10 Chapter 10
Luke looked up, his young face firm. “I’m afraid of pain, Papa. But I’m more afraid of never seeing Mama again. Please. Help me go find her.”1
As for my future with him… time would tell.
“Please,” she sobbed, “I’m begging you. For whatever we once had, just let me go. I
swear, I’ll never cross you again!”
I didn’t answer.
I set down my phone and spoke to the framed photos of my mother and sister. “Mom,
Mila, I’ve sent them to you. Whether you forgive them is your decision.”
Antonio smiled and snapped his fingers.
Mom. Mila. Rest easy. Your vengeance is almost complete.
I gently placed a white rose before each of the photos, then turned and raised an eyebrow. “We had a deal, Antonio. I give you the Castellano assets, and you give me fifty percent of their value in cash.”
She never imagined they could be so monstrous, that they would actually string her up
and execute her.
“No!” the agents cried out, rushing forward.
When she next awoke, she was in the very same cold storage where Mila had frozen to death.
Tessa’s face was a mask of panic as she struggled against the iron chains suspending her from the ceiling.
Vengeance was done.
“Vincent! Luke! What is this? Let me down!”
He reached out, pulling his son into a tight embrace.
“Of course. Rest assured, my Principessa. Soon, they will taste the same despair you did.”
10 Chapter 10
Tessa’s body convulsed in agony.
Hearing this, Tessa felt her mind begin to fray.
Shaking my head, I turned to Antonio Moretti, the man sitting across from me. “Is
everything arranged for what comes next?”
“But what if I want to be repaid with you?”
Then, he closed his eyes and pressed the muzzle to his son’s temple.
“You say you don’t love me, that I was just a toy, but if you ask me, the one you claim to love is the most pitiful of all!”
A final shot echoed in the cold storage, and Vincent and Luke collapsed to the floor
together.
They didn’t stop until Tessa’s body hung limp and still.
After Vincent and Luke left for the hospital, Tessa fainted in the Castellano manor.
“Perfect,” he said. “With Isabella gone, I have no reason to live anyway.”
Her words struck a nerve.
“Love?” Vincent scoffed, as if the word itself was foul. “When did I ever say I loved you?”
But they were too late.
I nodded, my gaze drifting to the Chicago skyline beyond the window.
Fear and despair flooded her heart.
Just as they were about to call for a clean-up crew, the cold storage door burst open. Police sirens blared outside as several FBI agents stormed in, their phones held up to
record.
He feigned a pout, leaning in to whisper in my ear.
The live feed was cut.
I stared, my face a blank mask, at the video feed on the screen. Such brilliant actors, I thought with cold amusement. If they hadn’t personally locked my sister in a cold storage
actually believed their grief was real.
“You’re the reason Isabella is dead,” Vincent said, his voice devoid of emotion. “So now
you will pay.”
And for the first time in a long time, it was mine to write.
“You!” she shrieked. “You’re both madmen!”
“It was you! You never treated her like a human being! You’re the ones who made her
suffer, so why am I taking the fall?!”
Across from her, Vincent and Luke were calmly cleaning their pistols. When they were done, they walked toward her, their steps slow and deliberate.
The future was unwritten.
The moment the words left his mouth, he aimed the gun at Tessa’s abdomen.
Vincent blinked, wiping a single tear from his eye.
Enraged, the two of them raised their guns and began firing wildly.
He turned to his son. “Luke, are you afraid of pain?”
None of the three survived.
“Don’t move! We have the whole thing on a live feed! Drop your weapons!”
A single gunshot cracked through the cold storage.
I had just finished when Antonio appeared behind me. “Well,” he asked, his tone teasing, “now that I’ve handled everything for you, how do you plan to reward me?”
Hearing this, Vincent paused for a moment, then began to laugh, a hollow, broken sound.
“Who do you think you are?” he continued, his voice dripping with contempt. “You were nothing but a distraction. A toy for my son and me. The only one we ever truly loved was Isabella.”
“Alright, Luke. We’ll go find Mama together. And we will spend eternity atoning for our
sins against her.”
