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Franco Barbieri is not wrong. I love her. I love her more than I ever thought I could. But thankfully, I’ve never told her that, and now, I never would. I want her out of my life. She can have the freckled maggot. Have his maggot children if that’s what she wants. I won’t bother them.
“Are you alright?” Roberto asks.
“Yes.”
“She’ll be alright,” he says softly. “Don’t worry.”
“I know.”
“We’re five minutes away from our destination, Boss,” Dutch says.
“It’s kill-on-sight for anyone we find in that fucking building. But Sal? That snake is mine.”
“Yes, Boss!”
Several moments later, my men and I plunge into the warehouse, guns at the ready. Since we caught them unaware, we were able to bring a ton of them down before they were able to retaliate.
As always, we are dressed uniformly in black, which means an automatic takedown of anyone in any other color. As my men progress through the house, I march up the steps, knowing I will find Sal on the other end.
I catch Sal about to fly out the window. If I had been one second later, he would have disappeared into the night.
I fling myself forward, grab his hand and throw him back into the room with a force that sends him crashing into a table. I see his stupid, surprised face and know he will not leave this room alive. As much as I’m upset with Francesca, this bastard hurt her, and I must avenge her. Pound for pound. Blood for blood.
Sal staggers to his feet, a dark smile on his face. “How did you find me?”
“You came for what’s mine”
“Yours?” he echoes, narrowing his eyes as we circle each other. We can still hear the sounds of fighting from downstairs, but neither of us pays it any attention. We observe each other like predators.
“Last I checked, the land cannot be transferred until Barbieri’s daughter turns twenty-one. According to Vinny she means nothing to you so she’s fair game. The accident wasn’t meant to kill her. It was meant to bring you here,” Sal says.
“Yeah. Here I am… ready to take your life.”
He stops circling. “Then come take it, but I must warn you, I want to take your life as well. Then, when you die, I’ll marry Francesca and Terra de Barbieri will be mine. So when you fight me, you better fight like you mean it.”
He lunges first, his fist cutting through the air with a forceful swing aimed at my jaw. I dodge just in time for the punch to only graze my jaw. Using his momentum against him, I pivot and deliver a savage kick to his ribs. He grunts in pain and staggers back.
He can hardly catch his breath, but his taunt is cocky. “Is that all you’ve got?”
I smile coldly. “Why don’t you come and find out?”
Recovering quickly, he roars with anger and charges at me again. He aims with his right hand, and I try to duck it, but he changes his aim at the last second and lands a hook to my midsection. The sudden attack knocks the breath out of me, and I double over, gasping for breath. Sal lifts me off my feet and slams me on the cheap table. It shatters on impact.
A sharp pain stabs me in the back, but I stumble quickly to my feet. He advances quickly. My body pumps with adrenaline, and I know that he may be fighting with his hands, but he’s looking to get close enough to me before whipping out a weapon. Sal’s chosen weapon has always been a well-hidden knife. We lock arms again in a close-quarter brawl, being well-matched in strength, each of us manages to get a similar amount of kicks and punches in until our shirts are soaked with blood.
He headbutts me, and I pretend to rear back, but when he comes close to finish me off, I tackle him to the ground and pin him with my frame. He suddenly whips out his knife and slashes at my chest, but I yank it out of his hands and instantly plunge it into his stomach, burying it to the hilt. “This is for my little bean,” I whisper.
The room falls quiet again.
The only sound is Sal making wet choking sounds. His eyes are wide with shock and disbelief. He never thought he would be leaving this earth so fast. He was called Sal the Bull for his immense strength, but he lacks technique. I watch him take his last breath and the life go out of his eyes. They become like marbles. So dead, you imagine they were once Sal’s eyes.
My little bean is gone and nothing will bring it back.
A great sadness comes over me. This was not the way it was supposed to be. Bean was supposed to grow into a beautiful child. Sal was supposed to eat, and eat well at my table. There was enough for all of us. But greed… Always greed…
Roberto and Dutch suddenly charge into the room, guns cocked. When they see Sal bleeding on the floor, they lower their guns with smiles on their faces.
“You did it, brother.” Roberto pats my shoulders. “You did it.”