Page 138 of Broken Blood Ties

Loud thuds of synced footsteps echo in the hallway. My hands shake as I fumble with the gun.

My father looks up at a group of men as they approach.

No, not more guards, please.

He smirks, glancing down to where I grip the gun.

“Come on, Isabella. You don’t even know how to hold it properly. It’s time to go.”

I glance behind me. A few scattered bodies lie on the floor, but most of the underground area has cleared out. The gunshots have subsided, and all I can think about is getting back to Kieran. I’ll crawl if I have to. I need to know if he’s going to make it.

Please make it.Aoife needs her father. I need him.

“Stay with me, please,” I whisper the words, my voice trembling into the void, hoping that somehow, he’ll hear them.

“Well, it’s about time you showed up. Didn’t realize you’d be supporting tonight, but your loyalty to the Cosa Nostra won’t be forgotten.” My father’s voice is gleeful, and it infuriates me.

“Well, when a Buscetta calls …”

I draw in a deep breath, my heart racing. Not in fear, but drumming with a surge of energy.

Glancing to my left, Marco stands there. Black tactical gear with a thick heavy-duty vest that covers his torso, and a chunky utility belt loaded with weapons around his waist. I stare at his tightly laced combat boots, my gaze trailing upward along his imposing figure until it reaches the sharp knowing glint in his expression.

Those words were meant for me.

“Let me help you up, Miss Buscetta.” Marco’s men, the group probably more than ten, surround where I am. My father and the remaining uninjured guards lower their defenses and weapons.

Marco reaches down, offering me his hand. Now, this man, who I hated for trying to use me to get back in the Cosa Nostra has just become, quite literally, my lifesaver.

When I’m hauled up, my father’s guard holds out his hand for the gun, but I raise it on him instead. And when he responds with his own, Marco’s men all train their weapons on my father.

Salvatore Buscetta, my father, falters.

His smug expression of a prize won slackens as he glances at all the men behind me pointing their weapons at him. “What is the meaning of this?”

Though the thoughts tumbling through my mind are of Kieran and Aoife, wanting to make sure they’re safe, I can’t help the mirage of memories that pour in.

The day my father forced my sister into marriage. Drowning in drugs and alcohol to escape my jailed life. My father’s decision to let my sister die for the sake of his alliance. His promise to marry me into the Cartel. His use of Aoife to barter for me back … and he … he stood there while Riku shot Kieran.MyKieran.

No more. It’s time I upheld my end of the bargain.

Tears rip down my cheeks, cold and callous—like they carry some portion of my soul with them as I give it away.

“You’re not the only Buscetta who can secure an alliance,” I say.

Then, I fire.

Chapter43

Summer

My father’s body drops to the floor and the guard next to him lifts his hands in surrender. Several of Marco’s guards move in to check on my father’s unmoving body. I shot him. I …

My shoulders heave and the quivering in my already trembling chin magnifies until my teeth chatter.

Weeks ago, after I approached Marco at the church, I knew he’d be crucial to helping with Riku. I just didn’t know it’d be this soon, or that my father would be in the mix.

I texted Marco telling him that if he’d support Kieran with Riku, I’d find a way to give him what he wants. The Cosa Nostra. He wanted back in. That’s why he tracked me down and reported me to my father. So, I dangled it in front of him. Told him if he answered when the Irish called for help with the Yakuza, I’d facilitate the removal of my father from the Cosa Nostra when he came back in three months.