My sixteenth birthday was right around the corner, but Mom cradled me to her side as if I were a little child, and I didn’t protest. This felt like the last moments of our lives. Fear clogged my throat, and my heart pounded wildly in my chest. Mom kissed my temple, her arms around my body tightening even more as wheels squealed before us and a metallic crash sounded. Through the windshield, I saw the car with Remo and Nino and their families smashed against a shipping container.
I cringed, and Mom’s hold on me became painful.
We were in an industrial harbor area of New York, I wasn’t sure where exactly. During my few visits in New York over the years, I’d never really gotten the hang of the city’s outlay. We jolted against our belts when Dad hit the brakes.
“Heads down,” he shouted before he ducked out of the car with his gun drawn. Gunshots rang out, and another crash sounded.
“Get out of the car,” Adamo said as he exited and held the door open for us. His wife Dinara, who had been sitting beside me, got out first, pulling the gun she was carrying. I was glad they had decided to leave their young son Roman with his grandfather for this trip. That way at least he was safe.
Mom and I were unarmed. I knew Mom had practiced shooting with Dad but I had never seen her with a gun apart from that, and I had only held one once or twice. There had never been a moment where I’d felt unsafe in Las Vegas. I had never liked the feel of a weapon in my hand and considering the tremor in my body I doubted my aim would have been good in a situation like this.
We hid behind an overturned van. A trail of blood led around it where Dad had dragged away the driver.
In the distance I could see more cars approaching, black limousines. Probably reinforcement for the Famiglia who was attacking us. I still couldn’t wrap my head around it. These men shooting at us were married to my aunts. We had been here for a wedding. How could they do this?
I felt sick as I watched my family fall apart. I hadn’t seen my aunts and cousins in New York very often but since losing my grandmother, the only grandparent I’d ever met, it had been the only extended family I had. Now they would disappear from my life too, if we survived this.
Considering the number of Famiglia cars heading our way, I didn’t have much hope for us. I hadn’t considered dying yet. I’d sometimes worried for Dad’s life when he hadn’t returned in time and Mom’s worry had fueled my own, but I had always felt safe.
What if these were the last minutes of my life?
“Everything’s going to be okay,” Mom whispered. “We’ll be safe either way. They don’t hurt women.” Even as she said it, Mom’s gaze moved to Dad, and fear overtook her face.
Maybe we were safe, or as safe as a woman could be in our world, but Dad and the other men would definitely die.
An image of Nevio flashed in my head. He’d stayed home with the rest of the Unholy Trio, just like Savio and his family, and my brother Davide.
A van barreled toward us and stopped with squealing tires. The sliding doors jerked open, making my body clamp up with trepidation. How many more Famiglia soldiers would ambush us? But it wasn’t an unfamiliar face I saw. Nevio got out of the van. My eyes grew wide with relief, then utter shock when I noticed the woman in his hold. He was pressing a knife against her throat. Even from afar, I immediately recognized my aunt Gianna. She looked scared. I only knew her as a feisty, loud-mouthed woman so seeing her like that really drove the seriousness of the situation home.
I couldn’t believe Nevio was threatening her life, but then again, maybe this was our only chance to get out of here alive.
“Stop!” Matteo roared. The Famiglia stopped firing and so did our side.
“Surprise, motherfuckers,” Nevio shouted with a wide grin. I’d seen several versions of his grin, but tonight, illuminated by several headlights in an eerie way, I got a glimpse of how people felt that were terrified of him. There was something unhinged, wild, and hungry about him. I wasn’t sure if he’d care that Gianna was a woman.
He pulled Gianna along as he walked toward Remo, Nino, Adamo and Dad. She struggled against his hold but it was futile. One look at Remo’s face told me he hadn’t known Nevio was here. Nevio had always been bad at following rules, even when they came from his father, the Capo of the Camorra.
After him, Massimo jumped out, and then Alessio with my cousin Isabella in his grip. Isabella’s already wild mane was all over the place, her glasses were broken and she looked as if she’d cried. I tried to catch her eyes, maybe show her somehow that it was going to be allright, even if I was the last person who had any control over the outcome of tonight, but she never looked my way. The way we were hidden behind the van, she probably couldn’t even see us.
“If you touched a single hair on their heads, I’m going to make you regret the day you were born,” Matteo growled. I only knew him as the funny, easy-going husband of Gianna. I’d always loved his jokes. It was difficult to see him as the enemy all of a sudden.
I still felt pity for him for having to watch Gianna and Isabella being taken, and I felt guilty because part of me was relieved.
Nevio flashed his teeth at Matteo and briefly touched Gianna’s hair. She tried to escape his grip, but he pushed the knife against her throat as a warning once more. “I don’t regret anything yet.”
I’d never seen Nevio or my father in action as Made Men. I only knew their domestic side. It was easy to forget that it was only a small part of them.
“Isabella, Gianna, are you okay?” Amo called. I briefly glanced his way. He was the reason we were here, the reason things escalated. My gaze next moved to Greta. Her eyes were on him with a look I could feel deep in my gut and in my heart. Her face expressed what I sometimes felt when I looked at Nevio. Longing and wistfulness.
Her feelings for Amo, and his for hers had led to the conflict between the Famiglia and the Camorra. Love could be a destructive force.
Suddenly, Matteo stormed toward Nevio and had to be stopped by Luca. “The fucker hit you!”
My eyes registered the bruise on Gianna’s face. I sucked in a sharp breath, but I simply couldn’t imagine Nevio slapping my aunt. It wasn’t his style…
“I’m afraid that’s not true,” Nevio said as he walked over to his father. “Sorry, Dad. I disobeyed, but I simply couldn’t resist ruining a wedding. If I’d known it would come to this…” He chuckled and exchanged a look with Massimo and Alessio, looking like this was the greatest night of his life. He wasn’t scared at all. He’d walked into danger as if it meant nothing, as if his life meant nothing, as if death and pain meant nothing.
“You’re going too far,” Matteo said quietly.
“Too far?” Remo snarled. “You attack me and my family while we’re guests in your territory. Never talk about honor to me again. I’m the master at playing dirty, Vitiello. You just opened the fucking Pandora’s box.”
Nevio peered down at Gianna and sucked in a deep breath. “I smell war.” He laughed as if this was good news. War.
“Leave my territory. We’re even. And let Gianna and Isabella go right now,” Luca said.
Remo scoffed. “Even? Plenty of Famiglia blood will be spilled before I’ll consider us even, Luca.”
“I think Alessio took a shining to your daughter,” Nevio kept provoking.
I stopped listening to their power play. I clutched Mom’s hand, wishing there was something we could do to stop the men. It was too late to stop a war, even I knew that, but we could all leave alive today. I didn’t want people I knew to die. I didn’t want to have to watch them die. Maybe that was selfish, but the idea tore at me. Especially if I considered that someone I loved might kill someone I cared about.
A gasp sounded somewhere and suddenly Greta was running toward the water. Her face was determined. No sign of fear even as she flung herself into the Hudson and disappeared under the black surface.
“Greta!” Several screams rang out and people began running. Nevio released Gianna and rushed toward the water to save his twin.
Nevio flung himself into the water seconds later and Amo followed after checking the water’s surface for Greta. Both of them were willing to risk it all for Greta. Remo and Serafina rushed toward the edge too, calling Greta’s name.
Mom wrapped her arms around me as if she was worried that I’d run there too. I was too frozen to move, by everything that had happened. The gunshots had ceased.
Dad and Adamo stayed close to us while Nino and Remo ran toward the water’s edge.
Amo pulled Greta out of the water and began CPR, soon after she opened her eyes. Nevio watched everything with a heaving chest and stormy expression from the side, dripping wet.
Even from a distance I could see his struggle, his fear for his twin’s life, his hatred for Amo. Mom brushed a few strands from my face. I could feel her shaking, which was surprising because my own body was wrecked by tremors.
I wasn’t sure how much time passed, but soon Dad led Mom and me away toward a van. We all got in. Greta was wrapped in a fluffy white towel and huddled against her mother Serafina. The drive was rough. Even though, the Famiglia had allowed us to leave, I still feared another attack.
I’d always felt like I had all the time in the world. Everyone had always said to me that I was still young and had my entire life ahead of me, but today had shown me how quickly things could change, how unexpectedly a life could end. There was still so much I wanted to do in my life, so much I hadn’t experienced yet, I was terrified I might never get the chance.
When we got out of the car, we were at an airport and a private jet was waiting for us. I held my breath until we were in the air.
It was silent in the airplane except for the low murmurs of the male members of our family. Their faces were a mix of anger and determination, and I knew they were already discussing revenge plans. More blood would be spilled. Life as I knew it was over. All because of two people who loved each other in secret. I’d thought it was romantic, now I realized it was tragic.
I reached for my necklace with the gold charm of a skateboard. Carlotta had discovered it in the shop window of a jeweler for pre-owned pieces a few years ago. I’d bought it and since then it had felt like a token, something I always carried with me no matter where I went. But my hand came up empty. I glanced down. My neckline was bare and I was in my comfy pjs. At night was the only time I ever took off the necklace and put it on my nightstand. I must have left it there in the hotel room when we’d fled from the ambush. I swallowed.
There was no way I could ever get it back. My suitcase with my clothes was lost too but because I had to dress to impress at the wedding, I didn’t pack anything that was dear to my heart except for the necklace.
My heart felt heavy. Over the years, I’d always touched it when I needed encouragement or a bit of luck.
I pulled my legs up against my chest and rested my chin on my knees. My eyes burned and the back of my throat clogged up. I wasn’t sure if this was only about the necklace. I fought the raw emotions that tried to claw their way out of me.
Greta had almost drowned, had lost the man she loved, yet she wasn’t crying. She looked composed in her typical, far-away Greta way. And Kiara who had her head bandaged because of a headwound wasn’t wallowing in self-pity either. She was chatting quietly with Alessio and Massimo, making sure they were okay in her typical motherly way. I doubted they would suffer nightmares from this. Knowing them they would soon start making plans for payback.
I didn’t want to be the one to make a scene.
I turned my face toward the window, hoping to hide my tears if I failed to suppress them. In my peripheral vision, I registered movement, but I didn’t turn, expecting Mom. I was afraid she’d hug and console me because then the tears would definitely flow freely.
“Worst wedding of all time, don’t you think?” Nevio asked, his voice dripping with sarcasm.
I sniffed and cleared my throat. “Definitely.” The wedding had felt off from the start, not because I’d picked up on any danger, but because it had been obvious that Amo wasn’t marrying the person he wanted. Luckily for once I could stop myself from saying something embarrassing and didn’t bring up my observations about love to Nevio. “But it’ll make history.”
Nevio’s mouth twisted with anger. “Oh it will. But if I’d planned an ambush like that, I would have done it properly. Not in the aftermath of a wedding but at the party. Bloody weddings are far better than the standard.”
I looked at him. “Some think weddings and funerals should be sacred.”
“Nothing’s sacred anymore, Rory.” He looked toward Greta, something dark passing his face before he looked back at me. I’d never talked about it with Nevio, but it had been obvious from the start that he didn’t want Greta to have feelings for Amo.
I nodded slowly. “I thought you were supposed to stay in Las Vegas.” His father had forbidden Nevio from joining the festivities to avoid a scene. And Nevio did indeed cause a scene but one that saved us.
A smirk pulled at his lips. His eyes reflected a darker emotion that didn’t match the casual twist of his mouth. “I suppose it’s good that I’m bad at following rules.”
“You think your dad’s going to punish you?”
“He better not. We saved the day.”
They really did. I wondered how Gianna and Isabella were feeling. After Greta had jumped into the water, chaos had erupted and I’d lost sight of my aunt and cousin.
“But why were you in New York? You couldn’t possibly have known that there would be an ambush. Did you want to crash the wedding?”
“Never. Amo deserves to be married to that witch. But I was hoping for a bit of entertainment afterward. New York is full of opportunities.”
I gave him a doubtful look. “That would have caused trouble.”
“Trouble found us without my help.”
“You saved us tonight but I have to admit I was really scared for Gianna and Isabella. I was worried you’d hurt them.”
“Right. You are related to them.”
I nodded. “I guess I won’t see them anymore.”
“They’re blood but blood doesn’t mean shit if your family tries to kill you.”
I bit my lip. Of course, that was true, but I doubted Gianna and Isabella, or any of the other women in the Famiglia had known about the ambush plans.
“The Famiglia played dirty and so did we.”
I imagined how Gianna and Isabella must have felt. “Would you really have hurt them?” I wanted to believe that Nevio, Massimo and Alessio had only put on a show, that they they wouldn’t have hurt Gianna and Isabella no matter what had happened.
Nevio’s smile hardened and his eyes gave me an answer before his mouth did, “If you go into war as a player, you need to be willing to play it to the end. A bluff is a risk, especially if so much is on the line.”
I nodded. It wasn’t the answer I wanted, but it was the answer I’d expected. I knew Dad, too, would have done anything to protect Mom and me. “I’m glad you didn’t follow the rules. It was really scary. I thought we’d all die.”
Nevio shook his head. “This was a good reminder to stay on our toes. It won’t happen again. You don’t have to worry, Rory.”
The way he looked at me with absolute conviction, I believed him.
“It’s tragic. This must be hard for Greta.”
“That’s what you get when you let emotions run your life.”
