Chapter 21

This isan absolute waste of time.

At least that"s what it feels like to me. Unfortunately, I was overruled by my sister and the rest of my siblings.

Now that we"ve got the information from Marie about her working with the Di Santi family and my father is up and moving, it was decided that we should call another emergency meeting with the heads of the families as well as the majority of the remaining Caprini family.

I, on the other hand, want to go out and find Rosie. Christine assured me that she was already on it but wouldn"t give me any further details. I just have to trust that she"s doing her best to find my woman. After this, I swear I"m never going to let Rosie out of my sight again.

The large room is devoid of any furniture and could be used as a ballroom if my father wanted. Instead, it"s now being used as the space for Marie"s mafia trial. The heads of the families are all present minus Enzo, the leader of the Di Santi"s who lives in Italy, though his second in command is here.

Anxiety pulses through my blood as I look around the room only to see more enemies than allies. Of course, no one is stupid enough to strike in this situation, not unless they want a bloody battle. It"s why my father chose to get everyone together. As much as they hate us, they hate each other the same.

It"s a tense allegiance, to say the least.

My father walks into the room with Christine at his side. He"s dressed to the nines, making sure to impress these people. Proving to them he"s as well as ever.

I know it"s a lie, but it"s all about appearances here.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I"m sorry to keep you all waiting so long. I"m sure you all have other business to attend to, so I"m not going to take much of your time." The smile on my father"s face would make the devil run for the hills.

"Alexi, what is this about? I swear in the last few weeks, I"ve been at your home more than I"ve been in my own." Damien Collucio crosses his arms over his chest and glares at us.

I"d be pissed off if I were him too. The last time he was here we"d mistakenly insinuated that he and his family were the ones behind the assassination attempts.

"I assure you, this is an important matter that we must all discuss. Rather, we must all be witness to."

"Witness to?" Marko Juric, the head of the Juric family, questions, looking to the side at his son Sven. He clearly hasn"t been kept abreast as to what was happening in this world. Rumor has it that Marko is in poor health as well.

"Yes, over the past few weeks, there have been several assassination attempts on both my life and my son"s life. We"ve been working diligently to figure out who"s behind this. As you all know, an attack on one family head is an attack on us all." My father lets the words settle as he drags his gaze across the crowd.

Slight nods and grumbles come from the crowd as they wait for him to continue.

"I don"t make these accusations lightly, so I took my time in making sure I had the correct culprits." Babbo raises his hands and flicks his fingers in the direction of the door to signify to Xander and Vitto that they should come in.

A soft moan sounds in the room as they nearly drag Marie into the center. She"s bloodied and bruised. The woman looks utterly broken. I don"t have even the slightest twinge of empathy for her. She did all of this to herself. Everyone knows what happens if you cross the Bianucci family. Not only did she come after me, but according to her, she was at least partially responsible for Rosie being taken. Marie could burn slowly with a stake shoved up her ass for all I cared.

My father grabs hold of Marie"s hair and kneels her down in the center of the room at his feet.

"Please, I"ve told you all I know." Marie whimpers.

"Oh, sweet child, I know you have. I don"t doubt it for a second, but now I need you to tell them." My father gestures to the crowd of people in the room, and Marie"s eyes widen as she takes in those around her. Her body shakes, but I don"t know if it"s from pain or from fear.

What does she have to fear now besides us?

Her eyes settle to the side of the room where the small group representing the Di Santi family are standing. I suck in a breath, shocked by who I see.

It"s Leo.

The same motherfucker Marie had in our home with the claim that he was helping her with her charity event. I don"t believe in coincidences; something more is going on here. I walk over to Christine as slowly as I can to let her know what I see happening right before my eyes, but before I can get to her the door opens, and my heart flips in my chest.

A woman I"ve never seen before, long brown hair braided down her back, intense expression on her face and clad in tactical gear, walks in, and right behind her, almost just as bloodied as Marie, is Rosie.

She"s here.

My woman is here.

A relief I"ve never felt before settles over me, and suddenly everything is right with the world. I"m concerned about her well-being, but the fact that she"s up and moving is all I need right now.

I catch her gaze and give her a small smile which she reciprocates. I"ve got so much to say, so much to apologize for, but it"ll have to wait until this is over.

I refocus on the show in front of me, making sure to put back my stone faced expression. I don"t want anyone in the room to know Rosie affects me more than they already do.

My father doesn"t comment on the new addition to the audience, so I can only hope he doesn"t see her.

I need to keep her safe, and that starts with making sure Babbo doesn"t set his aim on her after all this is over.

"Marie, child, we don"t have all day."

My attention is diverted back to my so-called wife, who is still whimpering and crying at my father"s feet. She takes a breath and divulges everything that she told us before.

She tells the crowd that it was the Caprini family who organized the hit on my father and myself. The aim was to take us out. Taking our resources and connections as their own. She told us how she and her father planned to take out every last Bianucci so we"d have no claim on anything. After that would be the Collucio family if they didn"t get on board with what the Caprini family wanted. Finally, when she confessed she wasn"t working alone but also with the Di Santi family, the crowd erupted in anger.

It"s exactly what my father was hoping for.

"What do the Di Santi"s have to say about this? Is this true?" Babbo calls out. Everyone turns in the direction of the Di Santi"s crew, but they don"t look the least bit flustered. None of them besides Leo. His eyes are shifty, bouncing side to side as if he were looking for an exit.

Tony, the second in command for the Di Santi family, gives a generic answer, more than likely coached on what to say in this circumstance. "We have no knowledge of any deal with the Caprini family and would never wish to go against any of our allies. The Bianucci family included."

The crowd erupts again, but my eyes are locked on Leo, who whips his head in Tony"s direction, a look of complete shock on his face.

We don"t have enough evidence to implicate the entire Di Santi family, but with that one look, Leo told me everything I needed to know. They were just as guilty as the Caprini"s. The only difference is they didn"t get caught.

Babbo puts a hand up to silence the crowd before calling me and Christine to stand by his side. I stand at an angle so I can keep an eye on Rosie.

"As you see, these Caprini snakes have infiltrated deep into my family. I"d even go so far as to say yours as well. If they are this brazen to come for me after giving their word that they wouldn"t, what would stop them from trying to take out any of you. They can"t be trusted, at least not without a change of leadership."

Damien Collucio, outspoken as he is, raises the only logical question, "What are you proposing we do? I don"t see any other members of the Caprini family in attendance? Are you expecting us to excommunicate anyone who bears a loyalty to that name? It would make sense if they were in attendance, don"t you agree."

"Ah, I would, but you see, my son—" Babbo pulls me forward, effectively forcing me to turn my back to Rosie, "has already taken care of them for us. They attacked him at his home, and he did what we Bianucci"s do best. He took care of the problem. As it stands right now, this hellcat," He kicks Marie, and she grunts before falling flat to the ground, "is the last of the Caprini family besides my son who is legally married to her. What I ask all of you today is if any of you contest this matter?" Once again my father looks around the room to see if anyone is willing to go against him. No one says a word.

"Then it"s settled; my son will take his rightful place as the head of the Caprini family. We"ll make it our priority to weed out those who would wish to do us or any of our allies harm."

The silence gets heavier as the rest of the family heads look around. There"s nothing they can do about it anyway; like my father said earlier, this whole show was just for them to witness.

Witness the Bianucci"s power growing with the merger of a second family.

"So be it." My father reaches down and grabs Marie by her hair to get her back into a kneeling position. He then reaches into his pocket and pulls out yet another blade. This seems to be his weapon of choice as of recently.

Marie"s fighting amplifies as she struggles to get away from my father. Christine bends to hold her still while Babbo pulls her head back further.

"For the crimes committed against my family and those I am allied with, I give you a swift death."

"No! You can"t do this! You can"t!" Marie begs, looking up into my eyes for a second. When she doesn"t find any pity there, she angles her head to look back out at the crowd.

My father continues, "Your guilt has already been proven, but since I"m a fair man, I"ll give you this one chance to say any last words."

"Don"t let him do this! Please! I can be useful. I"ll make amends another way!" Marie begs, but this time her eyes are locked on one person in particular: Leo.

My eyes stay on him as well. His shifty eyes have steadied, and he"s taking deep breaths as if he were preparing for something.

What is he doing here? He must have a part to play in all this.

"Please!" Marie screams loudly.

A cold sweat erupts on the back of my neck as my father leans down with the knife and presses it against her throat. Marie"s fear is almost palpable.

"They"ll never stop. It"ll never be over. Don"t let him win!" She says, and the words strike a chord deep inside my mind.

I know she wasn"t talking to me in particular, but the words still apply. My father is never going to stop, even when this woman"s blood is shed; there"s always going to be another family for us to take down. Always another sacrifice to be made. When will enough be enough?

"Marie Caprini, die well." My father presses the knife against her neck, but before he can execute the killing slice, I watch Leo reach to his side.

It all unfolds in slow motion.

Everyone is so focused on the girl who"s about to die; no one is protecting themselves, my father included.

"No!" I roar, just as Leo pulls his gun from his waist and aims at my father. My weapon is up in the same instant. I push Babbo hard and fire my weapon at the same time.

Two shots echo in the large room. One from my gun and the other from Leo"s.

If there wasn"t chaos before, gunfire is the catalyst everyone needed. Guns turn on the Di Santi family from every direction. Others run out of the room, rushing to safety. Both my father and my sister lay on the ground in awkward positions. I quickly throw myself on top of them to keep them safe.

Leo falls to the ground, blood already pooling around him, but his hands are still moving.

"Get off me! Stop this now!" Babbo pushes up, trying to get me to move. I do as he asks, making sure to keep my head down and out of the way of any stray bullets.

"Stop! Now. The threat is over!" My father yells out as he struggles to his feet. Slowly, everyone left in the room lowers their weapons.

I"m not surprised to see only one-third of the invited guests stayed back to fight. What does shock me is that Damien Collucio is one of those who chose to stay instead of running for safety. He"s the head of his family. If he were to die here tonight, things might have been much more complicated for us.

Rage pulses through my body, and I see red as I make my way to the mess of bodies that used to be associated with the Di Santi family.

Leo"s eyes blink slowly as he watches me stand over him. His body riddled with bullets, one directly in the chest from my gun.

Leo coughs hard, blood spraying out of his mouth as he struggles to take his last breath.

"A life for a life. You killed one of ours... Jasper was the best of us. Now you pay with your heart."

His words mean nothing to me, but before I can ask him any other questions, Leo breathes his last breath.

"He"s dead." I announce before I kick away the gun that lay useless by Leo"s side.

"Well, it seems this woman has a little more to tell us." My father peels Marie up off the floor and shoves her in Christine"s direction.

Instead of moving right away, Christine is staring off in the opposite direction.

She"s used to bullets flying around her, used to mayhem.

My eyes follow her line of sight, and all the rage I"d just been feeling evaporates from my body as my very soul threatens to leave right along with it.

"No! Oh, God!! Please!" I run as fast as my wobbly legs will take me until I slide to my knees, pushing through a crowd by the door.

I thought Leo was aiming at my father. He wasn"t; he was aiming behind him.

"Now you pay with your heart."

His words on repeat in my mind as I scoop Rosie"s limp and bleeding body up from the ground.

I hear my brothers around me and the woman Rosie came in with. They"re saying something. Trying to pull Rosie out of my arms, but it feels as if I"ll crumble to pieces the minute she"s gone.

"Giancarlo! She"s still alive! Let go!" Romeo yells in my face before he yanks Rosie"s body once again.

This time I let go.

I don"t try to hide the tears as they fall down my face. I look up into my brother"s face, broken.

"Save her. Save her or bury me in the grave right next to her."

He holds my gaze for a second before he and two others rush off with my love in their arms.

At one time, I told my father I had nothing left to sacrifice.

I was wrong.

If it meant Rosie would live, I"d sacrifice my very soul.