Bound By Temptation(78)

Fabi glared. “I won’t betray the Outfit.”

“Then you’ll have to stop us from leaving,” Luca said simply. “And we won’t let you. There will be blood, and you will die.”

I stiffened and was about to say something but Romero gave a small shake of his head.

“I’m a good shot,” Fabi said indignantly.

“I believe you. But are you better than all three of us? Do you really want your sister Lily to be punished? If you force her to stay, you sign her death warrant.”

Conflict showed on Fabi’s face. “If I let you leave, and someone finds out, they will kill me too. I could die an honest death if I tried to stop you.”

Luca nodded. “You could, and they would sing your praise, but you’d be dead all the same. Do you want to die today?”

Fabi didn’t say anything but he’d lowered his gun a few inches.

“Nobody has to find out that you let us leave. You could have tried to stop us but we were too many,” Romero said suddenly.

“They will think I was scared and ran away, and that’s why you escaped.”

Luca gave Romero a small nod. “Not if you got wounded. We could shoot you in the arm. This was meant as an easy first job, nobody expects you to be capable of stopping the best fighters of New York. They won’t hold it against you if you got shot.”

“You want to shoot my brother?” Aria asked incredulously.

“What if you injure him seriously?” I added.

“I could hit the zit on his chin if I wanted to, I think I can manage to hit an unproblematic spot on his arm,” Matteo said with his shark-grin. “And we’re taking a risk by not just killing him, so an arm wound is really nothing.”

“So what do you say, Fabiano?” Luca asked quickly before Matteo could say more. None of the men had lowered their guns yet.

Fabi nodded slowly and aimed his weapon at the ground. “Okay. But I will have to call for help. I can’t wait more than a few minutes or they’ll get suspicious.”

“A few minutes should be enough for us to drive away,” Luca said. “They will follow us once they figure out what’s going on but five minutes will bring enough distance between us and them. Dante isn’t someone who likes fighting in the open, so I doubt he’ll send his men on a wild car chase. He’ll attack us later, once he’s figured out the best way to hurt us.”

My stomach tightened. All because of me. How selfish could a person be to let others risk so much for her?

Romero gave me an encouraging smile, but for once it didn’t manage to cheer me up. “War with the Outfit was inevitable. Things have gotten worse by the day.”

Luca looked over to us. “That’s true. If it weren’t for Aria and Gianna, Matteo and I wouldn’t even have come to Chicago for the wedding.”

That might have been the case, but Benito’s death would put fuel into the fire. Things would get very ugly now.

“Let’s do this now,” Matteo urged. “We’re wasting time.”

“I think we should move our shooting to the garage. Maybe that will buy us additional time. People won’t hear your scream as easily,” Romero suggested.

Together we headed for the door and down a flight of stairs into the underground garage. It wasn’t as big as the one I’d seen in New York. Despite our decision to work together, none of the men had put their guns back into their holder yet. When we stopped close to our two rental cars, I slipped out of Romero’s grasp and walked up to Fabi. I didn’t miss the way, Romero tensed and raised his gun, but I trusted Fabi. Maybe he was on his way to becoming a soldier of the Outfit, but he was also my little brother. That wouldn’t change. I hugged him and after a moment he wrapped his arms around me. In the last year, he’d avoided public displays of affection because he’d tried to act cool, but it felt good to have him close, especially since I didn’t know when I’d get another chance to see him.

“I’m sorry for getting you into trouble,” I whispered. “I wished things were different.”

“I never liked Benito,” Fabi said only. “Father shouldn’t have married you off to that guy.”

Suddenly Gianna and Aria were there too, and took their turns embracing us.

“We have to go now,” Luca reminded us.

I pulled away from Fabi and returned to Romero. He motioned for me to get into the car, while Aria and Gianna got into the other. I watched as they tried to figure out the best way to fake a shooting. Eventually Fabi fired two muffled shots, and then it was Romero’s and Matteo’s turn. When Matteo’s bullet, sliced through Fabi’s upper arm, I winced. My brother dropped his gun and fell to his knees, his face scrunched up in pain. Nothing about that was fake. Romero rushed toward our car and slid behind the steering wheel before flooring the gas. Luca pressed the button that made the garage doors slide open. Most guests had parked in the driveway so I worried that the sound would draw attention to our flight even before Fabi started screaming. I doubted anyone had heard the silenced shots through the thick ceiling of the underground garage. Romero steered our car up the slope and down the driveway. Matteo was behind the steering wheel of the other car and close behind us. We raced down the driveway, past a couple of drunk guests who sat on one of the marble benches on the side. My heart stuttered in my chest, but there was no time for worry. I clutched the seat as we drove off the premises at dizzying speed. I glanced through the rearview mirror, but the only car behind us was the one with my sisters and their husbands. “Nobody is following us,” I said.