don’t understand, but I need to return to Vegas with Remo, for myself, but more importantly for my children.”
“I knew you should have gotten rid of them,” Samuel said. Maybe the twins had changed Serafina’s feelings for Remo, intensified whatever twisted bond they shared. Children changed everything, I knew that.
“Send them with him to Las Vegas. They are Falcones, but you aren’t Fina. Be free of them and him. You can start a new life,” Pietro said.
Serafina shook her head. “Where my children go, I will go. Don’t you think I’ve suffered enough for all of your sins? Don’t turn me into another pawn in your chess game. Set me free.” She turned to me once more. “Let us leave. You failed me once, and now I’m lost to you. But please allow me to bring my children to a family that will love them. Allow me to bring my children home. You owe it to me.”
I’d owed her protection on the day of her wedding and a quicker rescue, but this, I didn’t owe her, and yet I felt like I did. “If I allow you to leave today, you are a traitor. You won’t be part of the Outfit. You will be the enemy. You won’t see your family again. There won’t be peace with the Camorra. This war has only begun.”
“When will this war ever end, Uncle?”
I met Remo’s gaze. He regretted nothing. This war between the Camorra and the Outfit would never end, definitely not in my lifetime.
I had often imagined how I’d set Serafina free by killing the man who tormented her. It had been my driving force.
Everything faded to the background, Samuel’s stunned expression, Pietro’s anguish, Danilo’s fury as I stared into my niece’s eyes.
This was about revenge. Revenge for her. Revenge she didn’t want.
I had to set her free, not because of her, because of Val and my children, because of Ines and Sofia. We needed to let go of her because Serafina was already lost. Maybe we’d lost her the moment Remo captured her. Maybe all the months of hoping had been wasted. Serafina had made her choice and today I had to make mine.
I wouldn’t drag the Outfit into a bloody war with the Camorra for her, not when she chose a life with Remo. Nino and his brothers would retaliate if I killed Remo. I would have done it gladly if it would have served its purpose, but it couldn’t. Serafina would never return to us, and her children had always been Falcones anyway.
I would protect the people who wanted my protection, who needed it more than Serafina.
“Leave,” I said coldly.
Danilo jerked, shock flashing across his unshaven face. “You can’t be serious, Dante. You can’t let them go.”
I understood Danilo’s anger, his need for vengeance, but neither he nor I could get what we wanted, not today, maybe never.
“Set me free,” Serafina said again.
“Leave.”
“Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me. Not for that.” I’d allowed a girl to be given to a monster many years ago, a monster she hadn’t chosen. Aria had survived. Serafina had chosen her own monster, her fate. She was no longer my responsibility. Many in the Outfit would be outraged by my decision but it was my last gift toward my niece.
Serafina and Remo left.
Anna, Leonas, and Val would be safer now.
A sense of finality, of utter shock hung in the room.
THE AFTERMATH
PART ONE
Dante
“How could you do this?” Danilo roared, contempt twisting his face.
“You left her at the mercy of a monster. You should have never let her go,” Samuel agreed.
Pietro didn’t say anything, but his expression held the same accusation I saw on theirs.
“She chose him over us. She asked me to leave.”
“You should have forced her to stay. You should have put a bullet through Falcone’s fucking head, or let me do it if you didn’t have the courage to do it,” Danilo muttered. Samuel nodded, leaning against the wall because he was still weak from the tranquilizer.
“Careful,” I said quietly. “I can assure you I won’t hesitate to put a bullet into your head if you ever disrespect me again, Danilo.”
Danilo swallowed hard. He was young, driven by rage and wounded pride—a dangerous combination. “You promised I’d get my revenge for what was taken from me. You promised I’d be the one to kill Falcone, but today you let him go. You let our enemy walk out of our territory. That’s betrayal of the Outfit. The Camorra would have been weaker without Remo Falcone.”
“The Camorra would have sought retribution.”
“And now they won’t?” Samuel asked sharply. “We tortured the bastard to within an inch of his life. The Falcone’s will attack our territory again.”
“Possibly, but they have more to lose now.”
“You mean my daughter and grandchildren,” Pietro said quietly. “What I wonder is if you would have let Anna walk away with a Falcone if it was her in Fina’s stead?”
“Right now, Fina is under Remo’s control. His power over her is too strong to break. She would have resented each of us if we’d killed the father of her children. We would have had a potential spy in our own rows. And you saw what she did. She shot at Danilo. She betrayed the Outfit for Remo. She drugged her own twin. If I’d stuck to the rules, I would have had to declare her a traitor and then subject her to your judgment, Pietro. Your men would have expected you to punish her for what she did, or you would have lost their respect.”
“I would have stepped down from my position as Underboss then. Samuel could have taken over.”
“Then it would have been his task to punish his twin.”
Samuel and Pietro exchanged a look. Neither of them would have ever hurt Serafina, nor would I. Yet, our world was a harsh one, with even harsher consequences if you broke the rules.