For the Empire - Inganno

Chapter 58

He rubs his hands on his thighs, taking a deep breath. "The look in her eyes before I pulled the trigger still haunts me to this day. The sound of her crying and begging me not to do it--still runs through my mind."

I wipe my eyes and sniff as I look out into the large acres of land. "Do you feel bad about it? When you kill people?"

Enzo looks down before looking back up at me, and his gaze is severe. "No."

I let out the air I was holding in and look away.

"Every person I have killed was not good, Stella. That's why you have to understand, I wasn't sent to kill you but to send a message to Timo. And by having me do it, Timo couldn't brush it off as he has over the years, from what I've heard."

"And you do know Cristian and Timo are like brothers. My Uncle didn't take the job from Bobby because that just what the Fratellanza does, although that's what Bobby thinks; it's because he wanted to know what Bobby's up to."

"Wait, so you're saying Timo knew you were behind the attack from the get-go?" I ask, starting to feel angry.

"No, no. He didn't; Timo reached out to my Uncle asking about the real identity of his number one assassin, Furia." He says, almost smiling. "Which I'm assuming you told him who I was, and that's when Cristian told Timo about Bobby setting his sights on you and Isabella."

"But if Bobby gave you the greenlight to kill my Uncle would you have done it?" I observe his face carefully. 

"Stella, my Uncle took the job knowing that was going to be a probability but we would have found a way around it. Faked his death, even. We've done it before." Enzo tells me.

I sit back, letting all that he's told me sink in, and then I look at him, "Are things better with your Uncle? Like he's nice to you, now?"

Enzo snorts, "Sure, I mean, Cristian has a funny way of showing "love," but yeah, I guess you can say things are better. Anyway, enough about my sad life. At least, you've had a charmed life, looks like." His voice is teasing and not judgmental.

It's my turn to snort. "It may appear like that, but it's far from that. I felt like a prisoner most of the time, until recently." My thoughts drift to JP.

Enzo seems to read my mind. "So you and JP, it's fairly new?" He asks me as I look over at the house, knowing he's probably watching; I smile and nod.

"He seems a little...intense, and that's saying something, coming from me. He's watching us right now, you know."

"Yes, I wouldn't doubt it." I chuckle, shaking my head. "He's just really passionate about anything or anyone he loves."

"Love?"

My face reddens as he watches me closely. "Isn't that a little fast?"

I shrug. "Not really. We've known each other and lived together in the same house since I moved in here; we know everything about each other."

Enzo laughs lightly. "You can't know everything about someone, Stella." He admonishes me, and I frown at him.

"Yes, you can. We knew everything about each other, didn't we?"

He looks at me thoughtfully. "I don't know. I mean, I didn't know who my own father was until that night, Stella."

I know he's right about that, but JP and I do know everything about one another.

"I think... in the end; we only think we know people." He tells me. "Alright enough, serious shit. What are your plans? You don't strike me as one that will be taking over your Uncle's business?" He says, taking another sip of his coffee.