Giovanni
It takes me one glance to find Riccardo in the crowd, and with my ears ringing from adrenaline, I raise my gun at him-but the crack of a gunshot makes me startle. My finger is still on the trigger, so what’s-
Before I can think about it, I hear another one-and the ground two feet away from me explodes from a bullet. The dust barely reaches my knee, but it’s enough of a warning. I look around, slowly breathing out, and lower my gun. I’ve failed to catch them off guard. They know why I’m here.
I look at the faces of people I know by heart but am meeting for the first time; there’s Paolo with a grim stare and a gun aimed at me, there’s Sasha with white-blonde hair and icy eyes, there’s Matteo with Liss’ hand on his shoulder, and there’s-My heart drops when I meet Alina’s gaze.
She’s the only one who looks genuinely shocked, and in the depth of her stare, I see the glint of hurt and betrayal.
No, it’s not what you think! But how can I explain myself now?
How can I turn back?
I force myself to look away from her and turn to Riccardo, immediately meeting his gaze. He’s studying me with confidence in his
straight shoulders and cautiousness in his frown. He doesn’t recognize me, huh? I chuckle bitterly. Of course, why would the almighty don of the
Messina Clan care about the children of a cook?
“Are you Giovanni?” Riccardo asks first, breaking the silence. The day is beautiful, no wind, not a cloud in the sky-and yet we’re gathered here like an exhibition of frozen statues.
I say nothing. What’s the point? He knows the answer. Liss has told him enough to recognize me.
“Why do you want to kill me?”
Again, no answer. I didn’t come here to entertain his curiosity.
It seems to annoy Riccardo because he huffs and shakes his head, looking at me with raised eyebrows. “Listen, I can have you killed in an instant, but I want to figure out who you are and try to resolve it.”
“Do you?” I can’t help but laugh, feeling the tension and anger pulling a string out of my chest. “Or do you want to figure out why I look familiar to you?”
I look Riccardo in the eyes with a smirk, and the fake look of
confidence disappears with a frown. Of course he doesn’t want to admit to it, but curiosity is the only thing that keeps him from killing me.
“You may not remember my name,” I say with a chuckle, and look at Paolo whose cold facade is also tainted by a scowl. “But you remember my face.”
“Who are you?” Louis cuts in, losing patience, and I huff.
“And here I hoped you’d help Riccardo out. You’ve always been best friends, after all.”
The comment seems to send Louis into the same state of confusion as the other two, and I chuckle, feeling proud of myself. To force the most powerful men of the Messina Clan to scratch their heads? Well, it’s a big deal.
“I recognize you.”
Another voice joins our conversation all of a sudden, and I turn to look at Matteo in surprise. I didn’t spend a lot of time with him in Cassio’s mansion, so I didn’t expect him to remember me-but now that I think
about it, it makes sense. Matteo is the oldest member of their group, and
while we all were children at the time, he was in his mid-twenties, working on his position in the family.
His memories of that time must be clearer because when our eyes meet, Matteo narrows his eyes and nods as if remembering something.
“Didn’t you have a sister?”
“I still do,” I say with a grim note, losing my amusement. “You couldn’t take her away as easily, huh?”
“What is he talking about?” Louis looks between me and Matteo, sounding irritated. “Do you know him?”
“You know him too,” Matteo says calmly, glancing at him before looking straight at Riccardo. “Gio. Gio and Bella.”
The old names scratch my chest from the inside, irritating the unhealed wounds, and the burn of it slowly spreads through my body with a wave of resentment. These bastards don’t even remember our names. Have they forgotten about Mom too? I clench my jaw, looking at Riccardo. Did they ever care about her the way she cared about them?
It looks like the names finally tug at something in Riccardo’s mind because when he turns to me, I see recognition and confusion in his eyes. “Gio?”
I chuckle mockingly. “Took you a while, huh?”
“But…why?” Riccardo looks at me with clear bewilderment, taking a step forward, and I can feel the waves of frustration radiating from the
center of my chest.
God, this fucker has the audacity to ask!
“We’ve never done you any harm, why-”
“Are you serious?” I spit out, glaring at him. Is he actually playing the innocence card with me? “Are you fucking serious? You killed my mother, you piece of shit, and you’re telling me you’ve done me no harm?”
Just saying it out loud tugs at something in my chest, and with a rush of feelings, I raise my gun again, taking a few fast steps toward him. From the corner of my eye, I see Paolo aim at me again, but at this point I don’t care. Everything I’ve been holding back for the last four years comes back to me in a storm of pain and fury, and I can see dark dots dancing in my vision.
“She was harmless, but you still chose her for your own sick revenge. You didn’t go after me, you didn’t go after Isabella, you coward.
No, you ordered your men to kill the only person who had no chance against you. Are you proud of that?”
“What? That’s not-”
“Oh, the almighty Messinas who only know how to kill teenagers and old women. The kings of leeches, the enemies of honor. Well, you
won’t be on the pedestal forever.”
With the last word, I point my gun at Riccardo’s forehead, feeling a weird surge of cold fury and indifference. I don’t have to look to know that Paolo’s finger is on the trigger of his gun. Is this the last moment of my life? If I shoot Riccardo, it’s over for me-but I’m too wired up to be scared of death. I want to face it head-on and with my chin high.
I have to do it, even if it’s the last thing I do.
I take a breath, look Riccardo in the eyes, open my mouth to say my last goodbye-when something flashes from the corner of my eye.
“No!”
Before I know it, Riccardo gets shoved to the side, and it takes me a moment to realize that it’s…Alina? I blink and lower my gun in shock,
watching as she turns around, holding Riccardo-who looks no less
surprised than I am-behind her back with one hand. Her gaze immediately finds mine, and I see the fire of determination in the blue sea of her eyes.
“Alina, don’t-” Riccardo tries to push her away, but she remains stubborn until I finally find my voice.
“What are you doing?” I raise my voice, unable to hold back before it turns into yelling. “Alina, get out of here!”
“No!” She glares at me, looking furious. “I don’t know what you’re planning, but I’m not gonna let you be killed.”
I blink. What?
“If you harm Riccardo, they will kill you, and I won’t let you do it, do you understand?” Alina yells back at me for the first time since I met her. “I don’t care if you’d rather die than talk to him-I’m not gonna let it happen.”
God, how can she be so stubborn?
“Alina, it’s dangerous, move away!” “No!”
“I don’t want to harm you.” “Then don’t shoot!”
I growl, hovering my finger above the trigger, hoping that she’ll get away when she senses danger, but Alina only shuts her eyes, clutching
Riccardo-who’s still trying to drag her out of here-with both hands. God, this woman! I yell out loud in frustration and flail my arms, giving up with a loud fuck.
“Gio, please,” I hear her call me a moment later, and with annoyance still boiling inside of me, I snap back.
“No!”
“Just talk to them.” “Why would I?”
“Because we didn’t kill your mother,” Riccardo adds all of a sudden, and I look at him with poison on my tongue.
“Oh, really? Are you gonna tell me she shot herself in her own fucking back?”
“Giovanni.” A new voice joins this goddamn comedy, making my mind spin before I recognize it.
I turn around to look at Jacinta, Gerardo’s precious daughter, who looks so comfortable, so damn happy in the circle of enemies. She looks at me with a frown of concern, taking a step forward despite Paolo’s warning hiss, and I can’t even yell at her. I’ve known her since she was a child, even though Gerardo would never allow me anywhere near her-like any of his subordinates.
“Querido, I know you’re confused, but trust me…” Jacinta sighs and tilts her head with a sympathetic smile. “My father is not the person you think he is. You should never believe what he says.”
“She’s right,” Liss adds all of a sudden, stepping toward me from the other side. Are they surrounding me? “The Escarras are not the good men you think they are.”
I chuckle sarcastically and glance at Riccardo. “Sure, and the Messinas are fucking angels.”
“Listen…” He meets my gaze and raises his hands with a solemn look. “We aren’t innocent. We have the blood of your people on our hands, but we would never touch your mother. Beatrice-”
“Don’t say her name!”
“She was always good to us. We all loved her like our aunt. Why would we kill her?”
“You tell me!” I raise my gun again in a surge of frustration and confusion, and Alina immediately pushes back against Riccardo-but I don’t have it in me to kill him now.
The whole plan turns out to be a failure, and now I’m even more
confused than I was. Is he lying? Of course he’s lying-but doubts speak to me in Alina’s voice. What if he isn’t? What if the Messinas didn’t kill her?
No, no, it’s impossible! There’s no one else who would do it.
There’s no one…right?
I groan and shake my head before turning on my heels and running to my motorcycle. I can’t stay here. I need to put my thoughts in order.
Surely there’s some kind of trickery involved, something that got Jacinta and Liss to believe them too.
My father is not the person you think he is.
I shut my eyes for a moment before turning the engine on and ignoring Alina’s voice calling after me. My heart is bleeding right now, but not for her. For my mother whose soul, it seems, will never find peace.