Chapter 618: I Think They’ll Be Fine

"I think they’ll be fine." Vee said. "It will take time, but they’ll find their way."

She was probably right.

A quiet night away sounded nice, though. More than nice.

"A night away would be nice," he admitted, "but I still have a lot of things to get done."

"You’re still looking for a way to shield me from what is going to happen, aren’t you?"

"Actively."

Vee sighed. "Luca."

He shifted slightly so he could look at her properly. "Killing your sister will break you. You think you can handle it now because you’re angry. Because you feel betrayed. But anger passes. The memory won’t."

This was not about weakness. It was not about whether she was capable.

She could pull the trigger if she forced herself to.

And afterward, she would have to live with the fact that the person on the other side had been the little girl she defended and loved for most of her life.

"Ask Massimo," Luca said more quietly. "He did what needed to be done with Julian, his own son, and it haunts him every day. Doing what the rules demand doesn’t mean you stop being human afterward. Nonnina told me that." Luca added. "It doesn’t mean you don’t wake up years later and see their face."

Vee swallowed.

What happened when the anger ran out.

Luca reached for her hand. "Just trust me."

"I do."

Whatever else she struggled with, that part had never been difficult.

She rested her head against his chest once more.

Luca wrapped an arm around her and placed the other on her stomach.

*****

Voss had thought he was done with the Genovese family. He had thought wrong.

No one was ever truly done with the Genoveses. They simply disappeared long enough to make you believe you had escaped them, then another one showed up with in a way that somehow ended with your career hanging by a thread.

This time, it was Carol Montgomery. Meeting Luca’s mother for the first time had been an experience all on its own.

Voss had learned enough by now to distrust anything a Genovese willingly handed him.

Veronica had taught him that lesson months ago.

He had believed she was helping him, only to realise much too late that she had played him beautifully and led Luca straight to Tony.

That humiliation still irritated him. So when Carol came with information, Voss listened, but every instinct he possessed told him to look for the knife hidden behind the gift.

These people lived by omertà. It was not some dramatic mafia phrase thrown around to scare outsiders. It was a rule ingrained into them from childhood. Silence protected the famiglia. Silence kept people alive.

Carol, however, was not sworn to it.

Neither had Valentina. That was the loophole. Still, he had to check Carol’s information. If there was even the slightest chance of saving Valentina, he could not ignore it.

Carol had been dramatic about that part.

According to her, if anything happened to Valentina, it would destroy Marco.

Maybe.

Voss could believe that. He genuinely wished Valentina had not gone rogue.

They had been getting somewhere.

Maybe not fast enough, but somewhere. Even after the situation with Vito had fallen apart, they could have adjusted. Found another angle. Built something better.

They could still have taken Luca down.

Instead, Valentina had decided to start improvising. Now Voss was sitting in his car again, staring at the Bastione Casino.

He had kept the place under constant surveillance for the past few days.

Carol said Valentina was being held by the Bastiones but she had no idea where, and when she was moved, Voss would receive a notification.

That was his opening.

He could intercept the transfer, arrest Valentina and everyone involved in moving her, then start untangling the rest from there.

On paper, it made sense. It would of course make perfect sense right up until the moment someone realised Luca had designed the entire thing.

Voss shifted in his seat and kept his eyes on the casino entrance. He had extra units available if he needed them. He had people watching the roads around the property. He had already run through several possible routes they might use. He was prepared.

At least, he hoped he was. Because somewhere beneath all of that preparation sat the irritating feeling that he was being used again.

Carol had seemed convincing.

Then again, Veronica had been convincing too.

The women around Luca Genovese came equipped with natural acting ability.

Voss looked through the windshield at the casino.

People came and went. Nothing unusual.

He checked the time, then returned his attention to the entrance.

*****

Massimo stood at the entrance to Luca and Vee’s bedroom. "It’s time."

Luca remained at the door, staring his father down. "Don, I’ll do it. Let me do it."

"She does it. There is no other way. She was the one betrayed."

Luca turned towards Veronica.

She was standing near the dresser, smoothing her dress with nervous hands even though there was nothing wrong with it. She had already adjusted the fabric twice. Vee pulled open the drawer.

Inside was her Donna gun. It was ridiculous, really, how much meaning a piece of metal could carry.

The first time she had held it, it had felt like a symbol of the woman she was becoming. Now it felt heavier.

She reached for it. Her fingers trembled as she exhaled slowly, staring down at the weapon in her hand. Her first kill would be her own sister.

Not someone whose face would eventually fade from memory.

Valentina.

The girl she had nurtured most of her life.

Matteo’s mother.

Vee tightened her grip around the gun before slipping it into her purse.

When she turned around, both men were watching her.

Luca looked like he was suffering right along with her.

"Give us a minute, please," she said to Massimo. "I’ll be right out."

Massimo gave a small nod and stepped away from the doorway.

The moment he was gone, Luca crossed the room.