Chapter 7 - Enzo’s Price
Enzo’s gun trembled, but his eyes burned with resentment.
Mia had seen that look before. It belonged to people who had spent years standing near power without ever touching it. People who smiled at family dinners while counting insults like coins.
“You,” Lorenzo said from the chapel doorway.
Enzo’s face twisted. “Yes, me.”
Lorenzo looked exhausted. Not shocked. That was somehow worse.
“Why?” Matteo demanded.
Enzo laughed bitterly. “Why? Because your father built an empire and handed everything to you. Matteo, the reluctant prince. Matteo, the golden son who doesn’t even want the throne.”
“I never asked for it,” Matteo said.
“That is what makes it unbearable.”
Carlo stood calmly at the altar, holding a small silver drive. “Enough family poetry. Matteo, give me your father’s key.”
“I don’t have it.”
“No,” Carlo said. “But you know where it is.”
Mia’s eyes shifted to Lorenzo.
His expression gave nothing away.
Carlo smiled. “Your mother was sentimental. She gave the last piece to the person Lorenzo would protect above all else.”
Matteo’s face changed.
Mia saw it happen.
Not fear. Recognition.
“She hid it with me,” Matteo whispered.
Lorenzo’s eyes closed.
Carlo nodded. “In the saint medal she gave you the night she died.”
Mia looked at Matteo’s chest. A thin chain disappeared beneath his shirt collar.
Carlo’s voice softened with mock kindness. “Take it off.”
Mia stepped in front of Matteo.
Carlo sighed. “Miss Callaway, this bravery is becoming tedious.”
“And yet here we are.”
Enzo barked, “Move, or I shoot you.”
Mia looked at his hands. “No, you won’t.”
His face reddened. “You think because I’m shaking, I can’t pull a trigger?”
“I think you want power, not blood. Carlo wants blood. That makes you useful to him until you aren’t.”
Carlo’s smile faded.
Good.
Mia continued, eyes locked on Enzo. “The second Carlo has that medal, he doesn’t need you. You think the Ferrettis will share the Duca empire with a cousin who needed help betraying his own family?”
Enzo swallowed.
Carlo lifted his gun slightly. “Do not listen to her.”
Mia took one small step forward. “He promised you respect, didn’t he? Maybe a district. Maybe your name on the restaurants. Maybe a seat at a table where men stop laughing when you speak.”
Enzo’s eyes flickered.
Matteo stared at Mia, stunned.
She took another step. “But Carlo has spent seventeen years beside Lorenzo. He knows exactly what power costs. He won’t pay you with it. He’ll pay you with a closed coffin and a sad speech.”
Enzo’s gun lowered an inch.
Carlo fired.
Mia moved with him.
She shoved Matteo down as Carlo’s bullet tore through the air. Enzo screamed. The bullet struck his shoulder, not his heart, because Carlo had been rushed.
The chapel erupted.
Bianca fired from the doorway. Carlo ducked behind the altar. Mia grabbed Matteo and rolled behind the first pew.
“Your speeches are stressful,” Matteo said.
“You’re welcome.”
Enzo sobbed on the floor, clutching his arm. “He shot me!”
Mia yelled back, “I covered that possibility!”
Carlo slammed his fist against the altar.
May you like
Above them, the chapel bell rang once.
Then every light in the estate went out again.
