When I set off from New York, after claiming one of the bulletproof SUVs from Kirill, I couldn’t wait to get back to Maine. The city was loud, stinking, and chaotic. Somehow, in the quiet woods and crashing ocean of Hade Harbor, a slither of calm had lodged in my chest. I couldn’t wait to get back.
I couldn’t wait to get back. Back to them. My family.
I expected there to be traffic. I expected there to be delays. What I didn’t expect was to be forced off the road on the side of the highway just outside New York.
Four cars boxed me in and drove me onto the hard shoulder. I tapped a quick message with my location to Artur and checked my gun.
Men got out of the cars around me, waiting for their boss. A low, simmering anger sparked in my blood when I recognized the figure who stepped carefully down from one of the cars.
Antonio De Sanctis.
He headed into the woods beside the rest area. I got out of my car and was instantly surrounded. He couldn’t kill me right here, not with the deals he had going on with Kirill. I followed him into the woods.
He stopped just inside where the roar of passing cars was muted. He stood with his back to me, while his men arranged themselves in a circle around us.
“Tony, what a nice surprise. A little dramatic, but that’s your style, I get it. Always overcompensating, aren’t you, old man.”
Antonio turned slowly. He had aged a lot in the last seven years. I could only be grateful that he was still alive. I’d been looking forward to killing him for so long, I’d never get over the disappointment if he died before I had the chance.
“Still cracking jokes in the face of death, boy? I take it prison didn’t knock any sense into you.”
“Everybody dies one day. Your day is coming soon.”
Antonio glowered at me. “Are you really threatening me? Can’t you see who’s in control here?”
“All I see is a sad, wasted old man who couldn’t even keep his own family safe.”
Antonio smirked. There it was. He didn’t know that I knew Sofia was alive. He took pleasure in denying me that knowledge. Knowing that he was the man who had threatened Sofia’s safety, Leo’s safety, made me want to kill him right here and now. Sadly, he was right. It wasn’t the right time. I was too outnumbered, and Antonio deserved far worse than being shot, clean and simple, by the highway. His death should take days. No, years, actually.
“Ah, yes, you’re referring to my whore of a daughter. At least with her death she stopped embarrassing me. Honestly, it was a relief.”
I was on him before I could stop myself. My first, explosive movement caught everyone off guard. I was able to get in close to him, and my first punch landed well in his gut. A second later, hands were dragging me back. I laughed as his bodyguards got in a few hits.
Antonio staggered over to me only when my hands were held too tightly to move.
“You stupid piece of shit. If it wasn’t for your brother, you’d be dead, shot down like a dog at the side of the road.”
“Too bad you can’t do anything, clearly. All you can do is tickle me? Come on, guys, put your back into it.”
“You are totally mad. Prison sent you off the deep end.”
“Oh, Tony, you have no idea.”
Antonio stared at me for a long time before straightening up and smoothing his suit.
“I wanted to see you, to remind you what messing with my family had done to you. I can see it broke your weak mind.”
“Sticks and stones, De Sanctis. Let’s just be honest. You wanted to see me to dig the knife in. You wanted to remind me about her and see the hole it tore, when she died, right? Cut to the chase, I don’t have all day to stand around measuring dicks with you.”
Antonio laughed, shaking his head slightly. “I see I was wrong. I thought you cared about Sofia. You were the only man in her life, did you know that? Except for her cousin, of course.”
“Don’t speak his name in front of me.” The threat left me before I could hold it back. Damn.
Antonio’s eyes lightened. “Is Silvio a sore spot? Is that because his murder sent you to jail for so long? Or is it because he kept trying to fuck Sofia, like an unfixed dog?”
Antonio leaned in, getting in my face. “You know, I don’t think I ever told your brother. Sofia was pregnant when she died. I never was sure if it was yours or Silvio’s.” His small eyes burned with malice.
His casual words undid my self-control, and I was on him again. This time, the bodyguards got more involved. I revised my plans of killing him right here and now after all. The fucker just needed to be gone from the world.
The butt of a pistol to the forehead sent my vision blurring. I fell to my knees as Antonio staggered into his men’s support. He was holding his chest.
“Too exciting for you, Tony? I forgot you had a bad ticker. I could probably kill you just by pissing you off. It comes naturally to me, so be careful.” Blood dripped from my eyebrow, down my face and across my lips. I wiped it away.
“You’re not worth the hospital stay,” Antonio muttered and nodded to his men. He’d only come to gloat, clearly. His hands were tied.
They left me there on the floor of the woods. I stared at the blue sky framed by the trees above.
My mind strayed to Sofia and Leo. I wanted to be back there already, not here arguing with her father, a man who was soon to be dead. A twig snapping to the left of me sent me sitting up.
“Changed your mind and decided to finish the job?”
I twisted around to see who had found me now.
A man stepped out of the trees. He seemed to be alone. He was tall and broad, wearing an Italian designer suit like he was born for the job. He didn’t have his sister’s smile, but he did have her dark eyes.
He towered over me as I sat on the ground and peered up at him.
“Renato De Sanctis. Two De Sanctises in one day. Lucky me. To what do I owe the pleasure?”
Renato’s jaw was clenched tightly. He looked in the direction his father had gone.
“Nikolai Chernov. We need to talk.”
“About?”
“Sofia.”
We went to a diner off the highway somewhere. Renato looked out of place. He was as effortlessly classy as his sister. He was the kind who could blend seamlessly into high-profile events. He could probably sneak up on a senator in plain sight and cap him in the bathroom, something I’d never be able to do. The air of violence that clung to my shoulders was too strong, not to mention my dead eyes and tattoos. In prison, I had turned my body into a lethal weapon, and everyone with half a brain stayed back. Apparently, that rule didn’t apply to the De Sanctis family.
Renato ordered an expresso and watched in shock as I ordered pancakes.
“You’re seriously going to eat pancakes right now?” His deep, dry voice made me grin.
“You ordered a double expresso in a highway diner, and I’m the crazy one?”
Renato watched me, and I watched him right back.
“What are you thinking about?” he asked after a moment.
“You remind me of her. You’re very similar.”
“I don’t look as good in a dress,” Renato said.
“True. Your sister looks good in everything she wears,” I chuckled.
“You meant looked good, right?” Renato said.
“Did I?”
He tilted his head to the side, studying me. “You’ve already found her, haven’t you?”
“What do you think? There’s nowhere Sofia can hide from me. If I didn’t find her in the afterlife, I’d come right back to this world and look. It was pointless to try to and conceal her. All it did was piss me off.”
“Have you hurt her? Know that if you have, this conversation is about to go downhill.”
I smirked at him. “You get points for that. I’ve spent seven years deciding if you should die for failing her, and then weeks deciding if leaving her alone, and allowing your father to threaten her makes you worthy of dying… your stock just went up a minuscule amount.”
“I take that to mean that you haven’t hurt her.”
“You can take it to mean that I will kill any man who does, including myself,” I stated flatly.
Renato stared at me for a long moment. It was the stare of a brother sizing up his future brother-in-law.
He nodded at length. “I never wanted her to disappear. I never wanted to lie, but my father holds a lot of power in the family. It wasn’t time yet to take over from him. I honestly thought he had a year at most. He was so ill after his first heart attack. But somehow, he’s managed seven years. Sometimes I think he’s never going to die.”
“Oh, he’s going to die, and soon. I promise you.”
The waitress put down my pancakes and Renato’s expresso. He took a sip and grimaced, while I cut into my first buttery, sweet mouthful. Since finding Sofia, even food tasted better. It was like I was slowly coming back to life.
“So, you’re going to kill him?” he asked.
“Why, you want me to? Don’t tell me you’re going to be the kind of man who waits around for someone else to do the dirty work? A boss like that won’t be respected.”
“Don’t teach me rules about a family you have no knowledge about. We aren’t like you. In my family, respect to the one who has gone before is the most important thing. With age comes wisdom, and it’s the mark of a strong capo. Antonio is old and still has supporters. Alone, it would be difficult to unseat him.”
He let out a deep, pained breath, his fingers tapping the table in a tattoo.
“I can’t kill him. It’ll risk my position as the next boss. But you could. With inside help, to get him alone, vulnerable… you could do it.”
I finished my last mouthful, making Sofia’s brother wait. Finally, once I finished chewing, I put down my fork leisurely and smiled at him.
“Now you’re speaking my language, Renato De Sanctis.”
He smiled at me. “Call me Ren.”
“Ren. I think we’re going to get along just fine.”
