Page 79 of Until You Break
“I wouldn’t have wanted to miss this for the world, Mimmo.” Enzo accepted the whiskey offered on a tray, raising his glass with a deadpan smirk toward Luciana, who stood beside Alessandro in a black dress. She raised hers too, smiling back.
“Congratulations,” Salvatore leaned in, clinking his glass against mine. “Who would’ve thought? Our artistic baby brother-turned- mafia king.”
We laughed, the appreciation real, warmth cutting through the smoke.
“Gentlemen.” Damiano approached, Luca and Alessandro at his back. “Walk with me.”
We followed them to the edge of the roof terrace, where the night and stars pressed close overhead.
“Emilio’s glad you came. I am too.” His smile curved sharp, almost mocking. “But I’ve got a soft spot for people sniffing in our business. So…what do you have?”
“A rumor.”
Next to me, Enzo quirked his lips, smothering a laugh.
Damiano tilted his head at Salvatore. “Rumors.”
“Si.” Salvatore’s grin was quick, but his eyes gave nothing. “A cop sniffing into our laundry. He shows up, asks questions. Disappears before anyone gets his badge number.”
“And the name of this cop?” Alessandro asked.
Enzo shrugged, voice dry. “We don’t know yet. Wouldn’t that have been neat?”
“You don’t know?” Damiano’s chuckle carried an edge. “You come onto my roof, challenge my husband non a fight, buy your way our through leverage, and all you’ve got is smoke? Fake news in a nice suit?”
“Yes,” Salvatore admitted, his voice rough as gravel. “That’s all. You expected a miracle in my pocket?”
I couldn’t help a sharp breath of disbelief. Enzo caught my eye, his smirk sharp, daring.
Luca shook his head with a crooked grin. “The guy’s got balls, I’ll give him that. Coming all this way with nothing but hot air.”
“I should kick you out right now. Emilio?—”
The word stung, my name sharp in his mouth. My pulse jumped, palms damp against the glass I still held. Smoke from the terrace heaters curled in my throat.
“No.” I cut him off before he could finish, voice rougher than I meant.
He turned, eyes narrowing. “No?”
“I’ll dig. Half the corps is on the payroll, it won’t take long.”
Damiano went on, voice hard, carrying over the terrace. “Good. Keep it quiet, keep it clean. I don’t want a whisper until you have something solid. If you’re?—”
The sky tore, cutting his words in half.
Across the waterline of neon, a building swelled and broke. The blast rolled toward us like thunder made flesh, slamming the roof with a shockwave that rattled glass, shook the iron rail, and made every chest vibrate. Heat seared our faces, a sudden furnace wind curling hair against damp skin. The air stank of scorched wiring and molten glass. Smoke clawed down our throats, sparks bursting like stars torn loose from the sky. Flame poured from shattered windows in furious sheets of gold. Glass detonated with sharp cracks like gunfire. The blaze reared and bit at the stars, painting the sky black red.
The terrace froze as one. A chorus of gasps cut through the smoke, Enzo swore under his breath, Luciana clapped a hand over her mouth. For me, the world tilted: heat roared in my ears, vision swimming, the fire lunging straight for my chest. My breath snagged, body trembling, as if the blaze itself had its hands on me. Nearby, glass slipped and shattered, a sob cracked the silence, the rail groaned beneath white-knuckled grips. All eyes locked on the inferno, every breath stolen by flame.
I knew it before the words left me, the shape of the blaze, the bones of the building I had walked a hundred times. “It’s the casino,” I whispered, the taste of smoke bitter on my tongue. “Papà, he…”
Salvatore grabbed his phone, already speaking into it.
“Maledizione,” Damiano breathed, his arm locking around me, pulling me tight to his chest as if I were the only anchor he trusted. His heartbeat thundered against my spine, his breath hot and rough at my ear.
My knees buckled, the world tilting. I stumbled against him, chest heaving, certain I might faint under the weight of fire and loss. He held me fast, keeping me upright. “Look at me,amore. Whatever burns out there, I will not let it touch you.”
My vision blurred, my father’s casino, the place he had built with sweat and threat, chandeliers now collapsing in fire. Rumors had always said Mama’s bones were buried beneath its foundations, and for a breath I believed the flames were devouring her too. I couldn’t believe it. That piece of them, of me, turned to ash before my eyes. A sound escaped me, half sob, half disbelief. Who would dare rip away what little I had left of them?
