“I did what had to be done,” he hisses. “She’snothing to me.”
Alexis leans against the metal table, spinninga knife between his fingers. “You and your brother rejected her when she was achild. What kind of person does that? You think she’s not aLambretti,but she is. She’s your niece, and you tried to kill her.”
Enzo’s sneer deepens as his gaze flicks towhere Aemelia stands, just behind Luca, her arms crossed, her expressionunreadable. “I know she’s Carlo’s spawn. His filthy blood runs through herveins.” He laughs, shaking his head. “Everything Carlo touched should beexterminated. That bitch of a wife, her sickly sister, the addict brother—allof them.”
Aemelia doesn’t flinch. If anything, her chinlifts higher. I glance at her, searching for fear, for hesitation, but sheseems bulletproof against his words. I exchange a look with Alexis. Does heknow why Enzo is so determined to wipe Carlo’s family off the face of theEarth? I can’t even imagine having the same impulses about any family of mybrothers.
Luca steps in closer, crouching so he’s at eyelevel with Enzo. “Does your boss know about your little vendetta?”
Enzo clenches his jaw, refusing to answer, butI see the flicker in his gaze. Doubt. Guilt. His actions have put him at oddswith his boss's interests. He stepped over the line that provided hisprotection.
Luca sighs as if this entire conversationbores him. “Let’s make this easy,” he says, nodding to me.
I step forward, gripping the knife Alexis wastoying with. Without a word of warning, I slam it through Enzo’s hand, pinninghim to the wooden arm of the chair. His scream echoes off the concrete walls,but I don’t move, don’t let go of the blade. I press down, twisting itslightly, watching as pain overtakes his anger.
“Does your boss know?” Luca repeats, his voiceis softer now, almost gentle.
Enzo pants as sweat beads on his forehead. Hisfury is still there, but the pain has stripped away the bravado. “No,” hefinally grits out. “This is my decision.”
Luca nods, unsurprised. “And Carlo?”
The laughter that spills from Enzo’s lips ismanic, unhinged. “Carlo’s dead,” he spits, eyes wild. “I killed him myself.”
“You killed your brother?” Luca laughs andshakes his head. “You expect me to believe you killed your own brother?”
“That bastard meant nothing to me.”
Luca turns to me and raises his brow. I guessI should be relieved that he thinks fratricide is so unthinkable. I twist theknife, watching thick red blood drip to the floor. Enzo screams, his bodyarching back, his other arm and legs straining at their bonds.
“Why?” I growl, twisting again.
He doesn’t answer and I twist some more,opening a hole between the bones of his hand.
“He seduced my wife,” he screams, writhingfrom the pain. His face is red and slick with sweat, veins bursting across thewhites of his eyes.
A silence falls over the room, punctuated onlyby his ragged breathing. I frown, recalling that Enzo’s first wife disappearedaround the same time Carlo did. Divorce was the explanation.
Even Alexis stops twirling the second knife hepulled from his jacket.
Enzo grins through the pain, his teeth stainedwith blood. “He thought he could fuck around with my wife behind my back. Afterhe cried over what your brother did with his. He deserved the way Mario treatedhim, like a fucking cuck. I slit his throat and dumped his body where no onewill ever find it.” He leans forward as much as his restraints permit him togrin with defiance.
Aemelia’s breath hitches, the first sign ofemotion I’ve seen from her since this started. I glance at her again, findingher rigid with hands clenched into fists. There’s no sadness in her eyes, nogrief for a father who never cared for her—only cold calculation.
“Why the fuck didn’t you tell us?” I spit,thinking about how easily he lied to my face, how much we put Aemelia throughbecause of his deceit, and I want to peel the skin from his flesh, piece bypiece.
“Your brother was the start of this. Why thefuck should I give a shit about you.” Then Enzo smirks through the pain that’smade his eyes wild and his skin slick and gray. “And while we’ve been sittinghere having this conversation, my men have already been sent to finish thejob.” He turns to Aemelia, his eyes dancing. “Your mother, your aunt, yourjunkie brother—they’ll all be dead before sunrise, and you as soon as they canget to you.”
Luca doesn’t hesitate. He turns to me, hisvoice sharp as a blade. “Send a crew. Get them out. Now.”
I’m already pulling my phone from my pocket,calling Vito, and issuing orders.
Then I dial Aemelia’s mother’s number. Shepicks up on the first ring with an anxious, “Hello.”
“You need to take your sister and your son andget out of the apartment right now. Enzo’s sending his men to kill you.” I hangup before she can ask questions. There’s no time to debate. She just has toact. It’s the best I can do.
This just became more than a personal vendettafor us. It’s a war against Aemelia and her family, Enzo desperately trying tomake a brother he’s already killed pay with more blood.
When does it end?