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Igor shakes firmly. “I wish you all the best in your new endeavors,” he says, but I pause on the way to the door and look him dead in the eye.
“Don’t for a minute take this as a sign of weakness or retreat,” I tell him coldly. “If you overstep your boundaries, come after my family, or any Barretti men, in any way… All bets are off. I will burn your fucking castle to the ground.”
Igor takes it well. “I wouldn’t expect anything less.” He nods. “Send my regards to your wife,” he adds, showing me out. “I hear I have her to thank for keeping this agreement together and seeing off a costly war. And to that end…” he pauses.
“What?” I eye him warily.
“A little information I came by, a gesture of my goodwill, to help with your happy future.” Igor pauses, a smirk on his face. “You might want to ask yourself why, exactly, that rat of yours tried to kill you.”
“Vance?” I blink. “The question’s crossed my mind, believe me.”
Igor smiles wider. “It never made much sense, did it? A loyal soldier of your father’s, a man who always followed Barretti orders. Unless…” he pauses, with a knowing look. “Unless he was still following orders.”
The blood drains from my face. “What do you know?” I demand, but he shakes his head.
“Whispers, rumors, that’s all. But I’d be careful, if I were you.”
I clench my jaw. “Thank you. And no offence, but I hope I never lay eyes on you again.”
Igor’s laughter follows me out. “Touché, Mr. Barretti. The feeling is mutual.”
Still following orders…
I mull Igor’s words all the way to the next stop on my list. I wish I could write it off as some kind of mind game, trying to fuck with me one last time, but Igor has no reason to pull that shit now. I just handed him everything he wanted. He’s genuinely giving me a friendly warning.
The question is, what am I going to do about it?
I arrive at the prison, and take a moment there in the parking lot to get my shit together. Roman isn’t expecting me today, but I figured the element of surprise would be best. The man is difficult enough to handle on a normal day, but when he hears my news, he’s going to go ballistic.
I head inside, and wait in the visitation room for the guard to bring him in. This one has protective Plexiglass dividing us, and ugly orange chairs lining the table.
“You stupid little prick. What the fuck have you done?” he storms in, already furious.
I play it cool. “Hello to you too, Dad.”
“Don’t even call me that. You have no right,” Roman roars. For the first time in a long time, the man’s famous sense of control has shattered. He’s practically foaming at the mouth. “I heard the deal you did with those Kovack fuckers! You’re thrown it all away! Destroyed everything I built, for some goddamn whore—”
“Enough,” I roar back, getting to my feet. “It’s done.”
“Like fuck it’s done.” Roman slams his fist against the Plexiglass.
“It’s done,” I repeat. “There’s nothing you can do about it now.”
Roman wheels away, pacing. “Should’ve throttled the bitch when I had the chance,” he seethes. “Her and her rat father. Should’ve burned them in their sleep!”
I watch coolly. “Are you quite finished?” I ask.
He turns back. “You’d really do it, choose that cheap slut over your own family. Your own father?”
“Yes.” I stare back at him, my father. This lion of a man, now caged and resentful. He raised me. He trained me. He taught me to put the Barretti organization above everything, to fight and bleed for it.
And I did. I soaked my soul in the blood of our enemies. I thought it was my destiny, that I was doomed to a life of cold, empty evil.
Until she showed me I could be something more.
“I choose Lily,” I say it loudly, my voice ringing with conviction. “I choose her over you, a thousand times over. She’s my wife.”
Roman flinches like I’ve struck him, but he’s not done yet. “You’re pathetic,” he sneers. “Cunt-struck and weak. She’s made a mockery of you.” He spits in my direction, the saliva hitting the Plexiglass divider. “You’re no son of mine.”
