Page 142 of The Fates We Tame

Alessio jumps to his feet and throws a garrote around his father’s neck.

My brothers take out Vincenzo’s men until he’s the only one standing. With my gun raised, I reach Sophia’s side.

I don’t have a clear shot because there’s every chance a through and through would happen, taking out Alessio, who stands behind him.

“What happened that morning?” Sophia asks.

“The two of you will never survive this,” Vincenzo shouts as sweat beads on his forehead.

“We’ll take our chances,” Alessio says, tightening the wire around his father’s neck until he’s squirming, trying to get his fingers beneath it to make some room to breathe.

His face gets redder and redder.

My brothers emerge, creating a circle around us, their weapons drawn.

“You’re dying today,” Sophia says calmly. “There will be no priest to hear your confession, no one to act ‘in persona Christi.’ So, tell me.”

Vincenzo’s shoulders drop. “You know what I did.”

“Why? Why try to get me to Sicily to marry a stranger? Why set this up? Why any of it?”

“Because it all got out of hand,” Vincenzo says finally. “It was getting harder to hide the missing amounts. I knew if you were married to Don Consolo’s son, it would be harder for him to kill me or ex-communicate the rest of you from the family. But you wouldn’t let it drop. You came to me with spreadsheets you said made no sense. You thought someone else in the family was stealing first, and I could tell the day you realized it was me. I saw the security footage of you in my office after mass. I tried to stop you from running that morning, but you stole one of the cars on the driveway. I chased after you, but…”

“It was you in that car? Not one of Aglieri’s men?” Sophia asks.

“There were two cars close to the house on the driveway. They’d both left their keys in ‘em so Carmine could take a look at them. You remember how he was good with cars.”

“Thanks to you, I don’t remember shit,” Sophia says.

Her father shakes his head, showing no remorse. “They were closer to the bathroom window. You just grabbed one and took off. When Carmine told me what he saw, I took the other. I followed you until…”

“You just left her?” Alessio asks with fury. “You saw her fucking accident happen and left?”

Sophia laughs. I can see the panic in her eyes. Alessio loosens the hold of Viscuso for a moment, worry etched across his features.

“Soph?” I warn and pull her to me as she breathes, then stands up straight.

BAT.

“They estimate I was stuck in the wreck for several hours before I was found. That maybe if I’d received medical help sooner, the injuries wouldn’t have been as severe.”

“Should have stayed and made sure you were dead,” her father says.

Sophia shakes in my arms, and I do the only thing I know will comfort her. I reach into my cut pocket for my switchblade and offer it to her. “I can do it for you, or you can do it yourself, Sparrow.”

She takes it from me and as she walks to her father, she flicks the blade open and closed.

Vincenzo starts to fight harder against Alessio’s hold, struggling to break free, even as he recognizes his fate.

“Sophia. No. Wait.”

And when she reaches him, she stabs it straight through her father’s eye.

EPILOGUE ONE

SWITCH

“Wait,” Sophia says as I try to tug her down onto the rug in our family room where the fireplace roars and the lights on the Christmas tree sparkle.