“I love it,” I breathe.
Knox grins, proud of his work. “You look like a total badass.”
And even better, I feel like one, too.
WHILE THE DRIVE TO Rhode Island made me question my sanity and vow never to take another road trip with Nico and Viola, the drive home is much quieter. The two in the back seat sleep almost the whole three and a half hours, while I drift in and out.
“Where are we?” Viola questions sleepily, rubbing her eyes.
“Almost to Long Island,” I answer. “Did you have a nice nap, Ellis?”
She huffs and flops back against the seat. “Ugh. I told you, the one tattoo reminded me of Grey’s Anatomy.”
“And the first name you thought of wasn’t Meredith?” I wave her off. “That’s it. We can’t be friends anymore.”
Chuckling, she wraps her arms around me from the backseat. “Too bad you’re stuck with me.”
A few minutes later, we pull up to Raff’s and the twins get out of the car. Viola stretches before half-heartedly waving goodbye, and Nico follows behind her like he’s got a bad hangover. Kage looks over at me and smiles tiredly.
“You good?”
I nod. “My back is a little sore, but I had a lot of fun.”
“Good,” he says, putting his hand on the shifter and going to put the car in reverse, but before he can back out of the driveway, a scream sends a chill down both our spines.
He throws the car back into park, and the two of us move at once, jumping out of the car and rushing up the stairs. The moment we get inside, we’re faced with a scene from a goddamn horror movie. Viola is on her knees, screaming at the top of her lungs, while Nico stands there, in shock and shaking.
Raff sits in a recliner in the middle of the room. His eyes and mouth are wide open, as if he was frozen in fear. His skin is pale apart from the bruising around his throat, and the blood that comes from the six gunshots in his chest that match Kage’s tattoos.
My heart shatters as the reality sets in.
Raff is dead.
Everything moves in slow motion. I can feel my blood heating to a boil as I stare at the man who has been a father to me longer than my own was. Viola doesn’t stop screaming and sobbing as she grabs at his hand, like it will somehow make him come back to life. Nico is stuck in a trance with tears flowing down his face as he stays completely unmoving.
I take a step toward the body and look at the holes that puncture his torso the same way they did my father. In only a few seconds, I can practically see a replay of what happened. They strangled him to death and then disrespected his corpse by firing six bullets into him, in the exact places my father was shot.
This was a message meant for me.
Devastation is not something I feel often, but lately it seems as if it’s becoming my new normal. The pain in my chest as I fall to my knees in front of someone I loved and respected is overwhelming. I had always thought that if Dmitri was going to retaliate, he would come after me, but that was naive. He won’t come for me because he knows he can’t beat me.
So he preys on those closest to me.
A hand resting on my shoulder has me turning my head, and panic shoots through me as my gaze locks with Saxon’s. At some point in the last twenty-four hours, Dmitri and his men were here. They left him here like this with the intention of me seeing it, and now Saxon is standing in the same spot.
They could be watching.
No.
She can’t be here.
“We have to get you out of here,” I say, standing up and grabbing her wrist.
As we head to the door, Viola chokes on her sobs. “Where are you going?”
I turn back and look her in the eyes. The pain she’s feeling is one I understand more than one person should. She’s breaking inside, and I get it.
“I will be right back. I promise.”
She nods, and I quickly drag Saxon out of the house, practically tossing her into the car. I slam the door shut and march around to the driver’s side. I throw the car into reverse and peel out of the driveway. Within seconds, I’m speeding down the road.
My fingers fumble with the buttons on the screen as I call Beni.
“Hey, Boss,” he answers.
“I need you to send Roman over to Raff’s house immediately,” I order. “Then meet me at the halfway point between his place and mine. No public locations. Just the side of the road.”
The sound of his keys jingling fill the background. “I’m on it. Is everything okay?”
“No,” I tell him, and the next words that come out of my mouth are ones I never thought I’d be saying so soon. “Raff was murdered.”
I hang up immediately after and glance in the rearview mirrors, making sure we’re not being followed. Saxon watches me carefully, but I can’t look back at her right now, because she’s the one who makes me face my emotions, and right now, the only thing I’m able to focus on is getting her back to my place, where I know she’s safe.
Five minutes later, I spot Beni in my blacked-out Mercedes speeding toward me. We both slam on our brakes, and he spins around to my side of the road.
“Kage,” Saxon pleads. “Say something.”
Her cheeks are wet with tears as I finally turn to her. “I need you to get in the car with Beni, and I need you to stay at home until I get there.”
She’s clearly battling between agreeing and fighting me on it, wanting to be there to support me, but she nods anyway. The two of us get out of the car, and I place my hand on her lower back as I walk her over to Beni.
“Take her straight back to my house and stay with her. Don’t let her out of your sight,” I tell him.
He nods and opens the passenger door for her. Before she can get in, she spins back around and presses a kiss to my lips, one that almost feels like she’s afraid this could be the last time she sees me. Either that or she just knows how badly I need it right now.
I get back in the SUV and watch as Beni speeds off toward home. I put the car back in drive and spin around, heading back to Raff’s house. It feels like an out of body experience, as if I’ve done this so many times, I’m on autopilot. The instructions on how to isolate the pain caused by losing a parent are hardwired into my brain, and I can’t tell if that’s good or bad.
When I get back, I toss the car into park and jump out. Roman is already inside, standing with his hand on Raff’s shoulder and a devastated look on his face. Despite the fact that Raff betrayed the Familia, he was still a father figure to us all for a long time.
“Call Dante and get him over here,” I tell Ro.
He nods and heads into the back of the house to make the call. Viola is still sitting on the floor sobbing, while Nico is on the couch with his face in his hands. I walk over and squat down in front of the body, putting my hand on his knee.
“Fuck, Raff,” I breathe. “Goddamn it.”
Spending a little over a decade as the Don of the Familia, Raff wasn’t a man who couldn’t defend himself. When he ruled, he was ruthless. It took me years to learn from him, and I don’t know what I would’ve done without his guidance.
They had to have overpowered him. Ambushed him when he least expected it and didn’t give him a chance at fighting them off. Dmitri is a coward who relies on others to do his dirty work, so it wouldn’t surprise me if he had his goons strangle him before he fired the shots into his torso.