Total pages in book: 128
Estimated words: 123153 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 616(@200wpm)___ 493(@250wpm)___ 411(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 123153 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 616(@200wpm)___ 493(@250wpm)___ 411(@300wpm)
Gio’s relationship with Nonno and the conversations they’d have in front of me. Then finding out about Dad. Now this, Frances pleading for his real sons.
It all comes together like I’ve been hit by a thunderbolt. Ma is alive. Gio is the Don of the family.
As the realization hits, the door bursts open, and my mother, Ava Di Lorenzo walks in. My heart pounds in my ears. I can’t believe my eyes.
She lifts her gun and blows a hole through Jacob’s head first. Then she turns her gun on Frances’s other son and blows his brains out next.
A loud sob comes from Frances. I’m paralyzed with shock. Ma puts her gun away with a smile on her lips. That’s when I snap out of it and stand, my chest heaving, but I’m still lost for words.
“Hi, Frances. Good to see you,” Ma says. “Tell your father if he still has a problem, he can see Don Gio. My son, my successor.”
Dario
Years of knowing my mother didn’t neglect me and my brothers lift from my chest. My mother is standing right before me. She looks as beautiful as I remember.
My brain has so many questions running through it. Don Gio, her successor? Damn, why did she kill Frances’s sons?
She goes to turn to leave, and my feet are already in motion to follow. However, she pauses, turns back, and pulls her gun again. “On second thought, Gio, have Blake send that message,” she says, then puts a bullet in Frances’s head.
I stand in awe. What the fuck just happened?
“I settled a score,” Ma replies, letting me know I asked the question out loud. “My babies. Come, give me a hug. I can finally talk to you.”
Gio
Here’s what I know for a fact. Gianni never took a bullet for Ma. My cousin may be harmless to me, but he’s made his own waves.
That’s one less thing on my plate. Ma hasn’t been compromised, so I don’t have to find anyone to kill there. Next, the Kelleys haven’t set their terms with Riccardo. He plans to meet with them today to solidify whatever he thinks they’ll do for him.
Not if I have anything to do with it.
“We need to go,” Jace whispers in my ear as I watch my brothers with my mother.
I wish I could stay and sit to chat with them. That will have to wait. There’s one more Esposito who dies today.
Ma looks up at me. “Go, I will tell them all they need to know. Make him hurt.”
I nod and stand, moving to the door where Ny is still standing. I cup the back of her neck and look down into her eyes.
“You all right?”
She nods. “Yeah, I’m okay.”
I kiss her forehead, then guide her to follow me and Jace to the car. Blake won’t get to give Riccardo any messages, we’re about to deliver them personally.
Chapter 70
Trap
Don Marcello Ferrari
Standing here in this warehouse with my hands clasped in front of me, I have a smile on my face. I’ve waited so long for this day. This is for my brother and sister.
This man has sat in my face, untouchable for years. Now all his ambition, all his scheming, all his lack of attention to detail are about to swallow him whole.
Untouchable, he is not. I wanted to be here to see his face before he meets his maker, so I was more than happy to help Gio intercept Riccardo’s next meeting. By the time the Kelleys arrive, he’ll already be dead at the hand of my great nephew, Don Gio.
The kid pulled it off and with a power and grace I didn’t see coming. He was made for this. My brother, his grandfather, would be proud. He covered his brothers and took control of the families. Proud isn’t the word for what I feel.
“Ah, Don Ferrari,” Riccardo says as he comes into view. My cheek twitches as I try not to grimace. “It’s so good to see you. I’ve been trying to get to you for months.”
He comes to kiss my ring and I refrain from bashing his head in. I promised this to Gio. I’ll allow the right to be his.
“You were looking in all the wrong places. It was bold of you to go back to Italy to search,” I say.
“I didn’t think I had much to worry about while there.”
“Um.”
“Don Ferrari, I haven’t failed you yet—”
I hold up my hand. “Riccardo, what did I tell you when you came to me?”
“I had until a strong, suitable male successor was named. Then my goal would be forbidden. But—”
“You failed, and now, just as you were untouchable to me, my great nephews are untouchable to you. Capisci?”
The blood drains from his face and his eyes widen. I nearly laugh in his face. I do sneer at him.
“I told you to find out who was in the Di Lorenzo bloodline. You ignored my advice. Maybe if you had paid attention to detail from the beginning, you wouldn’t have sent someone to take my sister’s life.