Chapter 40

CESARE

Roman just made his grandentrance with his date to a thunderous applause. Now, Benito and I are standing at his back staring at a sea of guests while he makes a speech.

Tuning out talk of his goals for improving New Alderney's justice system, I go over my lines. My goals have never been as lofty as my brothers' plans to expand the family empire. All I've ever wanted since Dad died was to pull our family together. Roman's return from death row brought us back together, but Matty Galliano has the power to split us apart.

I push my thoughts away from that bastard and focus on what I want to say. Roman only asked for a few words, but I want this gathering of friends, family, and powerful players to know the Montesano brothers have a bond that extends beyond blood.

Just as I'm working out how to phrase it, a gunshot rings out, and Roman hits the ground.

Chaos erupts in the ballroom as staff and guests rush toward the exits. More gunshots ring in my ears, mingling with the screams and shouts and shattering glass. Benito crouches at my side, with his gun in hand, providing cover for Roman's fallen body. I move in front of them both with my pistol trained on the stampede.

My blood boils and betrayal pounds at my heart with both fists.

Rosalind lied.

She said the Moirai would cancel the hit on us once we gave them evidence of Samson's death. Some bastard shot at Roman anyway.

There should be two more shooters plus their backup, but what do I know? If Rosalind bullshitted about us being safe from assassins, then she probably also fabricated everything she told me about the way they organize their missions.

I need to focus on taking out the shooters and stop thinking about the traitorous bitch I left chained to the shower.

My gaze scans the crowd, on high alert for any suspicious figures. Emberly, Roman's special guest, runs toward the side exit with a young waiter. Before I can react, I catch a glimpse of a still figure in the corner aiming a pistol.

In the split second I take to identify him as a threat, I've already shot him through the eyes.

"Cesare," Benito yells. "Don't shoot into the crowd."

I turn the gun into the crowd and fire at every fucker standing still or not moving in the right direction.

By the time I look around for Roman's woman again, she's already disappeared. Shit. Big brother is going to be pissed, but our lives are worth more than her ill-gotten fortune.

There's a bottleneck at the doors, where the escaping guests are being funneled out by security. A gray-haired man in a purple tuxedo breaks out from the crowd. Since he reminds me of Tommy and Matty Galliano, I shoot him in the kneecap. When he clutches his wound without firing back, I finally allow Benito's warning to register.

It should be me tending to our big brother.

"Cover my back," I snarl at Benito with my eyes trained on the crowd. "Let me check on Roman."

The asshole doesn't move from Roman's side. I can't tell if it's out of shock or if Benito thinks he's better than me at first aid.

I don't have time to ponder on that when another man in a tuxedo bursts out of the crowd with a gun. His first shot goes wide as he's jostled, but I don't give him a chance to fire a second. When a bullet lands in his neck, he falls backward and gets swallowed up by the throng.

"Cesare, will you stop fucking shooting?" Benito roars.

"Then you take over," I yell over the chaos.

When Gil and Tony burst through the crowd, each holding weapons, a part of me relaxes. Gil presses his fingers to his ears, looking like he's in communication with our people watching the security cameras.

I look beyond the pair with my gun still trained on the stragglers in case one of them tries to shoot our men in the back.

A dark-haired woman in a black dress emerges from the crowd with her hand in her purse, using their larger bodies as cover. She has the same athletic frame and precise movements as Rosalind, but twice the audacity.

She's trying to complete the mission.

Our two men run shoulder to shoulder toward us with their weapons drawn, oblivious to the little viper.

"Tony," I yell. "Behind you."

The bald man spins around. Instead of shooting the woman, he charges at her like a linebacker and knocks her onto her back. Gil glances over his shoulder to find Tony punching her into unconsciousness. Seeing that his friend is fine, he continues toward where we're crouched on the stage.

That's two shooters down. If what Rosalind said was the truth, there's at least one left. I glance around, my blood roaring in my ears. They could be anyone. Anywhere.

Gil mounts the stage and speaks to my brothers. Movement out of the corner of my eye tells me that Roman survived the hit. There's no time for relief because we still haven't identified the other assassins.

My pulse pounds in my eardrums as I scan the emptying ballroom. Somewhere on the edge of my awareness and mingled in the panicked screams, Roman yells something about his missing guest.

Gil mutters something about finding the man who shot Roman, but that's irrelevant. There wasn't one gunman but an entire team of assassins.

Benito grabs my shoulder, snapping me out of my thoughts. "Emberly is gone."

"Forget her," I snap. "We need to find the Moirai?—"

"Leave that to the others." He pulls me up to standing. "We can't let Emberly escape."

I love my brothers, but their priorities are fucked. Instead of working together to track down the assassins, they want to hunt down the crazy balcony woman to swindle her out of a stolen inheritance.

Roman runs in the direction the woman left, while Benito takes another exit. I don't give a shit about getting back the casino and all the other bullshit Emberly's father stole from Dad, so I jog toward where Tony is dragging the female assassin toward the body of the man I shot.

As I walk off the stage and down its steps, the phone in my jacket buzzes. I pull it out of my pocket, finding multiple notifications from the surveillance app. My adrenaline spikes, and I open up the camera feed.

The bathroom is empty.

While the Moirai was shooting my brother, Rosalind slithered out of her chains and escaped.

My jaw clenches. All this time, she must have been in contact with her firm, waiting for the right moment to stab me in the back.

If she's somewhere on the grounds, I will find her.

When I do, I will hit her where it hurts.