KINGDOM FALL

by A. Zavarelli

  I cringe at the image, and again, my instinct is to deny it, but his story aligns with what Nino told me. And I know Gwen would do anything for her son. What he’s saying isn’t that farfetched, all things considered. She has always proclaimed Enzo’s innocence, as have I, but now I’m realizing I don’t know him as well as I thought.

  “Where is he now?” I ask.

  “He’s in the visitor's room waiting for you and Nino. Gwen has already been by today.”

  Of course, she has.

  “Can you show me his cell without the other guards seeing us?”

  “Not physically,” he says. “But I can show you.”

  He stands up and heads for the door. I follow him out and into the control room. He enters his login details and pulls up the monitors, clicking on the thumbnail of a cell. Sure enough, when he enlarges it, I can see it’s not like the others. There’s a bed, a TV, and a refrigerator. He has all the amenities a prisoner could hope for in here.

  “The guards like to watch him fuck the women,” he says quietly. “That’s part of their arrangement.”

  My head is a throbbing fucking mess as I attempt to process all this information. Enzo has always made it seem like he was so hard off in here. For years, he has begged me to do everything in my power to appeal to the Tribunal on his behalf, and I have done it. Again and again, I have gone back there and pleaded with them for a case review. I have sunk hundreds of thousands of dollars into my own investigation, trying desperately to prove his innocence. For years, I have stared at the ceiling at night, too frustrated to sleep, thinking that he was in here suffering immensely. Now, I can see he has made a fool of me.

  “I need their names,” I tell Thomas. “I want the identity of every guard who has betrayed The Society.”

  His eyes widen in terror. “What are you going to do?”

  “Leave it with me.”

  The moment I walk into the visitor’s room, Enzo greets me with a withering glare.

  “Where is my son, Alessio?”

  “Nino won’t be visiting today,” I inform him.

  “And why is that?”

  There’s something in his expression I don’t think I’ve ever seen before. Perhaps he’s toying with me, but it seems deeper than that. Something is off, and I can’t quite figure out what it is. He’s too calm. I know Gwen has been here already, and I don’t doubt she got him as worked up as much as she is. Enzo has never had great impulse control. He flies off the handle easily, and I expect that from him. The fact that he isn’t right now is somewhat disturbing.

  “Nino expressed that he is no longer comfortable visiting you,” I answer bluntly. “He told me you hurt him.”

  “Oh, for fucks sake, Alessio. You coddle him too much. He needs to learn to be a man.”

  “He’s a child.” I scowl at him.

  “Yes, he’s a giant fucking baby. You’ve made him soft, and I don’t like it. If he were with me, he would know how a Sovereign Son should act.”

  I take a breath to temper my rage. I knew this discussion wasn’t going to go over well, but with every word he utters, I’m tempted to lean over and smash his goddamned face in the table. This is the same man I’ve stood by for years. The man I gave my unwavering loyalty and support to when he needed it most, but right now, he feels like a fucking stranger.

  “He won’t be coming back.” I stare at him, waiting for the inevitable blowout that will surely come.

  “Is that what you think?” he laughs caustically. “He’s my son, Alessio. If I want him to visit me, he will.”

  “Biologically, he may be yours,” I clip out. “But I am the only father he’s really known, and in case you’ve forgotten, you granted me the customary rite when you were sentenced. I’m sure I don’t need to remind you that means I have full discretion to decide who he sees and when.”

  “Is that a threat?” Enzo narrows his eyes. “Are you actually fucking threatening me, Scarcello? After everything my family has done for you?”

  “Take it as you will. I’m not bringing Nino here so you can torment him. I thought you were better than that, Enzo. I expected more from you.”

  “My mother was right about you.” He leans across the table, snarling his words in a low voice. “That fucking nanny is wrapped around your dick so hard, it seems to have cut off the blood supply to your brain. If you think for one goddamned second I will stand for this, you will come to regret it. Do. Not. Fuck. With. Me.”

  I rise from my seat and turn to go. I want to believe there will be a better time to discuss this after he’s cooled down. There are things to consider. He needs some intervention, obviously, but I don’t know that it will make a difference. He’s not getting out of here, and he’ll never truly be a part of Nino’s life. As things stand, I’m not sure we’ll ever get to a point where we can agree. I know Enzo well enough to know he’s not backing down from this. I don’t want to believe the worst in him, but I don’t know who he is right now.

  “I mean it, Alessio,” he calls after me. “He better be here next Sunday. I’m not going to ask twice.”

  19

  Natalia

  Nino and I are cuddled up on his bed, watching a movie together when the house loses power. He clings to me nervously as we wait for it to come back on, but it doesn’t. A weird feeling lodges in my chest as I remember Manuel told me he had the night off. I don’t actually know what he does on his time off or if he’s even still in the house. Sometimes he sticks around, but there are other times when I don’t see him. Alessio is gone too, which means there’s a chance Nino and I are here alone.

  “Natalia?” Nino whispers into the darkness. “I’m scared.”

  I hug him close to me as I pull my phone out and turn on the flashlight. He seems to relax when he sees my face, but a noise from downstairs makes us both jump.

  “What was that?” he asks.

  I hold a finger up to my lips and listen. There’s a long pause before we hear it again. Something crashes, and it’s loud. Chillingly loud. My heart races as I try to reassure Nino. If Manuel were here, I’m certain he would have called out by now. Unless that’s him downstairs, or maybe Alessio is back. But it sounds like someone is breaking something, and I have a gut feeling it’s not either of them.

  My fingers tremble as I type out a text to Alessio and try to send it, but it doesn’t go through. That’s when I notice my phone has no service or WIFI. I try again a few more times, but it’s not working, and my immediate thought is that someone is blocking the signal.

  I lift Nino off the bed as I consider my options. The first thing I have to do is get him somewhere safe. There’s no way for us to get to the ground level besides the stairs, and I don’t know who’s down there. Going up to the third level is an option, but if someone has broken in, they could probably break through Alessio’s door too. I’m terrified, but I can’t let Nino see that. I have to figure out what’s going on. I have to protect him.

  I take him with me into the hall, using my phone light to check the path to the third floor. There’s nobody up here yet, but I suspect it’s only a matter of time. I take the stairs quietly, hoping Alessio left his door unlocked. If he didn’t, I’ll have to hide Nino in one of the guest suites.

  I turn the handle on his door and say a silent prayer of relief when it opens. His room is empty and quiet, and for now, it’s the safest place I can think to keep Nino. I shuttle him into the closet, and then I write out a message for him and lower the volume before I play it.

  Nino, I need you to be brave for me, okay? I’m going to check downstairs for Manuel. While I do that, I need you to stay in here and be very quiet until I come back for you.

  His lip trembles, and his eyes shine with tears. “Do you promise you’ll come back?”

  I promise. I take him into my arms and hug him. Just don’t come out no matter what you hear. I want you to lock the door behind me and don’t open it until I tap four times.

  “Okay,” he says.

  Can you do me a
favor and keep trying to send this text to Alessio?

  He nods.

  I give him one last glance, smoothing his hair over with my fingers. The phone is clutched in his hand as I quietly shut the closet door behind me, waiting for the lock to engage. My other phone is in my room, and I need to grab it so I have a source of light. As I creep down the stairs, I’m trying to remember if I’ve ever seen a landline in the house, but I don’t think I have.

  I make it to the second landing without hearing anything. Whatever that sound was downstairs, it seems to have stopped now. It’s eerily quiet as I turn the corner and then freeze. Standing in the doorway to my room is a figure I know immediately isn’t Manuel or Alessio.

  “There you are, you little bitch.” She starts to move as soon as she sees me, and my instincts tell me I need to lead her away, so I run down the stairs and out the front door. I don’t know what her intent is, but my gut is telling me I need to put as much distance as I can between her and Nino.

  She gains on me as I tumble out onto the lawn, slipping on the wet grass. I don’t have any way to communicate with her to ask what she wants, but I don’t think it matters. She didn’t come here to talk. That much is clear.

  I dart into the garden, seeking out cover from anything I can while I try to think. I don’t have a weapon, but I don’t know if Gwen has one either.

  “I know who you are,” she calls into the darkness as I lower myself to the ground and crawl behind the barrier of some rose bushes.

  Her accusation sends a chill down my spine, but I don’t believe her. She’s toying with me. She has to be. She’s been suspicious of me from day one. I want to assume that’s all this is. Alessio mentioned she has issues. I think maybe she’s having an episode now.

  “You were right there under our noses the entire time,” she says. “You thought you were so clever. That nobody would notice. But I did. I recognized something in you the first time I saw you.”

  My blood runs cold as I move faster, trying to be quiet as she tromps around the garden, seeking me out.

  “It was your face,” she muses. “Your features are so much like his. You thought it would be easy to fool a man, but you underestimated me. I know who you are and why you’re here. You don’t belong in our world. You were nothing more than a mistake.”

  A sour taste bubbles up my throat and I realize it’s all over. She really does know. The worst-case scenario is happening, and I’m not prepared. I don’t know how to get out of this trap, and when Alessio gets here, I fear that he will have no choice but to end my life when he discovers the truth.

  A thorn splinters my palm, tearing the flesh open, and I hiss through my teeth. Blood drips from the wound, but I keep crawling through the thorns. I have no choice. I didn’t come this far to give up now. I swore to myself I’d do whatever it takes, regardless of who stood in my way. I need to find something to defend myself. Anything.

  “It’s over now,” Gwen yells. “You might as well come out. There’s only one way this can end, Natalia. We both know that.”

  I swallow the painful reality that she’s planning to kill me. I reach the edge of the garden, and the rustling of her clothing alerts me to her presence. She’s right behind me.

  “Come here, you little bitch!” she snarls as her claws narrowly miss my arm.

  Somehow, I manage to stagger to my feet, and I launch myself into a run. I head toward the dock, stopping once I reach the shoreline to scoop up a large rock. Gwen approaches me from the shadows. She is relentless as she follows me with one intention.

  I step onto the dock, walking backward as she comes toward me. In the moonlight, I can see there’s a syringe in her hand. I have a feeling if she stabs me with it, I won’t last more than a few minutes.

  I can’t negotiate with her. My breathing is too tense, my heart too fast. My throat is spasming, squeezing as I try to force air in and out of my lungs. Somehow, I know it wouldn’t matter. She’s as much of a monster as he is.

  “Accept your fate,” she snaps. “I can promise you this is me being merciful. If Alessio were to find out, you couldn’t even begin to imagine how painful he would make your death. With me, it will be quick. You won’t feel anything.”

  I shake my head, my hands trembling around the rock in my grasp. She offers me a pathetic laugh.

  “Did you think he actually cared about you?” She snorts. “Alessio isn’t capable. He sees you as something to use. Something to entertain him until he’s bored of you. He’s just like his father in that way, but I suppose you wouldn’t know that, would you?”

  My silence is answer enough, and I think Gwen enjoys the fact that he hasn’t opened up to me. She wants to be the one to drive the stake through my heart.

  “His father was weak when it came to women too,” she says. “But what man isn’t? It’s a curse, I think. They can’t control it. Their minds are designed that way. They will always be led by their dicks, but eventually, logic wins. Alessio’s father destroyed his entire family for an affair with a nobody. She was as deluded as you are, believing she could have him for herself. She decided the only way was to slaughter the competition.”

  My gut wrenches as I remember those scars on his chest. I had assumed they were collateral damage from his work, but this is much darker than anything I could have imagined. Then there are those portraits on the wall along the third level. I thought they might be his family, but it must be a shrine to what he lost.

  “His mistress hired someone to come to the house in the middle of the night while she was fucking him.” Gwen waves the needle in her hand theatrically. “While Alessio’s father was balls deep in that woman, a stranger was busy shooting his wife right in front of their children. When he finished with her, he moved onto the kids, but Alessio’s a survivor. He always has been. He took three bullets to the chest at ten years old. I’m sure I don’t have to tell you that going through something like that changes a person. He stopped feeling. He stopped being human, I think. If it wasn’t for me taking him in, I don’t know what would have become of him. He’s like a son to me. Whether he understands it or not, I will always do what’s necessary to protect him.”

  I want her to stop talking. I don’t want to hear anymore. As I walk backward, I realize I’m slowly running out of dock. I’ll have to do something soon.

  “Don’t you want to know what happened to the poor delusional woman who thought she could have the man she loved to herself?” Gwen asks.

  I shake my head slowly, trying to formulate a plan. I’ve had years of training. I’ve kept in shape, and I’ve prepared for every scenario I could imagine. Gwen doesn’t know that. I want to believe it gives me an edge, but the truth is, I know nothing about her skills either.

  “Alessio’s father sold her out in the end,” she says wistfully. “They hanged her in a courtyard full of spectators. Her love for him didn’t save her, and your obsession with Alessio won’t save you.”

  Without warning, she lunges at me, and I topple backward, dropping the rock as I fall. She follows, launching herself on top of me as she tries to plunge the needle into my neck. I grab her wrist with both hands, holding her off, but she’s stronger than I assumed.

  “Give it up,” she snarls. “You can’t have this life.”

  The image of Nino locked in the closet upstairs compels me to fight harder than I’ve ever fought in my life. Gwen underestimates that I’m a survivor too. I grapple with her, kneeing her in the gut and punching her in the side of the head with one of my fists. Instead of weakening her defenses, it only seems to drive her harder. She grabs my hair with one hand, entangling it in her claws before she slams my head down against the wood planks. Darkness flashes in my vision, disorienting me. I need to get a grip. I need to get control before she punctures my skin with the tip of that needle.

  I reach up and sink my teeth into her forearm, biting down as hard as I can until I taste blood. She screams in agony, releasing her grip on my hair, and it gives me the moment of distraction I
need to reach for the rock. It’s slippery in my grasp, but I hold on for dear life, heaving it up with all the strength I can muster until it collides with her skull. The first blow stuns her, and the second disarms her. The needle falls from her fingers, and she tries to fight me off with her hands. The rage inside of me has returned with a vengeance, and I can’t hold back anymore.

  It isn’t Gwen I see as I roll on top of her and smash her face in with the rock. For all intents and purposes, she may as well be him. She knew about me. All this time, she knew, and instead of feeling a shred of humanity for what he did, she came here to destroy me.

  I beat her face bloody, and at some point, her hands grow weaker. She’s still trying to fight, but she can’t even see me. There isn’t even a second that I consider letting her go. When the rock becomes too slick with her blood, I toss it aside and grab her by the hair, dragging her to the edge of the dock, I heave her shoulders over the edge. She lets out one last gurgle before I plunge her head under water and hold her there. I don’t know how long it goes on, but I keep her there until her body goes limp and everything falls silent. I’m more animal than human as I pull myself away, retrieving the needle she brought for me. It isn’t necessary at this point, but I’m not taking any chances. I stab it into the back of her neck, staring down at what I’ve done with an emptiness I haven’t felt in years. It isn’t him lying there, but I wish it were.

  I can’t find it in me to feel shame. She deserved what she got, but in my gut, I know Alessio won’t feel that way.

  Alessio loves her. He thinks of her as a mother. As family.

  I told Nino to keep trying to send that text to come home. A chill moves over me as I consider that he could be here at any moment. I can’t face him. Not after this. I can’t let him see what I’ve done, because I know I won’t survive his grief over this betrayal.

  My thoughts move toward survival as I search Gwen’s clothes. When I find her keys, I remove them and stuff them into my pocket. There won’t be time to search the office for the boathouse keys. This is the only option that makes sense.