Game(57)

Zander made a fist and hit the desk. “I kill no one!”

“It’s okay,” Fiore said and touched Zander’s shoulder. “Remember - the greater good, my friend.” Fiore looked at me. “We have some business to tend to for now. But it’s going to be amazing what happens from here on out. You’re going to give me a replacement child and then you’re going to give yourself to Zander.”

“No,” I said. “It won’t work. I’ll scream. Fight. Yell.”

“You don’t need a tongue to be pregnant,” Zander said. “Or hands. Or arms. Or legs.” His eyes flared with excitement.

“See, between the two of us,” Fiore said, “we can afford medical care that nobody would ever know about. So if you get out of line, you lose something. But not your life and not the life inside you.”

I felt sick. My lips started to quiver and I quickly looked left to right, needing somewhere to get sick. I couldn’t make a move or else I’d get hurt. So I chose left, turned my head, and let loose.

“Oh, this is going to be great,” Fiore said.

“Yes,” Zander growled. “Yes, it is.”

He leaned down and looked at me. I felt and looked like death.

“You do look like her,” Zander whispered. “I should have known better than to trust you. But I thought you would take me to her.”

“Who?”

“Sasha,” Zander said through gritted teeth. “She f*cked me. You think I didn’t know? I made you mine to get to her. Then you left me for that fighter. Now I see truth. I see lots of truth.”

“You knew I was Sasha’s sister?” I asked.

“She f*cked me. Then you f*cked me. Now I f*ck everyone.”

Zander turned and tore open the door.

I looked at Fiore. He shook his head. “It was my fault, really. I should have been more careful. I couldn’t call the hit off soon enough, Shayna. It was supposed to be Antonio in the car. Not my grandchild. Not my little Luca. But it was your sister who distracted Antonio. She was the one who did it. Remember that. She killed Antonio and my grandson. Then she ran. Disappeared. No more. No more, Shayna. We will now get what we want.”

Fiore left the office too.

And there I was, alone, with two men with two guns pointed at me. The guy on my left was wiggling his foot, shaking my vomit loose.

I started to piece it together and it made me even sicker.

I turned my head to the right this time, throwing up again.

My only hope… my only wish… my only prayer…

Please make sure Finn runs away from me, and all this mess.





41.


(Finn)



I stood in front of a crackling fire. The story told to me was enough to make me sick. Fiore had set up Antonio to be killed by Zander. After bringing Antonio into the family to marry Mara, Antonio wanted more power. He wanted to fight harder against Zander, which Fiore was against. Why? Because Fiore and Zander had a hidden relationship. They pushed gently when needed to make the feud seem alive and well.

Baby Luca really was sick and he was not supposed to be in the car that night.

The plan was supposed to go like this…

A little after two in the morning, Fiore was going to call Antonio and tell him he’d been shot. Zander was on the loose and Antonio needed to get to Fiore fast. Then he’d lure Antonio to the intersection where he’d meet his fate. A car would stop and a woman, appearing to be drunk, would get out and cause a stir. Antonio would get out of the car and threaten to kill her. There would be about a minute to have someone else come and plant the bomb under the car.

Fiore fought Antonio on the phone about baby Luca being sick. Antonio - being a good father - insisted on getting the infant to the hospital right away. After all, an extremely high fever was dangerous for a baby.

Because of the channels of communication created by Fiore to distance himself from the pending assassination of his son-in-law, there wasn’t enough time to call the hit off. Which meant not only did Antonio perish in the attack, but so did baby Luca.

“My innocent child,” Mara said as she wiped away a tear.

She was shaking and I put my hand out to touch her arm. She wiggled away from me.

“No,” she said. “I can take care of myself.”

“I don’t get this,” I said. “Why wait until now…”

“The family,” Mara said. She sniffled. “The goddamn family has been deciding on the fate of my father. It’s not like the movies, Finn. It’s not a quick thing. There’s so much that happens and it goes so far, you wouldn’t believe it. I had to grieve my loss and hold it together. I refused to speak to him for years because of it. That’s what kept him on edge. Then he decided to get you involved. Thinking you could make it right by giving a baby to him. To me. He’s insane, Finn.”

“I see that,” I said. “He killed my best friend.”

“He killed my only child.”

You win.

“I’m so sorry,” I said. I put my hand to her arm and she didn’t shake me away. “I can’t believe it.”

“I did like you,” Mara said. “I used to think about you a lot. You were the ultimate fantasy for me, Finn. You were bad. You were a fighter. You were tough. You weren’t Italian. You were so bad…” Mara smiled.