Mafia's Redemption: Terzo - Chapter 34: Chapter 34

DANI
“Where are we going?” After the lies he cooked up to convince me about giving me a new identity, about my brother’s death, and his manipulations, I still stood up and came with him.
“I know you don’t trust me, but my father will cut my head off if I ever hurt you. Keep that in your mind.” He literally dragged me out of his office and his house.
“You’re kidding, right?” I stared at him in disbelief.
He briefly looked at me after catching the key from a man in his forties. “Grazie, Alessio.”
“Who’s he?” I looked at the luxury cars parked in the driveway in awe. “Wow.”
“Alessio? Papa’s right hand. Italian cars.” He took me to the classic coupe parked at the corner and opened the door for me. “After you, my lady.”
“Grazie.” I snorted as I got in. It smelled of expensive leather and musk. “I like it. Yours?”
“Among others. One thing you don’t know about me is I’m a grease monkey.”
“Oh.” I turned to him, impressed. “I really didn’t expect you to know about car engines.”
“Because I’m a mafia?”
“No. I imagine you collecting expensive cars, liquors, and cigars for fun, and shooting people here and there.”
“You really have a low opinion of me.” He wasn’t offended. Instead, he drove out of the compound in a relaxed manner.
“You haven’t answered my question. Where are we going?”
“You’ve been home all day. I’m sure you’re bored being with the people you don’t know anything about.”
“I like your sister.”
“She likes you, too, but she can be blunt. She’s a good person, Dani.” He breathed deeply as if gathering strength from within. “Her husband betrayed her, the only man she stood up for. He stole money from the company, badmouthed me to my father, and then sold me to the Interpol and Europol.”
“Whoa.” I was speechless.
“I thought I was gonna lose Celestina. If I were only a few minutes late, she’d be dead. She had broken bones, barely hanging on. At my age, it was the first time I felt what heartbroken was and a failure to my family.”
I found myself consoling him, gripping his knee. “I’m so sorry, Terzo.”
“Every time I see her, I can’t see the light and enthusiasm in her anymore. There’s no twinkle in her eyes. I’m afraid I completely lost her. She doesn’t want any help, psychologically. She doesn’t even wanna talk about it.”
“All she needs is her family, the only support system she can trust. It may take a while, and maybe getting out of the places that constantly remind her of her pain will help. Maybe you should take him to the States or somewhere she always wants to visit.”
Terzo held my hand and kissed each knuckle. I found it sweet despite how our marriage was going. “Thanks. It means a lot that you’re here.”
“I’m not sure I help you, Terzo. I always see you as a tough guy. I didn’t realize you’re just a man with a lot of baggage and weaknesses. I misjudged you. I thought you didn’t care about other people besides yourself. Then Magnus told me something about whether you told him what to say to me, but I felt he was sincere in saying he loves your family and the city.”
“People often misjudge me, especially if they know nothing about me. I’m fine with that.”
I didn’t know where we were going, but I got the feeling we were going on a road trip. The night view from the top was spectacular, with a clear night sky and the ocean view as we drove along the coastline.
I rolled the window down to feel the warm, salty breeze. I rested my hand and chin on the window. “I never thought my first Sicilian trip would be with you. It’s beautiful out here.”
“And romantic.”
I ignored it and smiled in silence because it was indeed romantic. “You said something about taking me on a vacation. Where is it?”
“Marettimo. We can go there tomorrow.”
“Nope. We have a lot of issues to leave behind. I don’t like that. That can wait.” I turned to Terzo. His gaze was focused on the road. “Can I ask you something?”
“Just ask away, Dani.” He briefly looked at me.
“My father’s territory is in Campania. Does he have some people or connections in Sicily?”
“He’s trying to expand his territory here, but people here are loyal to my father. That’s why maybe he used the death of his son as his leverage and his plan of marrying Celestina.”
“How many armies or people does your father have?”
Terzo smiled. “Our people now, Dani, but that depends on where your loyalty lies?”
“I’m not choosing sides because I definitely don’t like what my father is doing. I don’t know where the book is. Honestly—” my words were cut off when the car just suddenly stopped in the middle of the road.
“What the fuck?”
DANI
“What’s going on?”
He tried to restart, but it wouldn’t work. “Well, this is embarrassing.”
“Hey, grease monkey. Do something.” I felt nervous all of a sudden. We were in the middle of the road where vehicles rarely passed by at this time.
“Relax.” He unlatched his seatbelt and leaned forward, which caught me off guard. He then cupped the back of my head and kissed me hard, which had me gasping. It was quick, but it made my toes curl. “I’ve been meaning to do that all night.”
“And you’ve waited until your car shuts down? I would have thought you did this on purpose.”
“No, beautiful. Stay here.” He smiled before he got out and popped up the hood.
“You know what you’re doing, right?” I popped my head out.
“I got this, Dani,” Terzo replied.
A light from the coming vehicle blinked, turned to the curb, and parked. One man came out, walking in our direction, but I couldn’t see his face. He was wearing a baseball cap.
“I think someone might wanna help.” The other two men followed. My heart instantly raced. I had a feeling they were not here to help. “Terzo!”
It happened too fast. Someone came from behind me, hit me with something on my neck until my vision blurred, and I completely blacked out.
I sucked in a breath at the groaning as if someone was in pain. I woke up with a headache and a pain in my neck in an unfamiliar, dirty old tiled room that looked like a slaughterhouse, and the smell of blood was nauseating.
“Terzo? Oh my God.” My eyes widened. He was tied to a chair before me with a busted face, blood oozing from his mouth, nose, and forehead. He must have a cut on his eyebrow because the blood was dripping down his left eye. “Stop!”
One man with a baseball cap was wearing a bandana to cover his face, had his grip on Terzo’s hair, and the other one was punching him. They both had the same size, wearing dark shirts, jeans, and boots.
I tried to stand without realizing I was tied to an iron chair. My hands were behind my back, and my legs were tied too. I wiggled to loosen the tie, but it was too tight. It burned against my skin.
“Figlio di puttana!” It was Terzo who cursed the man who punched him and spat the blood into that asshole. “Untie me and we’ll see who’s tough, stronzo.”
He got another punch, then another punch.
I squeezed my eyes shut and shook my head. It hurt to watch him get beaten, and he couldn’t punch back. I couldn’t watch it anymore. I felt useless as I looked at bloody Terzo. I didn’t realize I cared a lot about him until this moment that we might just going to end up dead.
“Who are you, people? Leave him alone! You don’t know what you just did. You’re good as dead, assholes!”
Then our assailants turned and came to me.
“Lasciala stare!” Whatever he said, these madmen didn’t listen.
Instead, the bandana asshole pulled his gun and pointed it at me that had me stilled.
My heart beat so hard I could even hear it. My pulse thrashed through my ears. Was this how I ended? I squeezed my eyes shut and waited for the bullet to pierce through my brain.
“Fuck! Don’t touch her,” Terzo said through gritted teeth. He could barely see me. His eye was busted, and the other was covered with blood from the cut on his eyebrow. “She doesn’t know anything. Just kill me and let her go.”
“Where’s the book?” asked the first man in an Italian accent.
I opened my eyes and looked at him. “You’re Francesco’s men? You can kill me right now, but I don’t know about that book. I swear I didn’t even see that book. Please, believe me—” I stopped when the other guy pointed his gun at Terzo.
“As man to man, you can do whatever you want to do to me, just don’t make her watch.” Terzo spat out the blood from his mouth.
“Terzo, don’t! They will kill you.” My chin trembled. My eyes overflowed with tears, and I could barely see him through my blurry sight. I sobbed, tied to a chair, and I couldn’t do anything to convince them that I didn’t have it. “Please, don’t do this? Please?”
“It’s okay, Dani. Close your eyes, mia bella. Block everything around you, sweetheart. It’s gonna be okay.”
“No! No!” I shook my head and cried when I struggled, and I couldn’t get off the tie. It was hopeless. “Terzo, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean anything I said before. I was just mad at you. I forgive you, okay? I’m so sorry,” I chanted those words over and over again until I lost my voice. And a single gunshot echoed.