“You’re dead, Miguel. Fucking dead,” Nero hissed.
“No, my friend. But you shall be shortly. You should be proud of your grandmother—it took much for her to give us the account numbers that held the money for the contracts. Now that they no longer matter, we can finish you off quickly. That was the deal. She didn’t want you to suffer as she has.”
“You fucking piece of shit.”
“Now, big brother, is name-calling really necessary?” a voice said from the shadows. A figure stepped out into the light.
No, it can’t be. But it is.
Caterina smiled at the shock that Nero was sure showed on his face. Looking at her like she was a demon who had escaped hell, he saw that half her face was covered by a mask and that her body was covered from neck to toe in black. Seeing his stare, she ripped the mask away to reveal the remnants of the side of her face that had been kissed by flame. The stark contrast between the beauty of the side that had not been touched and the other made it all the more grotesque.
“Pretty, isn’t it?” she asked with a smile. Stepping over Rose’s body, she moved to stand before him. “I wished that they had let me burn that night after I saw this.” A distant look entered her eyes a she slid her fingers over the scarred skin, then sharpened again. “It took a while, but once it did, it came to me with blinding clarity. Why I survived. My work wasn’t finished. I needed to make you pay. I needed to make you all pay for what you had stolen from me. What you stole from my father, from my brother. Our mother paid, Juliet paid, but the rest of you haven’t yet. Miguel here was only too happy to help me once he realized the profits that your morality were denying us. Soon I will have everything that I deserve.”
“You already have what you deserve, Caterina. Your outer beauty now reflects your inner beauty,” Nero taunted.
The comment earning him the pain of her nails digging into his face. In disgust, Nero watched as she pulled away and licked the blood from her fingers and the blood dripping from his face. Her insanity was real.
“This is your partner, Miguel? Really? You think that my family is going to follow her?” He asked in scorn.
“My family, Nero. It was never yours. After Enzo’s death, everything would have been mine if you hadn’t stolen it. Now that those pesky contracts are no longer are in play, it’s time to clean house. You and Rose will be first, but don’t worry—Tori will join you soon. I have special plans for our dear sister and her husband,” Caterina growled, touching her ruined face again.
“You can’t touch Tori without bringing down Angelica’s wrath on you,” Nero taunted.
“They will all die, Nero. Every one of them. I don’t fear that whore.”
“Yes, Caterina, you do. And you should.”
Instead of losing control at this new taunt, Caterina merely seemed amused. She motioned to the men lounging around to Rose. “Pick her up and put her in the pen.”
Blood dripped from Rose as they lifted her. Her body had been cut into ribbons. Moaning at the movement, she shuddered like she was in shock. Watching them drag her away, Nero realized that the shrieking sound that had been playing dully in the background since he had opened his eyes was the sound of pigs. They were in a barn. Picking her up, the men tossed Rose into the pen. The pigs went wild. Her screams began to fill the barn as the pigs scented her blood and attacked. Unable to do anything, Nero cursed them as the animals ripped into Rose’s body. It took all of maybe eight minutes for Rose’s screams to turn to moans and then to silence.
“I’m going to kill you, Caterina,” Nero growled in helpless rage, knowing that there was nothing he could do.
“No, Nero. You’re not. You’re going to die the same way Rose just did, and I am going to get everything that I have ever wanted,” she said sweetly, stepping forward with a knife.
Tensing, Nero watched through narrowed eyes as, one by one, she cut the buttons from his shirt until his chest was exposed. Climbing onto his lap, she ran her hands over his chest before taking the knife and carving thin lines into it.
“You know, Nero, pigs are amazing animals. They say that if they’re forgotten in pens they will kill the smaller ones and eat them so the others will be strong enough to escape. That’s why farmers are careful to never give them meat. Once you do, you can never put a smaller animal in with them because they will kill it and eat it. They have insatiable appetites. They’ll eat everything, including the bone. That’s what they’re doing right now. They’re eating Rose’s bones and everything else. That’s the crunching sound that you hear.” Setting aside the knife, she cupped his face with her hands and rubbed her ruined cheek over his as she whispered, “It’s the smell of the blood that really gets them going. Do you see that hook over there, by the pen? I’m going to hang you from it and let them start with your toes and work their way up. I want you to feel every bite of their teeth.”
“Let’s get on with it, then, before the sight of your face turns their stomach,” Nero said coldly.
No way am I going to beg. I’m dead, so let’s finish it.
Climbing from his lap, she walked around the chair. “That was uncalled for,” she said in a bored tone before gripping his hand. Prying a finger up, she sliced it free from his hand. Pain tore through Nero. It was so sharp that he grit his teeth so hard that he thought they would crack. Coming back around in front of him with his finger in her hand, she carefully took his wedding ring from it before putting the finger into Nero’s own shirt pocket. “Put him on the hook.”
Slumping forward in his seat, Nero waited while they cut his bindings. As soon as he felt the last rope fall, he moved. After slamming into thug in front of him, he went after Caterina. He knew he was a dead man, but he needed to take her with him. He needed to know that her insanity wouldn’t touch Tori or anyone else in his family before death claimed him. Not expecting his move, Caterina fell back. Ironically, that stumble saved her life. The bullet that would have blown her brains out landed in the beam behind her.
All hell broke loose as Miguel’s men tried to find the shooter. Looking back to his prey, Nero cursed when he only saw an empty floor. Caterina was gone.
Motherfucker. Getting to his feet, he told himself not to worry about her for the moment.
Miguel raised his gun. Using the only weapon he had, Nero used his body to slam the fucker to the ground. It knocked the gun away, so Nero pounded his fists into him. He didn’t know how long he had been at it before he felt himself being pulled off. He kept swinging because if he was going down, he was going down fighting. It took him a minute to realize that no one was fighting back anymore.
Looking wildly around the room, he couldn’t believe it. “How the fuck are you here?”
“I was coming to see you when Matteo called Dom.”
“Why the fuck would he call Dom?”
“Because they couldn’t find you,” Angelica said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
Pressing his good hand to his head, he swore that the woman just lived to annoy him. He growled out, “Maybe it’s the blood loss, but I don’t understand. None of you could have helped.”
“No, but if Matteo and the others were killed, we’d have known who had done it. Though obviously he didn’t know all of the players involved,” she said calmly as she walked through the bodies that were laid out on the floor. She stopped to slit the throats of the few who were still alive.
He watched her for a few moments entranced before asking, “They all made it?”
“No, only three of them did.”
“Matteo?”
“He’ll be fine. The bullet went straight through and didn’t hit any organs.”
“How did you find me?”
“The GPS in your phone. They turned off the jammer but didn’t destroy your phone. It was a very amateurish move. They should actually be ashamed to call themselves criminals.”
“Somehow, I’m not going to fucking complain. Caterina?”
“She got away.”
“How the fuck could you let her get away?”
“Because I was too busy saving your fucking hide.”
“Is there anyone left?” he asked before he could pull it back. At her raised eyebrow, he shrugged. “Yeah, guess that’s a stupid question.” Ripping a piece of his shift off, Nero wrapped it around his hand. “I should have listened to you.”
“Which time?” she asked with amusement.
How the fuck can she be amused at a time like this?
Shaking his head because he knew that he’d never figure it out, Nero said with self-disgust, “I should have killed her.”
“Yes, you should have. I’ll see to it now.”
“No, you won’t. She’s mine.”
Looking down at Miguel, who was moaning on the ground, a speculative look entered her eyes. “Then prove to me that you can do what it takes, Nero.”
He knew exactly what she wanted. Taking up Miguel’s arms, Nero dragged him to the pigpen. Wrapping a link of chain around his hand, he draped the chain over the hook. Using the pulley, Nero raised Miguel into the air and then began lowering him into the pen. He stopped when the tips of his toes touched the ground. Dispassionately, he watched the pigs close in. They sniffed at him before they began to rip his clothing, then his flesh. Blocking out Miguel’s screams, he forced himself to look down. What was left of Rose was unrecognizable. Forcing away his grief, he turned back to Angelica. She stared at him with a fathomless look in her eyes. The woman understood what he had been forced to watch in a way that no other ever could.
With a visible effort, she pulled herself back from whatever dark place tormented her soul. Nodding her head once sharply, she told him in a no-nonsense voice that they needed to clean up and go. Twice she had to tell him to stop bitching when he became light-headed from blood loss. Finally, when the last body was in the barn, she told him to get in the car. Five minutes later, she joined him and handed him a baggie full of ice. Taking his finger out of his pocket, he placed it in the bag and leaned back in the seat. Staring at the side mirror, Nero watched the barn go up in flames. She had destroyed the night’s deeds.
Chapter 26
Tori took Rose’s death hard. Since she was pregnant, the family decided not to tell her about Caterina yet. She would do nothing but worry, and that wouldn’t be good for the baby. Extra security was placed on Tori, and she and Dom moved into the Salvatici compound. After the brutal way that Rose had died, she agreed readily, thinking that the family was protecting her from the cartel.
Caterina being Caterina, she did what she did best—disappeared. Tensions were high as they searched for her. Never a good loser, she also made sure that the El Puno family was made aware of Nero’s involvement with its internal issues. Backlash would come from that, but it had yet to be delivered. Nero at least knew it was coming. His family had taken a hard hit. Just one in many, sometimes he wondered how many it could take.
Instead of being at home, dealing with the issues plaguing his house, Nero found himself attending the funeral of Paulie Barzette, Maria’s late husband. Maria had spent the last month in the hospital after a home invasion went bad. She had lost her unborn child and had almost died herself. When her husband turned up dead a few weeks later, most people thought that he had been the original target and that she must have just gotten in the way. The girl seemed to be born under an unlucky star. Nero knew how she felt.
From behind his sunglasses, Nero watched Maria stand over the coffin. Her mouth was set in a hard, unforgiving line. Her body was tense. When the priest said the final prayer over her husband, Maria stepped forward, shoving aside the other mourners. Nero wondered what she could be up to, but he never could have guessed that she would rip off her wedding rings and throw them onto the coffin. Ignoring the sharp gasps and murmurs that began to rise, Maria walked away and into a waiting cab. Looking around at her family, he wondered what they were going to do. Nero blinked in confusion as Angelica gripped two of Maria’s brothers by the arms to stop them from following her.
The Barzette family voiced its anger in loud yells as they turned on the Salvaticis. Moving close to them, Nero and his family let it be known were they stood. After a few quick and angry words between the bosses of the two families, they turned and began the walk back through the cemetery to their cars. Breaking away from her family, Angelica fell back and asked Nero to walk with her. Looking to Lucca, who gave a slight nod, Nero followed her as she moved in the opposite direction of the rest of the group.
The two of them walked in silence until she stopped in front of a mausoleum. When she just stood there, staring at it, Nero looked up. He saw the name Gagliardi carved into the stone—her family’s crypt.
“Did you know that my parents were a love match? My mother was considered a woman of beauty beyond measure.”
“Yeah, Rose told me that,” Nero answered slowly.
“I’m sure she did. In truth, my mother was a vain and selfish woman. My father’s death was as much his fault for not being able to see the truth in those he loved as it was hers. She needed constant adoration from males, even after her marriage. My father loved me because I was a piece of my mother, but my mother hated me because she felt that I was taking away some of that admiration. Lucca is so different from my father. The opposite in all ways. He doesn’t place me on a pedestal, but he loves me despite my flaws.”
“Why are you telling me this?” Nero asked, confused.
“I never got to tell you why I was coming to see you that night,” she said instead, turning to look at Nero.
Wariness filled Nero at the intensity of her gaze. “Why were you?”
“To tell you that you’re getting married.”
“And who am I supposed to marry?”
“Maria.”
“Is this a joke? In case you didn’t notice, we just buried Maria’s husband.” When she just continued to stare at him, Nero realized she was serious. “Angelica, I have no intention of ever marrying again. Even if I did, why would I marry her? She hates my guts, and rightly so.”
A realization dawned on him. She had come to him while Maria’s husband was still alive. He knew that she hadn’t been happy with the marriage, but obviously no one realized how unhappy she had been.
That fucker had died brutally.
“Her feelings about you at the moment are not important. Neither are your feelings about her.”
“You can’t force me to do this.”
“I don’t have to.”
“Then we’re at a standstill, because I’m not marrying her.”
“You’ll marry her, Nero. It is time to settle your debt with me.”
Motherfucker.
“So, when’s the happy day?”
“Soon.”
“Great. So do you want to tell me why you killed Barzette before you marry me to Maria? I don’t want to join him in the ground when Maria comes crying to you that she’s unhappy again,” Nero said sarcastically. He was pissed that he was going to be forced into this.
A darkness so cold it seemed to pull the very heat from the air around them filled her eyes. Her voice became frosty.
“Maria didn’t come to me. Maria said not a word. Maria felt that her family had sided with the Genovese, against her. The family married her off when they found out that she was pregnant and it was too late to get rid of the baby, not for whatever child’s whim of a tantrum that you were told about. You know how the men and the women of our world are. Maria was used goods. Tainted, even if through no fault of her own. That was no robbery or home invasion that put her in the hospital by her husband. Tender mercy, he beat the bastard of a hundred rapists from her womb. He married Maria because his family told him to. The dowry and connection to the Salvatici made it worth the disgrace. Each day of their marriage, he made sure that Maria felt his unhappiness. He treated her like the lowest of whores. So yes, I killed him. I did to him every vile thing that he confessed to having done to Maria as he begged for his pathetic life. You will marry Maria, Nero, beca
use it is the only way that I can assure that no one will ever hurt her like that again. You will marry her because you would never hurt her like that—not after watching the horrors that your father put your mother through. You will marry her because a Genovese destroyed her. So now a Genovese will protect her,” she finished sharply before turning to look back at the mausoleum.
Clearly dismissed, Nero turned and walked away. There was nothing to be done, nothing left to say. He owed Angelica his life and his family’s. He owed Maria for the acts committed against her by his family. If this was how the debt was to be settled, then so be it.
Epilogue
No, no! That monster killed my baby!
Patricia Barzette stood behind a tree, hidden from view, as she listened to that bitch Angelica Salvatici admit to killing her baby—and for what? For that Salvatici whore. Maria got what she deserved.
It wasn’t right that my baby was forced to marry her. He only did it for the good of our family. If that girl had only killed herself like any self-respecting woman would have, my son would still be alive. That whore expected my son to give her bastard our name.
Their family name was old and respected, and Patricia believed that her Paulie had done the right thing—it was what she herself had told him to do.
That whore should have died that night along with her abomination. Now they think that girl deserves a life while my son lays cold in the ground. No. That whore, who dared to disrespect my son and who threw the gift of his good name at his casket, only deserves death.
A death that Patricia herself would be only too happy to deliver.
They’ll all pay.
She swore that the involved Barzettes, the Salvatici, and the Genovese would all pay for their part in the death of her son.
But first that little whore will pay.
Coming Soon
Maria (The Family Book 4)
He’s dead. Maria wanted to cry out her joy but she couldn’t. She couldn’t yet. The bastard that her father had married her to was dead and Maria was sorry that she wasn’t the one who had done it.
Nero Page 15
