Inferno (Blood for Blood #2) (34 page)

Sempre

Evelina’s ring.

I swallowed the bile rushing into my mouth and without thinking, I shoved the ring in my pocket. My legs gave out and I stumbled backwards, falling from the chair and whacking my hip bone on the stove. When I picked myself up, I was staring right at my uncle.

He was standing in the doorway between the kitchen and the diner. My mother was bundled in a ball at his feet.

‘You’d better not be doing what I think you’re doing,’ he said, calmly.

‘Mom!’ I darted across the room and crouched beside her unconscious form. ‘What the hell did you do to her?’

The rain and wind were so loud I hadn’t heard him come in. If there had been a scuffle, he had ended it quickly, and I had been too busy sticking my head into a safe to notice.

Jack –
Antony
– looked down on me, his eyes dark and hooded. ‘She was going to scream. I didn’t want her drawing
any attention to us.’

‘You knocked her out!’ I glared up at him. ‘What the hell is wrong with you?’ I pulled her limp body into the kitchen, away from Jack’s muddy boots, and propped her up against the island. ‘Mom?’ I said, nudging her gently. ‘Wake up, Mom.’

‘So, I see you found your father’s key,’ Jack muttered. ‘I suppose you know everything.’

‘Just when I thought I couldn’t be any more disgusted,’ I hissed. ‘I know all about you,
Antony
.’

‘Good. It’s about time.’ He pushed past me, undaunted by my use of his real name, and unfolded a duffel bag from under the counter. He picked up the stacks of money I had dropped on the counter and held them up. ‘I see you decided to rob me.’

I channelled every drop of venom into my response. ‘I’m a Marino, right? Why not take what’s mine?’

He barked a laugh. ‘A true Marino would have cleaned the entire safe out.’

‘Well, I guess I’m not good at being a depraved criminal.’

‘You’re so dramatic.’ His movements were hurried as he shoved the money into the duffel bag in thick fistfuls.

‘Don’t forget the switchblades,’ I snapped. ‘What charming keepsakes. I’m sure all those Falcones are turning in their unmarked graves.’

‘That’s your father’s business,’ he huffed, climbing up on the counter to reach further inside. ‘The revenge was always more his thing. I just want to make money.’

Oh my God
.

‘He’s been involved all along?’ My voice sounded impossibly far away – hollow, quivering. I swallowed the rest of my
reaction. Not here. Not now. That brand of betrayal ran too deep. I would deal with it later.

Jack stopped his rustling to glance over his shoulder. He shrugged heavily, and something peculiar flashed in his eyes. ‘They took everything from us, Sophie. I thought you’d be able to understand that.’

I kept my voice as steady as I could. ‘I
understand
that you’re going to get killed pretty soon, and you know what? I think you deserve it.’

I patted my mother’s cheek. A welt was rising on the top of her head; Jack had hit her hard. I couldn’t drag her out, could I? Maybe I should just whack my head on something too and go with her, into dreamland, where I had a name and a family that still made sense.

I was trying really hard not to think about the ring in my pocket. Trying not to think about my father with his greying hair and melancholy eyes, rotting in prison. Where he deserved to be, as it turns out. And I was
really
trying hard not to cry in front of my uncle.

He heaved another tower of money into the duffel bag and swept his hand inside the safe, checking that everything was out. ‘And what about your dad?’

‘Leave him out of this.’ I didn’t have anywhere near enough energy to open that box of broken promises. I wanted to twist my hands in his collar and scream at him. But I could never get to him. He was behind bars. Safe.

Another wheezing laugh escaped Jack. He slammed the heavy brass door shut and locked it. ‘Newsflash, Persephone, we’re all fucked up in this together. Your father and I are blood-red with guilt. You can’t pick and choose which one of
us to hate.’

My mother still wasn’t stirring, and I was starting to grow desperate. Slits of white pushed against her drooping eyelids. I brushed her hair back and felt for the pulse in her neck. It was weak but steady. ‘I need you to wake up,’ I whispered as tears pooled in the backs of my eyes. ‘I really need you to wake up now.’

Jack covered the safe behind the lino and shut the cabinet. When I looked up, he was right above me. The duffel bag was slung on his shoulder and his eyes were flashing with some new crazy purpose.

‘Just go,’ I said, pushing it out with all the strength I had in me. I was not going to think about the switchblades. I was not going to think about what that list meant. Or where the ruby came from. I was not going to think about how many lies my father had told me.

Jack had the audacity to laugh. ‘We both know I’m not leaving here without you, Soph.’

‘I can’t help you kill the Falcones. Donata won’t—’

Jack barked an incredulous laugh. ‘You don’t really believe Donata expected you to
kill
anyone, do you?’

I blanched. ‘She said she wanted me to help her.’

‘You don’t even know how to use a gun, let alone kill a man. For Christ’s sake, you’re seventeen years old.’

‘But then how was I supposed to—’

‘Don’t worry about it,’ Jack interrupted, amusement still colouring his tone. ‘You’ve already done it, Soph. You’ve already helped her.’

‘I—’ The words fell away from me. ‘She knew I’d go to them,’ I realized. ‘She wanted me to go to them.’

She played me
.

But why? I didn’t get it – I couldn’t grasp the scope of her plan. I was too close to it, and it didn’t make sense. But I knew I had slipped up.

‘Donata is a very intelligent woman,’ Jack said admiringly. ‘You shouldn’t underestimate her.’

My mother was groaning, and I was beginning to realize that the two of us getting out of here together and without Jack was going to be impossible.

As if reading my thoughts, he said, ‘You can’t run, so don’t try.’

‘Why?’ I asked, hearing the childishness in my own voice. ‘Why do I matter so much?’

‘Because you’re family,’ said Jack. ‘And family stick together.’

‘We don’t want to stick with you,
Antony
, we’re fine by ourselves.’

‘Well,’ he said, still ignoring my use of his real name, and looking past me out the window into the storm-swept parking lot. ‘Donata’s collecting Marinos. She wants you in the fold where she can keep an eye on you. So you know what that means?’

‘What?’

‘It means tough shit.’

We glared at each other as my mother twitched beside me – Don Vincenzo Marino’s eyes mirrored back at each other, shooting mistrust.

The rain thudded relentlessly against the roof. Thunder groaned, rumbling ever closer as the windows rattled in their frames. I could feel my heartbeat in my fingertips. Dread was
uncoiling in the pit of my stomach as a new comprehension dawned on me: there was no one left to help us. I had to call the police. I had to take my chances.

‘You should have told me,’ I said. ‘I deserved to know.’

‘I vowed I would tell you if one of us ever came out of hiding.’

‘You are out of hiding.’ Subtly I slid my phone out of my pocket.

‘I tried to tell you at Eden but you wouldn’t listen,’ he said irritably. ‘What does it matter, anyway? You know now. We’ve been running for too long. It’s time to stand up and fight.’

‘I don’t want to fight.’ I unlocked my phone.

Jack’s attention flicked between the parking lot and where I was crouched beside my mother. His eyes narrowed at something outside.

I started to dial, the phone hidden by my side, but Jack whipped around and snatched it from me. He brought his hand down hard across my face. ‘What the fuck are you doing?’ he spat. ‘Calling the police – are you crazy? Do you
want
to get killed, is that it?’

I lunged at him, but he caught my fists as I slammed them against him. ‘Just go!’ I yelled. ‘What are you waiting for?’

‘Calm down!’ he snapped. I thrashed against him but he held firm, dragging me towards the server line behind the till. He pulled his phone from his pocket. Whoever he was calling answered on the first ring. He spoke low and quickly, his eyes darting around the diner, ignoring my mother as she started groaning. ‘They’re on the move,’ he said. ‘Three.’ Another pause, and then, ‘Watch the front, but I’m guessing they’ll come around the back.’

I glanced over my shoulder. Through the window, in the distance, a flash of lightning illuminated three dark shapes at the very far end of the parking lot. The Falcones were coming. We were caged in.

Jack pulled me back into the kitchen. A strange part of me was glad my mother was out cold for this. If our doom was rising to meet us, at least she wouldn’t have to suffer the terror of it. At least she hadn’t seen those switchblades, the ring, the truth. At least she didn’t realize how depraved her husband really was – how we had both been conned. At least her heart was still whole.

Across the kitchen, the back door was shut and locked. It was heavy and metal – and impenetrable.

‘What are you going to do now?’ I asked, trying and failing to pull him back to the serving section of the diner – to the diner phone.

‘We’re going to kill them,’ he said. ‘And finally teach you the meaning of loyalty.’

His eyes were fathomless pools, polluted with his scheme. I tried to twist out of his grasp but he clamped down harder. He stalked to the other side of the kitchen, through to the serving area, so he could glance through the windows again. Sheets of rain crashed against the windows, but outside all was still.

Or so it appeared.

I had to get out. If I could get out, I could flag someone down. I could get us out of there. I struggled against him.

‘You can go,’ he said. ‘But you’ll have to take your chances with the assassins outside.’

There was a deafening crash from the kitchen – something
was colliding against the metal door. Jack had been right – the Falcones had come around the back, where their attempts to get at him would be hidden in the darkness of the alleyway.

I seized this distraction and bolted into the serving area. The furious thudding of Jack’s pursuit jolted me faster. I sprinted across the floor, pulling tables behind me as I went, hoping to slow him down. He bounded over them with wild abandon.

I reached the front door and managed to free the lock with fumbling hands. Jack grabbed my T-shirt. We tussled and he yanked me backwards, clenching my shoulders. ‘They’ll kill you!’

I stomped on his foot. ‘Let go!’

Two loud cracks rang in the air outside. Closer than thunder, more frightening than lightning. I stumbled backwards, hitting my head against Jack’s chest. He gripped my arm again and pulled me with him, knocking over a table.

Another crash rang out back in the kitchen, the door clanging against their attempts to demolish it.

They were everywhere.

The front door swung open in front of us and Donata Marino swept into the diner, bringing a flurry of wind and rain with her.

‘There you are,’ she said, holding her gun high. ‘By happy coincidence you are already exactly where I want you to be.’

‘You lied to me!’ I spat. ‘You used me!’

‘Like a carrier pigeon.’ She took a step closer, blocking my way. I could see the beads of rain sliding down her face. ‘As if I would ever expect you to betray the boy that gives you flowers and looks at you like you’re worth something.’

I gaped at her.

‘I have eyes everywhere, Sophie.’ She shook her head. ‘And I am no fool.’

‘
Why?
Why send me there?’

‘Don’t you understand power structures, silly girl?’ She lowered her gun and tucked it in her pocket. Her smile was a patronizing slash of red lips. ‘Our strike tonight is only as good as the highest-ranking member we kill.’ Her smile grew as she saw comprehension move across my features.

She knew she could never get to Valentino. But Valentino was one half of a whole.

So …

‘Luca is the target,’ I whispered.

She nodded. ‘I wanted the underboss to know we were coming so he would come out of that mansion and stand with his brothers, where I can get at him.’

As she shut the door behind her, I caught a glimpse of Gino Falcone slumped against the doorframe, his gun held limply in his hand as rivers of crimson pooled across his T-shirt.

I knew in that split second that I had made the gravest mistake of all, and that tonight we would all pay for it.

CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

THE GAS

D
onata seized me by the collar and dragged me with her like a dog. ‘The others are at the back door?’ she asked Jack. There was another bang from the kitchen and she smiled, her question answered. She indicated behind her with a flick of her wrist. ‘Giorgino Falcone was too busy playing with his phone to see me.
Imbecille
. Libero and Marco will cover the front now. The others are en route. The Falcones have backup, so we’ll have to be quick.’

God. There were so many of them moving around in the darkness, seizing the storm and harnessing its protection.