“Yes,” Ras says. “Damiano will stay here to keep an eye on the women. If we all leave, they’ll get suspicious. How far are you from where we buried Garzolo’s men?”
“About forty-five minutes.” I rattle off the address we’re at now.
“We’ll be there in about two hours. Be ready with a few tanks of gasoline.”
It won’t take much to burn this place down, but we need to make sure the bodies are unrecognizable. “Will do.”
“Rafaele.” It’s Giorgio again.
“Yeah?”
“No one but us can know about this,” Giorgio says. “Not even the women. The more people who know, the bigger the risk. Nero and Sandro can never come back.”
I swallow. “I know.” The rest of the world must think I killed my consigliere. They must believe it. I hang up and turn to Nero and Sandro.
“Rafe, what the fuck are you planning?” Nero growls.
“You’re going to disappear. Both of you.”
Nero narrows his eyes. “What does that mean?”
I bring him and Sandro up to speed, and when I finish, Nero’s glowering at me.
“I’d rather die like a consigliere than be sent away to some shithole where I’m a nobody.”
“You won’t be a nobody to Sandro.”
My driver blows out a breath. Unlike Nero, he doesn’t argue. “Never thought retirement would be in the cards for me this early. I’ll need to find some hobbies,” he says.
“You’ll need to find a job. The two of you will need to blend in wherever you end up.”
“Sandro, shut up,” Nero growls. “We’re not going anywhere.”
“You’d rather die than get a demotion?” I ask.
“It’s not a demotion. You’re sending me into fucking exile.”
“Yeah, well, I think that’s a lot better than the pit of hell you were about to land in.”
I see a flash of amusement in his eyes before he reins it in. “You’re a fucking asshole. I can’t believe this is what I get for the decade I’ve given you.”
I place a hand on his shoulder. “I’m doing this to keep you alive. I’m your don, and this is an order.”
He grinds his jaw.
“We don’t have time for negotiations. This is happening. Sandro, we’re going back to my house to pick up documents for you and Nero. Then we have to get some gas.”
“Got it, boss. I’m ready when you are.”
Nero spreads his arms open. “And what am I supposed to do?”
“Stay put and think about your nice new life.”
He shakes his head. “I saw an old bottle of bourbon in the kitchen. Maybe I’ll drink myself into a stupor before you come back.”
“Just don’t do anything stupid,” I tell him, already halfway out the door.
When we get back to the house two hours later, Ras and Giorgio are there with Garzolo’s dead guys. They’re lying on the floor and still covered in a lot of dirt.
Nero crouches beside the larger one, eyeing him skeptically. “So this is supposed to be me?”
Giorgio nods. “He’s about the same height and has a similar bone structure.”
“I think the other guy looks more like Sandro than this one looks like me.”
“He’ll do. Even if they suspect something, the DNA test will put their suspicions to rest.” Giorgio glances out the window. “Sun will rise soon, so we should get moving.”
I walk over to the two bodies. The one who’s supposed to be Nero has a bullet in his head. The other guy’s chest is shot up. “I’ll say Nero convinced Sandro to turn to his side. We got into a shootout, and I had to kill Sandro too.”
“And you set the house on fire?” Giorgio asks. “You’ll have to explain that too.”
“Heard a siren in the distance. Didn’t have time to drag both of them out and had to cover my tracks.”
Ras nods. “Not bad.”
“We’ve got four cans of gasoline,” I say. “That’ll be plenty.”
“Here.” Giorgio tosses Nero his car keys. “Take my car. It’s a rental, so you’ll have to dump it somewhere. Buy a new car, and use your fake ID.”
I reach inside my jacket and take out a plastic baggie with two California IDs and a few thick wads of cash. “This should be enough for a few weeks.”
Nero nods. “I’ve got a few offshore accounts. Can I assume those are safe to access through the dark web?”
“Should be fine, but remember, you can’t be flashy,” Giorgio says. “And use a VPN.”
“Yeah, I’m not a fucking idiot.” Nero glances at Sandro. “You ready?”
My driver shrugs. “As ready as I’ll ever be, boss.”
I walk up to Sandro and shake his hand. “Keep an eye out for him. Don’t let him do anything stupid. Remember, you two have to blend in and stay under the radar.”
He nods. “Will do.”
I move toward Nero. “We had a good run.”
My consigliere embraces me and gives my back a hard slap. “You’ll always be my brother, even though you’re an asshole. And Gino Ferraro will die one day.”
“He will,” I promise him. But even when he does, Nero won’t be able to come back. Not with Gino’s three sons still around. They’ll always remember the man who killed their cousin.
This is goodbye.
Nero and Sandro walk out, and Giorgio, Ras, and I get to work. We pour the gasoline everywhere, until the house smells toxic and everything is doused in the fluid. I grab a rag from the back of my car and wipe my hands clean, watching as Giorgio flicks on his lighter and sets a rolled newspaper aflame. He carries it over to the house and tosses it through the front door. Within minutes, the entire building is on fire.
We stand there for a while longer, witnessing the destruction. Out of the corner of my eye, I notice Ras looking at me.
I sniff. “Your boss and you two did me a solid. I won’t forget it.”
He nods. “We know. But we didn’t do it for you.”
My jaw clenches. Of course. They did it for Cleo.
Take care of her.
The words are right there, begging to be set free, but I don’t say them. My throat is too tight to get them out. We shake hands, say goodbye, and I get into my car to drive home.
It feels like I’ve been up for three days straight. When I get back to the house, I stagger into our bedroom. Her scent fills my nose, and I glance around, half expecting to see her.
But she’s gone.
I told her to go, but there was a part of me that hoped she wouldn’t listen.
A part that I’m going to have to bury.
I sit on the edge of the bed, prop my elbows on my knees, and hang my head between my shoulders.
Funny how one’s life can change in the span of a single day.
CHAPTER 40
CLEO
A week and a half later, I sit down for dinner with everyone in Vale and Damiano’s home in Casale Di Principe. I stare at my hand-painted dinner plate. It’s beautiful. A blue and white pattern with birds, flowers, and leaves. It reminds me of the plates we had at my wedding.
I’ve grown up a lot since that day.