Page 10 of Dark Mafia Heir

After the funeral, we retreat to Dante’s house, and I go upstairs to greet his wife, Mariana.

She’s sitting on the dresser in her room, and my jaw clenches when I see the bitter smile on her face and the tears trailing down her cheeks.

Mariana looks like she’s aged twenty years in just two days. Her fair skin is now pale, her eyes deep in their socket, and she looks so much thinner.

Dante and Mariana didn’t have any children together, but they raised me like I was theirs. Everything I have now, I owe it to them.

I knock gently on the door so as not to startle her.

She flinches, quickly wiping away her tears and turning to face me with a forced smile. “Antonio.” Her voice is shaky. “You’re here.”

“Si.” Yes. I enter, walk inside the room, and lean against the vanity table. “You weren’t at the funeral.”

She nods. “I couldn’t bear to see them put him in that cold ground. My husband hated the cold—” she chokes on her words and trails off. More tears run down her cheeks despite her struggle to fight them. “I’m sorry.”

A numbness creeps through my limbs, as if the weight of the word is weighing me down. I hate to see Mariana this way. Her tears hurt me even more than Dante’s death.

I get on one knee in front of her and take her hand, brushing it softly with my thumb. “I will find who did this and I swear to God, I will avenge Dante. I promise.”

She cups my face with trembling hands. “I know you will, child. But you must be careful. I cannot afford to lose you too.”

“You won’t. I come to you the moment it is done.” I take the back of her hand and press it to the top of my head. “You must be strong for me, Mariana. I cannot face Dante in heaven if I can’t keep you happy.”

“I won’t die until every one of those bastards do,” she assures me. “I won’t rest until all our enemies are in their graves.”

I turn my head to the door as the sound of footsteps draws nearer.

Lorenzo appears in front of the door, greeting Mariana before shifting his attention to me. “The men are waiting for you, Nio.”

I nod and return my attention to Mariana. “I have some things to take care of. I’ll have dinner with you after I finish.”

She bobs her head.

I rise to my feet and follow Lorenzo to the living room, where some of the members of the Cosa Nostra are waiting. Dante was the head. Now that he is dead, someone will have to fill his spot.

Rafaelle Vitale is the first to speak. “We have to move on from this, but we must first appoint someone to take Dante’s place. I think we all know who it must be.”

Luigi Santoro speaks up next. “Dante had no children. There is no one to take his place.”

He glares at me, and I glare right back at him. Luigi is like a green snake in a field of green grasses. Cunny and conniving with his own selfish interests. His greed will be the death of him soon enough.

“He had a foster son who he wanted to take his place,” Rafaelle says. “Antonio will be the next leader. There’s no better person to take the position.

Some of the members agree with a nod, some don’t react at all. Luigi is seething, though. I want to gouge his eyes out and feed them to him for daring to glare at me in that way.

“So, a boy of unknown origins becomes the head of the Cosa Nostra?” Luigi chuckles sardonically. “That won’t happen, not while I am alive.”

As much as I would like to watch the drama unfold, I have a plan to kickstart it. I don’t have the time to stay here and listen to Luigi’s nonsense.

“If it can’t happen while you’re alive, then die,” I say, my voice cold and emotionless.

“How are you, boy?” His chest heaves with anger. “You don’t deserve that position, you’re?—”

Before he can finish, I pull my gun out of the holster strapped to my chest and pull the trigger twice.

The first bullet pierces right into his chest. The second one drives a hole between his eyes. Blood splutters, and his body falls to the ground with a thud.

Panic erupts in the room, and the tension grows to a palpable degree.

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