“I would never put your daughter in harms way,” I say as I look into Maria’s eyes and see them finally begin to soften. “Besides, how do I know that what you are telling me is the truth?”
“Because I am!” He shouts, growing impatient and making Maria jump in fright. She looks to me for strength and I give it to her best I can before Nitti continues. “And there’s more.”
I sit my glass down on the side table to my right and straighten my jacket. Pulling on each cuff link, I try to not seem as phased as I feel coming to terms with all that the man in front of me is saying. What’s more, I could care less what other lies he has to inform me about in order to try and sway this discussion.
“I won’t let anyone touch your daughter,” I insist, looking Nitti directly in the eye. “I’ve sworn to protect her, and I will make sure that she won’t be harmed. But if one of us doesn’t show up, if we both go missing, Luigi will come looking for who took us, starting with you. I think we both know what happened the last time you both went up against one another, which would also explain why Luigi is still more powerful than you could ever dream of being, Nitti. Do you really think that whatever it is that you have to say to me will change that?”
“He won’t be so powerful if we work together. Not if you help us. Protect her,” he says as he motions towards Maria. “And tell us what we need to know in order to win. In order to take down the Lombardi Family finally, forever.”
“My family!” I hiss, making sure he realizes just what he is saying, but the bastard only smiles in response before speaking again.
“…And finally get us back to the way things used to be run around here,” he whispers. “With acapo di tutti capi.”
“And you want that to be you?” I hiss out as I begin to take a step towards Maria. Whatever the whole truth is, I will figure it out on my own, with her by my side. But I will not sit her any longer and listen to the bullshit Nitti is spouting.
Maria stands instinctively as I reach her side and reaches out for me. “Besides your daughter, I have no loyalty to you. Why would I agree to help you overturn all I have ever known? All that makes me who I am?”
Grabbing Maria’s hand, I turn to leave, knowing full well Nitti won’t let us but if it finally makes his ass get down to the fucking point, something logical I can work with, I am all for playing him at his own game. As I move towards the door all men in the room cock their weapons and aim them at me. Instinctively I pull Maria behind my back to shield her, pulling my pistol from my holster, I aim at the nearest gunman as I feel Maria resist and shout for the men to stop, causing everyone in the room to flinch, except Nitti.
“Vincent,” she pleads. “Mr. Nitti.” He stands slowly, calmly, and makes his way over to us as the blood in my veins turn cold as ice and I try and plot a way to make it out of this alive, with Maria, and the rest of the men in the room lifeless, dead, and lying in their own fucking blood. “Please, don’t hurt him.” Maria’s voice pleads as it rings through my thoughts, changing me, making me wish things were different as I square off with the man in front of me. “I’ll do anything, I promise.” Her voice is perfectly composed. Too manicured, and it makes me worry I’m alone in this, that this really is all a set up and I can’t even fucking trust her.
Vincent looks at his daughter, and I know she has nothing to fear. He loves her, the way any father who has been forced to live without their child would. But when his eyes land on me, I feel the warning to not push any further before he even has to say a word. Maria’s tender touch rests on my arm, pleading with me to stand down, but the look in Nitti’s eyes give me no reason to believe we are done here yet. Especially if the woman standing behind me is holding a dagger to my back that I can’t fucking see, never expected and won’t be able to live through if this is a setup, even if the men in the room don’t succeed in killing me first.
“I was hopeful you would be willing to help just because of your love for my daughter,” Nitti says as his irritation rises. I keep my eyes trained on the men around me just in case he gives them the signal to end my life, but the fear of facing them is nothing compared to the gut-wrenching idea of facing the woman behind me if she has tricked me in a way I never expected. “I was hopeful, not because you finally knew the truth, but because you’d do anything for her.”
“Iwoulddo anything for her,” I hiss out, as I glare in his eyes. “Including rescuing her from the life you lead, Nitti. And making sure she always comes first. In everything. Which is more than I can say for you or Sofia.” Maria grabs my wrists gently, attempting to persuade me to lower my gun, but I resist again. I can’t. Not until I know how this ends. Not until I am sure that all I believed for me and her still exists, the fucking truth be damned.
“Make me believe that, Kid. Show me!” Nitti demands.
“Why should I?”
“Because,” I hear a female voice say behind me as Maria and I jolt and look to see who it is. “Luigi Lombardi will stop at nothing to get what he wants. Including silencing those who could stop him.” My eyes land on Sofia’s as she stands in the doorway, a sad look in her eyes, before she continues and gives me the one truth I feared knowing. “Including your mother.”
“You lie,” I yell at her, but my hand begins to tremble as I press my pointer finger harder against the trigger.
“Gia Morretti was my best friend, Leonardo,” Sofia sternly says as she comes into the light. “There are more secrets in between these two families than you could ever imagine. All of which, is outlined in that little notebook. If Luigi gets his hands on it, he would have finally succeeded in erasing the truth. In silencing every bit of information that stands against him. We can’t let that happen.Youcan’t let that happen. You have to trust us, for Maria.”
I slowly lower my weapon as I feel Maria’s steady hand touch my skin once more. “Why?” I ask, as Maria presses herself into my side and I instinctively wrap my arm around her. “Why should I help you?”
Sofia takes a step closer and smiles. “Because you promised a long time ago to let nothing happen to her.” She says, knowing it is the one thing that will always make me surrender. “And if you help us, we promise to always protect you too.”
Chapter 21
Maria
We sit in silence as everything that was said moments before registers. Agreeing to talk, Leo finally put down his gun and escorted me back to the couch, where he instructed me to sit while he insists on keeping his hand on my knee possessively in order to keep control of the situation, and me, all he can. Vincent, my father, instructed his men to leave the room before him and Sofia each took seats across from us and we wait to hear exactly what everything we have just been told means.
“How was Gia your best friend, if you both had a child by the same man?” I manage to say in a whisper once too much time has passed, and no one has attempted to talk first. It may not be the most important question to ask, but I have to know, because most women don’t just run around screwing the same guy, having babies, and pretending it is completely normal.
“Vincent and I met when we were just kids,” Sofia begins, looking affectionately at the man to her left. “Before my father was murdered. Before Luigi attempted to take power and rule a business he had no right to. When my father was killed, all signs pointed to Luigi as the one who pulled the trigger. I had to know. I had to understand what kind of a man would end his life!”
“Lorenzo De Luca was one of the best men I have ever met,” Vincent says, as he leans forward and signs a cross over his chest. “You would have loved yourNonno, Maria. Fair. Honest. A fucking rock in our world full of madness.”
“I convinced Vincent to let me investigate,” Sofia continues as Leo’s hand tightens on my knee. “He refused, but I always was a stubborn woman. Gia had just become pregnant with you and was fleeing the country. I helped her escape, Leonardo. Luigi had kept her against her will after she found out she was pregnant, not wanting to let her go when she had no desire to be with him. You, Leonardo, the result of a one-night stand. A mistake Gia said she had made but couldn’t escape once Luigi was determined to keep her for himself. Especially with a child on the way.”
“That would explain the passport, but what about my father?” I hear Leonardo whisper as I look up and see the truth tearing him to pieces.
“The one who helped raise you?” Sofia asks. Leo nods and I turn my attention back to the people in front of me as I wait for them to continue. “He was your mother’s bodyguard. A man hired to protect her, by Vincent.”
