Chapter 29: Chapter 29

The shabby, rundown shack of a home on the edge of Brooklyn makes me despise Hera and Saul for what they’re doing.

‘You know the funny thing is, this is where they were supposed to take you originally,’ Saul says after nearly an hour of silence. There’s a wooden chair I get to sit in while feeding Ava. Once she finishes, I wrap her against my body once more. If I have to make a run for it, I won’t be able to bring that car seat.

‘What do you mean?’ Hera asks Saul.

I shake my head. ‘What? You didn’t know this is his second kidnapping attempt?’

‘Second?’ Hera glares at Saul from head to toe as he stands beside a window, peering out every so often from behind wooden slats nailed over them to keep vagrants out. She laughs. ‘What’s the matter? Couldn’t get it right the first time?’

She has to antagonize everyone around her.

‘Shut the fuck up, or you can leave,’ Saul warns her.

‘You wouldn’t even know this bitch was still alive if it weren’t for me. You better show me some Goddamn respect,’ Hera curses at Saul and turns to me. ‘And you. How the hell did you bait my son into putting a baby in you?’

‘She did it to spite me,’ Saul replies.

‘You?’ Hera’s disbelief matches my own. ‘Ha. I can look at you and tell that you ain’t got shit on my Valley boy. He’s good stock. You? You’re the leftover spunk and garbage your parents decided to shit out into this world. My baby’s a billionaire. Whether he hates me or not, loves me or disowns me, you’re a lesser man, Saul Cuh-POO-Toe.’

‘Are you high?’ I ask her.

‘Always,’ Hera says with a wicked grin. ‘Who the fuck wants to live this life sober?’

I do.

‘Have you always been high?’ I ask her.

‘Nope. After Vincent put my face through my first wall, they gave me the good stuff. Fifty milligrams of somethin’.’ Hera nods at the fond memories of drugs first coursing through her blood. Which, of course, she has to share. ‘It’s like, well, you know. You just had a baby. Imagine the epidural numbness without the needle. It doesn’t last as long and it’s damn near not as strong, but holy shit. I remember it like it was yesterday.’

Saul cuts her off. ‘Please spare us episodes from a junkie. What are you doing here, anyway? I told you that you’d get your cut as soon as Valentino calls and drops the money.’

‘He’s coming for her, and I want cash,’ Hera says.

To that, for the first time ever, Saul and I both burst into laughter. However, I quiet down quickly to avoid jostling Ava around.

‘You’re out of your fucking mind if you think you’re getting cash out of Valentino,’ I tell her, shaking my head.

‘Oh I am, because I got you babe,’ she sings.

Saul eyes me and shrugs. ‘I have no plans of hanging around once that notification hits from Dimitri.’

‘Dimitri? The owner of the club. He’s in on this too?’ I ask Saul. The man looks like an extra from an ’80s cop show, but somehow, traitor doesn’t ring true for him.

Saul tips his head back and forth. ‘Not really. I just told him to give Valentino my account information for the transfer. He doesn’t ask questions.’

‘But the global banking system does. Hell, even those crypto bros are going to hit Reddit asking about a large transfer like that, right?’ I ask him. I don’t know how wealth works, but something tells me that twenty million dollars doesn’t just change hands from one person to another.

‘It’s a setup, darlin’,’ Hera says out of nowhere.

Saul turns to her as if she just peeked under his skirt.

I gasp. ‘Of course it is. He’s the CEO of an international corporation. He can’t touch that kind of money without setting off all kinds of alarm bells.’

‘Tit for tat pussy cat,’ Saul beams with a shrug of his shoulders. ‘I get hit with a RICO case the same weekend your parents and you disappear. No. He has to go under the magnifying glass too. Fuck him. Fuck you. Fuck La Familia. I hope you all die a painful death like that video should have showed. It was great production value. Did your boy toy tell you what he did to my guy Jimmy?’

‘I don’t care,’ I tell him, shaking my head. I’m secretly willing for Val not to pay the money, not to do anything stupid that makes Saul come out of this unscathed.

‘After your so-called death, I started getting packages. A finger, a testicle, you name it and he sent it. Started getting creative with the compositions too. Sometimes two body parts were stitched together.’

I shook my head. ‘You’re wrong. That’s not Val.’

He takes pain. I’m certain he can dish it out, but playing with dead body parts is not his thing. I know that much about him.

The phone rings before Saul can say anything else about his packages. Saul answers the call eagerly. ‘Yeah, is the money there?’

I can hear the voice on the other end, telling Saul with laughter, ‘You are going to die, slowly and painfully, but yes, the money is there. Check your account.’

The call disconnects and the minute Saul swipes across the screen. There’s glee in his eyes as he turns to me, gun in hand.

‘You can’t kill her dip shit,’ Hera says. ‘Val’s not going to let you keep the money anyway, but what do you think he’s going to do if you kill her? Besides, I still need to get my money. You owe me, Caputo.’

Saul sighs and points the gun from me to Hera, and pulls the trigger. I scream. Ava jolts awake and cries as all hell breaks loose.

I dive under the nearest table, using Ava’s car seat as a shield of sorts while cradling her head against me. There are shouts, shots, and screams of chaos ripping through the air as I cower under a table waiting for the love of my life to save us.

The movements are swift, and the thunderous rumble of several pairs of boots along with beams of light accompanies the sounds of shattering of windows and doors being knocked off their hinges. My man is here. No one takes off a door like Valentino.

‘Stay put, Lia.’ Valentino’s voice is like a wave of calm crashing over me as I hear the noises of Saul’s demise. I catch the end of Don Saul Caputo. He kneels in surrender with his hands in the air as Valentino plunges a knife through his sternum and drags it up to his throat.

I turn away from the gruesome scene, opting to bask in the joy of being alive with my daughter nuzzling against my body sound asleep to the sounds of gunshots. A true New Yorker indeed. The table moves from over my head as Valentino bends down to take us in.

‘You’re bleeding,’ I tell him, touching him gently on the side of his face.

‘Yeah,’ he sighs. ‘I would ask why my mother’s here, but I think she’s the missing piece to the puzzle.’

‘Shit, you transferred the money? Can you get it back? Like undo it? Saul wanted the large amount to look fishy and open you up to an investigation,’ I ramble out the information I learned from my captors.

‘I love you. We’ll talk about it, I promise,’ he says and leads me out of the rundown shack, commanding men all over the place and sliding into the back seat of a car beside me.

Later that night, as we make ourselves comfortable at the beach house in the Hamptons, Valentino walks around the perimeter, talking to his security team before coming inside.

‘I’m going to buy the properties next door. We can tear this little shack down,’ he says.

‘No. I like it. I fell in love with you right here. It’s where I lost my virginity. The new memories trump the old ones. We don’t have to live here, but don’t tear it down. Make it a guest house. I’m sure Frankie will love it, or Cecilia.’

‘Or even your parents?’ he adds. ‘Speaking of Cecilia, she’s been on the phone with her friend, Jeff, to bring your parents out of WITSEC since Saul isn’t alive to stand trial. His goons and whoever’s left in his organization will be indicted. We have the support of La Familia, from the other three dons and myself, the Caputo family won’t stand a chance if they go to war.’

‘What about Hera?’ I ask him.

‘She can burn in hell, right in that shack.’ He shrugs.

‘She told Saul about me and the baby.’

He pours us both a glass of wine that I’m grateful to have. It will force me to pump and dump this milk. I don’t want any of today’s energy sitting inside of me, and I need to purge it all. So I drink the wine, grateful to have enough milk already pumped and frozen.

‘I figured that out when I saw her there. Me and Armande were in a car accident. Hit from the back, T-boned from the side, spun around, and hit by the same car that T-boned us. He’s going to be fine.’

‘Shit. What about you?’ I ask him.

‘Don De Luca showed up to clear the scene for La Familia. Saul has a big mouth when he’s angry. He let everyone know he was breaking away from the family because they sanctioned me to hit him for kidnapping you. Saul was watching Armande watch him. My guys who were on your detail were so busy watching you and trying to stay out of the way, they didn’t realize Saul had people on them too. That slimy little fuck was a great strategist.’

‘And the money?’ I ask him. ‘Are we going to have to explain the transfers? Are you going to be in trouble or something?’

He leans down, kissing me ever so gently on the lips. ‘Nope. That was Dimitri doing me a favor. He’s not a fan of trafficking, and kidnapping falls under that umbrella.’

‘But the auction? He hosted it!’

‘Lia, you were the only person there coerced into that and that’s why Saul had you show up so late, so Dimitri couldn’t vet you and ask you too many questions. Dimitri would have never let that shit fly, but then again, if Saul hadn’t been his typical slimy self, I wouldn’t have you. Or Ava. I’m grateful he’s dead, and this part of our lives is finally over.’

‘Me too.’

Valentino smiles as he kneels in front of me.

‘If you ask me for my phone number, I’m going to slug you,’ I tell him.

‘You promise? Lia Bonetti, do you promise to hit me where it hurts? Let me fuck you till it—no wait, that’s a bit too dirty for what I have in mind.’

Valentino clears his throat and pulls out a velvet ring box. ‘Lia Bonetti, mother of my child, joy of my life. I had no idea that today’s chaos would make me see things so clearly. The threat of living one more minute without you as my fiancée, my wife, is a minute too long. I love you, and as we grow into our family, will you do me the honor of making it official? Will you marry me?’

‘Yes, Valentino. I will.’