Twisted Loyalties (The Camorra Chronicles 1)

I held Leona’s hand in a crushing grip, shielding her with my body even if it drove Remo even madder. My eyes did a quick scan of the room. Remo alone was a dangerous opponent, but I would have tried my luck. But with his two brothers in the room with us, I stood no chance. Nino, too, was impossible to beat.

I would still fight them, but it was only postponing the inevitable. I allowed myself a glance down at Leona who was watching me with trust in her eyes. She thought I could get us out. Slowly fear replaced her trust. I squeezed her hand once. She rewarded me with a shaky smile, and I released her hand. I needed both of my hands if I wanted to stand the slightest chance at all.

I considered denying I had killed Soto but while I could withstand torture, Leona wouldn’t be able to keep our secret if Remo or Nino turned their special talent on her. “I never meant to betray you. And I never did. Soto was a rat. He wasn’t a good soldier.”

“It’s not your place to decide who is a good soldier. I am Capo and I decide who lives and dies,” he said in his quietest voice.

Remo was never quiet like that. He wasn’t just furious. He was fucking crushed because I’d betrayed him and that was so much worse.

“I shouldn’t have. I have always been a good soldier and I will always be your loyal soldier if you let me.”

“Are you asking for forgiveness? For mercy?” He laughed.

I smiled coldly. “No. I won’t.”

Leona looked at me like I’d lost my mind, but she didn’t know Remo. I’d seen him laugh into the faces of the begging and dying for years and knew he didn’t have a heart to melt.

“Do with me whatever you want. But as a favor for years of loyal service, I ask you to let Leona go.”

Remo laughed again. The way his eyes wandered over Leona, he was probably already thinking about all the things he could do to her. Raw protectiveness crashed down over me.

“Let me fight for her life. I’ll fight as many men as you want.”

Remo walked toward me. I fought the urge to pull a weapon. He stopped right in front of me. Our eyes locked. Years of loyalty, of brotherhood passed in that one moment, and deep regret settled in my bones.

“You will fight me to the death,” Remo said.

I stared at him uncomprehendingly. Since my sisters had left, since my mother had died and my father had wanted me dead, he was the only family I’d had. He and his brothers. Fuck, we’d spent every day together for the last five years. Had bled together, laughed together, killed together. I had sworn loyalty to him. I would have put my life down for him.

I turned my gaze to Leona who was watching me and Remo with her innocent doe-eyes. But for her, I would kill him. I would kill them all.

“If you win, she will be free,” Remo said to Nino, who would become Capo if Remo died. “And you Fabiano will put your life down without another fight.”

“I will.”

He nodded. “Perhaps Nino will feel lenient enough to grant you life afterwards.” Nino’s expression left me little hope for that. Not that it mattered. If I killed Remo, the Camorra would be in uproar. Nino would have his hands full with that. He would prevail of course, but perhaps it would give me the chance to…to what? Run away with Leona? From Vegas, from the Camorra? Join the fucking Famiglia? Fuck. I wasn’t sure I could do it. But it wasn’t something I had to decide now, probably never.

“To the death,” I told Remo, holding out my hand for him. He gripped it and we shook hands, then he stepped back, fixing his cold stare on Leona. “I hope you can live with yourself now that Fabiano’s signed his death letter for you.”

Leona opened her mouth in what looked like protest, but I gripped her hand hard. She pressed her lips together.

“Tomorrow,” Remo said, then turned to Nino. “Set everything up. Call Griffin.”

He’d fought two men only yesterday but I knew the advantage that gave me was balanced by the fury Remo felt.

His eyes found me again. “You will spend the night here where I can keep an eye on you.”

“You know I won’t run,” I told him.

“Once I knew you were loyal,” he said.

He nodded at Nino and Savio, and they led Leona and me toward a panic room without windows and locked the door.

Leona gripped my shirt. “This is suicide. He wants to kill you.”

“That he gives me the chance to fight for your life is more than he would have given anyone else. That he fights me himself is the greatest proof of respect I can think of.”