Chapter 7
532words
I sat in the front passenger seat, watching the scenery rush past outside the window. There wasn't a trace of pity in my heart, only the calm that came with a long-awaited reckoning.
The car stopped at the Medicis' private dock. A speedboat was already waiting there.
Fabrizio hauled Giovanna onto the deck and ordered his men to chain her tightly to a metal drum filled with concrete.
The sea wind howled, whipping her hair into a mess. As she stared at the pitch-black ocean ahead, real fear finally showed on her face.
"N-No, please! Fabrizio, I'm sorry, I really am! Please spare me! I'll do anything to make it up to you!"
"Make it up to me?" Fabrizio sneered.
He pulled the family pendant from his pocket, the same one she had ripped off me before.
"When you hurt my mother, did you ever think about making it up to her?"
He placed the pendant back around my neck, his fingers gently brushing my cheek.
"Mamma, I'm sorry."
Giovanna kept struggling and screaming threats. "Fabrizio! My father is the Don of the Valerys! If you kill me, he'll gather everything he has and wipe out the Medicis!"
"Then let him try," Fabrizio said coldly. "If the Valerys come at me, I'll bury every last one of them in the sea."
He ignored Giovanna's sobs and gave his men a signal.
"Throw her in."
The men lifted the heavy drum together and shoved it hard toward the ocean.
With a loud splash, the drum carrying Giovanna sank into the water. Ripples spread across the surface, then quickly disappeared, as if nothing had ever happened.
Fabrizio turned back and walked to my side, gently taking my hand. "Mamma, it's over."
I looked at his cold profile and nodded.
Three days later, Fabrizio and I were having tea and pastries in the villa.
Enzo rushed in, his expression grave. "Don Medici, we just got word. The Valerys have gathered a large armed force, and they're on their way here. They're saying they're here to avenge Giovanna."
Fabrizio's eyes instantly turned vicious. "Perfect. Saves me the trouble of hunting them down one by one. Pass the word. Gather every soldato we have and lock down the villa. Whoever comes, kill them!"
Back at the villa, Fabrizio settled me into the secure bedroom on the second floor. Not long after, heavy gunfire suddenly erupted outside, mixed with the sound of shattering glass.
Enzo burst through the door, his face drained of color. "Don Medici. The Valerys have broken in. They've got rocket launchers. The main gate's been blown open!"
Fabrizio immediately released my hand, stood up, and drew the twin pistols from his waist. "Mamma, stay here. I'll take care of them."
"Wait."
I stopped him, walked to the wardrobe, and pulled out a dust-covered case. When I opened it, a black mafia sidearm lay inside. It was the weapon I had carried back when I ruled the family.
"I'm coming with you. The Donna of the Medicis has never been someone who hides behind others."
