Their Little Princess

Chapter Fifty-One

Sandro has his gun pointed toward Dante, the friendship bracelet on his arm a strict contrast to the death his hand promises.

"Put the knife down," He says.

Elijah doesn't have a gun in his hand, but his hand is ready to grab the one on his side at any moment. He edges closer. Dante seems calm.

"What do you want, Dante?"

The smile on Dante's face is unnerving, "Come on Alessandro, you're a smart boy. You know what I want. Give it to me, and the girl is all yours."

My eyes are welling with tears, but my body feels so heavy, I don't have the strength to attempt to fight back. It's as if that was Dante's goal. Was it? To break me down to the point where any will I had left to fight for this life was gone?

Did he succeed?

"What about your family? Do you think any of us will be on your side after this?"

"Emilio, come on. Let's not move forward with the false pretense that any of you hold me on any pedestal anyway. You all favored Lorenzo, as a son, a father, an uncle, a brother."

"But Lorenzo cared about you, and you'd kill his only daughter? After killing him?!" Elijah says, the fury in the last part is evident, but he stays level.

"Please," Dante scoffs, "Lorenzo had favorites, it was never me. It was as if Alessio was his only brother, he treated me like a co-worker. You all did, you still do. Don't you think it's only fair that I get the business? I've worked my way to this point, and I deserve to be rewarded."

His grip tightens on the back of the rope, and a small broken sound of pain escapes me, "Ale, please," I plead. The pain on my ribs is worse than it was before. And it's not the worse pain I've ever felt, but right now in this moment, I feel like I could faint from it.

My heart isn't racing, but I can feel it thudding against my ribcage like a sickening drum. Alessandro's shoulders stiffen and his gun stance becomes sturdier. "You're family, and I don't want to kill you. But I'm not giving you my father's business—"

"You don't understand?!" Dante says, the desperation is his voice is almost pitiful, "You shouldn't have inherited the business in the first place! The mafia was mine! I gave my life to this mafia, I carry out every important aspect of it. One after another, this family has done nothing but screw me over. Your father left you his mafia, Daniel caused every one of my plans to fall through when he made that deal to sell Madison, if it was up to me, I'd have Daniel killed right now, and once I get the business, I will, and then Elena—" He cuts off, shaking his head and walking back a little bit. In this moment, he looks insane, and I feel like a fool for ever trusting this man. 

Maybe if I'd stopped for a second, if I hadn't been so caught up in this stupid fantasy world, I'd have recognized how much bitterness he held in his eyes. The hatred he felt toward this family, I could have noticed it if I was paying more attention. I could have noticed it if I...If I hadn't been so happy at the time. So happy to just have a family, I could have noticed all of this and prevented us from getting here.

"Elena what?" Elijah says. It's so odd. Because it seems like he's buying time, but there's no way he could sneak up on Dante from right here, he can see him.

"You think Elena hated Maddie?" He shakes his head with a scorned scoff. He takes an envelope out of his pocket, dropping it at my feet in anger, "I took that from the house after I had her killed. Let me tell you right now, Alessandro, that Luis only gave his business to Maddie because Elena gave him no choice. Elena was a double-crosser. She always has been and I should have known better than to think she laid everything out for me. I should have known better than to think any of you were worth anything!" His shouts cause me to flinch against the rope, causing a shooting pain to shoot up my neck, "Your father knew where Maddie was. I bet he didn't tell you that, did he? He was working behind the scenes, he didn't tell any of us anything! So just give me the business, Alessandro, your father was a worthless man, you have no reason to defend his business."

But my attention is elsewhere. The envelope. What's inside of it? What does he mean when he says Luis gave me his business. One of the million things rushing through my head at once.

"Just put the gun down and we can work out a plan that doesn't involve you killing your own 13 year old niece."

"13? Oh, no no no," Dante says mockingly, "14 now, no? Happy birthday, Maddie. Maybe you'll live to celebrate it, if your brothers choose you over their business, right?"

But I know it's not that simple. I don't understand all of this yet, maybe I never will, but it runs deeper than just choosing a company over me? They have lives in their grasp, blood on their hands, I'm not worth more than the millions of lives they've cut off, the people they've hurt or the ones they swear to protect.

My chair jolts so suddenly it feels as though everything in me lurches at once. There's a thud as Dante hits the ground and Xander makes a reach for the gun in his hand. But Dante is quicker, turning the situation and blindly firing the gun. It hits Xander's shoulder and he staggers back, hitting the wall.

Dante jumps up, rushing towards where I'm sitting in the chair but in the moment of terror, I can't scream, I can't move, it's as if I'm not really living in this moment, just watching wide-eyed, frozen in time, tears sit in my eyes, but I don't blink and let them fall, I just watch.

There's a loud sound, causing me to wince again, and I realize it was Sandro who fired this time, the bullet goes directly through the back of his head and exits square between his eyes. Dante's body hits the hard concrete floor with a sickening thud that sends a wave of sickness through my body.

My brothers rush over immediately, Elijah unties the rope, but the pressure isn't relieving, it makes the pain in my torso worse now that there's nothing restricting it, I want to cry at the thought that they could be broken again. But any thought of the pain dissipates when Sandro hugs me. I expect it to be quick and fleeting, but he doesn't let go.

I've never hugged Sandro before, this was a moment I didn't think I would ever get. I want to be happy about it, but I'm not. Emilio is over by where Xander is on the floor, his head back against the wall with his eyes shut in pain as Emilio treats the bullet wound right by his heart but I just stay still and try to be in this moment, hugging Sandro back, my hands clutch the back of his blazer and I squeeze my eyes shut. Maybe when I open my eyes, this will all have been a dream. He stands up, not allowing me to, not that I'd have the strength to stand on my own, he simply carries me in that same position.

I try not to look at Dante's body on the floor as we walk out.