Mafia's Redemption: Terzo - Chapter 101: Chapter 101

DANI
“Get down!”
I froze for a moment. My heart stopped to a halt as I tried to process what she meant by those words. It was not complicated, but I was caught by my fear first.
I sucked in a breath as the sharp brief hiss sound pierced in the vehicle. The glass window broke. One moment, I was holding my breath, and the next second, I had blood all over my face, and the driver’s head just dropped to the steering wheel.
Without blinking, I froze there and stared in shock. Then I started to shake.
A bullet hole appeared in the window. Simultaneously, Celestina shrieked behind me, making me scream. The giant man Durragh just fell on top of her.
I went down, covered my head, and squeezed my eyes shut while screaming silently. I didn’t want to hear any more gunfire.
My instinct kicked in so late. I had poor survival skills. I wasn’t raised to face my fear or to be in this kind of environment.
After marrying Terzo, I’d been kidnapped, fired at, choked to death, and kidnapped again. I had someone’s blood all over my face, hiding from the bullets.
Mommy and Daddy had blood all over them. I was so scared and I started crying. I could hardly hear my voice through the thunderous, deafening sounds around me.
“Mommy! Mommy!” I called and nudged Mommy sitting next to me, but she didn’t answer.
I turned to Daddy and did the same, but he looked like sleeping, only he was drooling blood. “Daddy! Help, please?”
I cried and covered my ears, but the noise was so loud. I was so scared. Alone, trapped inside.
The noise stopped. Something was wrong with Mommy and Daddy. The door opened.
The woman showed up, offering her hands. I knew her. He was Mommy and Daddy’s friend.
“Hey, honey.”
“Dani, help!”
Celestina. Celestina was calling my name.
I jolted up, rose from my seat, but I kept my head low as I tried to pull the man off Celestina. There was blood everywhere. I pushed down the bile rising in my throat as I saw blood on the dead man’s head.
“Let me help.”
I sucked in a breath as I heard a familiar voice behind me. I turned around and hugged Gio. I began to cry again, my body shaking, so grateful that they found us before someone could execute us.
I pulled away, wiping the tears away. I forgot the blood on my face until I smelled it.
“Are you okay?” He came up, pulling out the man trapping Celestina, dropping it to the ground like a prop in a movie.
“Yes. We’re not hurt.” I gripped his arm. “What about Aidan?”
He tipped his head at the windshield. The first thing I saw was Terzo. I forgot everything around me. I didn’t know how fast I ran in his direction. He saw me instantly and met me halfway.
“Terzo.” I launched into him with my arms around his neck and my legs snaking around his waist. I sobbed as I felt how tight his arms were around me.
“It’s over now, sweetheart. Sorry, it took us so long to find you.”
I pulled away and looked at him. I wasn’t supposed to see him again, but I was lucky again. What would happen if my luck ran out?
“Shit. Are you hurt? Are you okay?” He tried to wipe off the blood on my face, but he was struggling deep inside. I could see how deep the guilt he had through his eyes.
“I’m fine. Celestina is shot. She needs to get her wound checked.”
“Asshole! Asshole!”
I slid off his embrace and put my feet on the ground to see Celestina. She was kicking Darragh's body. “You gagged me, tied me, and dragged me like an animal!”
My chest heaved in anger. My face grim with darkness. I grabbed Terzo’s handgun and aimed at the old man kneeling on the floor. He shifted, and his hands tightened behind his head.
“You, son of a bitch! I trusted you, but you betrayed me for your sons that I never met, and I didn’t even know what happened. You shot my friend!” With my finger curled around the trigger, I clenched my teeth hard. My hand shook the longer I gripped the trigger.
Aidan smirked. “It’s easy to aim at someone, but do you have the courage to pull the trigger?”
“Oh, you have no idea, do you?” My lips curled in disgust. “I shot my husband. The next time I pull the trigger, I’ll make sure it pierces through your chest, or you wanna figure out what a hollow point does to your old skull.”
“Sweetheart, don’t.” Terzo wrapped his arm around me. “You’re not a killer. Once you take someone’s life, their death would be forever etched in your memory, and it’s not a good one. It would change you. He’s not worth it. Give me the gun, Dani.” He wrapped his hand around me, taking the gun slowly from my grip. “Let the gun go, sweetheart. Let me take care of it.”
“But he shot Marco.” I shook to cry. I could hardly see the asshole through my vision. “He shot Cee.”
“Go ahead,” he snarled. “Your father took my sons away from me. Might as well kill me.”
“You shot my sister, huh?” His lips twisted in dark and evil amusement.
Terzo’s features switched violence in seconds, like a predator found its prey, the same features I saw when I pissed him off. Only this time, much worse, the monster in him resurfaced, taking over the last thread of his humanity and patience.
“Yes. What are you gonna do? Kill me? I’m already dead inside, Siciliano.”
“Is that so? You blame your mistakes on a four-year-old girl who couldn’t even remember what happened? What kind of sick fuck are you?” Terzo spat. “You joined the Irish mobsters, that’s what got your sons killed. It’s your fault. Take the blame into your grave because you’re not walking out of Sicily alive. I guarantee that.”
I realized that Terzo knew what happened to Aidan’s sons and the reason why he came after me.
“Then you won’t be able to get the money back.” His smirk widened.
Terzo snorted. “News flash, asshole! There’s no money in your offshore account. The bank just called me and said that they sent you false money. It was on hold. He suspected Dani was coerced to withdraw. With that amount, your bank will double-check the transaction before it accepts and transfers it to your account. You could have asked for bitcoin, but shit. You underestimated her, and you thought you could get away with her money.”
“I thought you were the caretaker. I was supposed to transfer the title to your name so that your son and your daughter could have it, but they were lies, too.”
Something flickered in Aidan’s eyes– fear and failure.
“So you didn’t just come here to fail, you also got these men killed.” Terzo tsked. “You got your worst nightmare, you could be charged with kidnapping and murder, but you won’t be able to get out of prison alive, but that’s not going to happen because I can’t let you go to prison exposing my wife’s identity. So the secret will end with you in the grave, here today.”
Startling in shock, I just stared at the old man with a bullet hole in his forehead. His head drooped before his whole body dropped with a thud, making me jump. Blood dripped from the wound, rapidly flowing on the floor.
“I’m sorry you have to witness this.” Terzo’s hand on my waist made me flinch. “Hey.” He met my gaze. He must have seen the fear in my eyes. “It’s over now.”
“Is it though?” I swallowed hard when hot tears slid down my face. “None of this would have happened if I hadn’t trusted the wrong people easily. Marco would have been alive right now if I had only listened to them telling me to get on the boat. And then this asshole showed up.” I pointed at the body. “He shot Celestina to make a point. Do you know he was planning to kill us the moment the plane was ready? All I could think of was Celestina, her blood on my hands, Terzo. And I prayed, hoping you could be here on time. At that moment, I didn’t give a damn if they killed me as long as they spared your sister. So this, what happened today, is on me.” I threw my hands in the air and stepped back. “Since the threat is neutralized, I’m walking away. And I’m sorry about Marco. I truly am.”