Twisted Bonds (The Camorra Chronicles 4)

I gave a nod. “I will kill them all.”

“You and I will.” He hit the gas and took us back home.

The gates swung open and in the driveway, we found three cars that didn’t belong. Two men stood guard in front of the entrance. I recognized them at once as Carmine, Cosimo’s younger brother, and beside him another one of our father’s former lapdogs.

Remo and I got out, and Carmine with a wide grin pointed his gun at us. “The wind’s turned, hasn’t it?”

Remo’s mouth curled. “Your brother begged and cried like a little girl before I killed him. To think that a pussy like him had dared to call himself Capo for even a second makes me want to jab a knife into my brain so I can cut out the part remembering it.”

Carmine’s face turned red. “You … you are going to die today.”

“So, will you,” I said calmly. He’d gained weight around the middle and his hairline had receded.

“Inside,” he ordered, “But first you give us your weapons. Don’t forget, that woman and the baby will burn to coal in a blink if you try anything.”

Remo and I removed our holsters and gave them to Carmine, who glared at Remo. “Inside, now!”

We made our way into the mansion with them pointing their guns at our backs. I searched the adjoining corridors for more attackers, but didn’t see any. Remo alone could have taken the men who held us at gun point and together we wouldn’t have had any trouble, but we couldn’t risk it as long as Kiara and Alessio were in our mother’s hands. The torturous images from the past kept licking at my consciousness like hungry flames, waiting to banish the here and now. With sheer force of will, I shoved them down.

My heart picked up when we arrived in the gaming room. Kiara sat on the sofa and cradled Alessio against her chest. Her hair was sticky and the stench of gasoline hung in the air. My insides constricted. I only gave her a small nod, remembering Remo’s words. Savio lay on the floor, bleeding from a headwound, and looking up at me dazedly. I didn’t discover any other wounds. If things went down, he’d still manage to put up a decent fight despite his injury. Fabiano’s hands were bound behind his back and he was kneeling beside two other former Camorrista. Remo shot him a look and he gave a small nod.

Serafina and the twins were in the panic room.

And then I spotted her, the woman who’d destroyed what little innocence Remo and I had possessed as children. In a moment she moved to Kiara’s side and held up the lighter. “You are going to put down all of your weapons, or they’ll both burn.”

“We took their weapons,” Carmine said, perspiration glistening on his receding hairline. His brother’s screams all those years ago would be nothing in comparison to what Remo and I would do to him today for threatening the people we were meant to protect.

Our mother shook her head with a benevolent smile. “No, no, you didn’t. I know Benedetto’s sons.”

“We are your sons too,” Savio ground out, rolling onto his back and touching the spot of dried blood on the side of his head with a grimace.

She ignored him. “A gunshot could set Kiara and her boy on fire too. A little spark and everything goes up in flames, do you really want to risk it? Hear their agonized screams?”

Remo looked at me, hoping I’d contradict her, but I couldn’t. Not with absolute certainty and the fire would spread too fast. I couldn’t risk this, couldn’t risk Kiara and Alessio being consumed by flames. Remo and I bent down and reached for the guns strapped to our calves.

“Careful now,” Mother said. “You know how excruciating it is to burn alive. I can’t imagine how it would feel to die that way.”

“Maybe you’ll find out today,” Remo said, his eyes full of hatred.

Inside me there was quiet, a terrifying stillness, only interrupted by bursts of what I could assume was fear, fear of losing everything. Not my life. I didn’t care about that.

Carmine took the guns from us with a nasty smile then backed up again to the other men.

“What did you promise them to do your bidding?” I asked.

Mother smiled. “Money. Power. Revenge.”

“Power,” Remo scoffed. “Do you really think my men will follow either of you? They’ll laugh into your pitiful faces and then smash them in. And even if you manage to seize power by some stroke of luck, you won’t have it for long. Luca will wipe the floor with assholes like you and just claim the Camorra for himself.”

“We’ll see,” Carmine said. He was obviously the leader of the remaining traitors. That they’d chosen a man like him showed how weak they were.