Mafia's Redemption: Terzo - Chapter 96: Chapter 96

DANI
“Where are we going?” I asked as Marco hopped into the boat, carrying my suitcase and Celestina’s.
“It’s gonna be fine, Dani.” Celestina grabbed Marco’s hand as she hopped in, too. “The less you know, the better.”
“You’re next, signora.” Luca assisted me while scanning around as if someone was following us. He then joined us on the boat, leaving only Matteo on the dock.
I got into the boat with my limbs shaking. I wished they could tell me more about where we were going and what was going on out there. I was worried about the people we left behind while Celestina and I depended on these three.
I knew they were capable, but what if we were outnumbered? What if we got caught by the people who sent an explosive into the compound?
Matteo untied the rope, throwing it to the boat, and was about to jump when I saw a familiar face.
“Wait!” What was he doing here? I watched Ronan walk in our direction.
“We don’t have time, Dani!” Marco said urgently.
“Just a minute. I know him.” I pointed at Ronan. “That’s Ronan, the caretaker in Dublin.”
“Dani, I’m not sure we can trust him. We have to go now,” Celestina insisted.
“Just one minute, please?” I got off the boat and met Ronan. “What are you doing here?”
“Hey, kiddo.” Ronan wore a baseball cap. “I thought it was you. I just arrived here this morning. I thought I would drop by to see you tonight. You’re leaving?” He must have noticed everyone was in a hurry.
“Yeah.” I turned to Ronan. “I don’t know where, but we’re going on a trip. You can come with us. There’s been an accident at the house, we’ll talk on our way. I wish you had called me before you came so that I could have arranged a hotel.”
“It’s fine, and you did not leave your contact.” He smiled.
“Oh.” My cheeks burned. “I’m sorry. It slipped my mind. Come with us, Ronan.” I gestured to the boat where Celestina was losing her patience and glaring at me.
“We have to leave now, Dani,” Marco called again, cursing under his breath.
Luca joined Matteo off the boat. “Signora, please?”
“Where is your husband?” Ronan asked.
“He’s dealing with the incident. Let’s get on the boat. I have a lot of things to tell you.” I held his arm, but I was surprised that he resisted.
“Or we can talk off the boat. I’m old and I get motion sickness on small boats.” He looked at me with a guarded expression, not the way I imagined it.
“Dani, on the boat now!” Marco was running out of patience. “Why are you always making things hard for us?”
“I have to go, Ronan.” I kissed him on the cheek. “I’ll see you soon.” My phone vibrated in my bag, so I fished it out.
“Don’t answer that,” Ronan said sternly, making me hold my breath.
“What?” It was Terzo, calling me. He said not to contact him, so this might be important. “I need to take this.”
“Dani!” Celestina screamed.
Before I could register what was going on, a single gunshot echoed, so close, deafening me, making me yelp. My heart rate sped up, and my breathing became unsteady. My legs shook, and I just stood there as I watched Marco drop into the water.
Trembling, I turned slowly at Ronan with a gun at my head. My blood turned to ice. When the men behind Luca and Matteo knocked them, and their bodies dropped to the ground, a jolt of fear shook me, making my whole body tremble.
Ronan grabbed the unanswered phone from me, dropped it, and stomped on it with his boot. “Take the other girl.”
“Celestina, run!” I finally found my voice as I watched her try to go down the boat, but two men hopped in and caught him right away. “Please, don’t hurt her!”
“I won’t if you do as I say,” Ronan said.
Slowly, I turned and faced him. “Who are you? Why are you doing this to me? I thought—” I did not manage to finish my words, I was knocked down by a blunt force hitting me behind my head.
“Dani, wake up.” I felt someone was nudging me.
I sucked in a sharp breath, snapping my eyes open. I was on the ground, on a cold floor. My head hurt similar to a severe hangover, but my nape hurt the worst. My arm was numb like I’d been lying on the same side for hours.
I was confused and disoriented at first, but the moment I heard water dripping and smelled dust and mildew, it struck me. The incident in the marina came back like a flash in my head. Panic started to settle in my chest.
“Celestina,” I mumbled and twisted, but I couldn’t move. I realized my hands were tied behind my back. I started to pant in terror. “Not again. Help!” I screamed at the top of my lungs.
“Dani.”
I stopped abruptly, looking up, realizing I wasn’t alone. “Celestina?” I quickly moved to sit and checked her. “Are you hurt?”
She shook her head. She was tied to the column. “Are you okay?”
I shook my head. My chin trembled. “I’m not okay.” I looked around. We were in an abandoned warehouse surrounded by rustic, stained walls. Why was it always an abandoned warehouse? “I never learned.”
“Hey, stop blaming yourself.”
“She should. She’s so gullible, she fell for my story.” Ronan walked in. His boots made a stomping sound against the floor. “Her lack of memory serves its purpose. She doesn’t even remember who I am.”
“You’re an old pig, Ronan. Is Ronan even your real name?”
“This old pig has waited decades for vengeance. And no. My name is Aidan Finn. Your father killed my sons.”
“They probably deserved it,” Celestina muttered. “If you don’t kill us right now, I’ll be the one to kill you. You should ask Dani who killed my husband for double-crossing my family.”
“Shut up!” He kicked Celestina on the abdomen, making her suck in a sharp breath and groaned in pain.
“Stop! Stop, please? If you won’t kill us, then tell me what you want. I will do anything.”
“Dani, don’t. He will kill us anyway,” she said through gritted teeth.
I turned to her and shook my head. “I’ll have to try to save you. It’s all my fault that we’re here. I trusted him. It didn’t occur to me that he was pretending to be someone else that I couldn’t remember. Now I realize his story was too good to be true. I’m so sorry, Cee.”
“Well, that’s sweet.” Ronan or Aidan snorted, making my blood boil in anger.
“Just say what you want, Aidan. What did you do to Ronan?”
“He was rotting in the ground under the maid’s quarter house. When Francesco called that he’s making progress, I went to your father’s house and stayed there for weeks. I almost lost hope.”
“You’re old, wrinkled, about to die with one foot in the grave. Why don’t you make amends for your sins so you can die peacefully, asshole!” Celestina spat at his boot, only making the old man laugh.
“You’re a spitfire, aren’t you? We’ll say if you can still be feisty after my men have a taste of you.” When he gestured with his hand, I started to panic.
“Don’t do it.” I tried hard to make my voice loud and steady. “If her brother finds out, and trust me, he will, he will burn down the whole world to find you, and you should take my advice, Aidan. Terzo is not the man you should be playing cat and mouse with. He has resources everywhere.”
“Yet I managed to blow your house without him knowing. The security in your house is useless. I was merely luring you out because I couldn’t grab you inside the compound.” Son of a bitch.
“You’re wasting time, asshole! What the fuck do you want from us?” Celestina glared at him. “The moment she did not answer the call, he already suspected his wife was in trouble. And I guess you did not kill Luca and Matteo, and that’s your first mistake. They saw your face. Right now, they’re reporting back to my brother. And you just shot my cousin, a Siciliano, you’re a dead man, fucker!”
“Oh, I’m so scared of your family. I’m dead anyway. I might as well avenge my son before he can kill me.” His accent was so thick as he mocked Celestina.
When he pointed a gun at me, I squeezed my eyes shut and held my breath, waiting for the gunfire to echo and the bullet to pierce through my skull. I waited and waited for it to happen, and it was the most brutal and agonizing seconds of my life.
“Darragh,” he called one of his men. “Bring me the laptop.”
I opened my eyes, let go of a shuddering breath with a little hope growing in my chest.
When Darragh, the giant who knocked Luca down, came with a laptop, I knew exactly what Aidan wanted.
“I want you to transfer 100 million dollars to an offshore account, or your sister-in-law will die.” He shifted his aim at Celestina.
I swallowed hard. “I can’t.”