Page 3 of The Silence Lies

“Is it too soon to deliver a kill order?”

“On who?” I frown, turning to him.

He rolls his eyes, sighing as he lights up a cigarette. “You know who.”

“Enz, if we could kill everyone we hated, there wouldn’t be a Mafia. Sometimes we have to set aside our differences for the family.”

“Spoken like a true leader,” he teases, nudging my shoulder.

“If you say so,” I grumble back. The nerves of the day still haven’t left me. I’m still reeling in self doubt and uncertainty, and I have a weird feeling in my gut that today went far too smoothly.

“La Cosa Nostra needs someone like you. Or should we be calling it La Cosa Nuova?”

A chuckle falls from my lips. He always knows how to distract me, to cheer me up. I appreciate the hell out of the guy because he has already done too much for me.

“Relax, you’re going to be great,” he says, leaning in to drop a kiss on my temple.

Somehow, his words don’t settle that uneasy sensation somersaulting in the pit of my stomach. And it only increases when I hear the commotion coming from around the corner.

It’s the gun shot I hear first.

The rip roaring ripple as it pierces the glass on the table in front of me.

“Get down!” Enzo bellows.

Before I have time to react, he’s shoving me to my knees, protecting me with his body as he pulls out his gun and starts shooting.

The entire yard is filled with the racket of gunfire. It’s like we’re on a battlefield; bullets of all calibers fire at one another, shattering glass that spills across the cobbles at my feet. A body drops beside me, my blood running cold. It’s one of the old families, Fontana.

I’ve spent three years preparing myself for this role, but dead bodies will never be normal for me. As I look at the collapsed man, I feel the bile rising up.

“Sera! Get inside!” Enzo yells out over his shoulder.

I stumble forward, as my best friend reaches for me. Wrapping an arm behind me, he holds me to his back, acting like a human shield. He guides me to the patio doors, where glass decorates the ground.

“It’s the Verdis.”

Without warning, my body is forced through the gap. My legs give out, but Enzo catches me effortlessly, placing me upright.

“You need to hide!” he orders, squeezing my hand. “I’ll come find you.”

I can’t let go, though. Fear has me frozen in place as I stare back at my best friend, silently pleading.

“I can’t, Sera.” He shakes his head, his lips thin and eyes grow dark. The weight of his unspoken words claw at my chest, and it aches knowing what he isn’t saying.

“You can!” I scream, yanking at his hand and trying to pull him through the doorway. “I’m not going anywhere without you!”

“No! Sera!” He grips my shoulders and shakes. He shakes me until the tears form in my eyes and bottom lip wobbles. He shakes me until he forgets why, and then he pulls me into his arms and holds me tight. “I vowed to protect you, and that’s what I’m doing.”

“Please, Enzo. Come with me.” The words are barely audible against his chest, over the gunfire rumbling around us.

He kisses my forehead, a gesture that means more now than it ever did before.

And then I hear it.

I feel it.

The gunshot rings so painfully loud that my brain can’t comprehend a thing. Enzo’s body shudders against me under the quaking force. And then he collapses, his eyes wide and mouth parted. He drops so heavily to the ground that he takes me with him.

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