Envy by Eve Marian

21

Giancarlo

My eyes stung when I opened them the next morning. I hadn’t gotten much sleep. I was up all night going back and forth on how I should handle Vito’s betrayal. But no matter how many scenarios I thought of that ended with me forgiving Vito, none of them would work in reality. The other families would think I was weak, and my family would wonder if I had the guts to win this turf war.

I punched the mattress before rising out of bed. Grabbing my phone, I texted Vito: I’m connecting with a new supplier today. Meet me at this address.

I pinged the location to him.

A few seconds later, he replied: Sounds good.

Staring at his text, my fingers curled around the phone, and my fingertips turned white. “Ah!” I threw the phone onto the bed and grabbed my scalp with both hands.

Fuck!

“Why?” I asked, staring up at the ceiling. “Why do those I love always betray me? My mother, my best friend, even my woman. What the fuck did I do to deserve this?”

I knew the truth. I’d killed, stolen, and deceived people myself, but not anyone I cared about. Never someone I’d sworn to protect. It should matter that I had rules, but it seemed the universe didn’t care. It hurt indiscriminately.

I sniffed and brushed my hair back with my fingers. Let’s get this fucking day over with, then.

I chose a black shirt, black pants, and a black tie. While I combed and slicked back my hair, I stared at my rough jaw. It had been several days since I’d shaved and I was starting to prefer it.

Slowly, I made my way downstairs. Nicky stood in the foyer chatting with Dominic. “Hey boss, need me to bring the car around?”

“No.” I grabbed the keys to a shiny black pickup truck. “I’ll drive myself today.”

Nicky bit his lip, “Sure thing,” then asked, “Can I wash your cars then? I want to stay busy.”

I still hadn’t figured the kid out, but if he wanted to spend his day in my garage, I didn’t give a shit.

“Knock yourself out.”

The truck’s engine roared to life, and the rumble underneath my body jacked up my adrenaline. The spot I’d chosen was only twenty minutes away. There were hardly any cars out this morning.

Soon, I left the city building behind and tall pine trees lined the road. Frost stuck to the branches of the oak trees, but the sun felt warm in the dark interior of the cab.

I reached the spot in less than twenty minutes. Vito’s car was nowhere in sight. My feet crunched underneath the broken twigs and mulch. I raised the collar of my jacket as the wind picked up.

My chest ached, and my head pounded. I shook my hand at my sides and ground my back teeth. In the distance, a car approached. I recognized Vito's black sports car a mile away.

You can do this. You have to.

“Hey, sorry I'm late.”

I didn’t respond. I paced the distance between trees instead.

Vito blew into his hands and then shoved them into his pockets. Several minutes later, he pulled them out to check the time on his phone. “So, where’s your guy?”

I ignored him. “Where were you two nights ago?”

He swallowed and turned his eyes away from me, staring out into the distance. “I don't know. Home probably. I can't remember.”

“Why?”

“Why what?” he asked. He looked around again, staring at the long empty road. There wasn’t a car for miles. Then, his eyes shot to me and they narrowed. “What the fuck is going on?”

“You tell me.”

“Look, I don’t know what’s happening here, but I think we should go. Your guy isn’t showing up.”

Vito hurried back to his car.

I shouted, “Why are you running away?”

“I’m not,” he called back, but didn’t turn around.

I went after him, eating his strides in half. When I reached him, I yanked him by the shoulder. “Don’t you fucking walk away from me.”

Vito’s eyes zigzagged as they searched my face. “You’re scaring me, man.”

“You aren’t afraid enough.”

I gathered his shirt in my fist and brought his face right up to mine. “Why did you sell me out to the Caruso family? Was it for the money? I would have given you whatever you asked for, you know that!”

He shook his head, “I didn’t—”

“Stop denying it!” Then I lowered my voice. “I saw the video. The one of you inside Nero.”

His mouth opened and closed a few times until he finally closed his eyes.

My heart broke at the silent confession. Up until this moment, I had hope. I prayed what I’d seen had been wrong, that it had been fabricated by the family to tear us up. But the truth was written on Vito’s face.

“Why, brother?” I asked. My voice was nearly a whisper.

When he opened his eyes, I flinched from the anger behind them. “Don’t call me that. If you were truly my brother, you would have helped me.”

He pushed me off of him.

“What are you talking about?”

“Gina.”

Vito’s sister’s name caught me by surprise.

“I came to you for help and you did nothing,” he spat.

I shook my head and narrowed my eyes. “I spoke to the guy who knocked her up. I even offered him money, but he wouldn’t marry her. He was in love with someone else. If I forced his hand, he would have resented her, and she would have been miserable. I did everything I could.”

“Liar!” Spittle gathered at the corners of Vito’s mouth. “If that was Sienna, you would have put a gun to the guy’s head and followed him down the aisle.”

“No, I wouldn’t have. For the same reasons I just gave you.”

“She loved the bastard.”

“Yeah, well, sometimes we fall in love with the wrong people. It wasn’t my fault.”

He ran a hand across his eyes. “She was miserable. Every day she cried her eyes out and I had to listen to it.”

“I don’t fucking care,” I said, placing both hands on my hip.

His head snapped in my direction. “What?”

“You heard me. I don’t care that she was upset. We all have to deal with problems in our lives. That doesn’t give you the fucking right to betray me.”

I reached inside my jacket, pulled out my gun, and pointed it at Vito.

He raised his hands. “What are you doing?”

“What did you think would happen when you chose Sangunero over L’Invidia? When you chose Sal over me? That I would just let it go?”

“I—I didn’t think you’d kill me.”

“Well, you were wrong, Vito. Wrong about everything, and now there are consequences.”

I raised the gun level to his heart. I knew the moment the bullet tore through his chest, it would rip through my heart as well. “If you would have come to me, we could have figured this out together. If she was unhappy, I would have paid for her therapy or her fucking daycare. I would have done anything for you. But now, you’ve given me no choice.”

“Wait!” Vito shouted. “I’ll go back to Sal and give him bad information, double-crossing him. I can still turn this around.”

“And when he finds out that you betrayed him, you’ll have everyone hunting you down, not just Sal, but all the Sangunero families. I won’t bring that kind of heat to my family. Especially not for someone who betrayed me because he didn’t like how I handled his sister’s lover.”

Vito’s nose started to run and he waved his hands. “Please,” he cried. “I don’t want to die.”

My blood ran cold in my veins, and my back stiffened. “You should have thought of that before.”

With my thumb, I cocked the gun.

“It’s over.”