Page 274 of Marcello

I saw Cesare tense with rage – and then he raced ahead of us.

“You want a car? I’ll get you a fuckin’ car!”

He hid his gun behind his back, dashed into the street, and stepped into the path of a sedan barrelling towards him.

I prayed to God that it would run him over –

But the Devil must have been protecting him, because the car squealed to a stop just a few feet away.

The driver leaned out the open window. “What the fuck’re you – ”

Cesare pulled out his gun and shot the driver in the head.

The guy’s body went limp, and his head hung down from the open window.

His foot must have slipped off the brake, because the car started to roll forward.

Cesare opened the door and pulled the body out onto the ground.

“DRIVE!” he screamed at me.

I ran over to the still-moving car, jumped behind the wheel, and slammed on the brakes long enough for Cesare and Lucrezia to get in the back.

Then I roared off.

Cesare laughed. “Now get us the fuck back to Naples!”

It took a long time before I stopped trembling. Whether it was from horror, terror, or rage, I couldn’t tell.

Interestingly enough, Cesare never once asked about Ciro.

Ten minutes later, Cesare was still recounting what he’d done to the pregnant woman – like he was proud of it.

“I would’ve loved to see Rosolini’s face when he saw what I did to his bitch!” he crowed.

I strongly considered slamming the car into a light pole, or driving us over a cliff.

At 70 mph, I figured that would be enough to kill us all –

Which we would all richly deserve. Me included.

The only thing that stopped me was thoughts of Giulietta.

She was still trapped, and I was the only one who could get her out.

That was the sole reason I kept driving.

A few miles outside of Florence, Lucrezia called Cicciobello and put him on speakerphone. He had survived, but he’d lost half his men.

“The cops killed them?” she asked, stunned.

“Them and the Rosolinis.”

“What the fuck do you mean, ‘the Rosolinis’?” Cesare barked.

“I think it was Adriano and Massimo. It was a super pissed-off guy and a giant, plus a bunch of their dudes.”

“God DAMN IT!” Cesare screamed.