Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 82847 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 414(@200wpm)___ 331(@250wpm)___ 276(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 82847 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 414(@200wpm)___ 331(@250wpm)___ 276(@300wpm)
Don Russo stood with Uncle Marco. Santino was there too, giving me a subtle warning with just his eyes, like I’d just stepped into trouble. Other guys were there too, extra muscle in case I snapped and lunged at Don Russo’s throat.
“I can see you’ve made your choice,” I said with a deep sigh. “I’ve said my piece, so I won’t try to change your mind. I hope you give me the same respect and let me go in peace.” Otherwise, I’d have to kill a lot of people in this room—a lot of people I still liked.
Don Russo didn’t move, his spine straight with his arms crossed, the top button of his collared shirt undone. He stared at me with exhaustion for a while before he rubbed his jawline. “Family doesn’t always agree. Family doesn’t always get along. But they’re still a family, Wolfe.”
My eyes shifted to Uncle Marco.
All he did was give a slight shake of his head.
“Just because I want to leave Cosa Nostra doesn’t mean I have any ill will toward you.” My eyes turned back to Don Russo. “I would hope that feeling is mutual.”
He stared me down.
“Or perhaps I’m mistaken.” I smiled slightly, because there was no man, whether he was a don or a murderer, who scared me.
“You made a vow to Cosa Nostra, Wolfe,” Don Russo said. “A lifelong commitment, the only departure through death.”
“Yes, I remember your little cult initiative. But I committed to an organization that was fearless and respectable, that drew lines in the sand where applicable. I refuse to profit off the blood of innocents, and I’m disappointed we don’t share the same philosophy. Perhaps I’m the only one who’s actually keeping that oath…and the rest of you are the ones who abandoned it.”
A quiet flash of rage flickered across Don Russo’s eyes. Quick and sudden, with the speed of a military jet in the sky.
Uncle Marco approached me and lowered his voice. “Wolfe, listen to me—”
“Stay out of this, Uncle,” I said coldly.
He hesitated before he returned to Don Russo’s side.
“This can end in two ways, Don,” I said. “We can part amicably…” I cocked my head before I reached into the hidden slot inside my shirt that held my knife. I pulled it out and flicked it open, the sharp blade popping out. “Or not so amicably.”
Whenever a member of Cosa Nostra left the organization, he was killed by a thousand cuts from the men he betrayed. But I was even better with a knife than I was with a gun, and I wasn’t afraid to kill a man in an intimate way. To slide my blade between their ribs and twist until their lung was punctured. To slice my blade across their cheek so they could taste their own blood on their tongue. I’d stabbed a man in the eye before and left the blade there just to watch him scream as he gripped the hilt, unsure whether he should leave it or pull it out.
Don Russo stared at me.
The others subtly turned to the don, silently waiting for the order.
It was eight against one—and I liked those odds.
I wasn’t sure what thoughts passed through Don Russo’s mind—if he wanted to kill me even more for openly opposing him, or if there was still some deeply rooted affection for me because he’d known me since I was a child. He had selected me as his successor a long time ago because I was tough enough to make the hard decisions others feared to make. Because I was too smart to let someone else outsmart me. Because I spoke my mind and didn’t play games. All those qualities he loved had now been turned against him.
Moments of silence passed as he stared me down. “There’s no turning back, Wolfe. There’s no return.”
“I don’t do second chances, so that’s fine by me.”
“I’ll let you walk away as payment for everything you’ve done for Cosa Nostra. But cross our paths again, and we’ll carve you into slices of meat as if for a charcuterie board and feed you to the hounds.”
The corner of my mouth rose in a smile at the threat. “That’s quite the image.” I flicked the blade back into the hilt and slipped it into my pocket. “Good luck, Don Russo. Hope Cosa Nostra finds its way back someday.”
3
FRANCESCA
I’d just stepped out of the shower with a towel wrapped around my waist when I saw my phone lit up with a call from my brother, Leo. I tapped the screen and put it on speaker. “What do you want?”
“I’ve called you like four times.”
“I was in the shower—”
“We’ve got a situation down here. I just pulled up to your place.”
“What the hell happened now?” I asked as I walked into my bedroom to grab whatever I could find.