“You can shoot me, Leo,” I say without fear. “But look around you—your men are losing. Even if you shoot me, you’ll still lose. The moment that bullet hits me, my men will take you down and lock you up for the rest of your life. You’re supposed to be the smart, bookish one, so be smarter. Think about what you’re about to do. I’m offering you a chance to end this—a way out.”
“Oh trust me,” he grins widely. He looks and sounds as if he’s lost his mind, as if the thirst for power has eaten away at his brain. “I definitely intend to end this.” He lifts his gun and I brace for the bullet I’m about to feel impact me, aiming the throw of my knife to his groin to drop him so that Nick can go after him as soon as my brother fires the shot. But then, Leo does the one thing that I never thought he would do. He turns and aims his gun at Camille.
“No!” I scream as I let the knife loose from my hand, changing my aim to his chest. Never in a million years did I think that Leo would ever actually try to hurt Camille, but he’s proven me wrong. The gun fires, and a microsecond after the knife hits my brother straight through the left side of his chest. The impact knocks his shot off-course and the bullet just misses Camille’s head as Nick reflexively pushes her to the ground.
He would have killed her. And because of that, I had to kill him. I walk over to stand over my brother’s body as he heaves his last breath and blood trickles out of his mouth. I wasn’t going to kill him, not until he aimed for Camille. That left me no choice. At least it’s over now.
After the fight, we’re left with a hot mess. The Grecos still don’t have an “official” leader since my wedding to Camille was interrupted, and the Adamis were splintered between me and my brother. Now that Leo is dead, the traitors are left without anyone to fall behind. We stand in the middle of the alley amidst the violent scene, putting down the men who want to keep fighting even though they’ve lost, and then taking a moment brimming with confusion over what remains as both families stand around not knowing what to do or how to move forward.
“This is a moment that will never come around again,” Nick says.
“What do you mean?”
“Look around you, Gabriel. All of these people are looking for leadership. All of them are looking for acapoto guide them.”
I take a long look and see that he’s right, and that makes me decide to take an unprecedented step. “I know some of us have been on opposite sides,” I say to everyone standing around us. “But let us remember that we were all once, if not brothers, then at least allies. The Adamis and the Grecos have never been at war with each other. And not until my brother stirred the pot have any of us ever tried to kill one another.” I glance over at Camille, who seems to instinctively know where I’m going with this and nods her head in solidarity with the decision I’m about to make.
“I’m offering all of you the chance to join together as one singularborgata. Something that’s never before been done in the city, something that will unite all of us standing here, instead of pitting us against each other like my brother tried to do. He wanted to take only the worst of us to form his own gang of power. But I want to take the best of us, those who have remained loyal to their crews, and those who want good leadership.”
“And if we buy into this crazy idea,” someone in the crowd calls out, “who’s going to lead us?”
“Me.”
21
CAMILLE
It takes a while to come down from such a big conflict. In the middle of such a thing, one runs on adrenaline alone. Fight-or-flight responses replace critical thinking, and it’s more about reaction than deliberate decision-making. But now, in the aftermath of the street fighting, we hold a funeral service for Leo. Some of the men question why we’re holding such a respectful funeral for a man that caused such calamity and chaos and devastation. But Leo was my best friend, and he was Gabriel’s brother, and his life needs to be honored regardless. Somewhere along the way, he went astray; hell, maybe he even lost his marbles. But even though he had betrayed us both and tried to destroy theborgatefor his own personal ambitions for power, the funeral service is just as much for us as it is for Leo. Gabriel and I need closure. We need to put it all behind us, the loss of my best friend and the loss of his brother. I suppose it’s even harder for him since he’s the one who killed Leo. But he killed his brother in order to save me, and that weighs heavy on my heart too.
The service looks like a sea of black, with everyone wearing ebony funeral garb, except for Leo’s lifeless body which lies in an open casket, suited in white. When I walk up to view him, it looks like he’s sleeping. Gabriel stands beside me. My arm threaded in his, I feel like I can sense the weight heavy on his heart. “If you hadn’t done it,” I say, “Leo would’ve killed me. You did it to save my life. There’s no guilt or dishonor in that.”
“But see, that’s where you’re wrong. I didn’t just do it to save your life. I did it to save mine as well,” Gabriel says solemnly. “If anything would’ve happened to you, I would’ve died as well. So, I guess you can say it was selfish on my part.”
I turn to look at him, having never heard anything so darkly poetic in my entire life. I know it’s not exactly the time or place, but I reach a hand up to hold the side of his jaw and kiss him. “I love you more than I can say,” I whisper in his ear.
“Good,” Gabriel says, managing a smile even during the somber event. “Because I think it’s time for us to get married now.”
There’s still a time pressure, everyone wanting us to marry sooner rather than later in order to make things official and tie Gabriel to the Grecoborgata. But at least we don’t have to settle for a back-alley wedding in hiding again. This time, when we finish our wedding ceremony, it’s a much bigger celebration. Gabriel throws a ton of money at it, and things are made to be beautiful and larger than life. Instead of a borrowed white cocktail dress, I can actually go and pick out a beautiful wedding dress fit for a princess—aprincipessa. How utterly ironic that I thought I would never identify with that word, but somehow it now makes me feel incredibly loved whenever Gabriel looks at me and utters it under his breath.
We invite both the Grecos and the Adamis to the event, and almost every member of both crews comes. Standing at the altar, staring into Gabriel’s eyes, makes me feel as if I’m drowning in devotion to him. What an ironic turn events to go from being the independent lone wolf to the princess of a new kind ofcapo. One who has managed to join twoborgatebeneath him—only with my help, though, of course.
“I will love you forever,” Gabriel says as he slides the ring onto my finger. I look down and see that this ring is different from the one Nick had handed to him the last time we had attempted this ceremony. I can’t help but be mesmerized by it for a moment. The stone looks like it’s cut in a million different ways that make the diamond sparkle like the glittering stars in the night sky. “You deserve something that tries to keep up with your own loveliness,” Gabriel smiles as he holds my hand in his.
“I wish I had something to give you too,” I say, feeling suddenly inadequate. I’m not rich, or a capo, and I’m not even really good wife material. I didn’t even write any good vows since everything’s been so crazy.
“You can give me everything I’ve ever wanted just by saying ‘I do,’” he says. We both say the words and finally are officially pronounced husband and wife.
After the wedding, we have a lavish party, resurrecting my father’s restaurant that had been shuttered for months, and hosting the event both inside the restaurant and spilling out into the alley where we won victory over the chaos that Leo had tried to spread. Everyone comes and takes part in the revelry. As Gabriel and I are sitting with champagne flutes and watching people dance, drink and talk with a new sense of peace and purpose, both Nick and Florian come to sit and join us.
“The Adamis are willing to still follow you,” Nick says, delivering the message from the rest of hisborgata. “They’ll follow you as theircapoeven if that means joining the combinedborgateunder the leadership of both you and Camille.”
“The Grecos will do the same,” Florian adds. “They want to follow Camille. After having seen you in the fight, and witnessed how fearless you are, they want to welcome your new husband as theircapoand follow you leading alongside him.”
This is all great news. This means not only a bigger, stronger, more fortified borgata, but it also means that I might finally have a place where I belong. I liked being on my own for a while, but now I’m ready to lead and be a part of a family of people again.
“It’s not going to be easy,” Gabriel says to all of us at once. “There are bound to be bumps in the road. There will be growing pains as everyone learns how to work together. But I have full confidence it can be done.”
“Florian,” I ask, piggybacking on Gabriel’s sentiment that this is a new experience and will likely require some stretching and bending of the old rules. “Can you be my advisor?”
