There is a painful silence and I struggle to listen over the sound of my pulse thumping heavily in my ear drums. “You don’t think …” Gia lets the words fall away as though she doesn’t want to risk voicing her thoughts, as though what she’s about to say could ruin everything.
“No,” the other voice says, his tone firmer, confirming my suspicions. It’s definitely Zeke. “They couldn’t be alive. It’s not possible. Not after what Giovanni did to them. Plus, those three gunshots that rang out as we were leaving. We’d be fools to assume they weren’t kill shots right through his sons’ skulls.”
Bile rises in my throat at just the thought of those bullets penetrating the boys’ heads, but I swallow it down, needing to put it aside to hear what’s going on in that room. “They’re the biggest players in the DeAngelis family,” Gia says. “If they were dead, people would be talking. The DeAngelis family swore loyalty to those boys. If Giovanni truly killed them, the remaining family would be scrambling for their lives, begging for forgiveness, but you’re telling me there’s nothing but silence?”
“That’s right,” Zeke returns. “Unless Giovanni hasn’t made it public. They could be dead and the family simply doesn’t know it yet.”
“No,” Gia says, her tone forceful and strained. “There were too many guards. Even if they were sworn to silence, information would have been leaked by now. There’s only one possible outcome of this.”
“The fuckers are still alive,” Zeke finishes for her, his voice a breathy whisper, full of disbelief, and if I’m not wrong, a hint of awe.
Hope spurs through my chest as I suck in a shaky breath. Could they really think my boys are alive? Is there truly a chance?
Silence fills the room again, and I find myself edging closer to the door, needing to hear every last word. “It’s just not possible,” Gia murmurs, her tone filled with confusion, and it sounds as though she may be talking to herself, thinking out loud. “You saw those injuries. They couldn’t have survived that, but then—”
“Those boys have defied much worse odds than that.”
“So, you think we should work off the assumption that they’re still alive?”
Zeke scoffs. “My assumption is that if they are alive, if those three gunshots weren’t aimed between their eyes, then they’re barely holding on.”
Fuck, fuck, fuck. FUCK.
That darkness that has consumed me for the past seven days explodes inside my chest, waking up the devil who lives inside me. I haven’t felt a damn thing since they crumbled into the grass and for the first time, that small ray of hope begins to flicker deep in my chest.
My boys. I fucking knew they wouldn’t give up without a fight. They wouldn’t leave me like that. They aren’t done here yet. They have too much to accomplish, too much to give.
My hands shake at my sides as the need to barge into Gia’s office flutters through me. I have to get out of here. If there’s a chance they’re still alive, I have to make it to them. They’ve saved me more times than I can count, and now it’s time to return the favor.
Tears of happiness streak down my face as I try to contain myself. I know there’s a good chance Zeke is wrong, that they really are dead, but I have no choice but to believe because, without them, I have nothing.
There’s a soft thud, possibly Gia dropping down into a large desk chair as she lets out a heavy sigh, the sound filled with thought and unease. I have to pull myself up, holding back as I hear footsteps. Zeke makes his way around her desk, putting himself at her side, probably offering her what little comfort he can. “What’s the plan, boss?” he says, his voice muffled and low.
Silence follows, and I don’t doubt that Gia is weighing all of her options, figuring out the best course of action to ensure that every possible outcome keeps the Moretti family on top. “There is no plan,” she finally says, my back stiffening. How could she have no plan? There is only one obvious answer to this. We go in and we save them. “Do not speak a word of this. If Giovanni has those boys, they’d be locked up and slowly dying. We keep quiet and let nature take its course. Soon enough, they’ll be riddled with infection to the point they’ll probably beg each other to take their lives. They’ll die, and when that happens, we break the news to Shayne, tell her there was nothing we could do to help them, that we tried, but it was too late. Vengeance will spark in her, and she’ll push herself until she’s up to the task of taking out Giovanni herself. We won’t even need to lift a finger.”
“What then?” he questions, amusement shining in his tone. “Does she return here? It won’t be long until she realizes that you’re not sick.”
The fuck? Not sick?
“No. We let her take out Giovanni. Without him or his sons to continue the line, the whole DeAngelis family will crumble. Once she’s completed her task, we put a bullet through her head and take Giovanni’s newborn son as our own. The Moretti family was built on my blood and my blood alone. I sit on the throne, and I will not risk her swooping in here and trying to take it out from under me. So, for now, we turn her into a warrior to do our bidding. She knows the inner secrets to that family, and we will corrupt every last one of them until they finally fall. Keep your enemies close, Zeke. The Moretti family is only just getting started.”
Well … fuck.
6
What the actual fuck just happened?
I sit up in my room, my mind reeling from everything I just learned downstairs.
One. Gia is a lying sack of shit who will do absolutely anything it takes to get what she wants—cross anyone, stab them in the back, betray her own blood. She’s a coward and a fool, and at some point, I’m going to make her pay for what I heard through her office walls, but I have bigger problems right now.
Two. There’s a good chance that my boys are still breathing, and if they are, ain’t nothin’ gonna stop me from getting to them.
Watching through my bedroom window, I spy Gia’s guards and begin to take note of their schedules and faces. There are about fifteen of them who are regulars here, working in shifts every day and night. I see them down in the training room and around the house every now and then, but there are maybe another ten who I’ve only seen once or twice over the past week.
I get Gia’s need for having guards at her constant disposal, but it’s kinda embarrassing. The boys never needed hired help to get a job done. They had each other and that’s all they ever needed. I doubt Gia would have gotten anywhere without the line of hired muscle at her back. The Moretti family may be bigger and stronger than the DeAngelis family, but at least the DeAngelis family can stand proud knowing that its rightful leaders are the kind of men who would bleed to protect it. I can’t say the same for Gia.
She’s a spineless bitch and I can’t wait to crush her.