Matteo.
“I’ll kill you with my own hands, Luca.”
My breath came in sharp, controlled bursts as I squared off with Luca. His men surrounded us, their guns trained on me, and Lorenzo’s men who had survived the chaos outside. The air in the room was electric, thick with tension, and the metallic tang of blood.
“I should have known,” I continued before he said anything again, keeping my voice low yet steady. “I should’ve known you’d never stop until you destroyed everything.”
Luca had always wanted what wasn’t meant for him. Even from a younger age, when he had come to live with my father and I, alongside his mother and sister, he had wanted everything I had.
Every toy.
Every achievement.
He simply wanted to have it all. And every single time he got it then he destroyed it afterwards. He burnt the toys, he tore the certificates, he told the lesson teachers to leave or he’ll scar them.
“Destroyed?” Luca echoed, a laugh bursting from him, dark and sharp. “You’re standing in front of the only one actively trying to save this family. Save the legacy of the Nevarro name. You, on the other hand, have done nothing but spit on it.”
My jaw tightened, though I kept my gun unwavering. “Is that what you tell yourself to sleep at night? That murdering Father, commiting a crime like this which would end up tearing apart everything he built is somehow noble?”
His face turned to the exact shade of a tomato. The only sign to show that I had gotten under his skin.
“Don’t you dare lecture me about Father. You’re the one who walked away, who turned your back on the empire he spent his life building. You thought you were always too good for this life, which led to you being an incredibly shitty Don at the end. Too noble. Too pure.”
It wasn’t news that I spent most of my formative years in another country just to stay away from them.
“I never asked to inherit his blood-soaked throne. I wanted out. I wanted a life that wasn’t ruled by fear and violence.”
“But you came crawling back, didn’t you?” Luca sneered. “You couldn’t resist when you thought you could use the family to get what you wanted. To find the truth about your cursed mother’s death.”
I flinched at his words, trying my best to keep myself composed and not attack.
Luca stood from his place on the chair and stepped closer, his tone growing even more venomous. “You think you can swoop in, play the perfect son, and take everything from me? From my family? You’re delusional.”
In my absence, Father had been forced by my stepmother and uncles to train Luca to become the Don later on.
Given them false hope.
“You’re a psycho,” I growled. “I had to stop you before you destroy what little is left of the Nevarro name.”
That led to Luca laughing again, a hollow, bitter sound. “The Nevarro name? You don’t even deserve it. You never did.
My grip on my gun tightened, my knuckles white. “Careful, Luca.”
“Why?” Luca asked, his eyes blazing with fury. “Afraid I’ll say what everyone already knows? That you’re nothing more than a bastard?”
My breath hitched, but I kept my aim steady.
If that wasn’t the most ridiculous…
“Oh, you didn’t know?” Luca said mockingly, interrupting my thoughts as his lips curled into a cruel smile. “Father might have claimed you, but everyone can see the truth. You don’t look like him. You don’t act like him. You were never one of us.”
“That’s enough,” I growled, my voice trembling with suppressed rage.
If he said anymore, I might be forced to pull the trigger.
“But it’s not enough, is it?” Luca barked, his voice rising with each word. “Your mother was a whore, Matteo. She didn’t deserve the Nevarro name, and neither do you!”
That was it.
He could insult me all he wanted. Tarnish my image in front of everyone present, and if that microphone was still working… then those far away could listen to him too.
But he does not call my mother a whore.
With a roar of fury, I pulled the trigger, the sound of the gunshot splitting the air.
Luca staggered back, blood blooming on his shoulder, but he didn’t falter. Instead, he laughed, the sound manic and unhinged.
Just like him.
“You’re just like him in other ways, though. So quick to defend the bitch,” Luca spat, raising his own gun and firing.
The bullet grazed my side, drawing blood. I didn’t flinch. No. Instead, I surged forward, adrenaline flooding through me as we collided in a brutal clash.
This wasn’t a fight for the men around us.
This fight was between half brothers who hated each other so much that they were ready to kill themselves just to have a title.
Fists and gun barrels met flesh as we grappled, blood splattering across the floor with every blow. I landed a solid punch to Luca’s jaw which sent him reeling, but the bastard recovered quickly, slamming his shoulder into my ribs.
We fell to the ground, a tangle of limbs and fury. My gun skipped across the floor, lost in the chaos. From the side of my eyes, I saw Luca’s men moving to intervene, but he barked out a command.
“Stay back!” he shouted, his voice ragged. “This is between me and him.”
I managed to pin him beneath me, my hands wrapping around his blasted throat. “You’re wrong,” I hissed, my voice trembling with barely kept anger. “I’m more of a Nevarro than you’ll ever be.”
Luca choked out a laugh, blood staining his teeth. “You? A Nevarro?” He spat in my face. “You’re nothing but a stain on this family. A mistake.”
Lies. All lies.
I had the paternity tests to prove I was a Nevarro. The son of Pedro and Claudia Nevarro.
But my hesitation for a fraction of a second was all Luca needed. With a savage twist, he freed himself, flipping us over.
Blood dripped from both of us as we struggled, our breaths coming in ragged gasps. Luca pressed a knife to my throat, his eyes blazing with a dangerous light.
“My mother acted fast before your mom could have bred more bastards,” Luca continued, keeping his voice low so only I could hear. “She had to preserve the Nevarro bloodline before your whore of a mother tarnished it entirely.”
My eyes widened, realization dawning as Luca leaned in closer, his words like poison.
“You’re no son of Pedro Nevarro.”
The room seemed to tilt, the weight of Luca’s words crashing down on me like a tidal wave. Blood smeared the floor beneath us, the air thick with the scent of iron and death.
And all I could think about was how I had let Valentina down.
“I’m so sorry, tesoro.”