Mafia's Redemption: Terzo - Chapter 102: Chapter 102

TERZO
“Dani!” I sprinted to follow her out of the hangar. “Please, stop!”
“No! I can’t take it anymore. My conscience and guilt are killing me. These people are risking their lives for me, and I am still foolish, reckless, and stupid. Just let me go.”
“And where do you think you’re going?”
She abruptly stopped, turned around, and wiped the tears and dried blood on her face. “I don’t know. Away from here.”
“Let’s go to the safe house and talk there, Dani. You still have blood on your face. Take a shower, change your clothes, and rest. When you wake up, you can decide what you want in your life. The threats are over. I’m not gonna stop you from whatever you’re planning. You also have enough money to start a new life somewhere and maybe start your own business.” I swallowed the lump in my throat. I loved her so much that I was willing to set her free if that was what she had decided, if that was what made her happy.
“Okay.” She sniffled. “Maybe I'll take that new identity offer now, so long as you don’t know the information.”
“I’ll make some calls.” I looked away. I couldn’t look right straight at her while there was a lot of strain of pain, and upheaval deep within those eyes.
I went back inside the hangar with heavy paces. “Tris, call the cleaner. Let’s get out of here.”
“I think this belongs to you.” Gio found her gun and gave it to her.
She offered a heavy smile. “Thank you. And thank you for rescuing us.”
“It’s a team effort, but you’re always welcome, signora.”
“Gio, inform the backup to take those crew out of here. Make sure they didn’t see what happened here.”
The ride back to the safe house was awkward, painful, and torturous. If by meant walking away from the ruthless carnage and being able to be with Dani, I would do it in a heartbeat. But that was if she wanted me to be in her life.
I had enough money to start a new life somewhere where no one would recognize me, but it would only work if she agreed to be with me. Otherwise, I would continue what my family had started for over generations.
“Hey.” I felt Celestina’s hand gripping my shoulder. “Thank you, T.”
I squeezed her hand and kissed it. “I’m sorry for coming to you late. I wish I could—”
“No, T. No more wishes or regrets. I don’t wanna hear it. Things happened. There are always people who will come to hurt this family. It’s either an enemy, envious, or anyone who wants to take over the business, and it’s only a matter of time. What is important is that we’re still here. Has anyone found Marco’s body?”
Dani’s body stiffened beside me, but she remained silent.
“No. I already asked Matteo to pay for divers and a search team to check the port,” Tristan said.
“So, what went wrong with the plan?”
Dani cleared her throat. “It was all my fault.” Her voice was barely audible beside me. “I was already on the boat. Matteo just threw the rope when Ronan or Aidan or whoever he was so happened to be there. I never suspected him to be the bad guy.”
“I never suspected him, too.” I looked at her. Tears were rolling down her cheeks. It broke my heart that I could not comfort her, and she’d rather be far away from me than be with each other during difficult times like this. “We both got scammed, lied to. None of this is your fault.”
“You kept saying that.” She met my gaze. “When the truth is, we could have just left. We could be far from danger right now, and Marco would have been alive.”
“Probably, but he won’t stop until he finds you, signora. If he could wait for two decades to get his sons’ justice. Sure hell he can wait for a few more months.”
“He killed the real caretaker, and he’d been working with Francesco. He must be the one feeding Francesco information.”
“I bet he did,” Gio said.
“All this atrocity happened because of who I am. This has nothing to do with you and your family.”
“That’s not true, Dani.” I glared at her, and she didn’t look at me anymore. “I killed Tomas, remember?”
“That gave him an excuse to get to you. Was Tomas his son?” Celestina said.
“Adopted.”
Dani went silent for a while before she spoke again. “Maybe if I died that night, none of these killings would have happened. Surviving that ambush seemed to be a curse rather than a miracle.”
“Hey.” Celestina leaned close between me and Dani. “Let’s stop with maybes. Papa is still sick.”
“Oh, my God.” She quickly turned to Celestina and me. “How’s he and Alessio?”
“They have a medical team treating them. He’s gonna be fine, but I haven’t talked to the doctor after we left the safe house. If things don’t go well, I’ll be receiving a call. So far, so good.”
“I’m glad to hear it.” She wiped her tears again. “I really just wanna fall asleep and wake up, and those things didn’t happen, and Marco is there to annoy me.”
“You have to face the reality that it happened, Dani. Remember, you never wanted this to happen. You should keep that in mind. I get it, you were not born. You were actually born in the same world as I am, but you grew up in a different environment. Whether you like it or not, you are your father’s daughter. One of these days, people will know. You should be prepared for that,” Celestina said.
Once we arrived at the safe house, Matteo and Luca were already there. I expected them to hide their faces from me. Instead, they came, went on their knees with their apologies.
“Get up or I will shoot your kneecaps.” My anger vanished. Before I even became the leader of this organization, I wasn’t so merciful, but I started to believe in second chances. I started to believe that life was valuable and had meaning. These boys had been with us since they were kids, and they never betrayed us even when chances were laid before them.
“Have you heard about Marco?”
“Yeah.” Luca’s eyes lit up. “Someone found him on the shore. He swam away, but he lost a lot of blood. The doctor was treating him downstairs.”
Dani froze for a moment before her face broke into a smile. “Oh, thank God.”
“Then why did nobody call me?” I glared at him and Matteo.
“You were on a mission, sir.”
“Let’s go and see him.” Celestina took Dani inside.
“He got shot twice because of me. I don’t think he wants to ever see my face again.”
“Then maybe next time, you should listen instead of being reckless and stubborn.” I passed by them and went towards the bunker to see my father.
“Papa.” I kissed his forehead. He was a little warm, still on oxygen, but he looked a lot better than how I found him under the debris. “How are you feeling?”
“You look like you could get some sleep.” His voice was still hoarse. He had some cuts and bruises, but he was lucky he didn’t get burned, unlike Alessio.
I turned to Alessio, who had some bandages on his shoulder and back. “Is he gonna be okay?”
“Yes. The doctor said he didn’t inhale too much smoke. Just burns.” The way Papa looked at me, he seemed to want to ask me a question that was hard for me to answer. “It seems the mission went well, but you look like you’re still carrying the whole world over your shoulder. What’s wrong, Terzo?”
“The mission is successful, but I might not be able to fulfill my promise of giving you grandchildren.”
He slowly nodded. “I didn’t want you to give me grandchildren, Terzo. I want you to be happy.”
I smiled even if it was hard. “What should I do, Papa? Should I let her go?”
“You’re the only one who can answer that question, son.”