Repaying the Mafia’s Dept

Massimo

We get her back to the house and call the family doc, who can be here on my word. He comes quickly and tends to her.

Emelia keeps looking at me with fear in her eyes. We haven’t spoken.

No one has said anything to me because I look like I’m going to snap.

I know what happened. I know now what shit must have been concocted. The answer is the one-worded answer that has long since plagued my mind. Riccardo.

The pale-blue-eyed devil.

Motherfucker.

If we hadn’t seen Yev and heard that Vlad and Riccardo were in cahoots, I would have thought this was something else.ConTEent bel0ngs to Nôv(e)lD/rama(.)Org .

And… how did she get everything together so quickly? Her fucking phone.

Betrayal.

I’ve killed for less than this, but this woman has my heart and my love. But she doesn’t know that. She doesn’t know I would never hurt her. That I can’t.

Doc continues to check her out, but she looks at me as tears roll down her cheeks. I have to walk out when I see that. I can’t stay. I have one more thing to attend to, and it’s not going to be nice. I walk past Tristan and Dominic in the hall. They both rush to me when they see me turn the corner and must know I’m heading for Candace’s room.

“Don’t,” Tristan says, grabbing my arm. “Don’t you fucking hurt her, Massimo.”

He shakes his head. Dominic glares at me too, his eyes pleading with me.

“She betrayed me, and look what could have happened,” I snap.

“It’s Candace,” Dominic hisses. Instantly, I think of the painting Ma made of the five of us playing in the meadow.

Us four brothers and the little girl who used to play with us. We treated her like a sister.

“Calm down, Massimo,” Tristan says. I wrench my arm free of his grasp.

They won’t do more than that. Out of respect, they won’t do shit because I’m boss, and regardless of who and what we are, they know what crossing me as boss could mean.

I head down to the room and all but break the door to get inside.

She’s sitting on the bed with her head hanging down, hands in her lap. She hasn’t flinched from my rage.

“How dare you do this to me?” I demand.

“Just kill me,” she says. “Just kill me. I won’t speak to you like this, so I won’t speak at all.”

She raises her head, stands up, and walks up to me.

“Go on, Ruthless Prince, take out your gun and end me. It would be easier if you did that. It’s always easy if a stranger takes your life over someone you know.”

My hands are fisted at my sides.

“We’ve known each other since we were kids,” I bark.

“And yet I don’t recognize you. I look at you, and I don’t know you. I don’t know this version of you, who you’ve become. You’re not the boy I used to play with in the meadows. You’re not the boy who promised to take care of me after my family was killed. So, please just kill me. Don’t I already owe you my life? So, take it.” As the last word leaves her lips, her eyes water.

She looks at me like she really thinks I’m going to do it. The look is expected, and I can’t believe I’m not, but her words halt me.

Her family was killed. She would be dead too if I hadn’t killed the fiend who came to kill her mother and father.

She was fifteen years old when it happened. I came in and saved her before he could rape and kill her. He was my first kill. I chopped his head off when I saw him on top of her naked body. Her mother lay just across from her, half burned, and her father with his head paces away from his body. Somebody put a hit on their family. We’ve never been able to find out who it was.

She’s the oldest friend I have. To hear her say she doesn’t know me grips me to the core.

“Why did you do it?” I hear myself say.

“Because what you did was wrong. Regardless of what you feel for Emelia, you went after Riccardo through his daughter. You held her captive like an animal locked in her room. She didn’t deserve that. She was innocent in your game of vengeance, and I couldn’t stand by and allow her to not have a choice,” she answers.

I gaze back at her and press my lips together.

She’s… right.

“I didn’t know when she was going to do it, and I don’t know why she chose today. We spoke about it months ago,” Candace adds.

I harden my stare on Candace. I need to do something. I need to punish her. As I look at her, though, I feel the same way as my brothers do when it comes to her. She’s like family to us.

“How did you know about the cameras?” I ask. She knows that question means I’ll be drawing blood tonight.

She shakes her head. “Kill me, Massimo. Kill me instead.”

I grab her and catch her face, holding it so tight my nails dig into her skin.

“Fuck you. I can’t kill you. I love you like a sister. Candace… if you don’t answer my question, I’ll kill the whole security team. Forty men dead because you won’t give me a name. Or was it two?”

The tears come now. I know it can only be a minimum of two of my guys. Manni is my right-hand man, and Jake takes care of the cameras. The men watch the house and have a strict rota to keep things tight. That’s why people like the Shadows can’t just walk onto my property without a big fight.

“Please… don’t make me,” she begs. “We were just seeing each other, and it’s over. I was never supposed to tell anybody. We’d sneak out to the cave.”

As she says that, I know who it is, and I feel like a bastard for it.

Manni. It’s him. I remember the way he looked at her.

I release her, but she knows I’m not stupid and I know exactly who’s to blame.

“No, Massimo, please,” she cries.

Reaching for my phone, I storm out of her room and call Manni. She runs after me, trying to grab my arm. Every time she touches me, I wrench my arm free of her grasp.

Manni answers the phone.

“Yes, Boss,” he says.

“Get here now. Get to the main floor right the fuck now,” I demand and pull my gun from my back pocket. When Candace sees it, she screams and starts crying harder. Manni would have heard her.

“Yes, Boss, I’m on the way.” At least the prick has the sense to sound wary. He should.

I bound forward down the stairs. Candace follows. Her cries have everyone’s attention. Priscilla comes out of the kitchen, and Tristan and Dominic come rushing down the other set of stairs, panic on their faces.

I zero in on the one fucker I want as he walks in through the door. Manni stops in the foyer when he sees me, his face pale, his body tense.

I walk up to him and land my fist straight in his face, knocking him to the ground. Before he can right himself, I aim my gun at him and cock the hammer.

“You fucking prick. I hire you for a job, and you screw with me,” I roar.

When he sees Candace, he knows what the fuck I’m talking about.

“Massimo, please, don’t kill him,” she begs.

I can’t listen to her. I can’t look at her. All I see in my mind is Emelia lifeless in my arms.

She could have died. That’s the fucking bottom line. She could have died.

“Boss, I’m sorry. I should have had the camera’s fixed. I didn’t mean to-”

Rage makes me shoot the Ming vase by the door. It shatters. I hate when people use that excuse. They didn’t mean to. Of course, he did. If he didn’t mean to do it, then he wouldn’t have done that shit to me knowing the risk.

When I aim the gun at him again, Candace throws herself on top of him. I look at them both and seethe.

“Massimo, no, please.” She shakes her head. “Don’t do this.”

“Candace. There is always trouble. Remember Vlad? Remember how he killed Alyssa?” I shout at her.

She knows the past, so she remembers well.

“That’s who came for Emelia today. Him. He’s working with Riccardo. The cameras are for our protection. I can’t be everywhere, and I can’t keep my arms around everyone to protect them from shit. Something as simple as a fucking camera not working and me not knowing for fuck knows how long could have changed the tide of what happened today.” I’m shaking as I speak.

“I know. I know,” she answers. “But this is my fault. I could have told you about the camera too. I shouldn’t have told Emelia anything. I shouldn’t have. Manni didn’t do it. It was me, and I promised him I wouldn’t say anything. You can’t kill him for something I did just because you can’t kill me. If you do, you’ll be no better than those monsters. Please…”

I narrow my eyes and press down hard on my teeth.

I’m not a fucking monster. Her words get to me. They get me good. My finger loosens on the trigger.

Footsteps sound behind me, and I turn to see my father. I didn’t even know he was here. He shakes his head, and I lower the gun.

Returning my focus to Candace and Manni, I straighten.

“Get up,” I tell both of them.

They do as I say.

“Manni, get the hell off my property. Get the fuck off and don’t come back. You better hope I never see you again.”

“I’m sorry, Massimo-” I hold up my hand, cutting him off.

“Don’t. I don’t want to hear it. It counts for shit. I trusted you, and you know my trust is hard to come by.” I look at Candace too when I say that. I’m including her in that because she’s right.

She shouldn’t have told Emelia anything. She knows how dangerous those waters are.

Manni leaves. Candace looks at me, expecting me to throw her out too. However, the same way I couldn’t kill her, I can’t kick her out.

With that, I leave everyone.

I need to be by myself for a little while to cool off.

I still haven’t spoken to the person I need to speak to most.

Emelia.

It’s late…

I must have been in the study for quite a few hours now. It’s getting later with each passing second, and I’m still unable to bring myself to see Emelia.

I don’t want to talk to her feeling this way. The sting of betrayal and fear is too fresh.

I want to know what happened, why she suddenly decided to do this today. I’m afraid of the answer though. Things have always been shit, but more shit since Jacob’s death.

Was she planning this all along? It had to be a plan, since the only time she could have seen her father and spoken to him was at the fundraiser. Unless she called him.

God, I need another drink.

I walk to the drink cabinet, grab a glass from the little shelf, and toss some ice in from the mini fridge. I pour myself some scotch and knock it back as soon as I swivel it around in the glass and get it chilled.

A knock sounds on the door. Dominic comes in. He has that look again. I bite the inside of my lip when I see he’s carrying another envelope.

“What now? What more?” I ask.

“I found more paperwork. The diamonds are for the Circle as a group. Riccardo plans to give the Shadows forty percent of the wealth he’ll get from the Syndicate resources. But this is how he enticed Vlad in the first place.”

“What is it?”

“Just have a look, Massimo.” He walks up to me and hands me the envelope.

I set the glass down and open it. I’m getting tired of opening envelopes with bad news. This one, though, is the mother of bad news. I look at the first page and my heart stops when I read over the first few lines. Pieces of the fucking puzzle are coming together. Now I know exactly why fucking Vlad thought I stole something from him. Enraged I look back to Dominic.

“Where did you get this?” I rasp.

“Massimo, you know me,” he answers. “That’s just one more piece of the puzzle falling into place. I guess we know now all that Riccardo was up to and how he enticed Vlad to help him. The man has an affinity for young women with brown hair and brown eyes. Riccardo had plans for Emelia too. Big plans.”

My mouth goes dry. “Fuck,” I hiss and move past him.

It’s time to see Emelia and show her exactly the kind of devil her father is.