Athena
I could barely believe my ears. I had to be truly out of my mind or I was hallucinating.
“Oh you didn’t know?” Damian said slyly and shook his head. “You really are letting me down, Athena. I would think that it was pretty obvious.”
I dug my fingers deeper into the soil before me, anger pulsing through my veins. “Speak clearly, you bastard!” I screamed.
“And why should I?” He taunted, walking to stand before me. I glared up at him, feeling every fiber burn in anger when I saw the smug look on his face. “It was fun, I’ll admit, Watching you chase after your Father’s killer, when he is right here. I hadn’t figured out exactly who yo8unwere until the night you infiltrated the mafia house.”
He laughed wildly, throwing his head back happily. I suppose he had cause to be happy. He had me fooled completely and even worse, he most likely had killed my father.
“Ah Athena,” He chuckled. “It was quite amusing to watch, I had no idea who he was though. Until you found that book and discovered your sweetheart wasn’t the murderer, I knew i9t was only a matter of time before you connected the dots.”
“You bastard! You killed him?! You killed my father?!” I could not believe my ears. Damian? The one person I had trusted enough to help me with my quest.
“Your father didn’t amount to much,” Damian glared while I remained on the forest floor feeling every bit like an idiot. I had dedicated years of my life into taking revenge over a man who had nothing to do with my father’s death. But how was I supposed to know what someone else did? No one else was supposed to wield the mafia insignia except the lord of the mafia.
Except Luciano.
And all he had done, Fuck, all he had done despite my plans was try to protect me. Tears burned the corner of my eyes and slipped out painfully.
“He worked for Luciano. Weapons dealer. I’m sure you saw that in that fancy notebook. I have no idea why that bastard keeps a notebook though. Why do they keep records at all? But then I guess I never did understand Luciano,” he continued.
His boot no longer remained on my back. I could get up if I wanted. But he was on alert. And I did not want him getting away from me this time. I just needed to bid my time, make him relax and then strike.
“I hated him so fucking much. The Castello had grown weak and the mafia dominated Italy. All under one jackass who was exactly my age. I was infuriated! If he could do it, I could too, you know. And so I resolved to do exactly what he did. I would overthrow him, just as he overthrew the last mafia lord.”
I chuckled sadly and looked up at him from the ground. He looked so tall, so high up and ever so ugly. There was no way I could let him live. Not after what he had done to my father. And not after what he had doke to Frederick. I had lost two fathers to his mercilessness and I would make sure he regretted it. Big fucking time!
“But then he always knew my plans way before I even carried them out, that man is a fucking beast!”
Don’t I know it? I had spent months tailing him, thinking I was garnering information on him. Turned out I was garnering only what Luciano wanted me to know. I wasn’t fooling him. He fooled me.
But that beast protected me.
He had every reason to hate or abandon me. I exposed his location constantly. I had the police on his tail. I had tried to kill him several times. I had been the cruelest he could find and he’d still jumped out in front of two guns and asked me to run and never look back.
That wasn’t planned. I was certain. He hadn’t expected that Luca would betray him. He looked shocked to see his best friend walking in, looking for his dead body. Whatever he did afterwards was real. I knew that.
My eyes closed as more tears slipped out and I clenched them painfully. Luciano did deserve someone way better. Someone who wouldn’t thrust him into danger. I doubted he would last against Luca. They had grown up together. Luca knew all about him. And I’d bet that included his weaknesses. To top it all, Luciano was wounded. He wouldn’t stand a chance.
And it was all my fault.
I had led the police here. I had set him up and had worked with his enemy, our enemy to take my stupid revenge on him. Whereas the killer of my father stood above me, gloating about it like it was a fucking achievement!
“But I wouldn’t give up,” Damian continued, his gaze wandering to the forest.
My hands deepened in the sand.
“I could not give up. My goal is to make the Castello family, the head of the mafia, the ruler of Sicily! It had to be achieved. It will be Athena. Just watch. I would rather not kill you. You’re far too beautiful to be wasted. Perhaps if you swear to give up on the nonsense idea of a revenge, perhaps I would let you live by my side and show you just how the glory of the Castello will be gained!”
“And what happens to Luca then?”
Last I heard, the bastard had betrayed Luciano because he wanted to be a mafia lord. So what exactly would happen to him?
Like I needed a fucking explanation. Damian would definitely do what he did for Luciano as well. The idiot had sold out the mafia. Had exposed them to a power hungry foreigner who wanted power at all cost and grabbed at it with all his fingers.
“Oh Luca, sweet gullible Luca,” Damian grinned. “Do I need to tell you what will happen?”
“You’re despicable!” I spat and he slammed his boot right into my face causing pain to explode in my temples. My head dropped back to the ground and I groaned, trying to adjust to the pain.
“Despicable?!” He fumed. “I just offered you a spot as my queen and you call me that. Fuck Athena, I would think you had a little bit of sense in you! I guess I was fucking wrong. But then the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree now does it? Your father worked for Luciano. And he did exactly the same thing you did to Luciano. He betrayed him!”
No, I wanted to scream, but pain throbbed in my head and everywhere else. I could only manage to. breathe through it all..
“He sold the mafia’s weapons to me, you sold the mafia’s information to me. He turned on his precious boss Luciano, just like you fucking did. And then he suddenly had some damned change of heart and was going to confess, just as you were. Fuck! Like father, like daughter much?”
I laid on the floor, recalling that afternoon, years ago, when I had opened the door to the living room and met my father in his cold blood and felt anger pulse through my veins. How long would I lie there like a fool taking his hits like a rather pathetic slave?
How long would I remain fucking useless?
“You’re right,” I murmured, keeping my face down as I gathered the momentum to rise. “I am very much like my father. I took a very generous man’s heart and crashed it to the ground. I worked with his enemy. I betrayed him. All of this? It’s all my fucking fault!”
“Hmph, it’s good that you certainly realize this,” he chuckled.
“It’s my fault Frederick’s dead, my fault the mafia fell prey to a bastard like you. My fault is that the only man who… that Luciano, will most likely die tonight.”
“Aww,” Damian taunted. “If you’re going to cry, you might want to cry for yourself, you know. I don’t intend to show an ounce of mercy.”
“I won’t bother promising to fix it, I cannot. I am too far gone to fix whatever this mess is.” I sniffed.
Ready Athena? You cannot fucking fail this. Not now. This is the last resort. This is the final ground.
Cara!
I closed my eyes, allowing the tears to fall freely but only for a moment. There was no use holding on to those memories. This was the end anyways.
“But you know what Damian?”
“What?” He muttered, evidently enjoying my despair.
“I don’t intend to show an ounce of mercy as well,” And with that, I tossed the handful of sand up in my face.
He shrieked in surprise and stepped away from me, trying to beat the debris off his face. I took the opportunity to rise up and slammed my leg into his belly. He spluttered at the movement, doubling over. Without giving him a moment to breathe, I grabbed him by the head and rammed him into a tree, grabbed a slim log of wood hanging nearby and aimed for his neck.
Just a hit to the jugular or the carotid.
Just one fucking hit.
His fist I hadn’t paid attention to slammed into my side just as I brought down the log on him, causing me to miss his neck and bring it down on his arm instead.
Howling in pain, he shoved me away and hobbled through the woods. Gripping the log tighter, I rose to my feet and followed after him.
Revenge was a dish I fully intended to serve tonight.