Page 75 of The Agreement

“Seems like that’s all you ever had, failure.” Dante coughed again, more blood coming up. He leaned his head back and looked at Vinny. “Did you go to my mom with any of this?” Dante chuckled, his skin losing its color as he coughed yet again.

“No, but your mom worked perfectly in pushing Celeste. You know, she did love you.” Vinny shrugged, not caring. He crunched down again and looked Dante in the eye.

“You could never best me, Dante. Try all you might, you never could.”

“Just end me, Vinny, it’s what you want,” Dante murmured, his head rolling to the side. Vinny was a lot of things, but merciful wasn’t one of them. He got close to Dante’s ear, the gun in his other hand.

“Die knowing that Val is pregnant with my child and you would never have had her.” With that, he pulled the trigger, ignoring the splatter that got on him. This shit show was done, now he had to go check on his wife and child, and then they needed to talk to their parents again.

~ Chapter 57 ~

Val kissed the cold forehead of her dear friend as she looked down at the lifeless body in her arms. She had long since forgotten how much time had passed. She vaguely recalled the message from Salvorte or the response she gave. But she knew by the sensations rolling through her legs that she had been here way too long and needed to get up. She was also certain that Vinny would be coming soon to check on her. She carefully laid Luciana’s head down and stood on shaky legs, using the couch to help hold her up. When she was finally able to start moving, she headed to the kitchen, using the wall to both guide her and keep her steady.

Her mind felt like it was somewhere else and she wasn’t sure what was hurting her the most. The physical pain she was feeling from being in the same position or the ache that was in her heart over the loss of one of the most important people in her life. She just knew there was pain and lots of it. She leaned against the counter for a moment as she closed her eyes. Her thoughts were just as much of a mess as her emotions were at the moment. She knew Celeste was behind the attacks, she just didn’t think she’d have the balls to do this, nor did Val think her mother-in-law would be that stupid to try and kill her. Agreement or not, that would have started the war all over again, Val would stake everything on that.

After several moments, she finally pushed away from the counter and opened the fridge, grabbing a bottle of water. Really, she wanted something stronger, but she knew she couldn’t, not with the little one growing in her. Val rubbed her stomach, her head moving to look down at the flatness still. She teared up at the thought of Luciana knowing before she even knew. Val covered her mouth as a sob escaped her again.

“Val, baby?” Vinny rushed into the kitchen, his eyes opening wide as he took her in; the tear-streaked the cheeks, the hand over the mouth, and the blood that was probably all over her. “Oh, God, are you okay?” he asked, pulling her into his arms and she let go, clutching him as she cried.

“Luciana…,” she mumbled into his chest, but she couldn’t get the words out.

“Shh baby, don’t say anything.” He looked up at Frankie as Frankie came down the hallway and shook his head. Vinny knew. Luciana died protecting his wife and he would honor her. “I’m so sorry baby, I’m so sorry.” He kissed her head over and over as he held her tightly.

“Celeste got in, shot her, I took her gun…,” Val started, finally pulling away to look up at him. “I took Luciana’s gun and I shot….I shot…” Vinny cupped her cheeks, his thumb rubbing them.

“You don’t have to speak the words, I know what you did.” He kissed the tip of her nose, her forehead, and both cheeks, and finally kissed her softly. “I’m here now baby and this is all over. I promise you, this is all over.”

“Celeste said there was…another and…”

“Valentina, it’s okay, it’s over, we ended it.” Val nodded, finally looking him over and her eyes opened wide.

“What happened?” she whispered as she took in the blood splatter over his jacket and shirt.

“I killed Dante; he was the other hand in all of this. And tomorrow, when you wake, my love, I’ll tell you everything, but right now I need you in bed and resting.” With that, he swung her up and took her into the bedroom and into the bathroom. He knew his men would take care of the bodies. “I’m just happy you’re okay, Val because I don’t know what I would do if anything happened to you. I love you, you have become my whole world,” he whispered as he stripped her down and started the bath for her. And in the darkness of her heart, she felt the light break through with those words, words she thought she felt with him but hadn’t heard him utter to her yet.

“I love you too, Giovanni.”

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Val held tight to Vinny’s hand as they watched the casket being lowered into the ground. She chose to ignore the woman’s sobs on the other side of Vinny. To be honest, Vinny’s mom really had no reason to be so upset over the death of Celeste; it wasn’t like anything was coming out of the union anyway. Vinny squeezed her hand and she glanced at him, offering him a smile. They had both agreed that they would honor Luciana right and have a private ceremony for her, at least after this show was over. They also agreed that after they buried Celeste, they would have a very big heart-to-heart with their parents and lay it down how it was going to be. And then they could either choose to get on board or quite possibly lose everything. Because Vinny was done being treated like he knew nothing and was tired of Val being treated like she meant nothing.

The power between the two of them was amazing. Val had the mind to really run all of the legal business and Vinny had the instinct to control the illegal side. So, if their parents wanted to walk away, that was fine, they had no problems starting a new empire. And that could cause quite a few problems on a few different fronts. And knowing them, both Val and Vinny thought they would see both of their parents on board and supporting this union yet again. At least, Vinny couldn’t see his dad tossing away all he worked for. And though Val’s dad might have some reservations, Joey didn’t and Vinny believed that Joey would actually step up and say something, just like an underboss should.

Once the casket was lowered and Celeste’s mom tossed her handful of dirt on it then did Vinny’s mom do the same and it took everything within Val not to roll her eyes. She really did want to know what in the world she was thinking by giving all this support to a woman like Celeste, who was willing to put her son’s life on the line. Granted, no one had mentioned that to her yet but still, this show was making Val even sicker than she was. She really wanted nothing more than to take Vinny’s hand and head back to their home where she could still grieve in peace. Instead, she was following her husband to a private location where she could talk to both sets of parents, a joy she was not looking forward to. But after the events of the last four days, she wanted this all done and over with!

"Let’s go, babe," Vinny whispered and Val looked around, finally noticing that others were leaving. She did have to admit that she was sorry for the family and the lies they got told. The truth could never come out or another war would be had. But most of her family knew Vinny and would have known the truth, especially if they were part of his family. Val turned and followed Vinny back to the car, stopping as he held open the door for her but a throat-clearing stopped her from sliding in. Val glanced over her shoulder to see Donatello there with his arm around Sofia.

"What dad?" Vinny asked, resting his arm on the door as he turned to look at him.

"You're calling a meeting with us and with De Luca, given the current situation, is that wise? Can’t you just explain what you need?"

"No,padre(father), it’s not. It might seem that way to you, but it’s not to us. You have your instructions," Vinny said, looking at his mother before looking at his father. "Don't try and change them." With that, he helped Val in the car, climbed in himself, and took off to his house where he was going to have everyone at.

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35 minutes later he looked at both parents and then took Val’s hand as she leaned against his desk like he was. She smiled and squeezed his hand before turning to look back. He wasn’t sure how he wanted this to start but she did, so he allowed her to have the floor.

"We did what you four failed to do, we caught and killed those who were after us, and that was Dante and Celeste." She gave Sofia a rather pointed look who only lifted her head a little higher but remained silent. "Smart. I hold no qualms about killing her myself after she got the alarm from you, Sofia, and I will admit I sat there wondering how to kill my own mother-in-law." Val rose her hand to stop his mother and he smirked. "I wouldn’t have, but not for your sake, but for Vinny’s. All of you have been horrible since we both did what YOU wanted us to do."

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