Lucien swallows hard and shakes his head. “That wasn’t me. That was Dad.”
“Yeah?” Dmitri asks, grabbing him by the hair on the back of his head and tugging his head backward. “Explain.”
“He had the mechanic rig the brakes. Arranged for a car chase. He couldn’t stand looking at her after he found out the truth.”
“And how did he find it out? The photos should have been destroyed. It’s why she did it. Why she slept with you.”
“What?” I hear myself ask. My brain rattles inside my head, and it feels like the world drops out from under my feet. “What did you do?” I ask in a voice I don’t recognize. “What did you do?” I scream. Finding a strength I didn’t know I had, I break away from the man who has me. I hurl myself at Lucien, wrapping my legs around him and digging my nails into his skin as he stumbles backward. He and I go down as one, my scream deafening.
A door slams open somewhere behind me. I hear the commotion of weapons being drawn. And I feel hands on me trying to pry me off as a rage I’ve never felt before gives me the strength to plunge my fingers into Lucien’s eye sockets. He screams and screams like he made me scream. And I know I’m not going to stop. I’m going to kill him with my bare hands. I’m going to dig out his eyes and then his heart and crush it with my bare hands and make him pay for what he did. For everything he did.
29
VITTORIA
“What did you do to her? What did you do to my mother?”
Did he rape my mother? Impregnate her? Did he blackmail her into sleeping with him? Threaten to expose her affair to Dad who I know would take me away from her. Would have taken Emma away if only to hurt her.
Emma.
Oh God, Emma. She’s Lucien’s?
Arms close around me, gentler than I’d expect. Lucien lies whimpering, and I slap wet hands against his chest as the energy drains from me.
“What did you do?” I ask again, this time my voice quieter.
“Dandelion.”
“What did you do to her? To me?”
Gentle hands haul me up. They turn me around and hold me tight, and I sob into Amadeo’s chest. I sob. And when Bastian’s hand comes to the back of my head, I shift into his arms and hold them both tight. I sob for all of it, all the loss. The senseless loss. My mother, myself, Emma, our father.
I need to know one more thing. Did he kill Dad too? Will I ever know? I try to stop sobbing long enough to get air in. To ask the question. But the tears won’t stop.
“Get her out of here,” Amadeo says, handing me off to Bastian.
“Wait,” I cry out.
I wipe my eyes with the backs of my hands. They’re covered in blood and gunk, and Bastian holds me as I turn to look at my brother one final time. Because he won’t walk out of here today. Today, he’ll pay for what he did. And it’s not only me he owes.
I look down at Lucien. His face is unrecognizable. His eye sockets are blood, just blood, and he’s sobbing. I look at Dmitri, who is watching me.
“Give me your gun,” I say to him.
“Vittoria,” Amadeo says.
“Give it to me!”
“You don’t want any more of his blood on your hands,” Dmitri says. “You don’t want his soul linked to yours.” I open my mouth to speak, but he goes first, and what he says silences me. “Your mother wouldn’t want that, Vittoria.”
My mother. He’s the reason she’s gone. Lucien is the reason.
I close my eyes and turn my face into Bastian’s chest, and he just holds me tight because Dmitri is right. And to know that he knew my mother so intimately is a strange, bitter comfort.
“How far out is the convoy?” Dmitri asks.
“Ten minutes if you’re lucky,” Amadeo says.
“Chopper?”
“Outside. Give me your gun.”
Dmitri hands him his gun.
Amadeo nods. “Go. Bastian, take her.”
“Amadeo, you can’t be the one to stay,” Bastian says.
Amadeo looks at me, then at his brother. “This ends today. Here and now. Get her out of here.”
“They’ll take you in—”
“She needs you. Get her out.”
Bastian is clearly not happy about this, but he looks down at me, wraps an arm around me, and we walk out. The three of us along with two of Dmitri’s men board the chopper, the others leaving with the SUVs. And I imagine I hear the sound of the gun being fired although I know that’s impossible with the noise of the blades. But I know it’s over now. It’s finally over.
30
AMADEO
“Who’s there? Who the fuck is there?” Lucien asks, his voice frantic as he tries to scramble to a seat.
I put my foot against his chest to stop him. He freezes. I check Dmitri’s gun, and I’m happy to find a full round of bullets. I only wish I had more time.
Lucien tries to pull away when I crouch down. “Who the fuck is it?” he screams.
“It’s Amadeo Del Campo. Hannah’s big brother,” I tell him. No need to keep him in the dark. Although I guess he’ll live the remaining few minutes of his life in the dark. “You look disgusting, you know that?”
“What do you want?”
“What do you think I want?” I ask as I hear the screech of the first of the SUVs of the convoy arriving.
“They’re here! They’re here, you fucking bastard!”
“I would watch what you call me right about now,” I say, putting the barrel of the pistol to where his tiny cock is and pulling the trigger.
Lucien screams, and it’s fucking music to my ears.
“That was for Hannah. This next one is for my dad,” I say, hearing footsteps charging into the building. I put the barrel on his right knee and pull the trigger, then bring it to his left knee as Lucien sobs and screams. “This will be for my mom.” I blow out his other knee. By now, given the state he’s in, he should be begging for death.
“Please. Please. Fuck. Please.”
“I’m short on time, so I’m going to have to make the last one good. It’ll be for the rest of us. Vittoria. Her mother. My brother. Me. Even little Emma.” I point at his stomach, which will be the most painful and slowest way for him to go. I pull the trigger just as the door is knocked down. Men descend upon me, throwing me facedown to the ground, kicking the gun from my hand before slapping handcuffs on my wrists and hauling me to my feet.
“Well, well,” my old enemy, Chief Inspector Greco says. “Mr. Caballero.”
“Chief Greco, good to see you, as always.”
Greco signals to one of his men who delivers a punch to my gut that would have me doubling over if it wasn’t for the two holding me upright.
“It’s never good to see you. What’s this?” He looks down at Lucien, who is bleeding out and begging for help. “What a mess,” he says. “That’s two you’ve killed today, is that right?”
Lucien stills. “No! No! You said… I called it in! You… Help me! Fucking help me!”