Sempre
Evelina’s ring.
I swallowed the bile rushing into my mouth and without thinking, I shoved the ring in my pocket. My legs gave out and I stumbled backwards, falling from the chair and whacking my hip bone on the stove. When I picked myself up, I was staring right at my uncle.
He was standing in the doorway between the kitchen and the diner. My mother was bundled in a ball at his feet.
‘You’d better not be doing what I think you’re doing,’ he said, calmly.
‘Mom!’ I darted across the room and crouched beside her unconscious form. ‘What the hell did you do to her?’
The rain and wind were so loud I hadn’t heard him come in. If there had been a scuffle, he had ended it quickly, and I had been too busy sticking my head into a safe to notice.
Jack – Antony – looked down on me, his eyes dark and hooded. ‘She was going to scream. I didn’t want her drawing any attention to us.’
‘You knocked her out!’ I glared up at him. ‘What the hell is wrong with you?’ I pulled her limp body into the kitchen, away from Jack’s muddy boots, and propped her up against the island. ‘Mom?’ I said, nudging her gently. ‘Wake up, Mom.’
‘So, I see you found your father’s key,’ Jack muttered. ‘I suppose you know everything.’
‘Just when I thought I couldn’t be any more disgusted,’ I hissed. ‘I know all about you, Antony.’
‘Good. It’s about time.’ He pushed past me, undaunted by my use of his real name, and unfolded a duffel bag from under the counter. He picked up the stacks of money I had dropped on the counter and held them up. ‘I see you decided to rob me.’
I channelled every drop of venom into my response. ‘I’m a Marino, right? Why not take what’s mine?’
He barked a laugh. ‘A true Marino would have cleaned the entire safe out.’
‘Well, I guess I’m not good at being a depraved criminal.’
‘You’re so dramatic.’ His movements were hurried as he shoved the money into the duffel bag in thick fistfuls.
‘Don’t forget the switchblades,’ I snapped. ‘What charming keepsakes. I’m sure all those Falcones are turning in their unmarked graves.’
‘That’s your father’s business,’ he huffed, climbing up on the counter to reach further inside. ‘The revenge was always more his thing. I just want to make money.’
Oh my God.
‘He’s been involved all along?’ My voice sounded impossibly far away – hollow, quivering. I swallowed the rest of my reaction. Not here. Not now. That brand of betrayal ran too deep. I would deal with it later.
Jack stopped his rustling to glance over his shoulder. He shrugged heavily, and something peculiar flashed in his eyes. ‘They took everything from us, Sophie. I thought you’d be able to understand that.’
I kept my voice as steady as I could. ‘I understand that you’re going to get killed pretty soon, and you know what? I think you deserve it.’
I patted my mother’s cheek. A welt was rising on the top of her head; Jack had hit her hard. I couldn’t drag her out, could I? Maybe I should just whack my head on something too and go with her, into dreamland, where I had a name and a family that still made sense.
I was trying really hard not to think about the ring in my pocket. Trying not to think about my father with his greying hair and melancholy eyes, rotting in prison. Where he deserved to be, as it turns out. And I was really trying hard not to cry in front of my uncle.
He heaved another tower of money into the duffel bag and swept his hand inside the safe, checking that everything was out. ‘And what about your dad?’
‘Leave him out of this.’ I didn’t have anywhere near enough energy to open that box of broken promises. I wanted to twist my hands in his collar and scream at him. But I could never get to him. He was behind bars. Safe.
Another wheezing laugh escaped Jack. He slammed the heavy brass door shut and locked it. ‘Newsflash, Persephone, we’re all fucked up in this together. Your father and I are blood-red with guilt. You can’t pick and choose which one of us to hate.’
My mother still wasn’t stirring, and I was starting to grow desperate. Slits of white pushed against her drooping eyelids. I brushed her hair back and felt for the pulse in her neck. It was weak but steady. ‘I need you to wake up,’ I whispered as tears pooled in the backs of my eyes. ‘I really need you to wake up now.’
Jack covered the safe behind the lino and shut the cabinet. When I looked up, he was right above me. The duffel bag was slung on his shoulder and his eyes were flashing with some new crazy purpose.
‘Just go,’ I said, pushing it out with all the strength I had in me. I was not going to think about the switchblades. I was not going to think about what that list meant. Or where the ruby came from. I was not going to think about how many lies my father had told me.
Jack had the audacity to laugh. ‘We both know I’m not leaving here without you, Soph.’
‘I can’t help you kill the Falcones. Donata won’t—’
Jack barked an incredulous laugh. ‘You don’t really believe Donata expected you to kill anyone, do you?’
I blanched. ‘She said she wanted me to help her.’
‘You don’t even know how to use a gun, let alone kill a man. For Christ’s sake, you’re seventeen years old.’
‘But then how was I supposed to—’
‘Don’t worry about it,’ Jack interrupted, amusement still colouring his tone. ‘You’ve already done it, Soph. You’ve already helped her.’
‘I—’ The words fell away from me. ‘She knew I’d go to them,’ I realized. ‘She wanted me to go to them.’
She played me.
But why? I didn’t get it – I couldn’t grasp the scope of her plan. I was too close to it, and it didn’t make sense. But I knew I had slipped up.
‘Donata is a very intelligent woman,’ Jack said admiringly. ‘You shouldn’t underestimate her.’
My mother was groaning, and I was beginning to realize that the two of us getting out of here together and without Jack was going to be impossible.
As if reading my thoughts, he said, ‘You can’t run, so don’t try.’
‘Why?’ I asked, hearing the childishness in my own voice. ‘Why do I matter so much?’
‘Because you’re family,’ said Jack. ‘And family stick together.’
‘We don’t want to stick with you, Antony, we’re fine by ourselves.’
‘Well,’ he said, still ignoring my use of his real name, and looking past me out the window into the storm-swept parking lot. ‘Donata’s collecting Marinos. She wants you in the fold where she can keep an eye on you. So you know what that means?’
‘What?’
‘It means tough shit.’
We glared at each other as my mother twitched beside me – Don Vincenzo Marino’s eyes mirrored back at each other, shooting mistrust.
The rain thudded relentlessly against the roof. Thunder groaned, rumbling ever closer as the windows rattled in their frames. I could feel my heartbeat in my fingertips. Dread was uncoiling in the pit of my stomach as a new comprehension dawned on me: there was no one left to help us. I had to call the police. I had to take my chances.
‘You should have told me,’ I said. ‘I deserved to know.’
‘I vowed I would tell you if one of us ever came out of hiding.’
‘You are out of hiding.’ Subtly I slid my phone out of my pocket.
‘I tried to tell you at Eden but you wouldn’t listen,’ he said irritably. ‘What does it matter, anyway? You know now. We’ve been running for too long. It’s time to stand up and fight.’
‘I don’t want to fight.’ I unlocked my phone.
Jack’s attention flicked between the parking lot and where I was crouched beside my mother. His eyes narrowed at something outside.
I started to dial, the phone hidden by my side, but Jack whipped around and snatched it from me. He brought his hand down hard across my face. ‘What the fuc
k are you doing?’ he spat. ‘Calling the police – are you crazy? Do you want to get killed, is that it?’
I lunged at him, but he caught my fists as I slammed them against him. ‘Just go!’ I yelled. ‘What are you waiting for?’
‘Calm down!’ he snapped. I thrashed against him but he held firm, dragging me towards the server line behind the till. He pulled his phone from his pocket. Whoever he was calling answered on the first ring. He spoke low and quickly, his eyes darting around the diner, ignoring my mother as she started groaning. ‘They’re on the move,’ he said. ‘Three.’ Another pause, and then, ‘Watch the front, but I’m guessing they’ll come around the back.’
I glanced over my shoulder. Through the window, in the distance, a flash of lightning illuminated three dark shapes at the very far end of the parking lot. The Falcones were coming. We were caged in.
Jack pulled me back into the kitchen. A strange part of me was glad my mother was out cold for this. If our doom was rising to meet us, at least she wouldn’t have to suffer the terror of it. At least she hadn’t seen those switchblades, the ring, the truth. At least she didn’t realize how depraved her husband really was – how we had both been conned. At least her heart was still whole.
Across the kitchen, the back door was shut and locked. It was heavy and metal – and impenetrable.
‘What are you going to do now?’ I asked, trying and failing to pull him back to the serving section of the diner – to the diner phone.
‘We’re going to kill them,’ he said. ‘And finally teach you the meaning of loyalty.’
His eyes were fathomless pools, polluted with his scheme. I tried to twist out of his grasp but he clamped down harder. He stalked to the other side of the kitchen, through to the serving area, so he could glance through the windows again. Sheets of rain crashed against the windows, but outside all was still.
Or so it appeared.
I had to get out. If I could get out, I could flag someone down. I could get us out of there. I struggled against him.
‘You can go,’ he said. ‘But you’ll have to take your chances with the assassins outside.’
There was a deafening crash from the kitchen – something was colliding against the metal door. Jack had been right – the Falcones had come around the back, where their attempts to get at him would be hidden in the darkness of the alleyway.
I seized this distraction and bolted into the serving area. The furious thudding of Jack’s pursuit jolted me faster. I sprinted across the floor, pulling tables behind me as I went, hoping to slow him down. He bounded over them with wild abandon.
I reached the front door and managed to free the lock with fumbling hands. Jack grabbed my T-shirt. We tussled and he yanked me backwards, clenching my shoulders. ‘They’ll kill you!’
I stomped on his foot. ‘Let go!’
Two loud cracks rang in the air outside. Closer than thunder, more frightening than lightning. I stumbled backwards, hitting my head against Jack’s chest. He gripped my arm again and pulled me with him, knocking over a table.
Another crash rang out back in the kitchen, the door clanging against their attempts to demolish it.
They were everywhere.
The front door swung open in front of us and Donata Marino swept into the diner, bringing a flurry of wind and rain with her.
‘There you are,’ she said, holding her gun high. ‘By happy coincidence you are already exactly where I want you to be.’
‘You lied to me!’ I spat. ‘You used me!’
‘Like a carrier pigeon.’ She took a step closer, blocking my way. I could see the beads of rain sliding down her face. ‘As if I would ever expect you to betray the boy that gives you flowers and looks at you like you’re worth something.’
I gaped at her.
‘I have eyes everywhere, Sophie.’ She shook her head. ‘And I am no fool.’
‘Why? Why send me there?’
‘Don’t you understand power structures, silly girl?’ She lowered her gun and tucked it in her pocket. Her smile was a patronizing slash of red lips. ‘Our strike tonight is only as good as the highest-ranking member we kill.’ Her smile grew as she saw comprehension move across my features.
She knew she could never get to Valentino. But Valentino was one half of a whole.
So …
‘Luca is the target,’ I whispered.
She nodded. ‘I wanted the underboss to know we were coming so he would come out of that mansion and stand with his brothers, where I can get at him.’
As she shut the door behind her, I caught a glimpse of Gino Falcone slumped against the doorframe, his gun held limply in his hand as rivers of crimson pooled across his T-shirt.
I knew in that split second that I had made the gravest mistake of all, and that tonight we would all pay for it.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
THE GAS
Donata seized me by the collar and dragged me with her like a dog. ‘The others are at the back door?’ she asked Jack. There was another bang from the kitchen and she smiled, her question answered. She indicated behind her with a flick of her wrist. ‘Giorgino Falcone was too busy playing with his phone to see me. Imbecille. Libero and Marco will cover the front now. The others are en route. The Falcones have backup, so we’ll have to be quick.’
God. There were so many of them moving around in the darkness, seizing the storm and harnessing its protection.
I struggled out of Donata’s grasp and tried to crane my neck to search the doorway again. She pushed me back into the kitchen, where Jack was lifting the bursting duffel bag on to the island. My mother’s eyes were closed but she was still groaning softly, reality filtering back to her, piece by piece. Donata ignored her.
‘Sophie, I am going to do for you what I could not do for my sister many years ago. I am going to get those demons out of your head. Tonight is the beginning of the life you were meant to have. Tonight you will become a Marino.’
The door heaved again, and this time a dent formed in the centre of it.
Jack stretched his body over the stove and flicked the gas on, one burner at a time. I watched the air above them start to ripple.
‘What the hell are you doing?’ The realization came upon me like a bed of nails in my back. Before I could scream at them, Donata had clamped her hand across my mouth, suffocating the air as I tried to suck it in.
‘Family business,’ she said, and I felt the whisper of her smile in the hairs on my neck. ‘Let me explain something to you, Sophie.’ She was breathing so heavily I couldn’t hear myself think. ‘When I was a little girl, my sister stole my favourite doll while I was at school and cut all her hair off. When I got home, I seethed for two days and two nights. Then on the third day, I told her that in revenge I was going to go out to our garden shed, open the hutch inside it and take the head off her pet bunny rabbit.’
I struggled harder, but she clamped down, speaking faster. ‘Elena was terrified. She wanted to know when I was going to do it. As a matter of fairness, I told her I would do it in two weeks’ time, on the fourteenth day, and that I would wait until she was asleep so she couldn’t stop me.’
The gas was filling up the room with frightening speed. I could already smell the sulphuric burn sticking to the inside of my nostrils. There was another crash – and this time Nic’s voice rang out above the thunder and the rain. ‘Marino, you coward! Open up!’
Nic. I shut my eyes tight. Dammit.
Donata was still talking. ‘Instead of coming on the fourteenth day, she spent every single one of those nights camped outside in a sleeping bag, waiting for me. Once she knew I was going to do it, she couldn’t help herself. She couldn’t stand the suspense, the idea of not truly knowing when or how I would strike. Her protective instincts drove her to that cold, damp shed, and her fear kept her there. It deprived her of sleep, of sanity … and still, when the day came, I took the head as I swore I would.’
Jack was circling the kitchen. He had unstuck the cork noticeboard
and wedged it beside the stove, and now he was dropping everything flammable he could find on to the floor, throwing tablecloths and napkins around the countertops like he was playing with streamers.
‘You see, Sophie,’ said Donata, ‘Elena has always been calculated, cautious … predictable.’ I could feel the smile in her last sentence. ‘Gianluca Falcone is every bit his mother’s son. He will always place himself where the threat is greatest. And that’s how I know he’s outside that door right now.’
As if in answer, the door clanged again and this time a hinge crumbled.
Donata’s laugh rang out. ‘The underboss is Valentino’s highest protection. He only comes out of his brother’s shadow when he knows real, palpable danger is near. Caution has brought him here tonight, and his predictability will get him killed.’
I shut my eyes tight. Luca wouldn’t leave Valentino in the middle of a blood war.
There’s no way.
We were facing the caving metal doorway from across the kitchen. Behind us the passage was free, safe from the destruction Jack was cultivating. As the full horror of their plan crystallized before me, Jack’s psychotic laugh surged through the kitchen, rising up with the gas.
‘Come on in, boys!’
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
THE EXPLOSION
I knocked my head backwards, smashing it against Donata’s collarbone.
‘Stop it,’ she hissed, wrangling me against her. ‘Or I’ll split your head against the stove and leave you here to burn with your boyfriends. If you’re not with us, you’re against us.’
Across the room, my mother stumbled to her feet, one hand clamped on her head and the other clutching her stomach. Watching the glazed expression on her face and the way her mouth was twisting with pain, I felt only dread.
‘Sophie?’ she slurred. She barely reacted to the fact that I was being restrained by Donata Marino. She double-blinked, flinching. ‘What is this?’
Inferno (Blood for Blood #2) Page 25
