Page 103 of Mafia Darling

I was too exhausted to think about it any longer. I closed my eyes and let myself drift to sleep.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

Fausto

I was too weak for the dungeon steps, so I instructed Marco to bring Vic up to my new hospital room upstairs. In the middle of the night, they dragged him in and threw him on a plastic tarp spread out on the ground by my bed. He moaned and curled into himself, his broken and bloody body trembling from the pain.

Va bene. This pleased me.

“Can you hear me, pezzo di merda?”

When Vic didn’t answer, Giulio kicked him in the ribs. Vic dry heaved a few times, and after he quieted, I snapped, “Answer me.”

“Yes . . . Don . . . Ravazzani.”

“Know this, Vic Benedetti. I will make an example out of you. They will whisper about the horrors of your death for years to come. You will suffer, coglione. You will suffer for spitting in the face of my trust and for what happened to my wife. The wife and sisters you were trying to protect from D’Agostino? They receive nothing from me after your death, not even my protection.”

“No, please,” he wheezed. “Please.”

“He put a gun in my wife’s mouth. A gun. In my wife’s mouth!” I was shouting by the end, and pain tore through me. I think I popped open a stitch. Gasping, I relaxed and tried to keep breathing.

“Perdonami, perdonami,” he repeated, his one good eye focused on me.

“There is no forgiveness,” I rasped. “No mercy for you. But I won’t make the same mistake with you that I made with Enzo. You won’t be kept alive to prolong the torture. You will die tonight. And pieces of you will be delivered all over Calabria, all the way up to Napoli. I will sprinkle you all throughout Italia like snowflakes so everyone knows of your disgrace.”

He closed his eyes and began praying.

I sneered, “There is no redemption for you—or your family. Which body part should I deliver to them first?”

He started sobbing and I gestured to Marco. My cousin put a gun in my hand and everyone stepped back from the tarp. I didn’t aim for his head, which would’ve been too quick a death. With two shots, I put bullets through Vic’s kneecaps. It was painful but not life-threatening. He howled but I ignored it. When I handed the gun back to Marco, I said, “Cut him up. Leave him alive for the worst of it.”

The men rolled the tarp around Vic and lifted him up. Giulio started to walk out with Marco, so I said, “Giulio, stay.”

His brows drew together and he glanced at Marco. “I’ll come down when I’m done here.”

Marco told Giulio to take his time, and then I was finally alone with my son. The past few hours had been busy ones, with getting settled into my new room and letting Zia and Francesca fuss over me. This was the first chance I’d had to speak with my son. “Come. Sit down.”

Francesca hadn’t been lying. Giulio did look terrible, like he hadn’t slept in days. He’d been such a carefree and happy child. I wondered where that boy had gone. Was he still inside there, buried under layers of responsibility and expectation?

What kind of life are you forcing him into? Secrecy and lies, celibacy and loneliness?

He started to pull over the armchair, but I waved him to the bed. “Sit here. Where I can see you better.”

“I don’t want to hurt you.”

“I’m fine. This is my good side.”

He lowered himself gently onto the bed and folded his hands. “What is it?”

“First, Marco told me of your intelligence and leadership in my absence. I’m very proud of you.”

Giulio’s mouth hitched and his back straightened ever so slightly. “Thank you, Papà. I did my best for you, for the ’ndrina.”

“I know, and I’m very pleased. I always assumed I had more time to ease you into the role, to guide you. I know it couldn’t have been easy to be thrown in like that.”

“It’s given me a whole new appreciation for what you do. I will definitely pay better attention from now on.”

“This is the second thing I wished to speak with you about.” I paused and tried to organize my thoughts. “When you were born I paraded you in front of all the men. ‘Look at your next leader,’ I told them. We had a big party with everyone there.”

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