Married To The Devil I Hate

Chapter 18

The black car stops right outside the Cathedral of the Holy Name. The old church looks huge and dark against the grey sky, standing like a giant stone castle.

I sit in the back seat, smoothing down the front of my black coat.

Luca turns his head and looks at me. His bright blue eyes soften just a little bit, the harsh lines of his face relaxing as he reaches out to take my gloved hand.

"Stay close to me," Luca says, his voice in a low. "If this goes sideways, Marco and the boys will take you out the back."

"I'm not running, Luca," I say, my voice steady. "We finish this."

Luca gives a short, tight nod. He pushes his door open and steps out into the cold air first. He reaches back, holding the door open for me, his arm acting like a shield against the wind.

Marco and four of our top guards fall into step right behind us, their boots clicking loudly against the stone steps of the church.

We push open the heavy doors and step inside.

The air inside the cathedral is freezing and smells like faintly of old candle wax and dust. Rows of empty wooden pews stretch out toward the front, where a big altar stands beneath a towering window of colored glass.

I expect to see armed men hiding in the dark. I expect a gunfight.

Instead, I see three old men sitting quietly in the front row, wearing black suits that look out of place in the holy building. And sitting right in the center of the altar, looking smug and pathetic, is my father.

Vincenzo looks older than he did a weeks ago. His silver hair is messy, his suit a little too loose. But the hateful look in his eyes when he sees us hasn't changed at all.

Luca and I walk down the middle aisle, our footsteps echoing off the high stone ceiling. Marco and the guards stop by the entrance, blocking the doors.

We stop ten feet away from the altar.

"Vincenzo," Luca says, his voice ice cold. "You called a meeting. You said you wanted to surrender."

Vincenzo stands up slowly, leaning his hands on the altar. He doesn't look at me. He keeps his hateful eyes locked on Luca.

"I didn't call this to surrender to a f*****g animal like you, De Santis," Vincenzo spits out, his voice shaking with anger. "I called a tribunal."

One of the old men in the front row stands up. It’s Don Salvatore, the head of the National Commission, a man who has ruled the East Coast families for forty years. He looks at Luca with a stern, tired face.

"He's right, Luca," Salvatore says, his voice echoing in the empty church. "Under the old Commission rules, you broke the sacred laws. You wiped out the Costa family without a formal vote. And you burned down The Red Room, destroying millions in assets. You are acting like a goddamn warlord."

My stomach drops. I look around the church, realizing the horrifying truth.

Vincenzo didn't call a meeting to surrender. Just as I suspected. He brought the Heads of the National Commission here to put Luca on trial. If Luca draws a weapon in this holy place, or if he kills my father right now, he breaks the ultimate underworld law. The entire American mafia will declare war on the De Santis family.

My father smiles, a sick, winning smirk spreading across his face. He thinks he just won.

"You're done, Luca," Vincenzo sneers, standing up straight. "The Commission is going to strip you of your territory. And my daughter comes back to me."

"Like hell she does," Luca growls, a murderous rage flashing in his eyes. He takes a half-step forward, his hand dropping toward the hidden gun beneath his coat.

"Luca, stop," I whisper sharply, grabbing his sleeve.

Luca freezes, looking down at me.

I step past him, walking closer to the altar. I look right at my father. I look at the sweat on his forehead, even though the church is freezing. I look at the way his fingers are nervously tapping against the stone altar, checking his watch every three seconds.

Why is he checking his watch?

My mind races. My father is a coward. He is paranoid. He would never sit in a room with three Commission bosses unless he had an absolute guarantee that he was walking out alive.

And then it hits me.

My father knows Luca won't kill him here because of the Commission rules and Me. So how does my father win? How does he get rid of Luca and the Commission bosses all at once, so he can take back Chicago without anyone stopping him?

He isn't planning a trial. He's planning a m******e.

My eyes dart up toward the ceiling. Near the top of the walls, hidden behind the stone carvings, are the church's old air vents. I notice a faint, strange sound coming from them—a tiny, steady hiss of gas that has nothing to do with the wind.

Nerve toxin.

My father didn't bring weapons into the church because he didn't need them. He hired someone to fill the air vents with a fast-acting, deadly poison gas. In less than two minutes, everyone in this building—Luca, the Commission bosses, and me—will be dead on the floor.

Pure terror flashes through my chest, instantly replaced by a blinding fury. My own father is willing to kill me just to get to Luca.

"You stupid bastard," I whisper, my voice cutting through the silent church. Vincenzo blinks, his smirk fading. "What did you call me?"

"You didn't bring us here for a trial," I say, stepping right up to the base of the altar, pointing a shaking finger at my father’s face.

"You rigged the vents, you f*****g psycho! You're trying to gas everyone in this damn church!"

The three Commission bosses gasp, stepping backward in horror.

"What is she talking about?" Don Salvatore demands, glaring at my father. "Romano, what the f**k is this?!"

"She's lying!" Vincenzo stammers, losing all his color. He checks his watch again with a wild panic. "She's just a crazy, brainwashed b***h, don't listen to—"

"Shut your f*****g mouth!" Luca roars.

In one fast, terrifying motion, Luca draws his gun. But he doesn't point it at Vincenzo. He aims straight up at the high ceiling and fires three loud shots.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The gunshots echo off the walls like thunder, shattering the glass near the vents and tearing the metal grates away from the wall. A thick, sweet-smelling white cloud billows out of the duct, hissing into the open air.

Don Salvatore and the other bosses cough violently, stumbling back toward the pews as they realize the truth.

"It's a trap!" Salvatore yells, choking on the air.

"Romano tried to assassinate us!"

Vincenzo panics completely. He realizes his plan is ruined. He lunges across the altar, grabbing a hidden gun from beneath the stone, screaming at the top of his lungs: "Kill them! Kill them all!"

Before my father can even lift his gun, the doors at the back of the cathedral burst open.

Marco and our guards didn’t wait. The sound of gunfire makes them rush inside.

"Ambush!" Marco yells, drawing his weapon.

Vincenzo’s hidden men pop up from the back pews, pulling out submachine guns. The church instantly turns into loud chaos. Bullets shred through the ancient wooden pews, sending wood chips flying everywhere. The sound of shattering glass and screaming echoes off the high ceilings.

"Get down!" Luca shouts, grabbing me by the waist and violently tackling me behind the thick stone base of the altar.

The heavy stone blocks shield us as a storm of bullets hits the marble inches above our heads.

"Marco! Flank the left aisle!" Luca roars over the gunfire, his voice completely calm in the middle of a warzone.

"On it, Boss!" Marco yells back.

I press my face against Luca’s chest, my heart beating fast. I can feel the hard, solid wall of his body protecting me. He shifts his weight, keeping me pinned safely beneath him while he leans around the corner of the altar, raises his gun, and fires two fast, deadly shots.

Across the church, two of Vincenzo’s hired gunmen drop instantly to the stone floor.

Don Salvatore and the other bosses are hiding behind the front pews, completely terrified, watching the man they just accused of breaking the rules literally save their lives.

My father realizes his men are losing. Panic takes over his face. He grabs a duffel bag from behind the altar, turns on his heel, and starts running toward the private door behind the stage—the entrance to the old crypt tunnels.

"He's running!" I yell, looking up at Luca.

Luca’s eyes lock onto my father’s back. A dark, terrifying smile touches his lips.

"Not today," Luca grows.

He stands up from behind the altar, dodging a stray bullet, and fires a single shot that shatters the lock on the vestry door just as Vincenzo tries to pull it open. The door swings wide, trapping my father’s arm in the wood. Vincenzo screams in pain, dropping his bag and falling to his knees.

The gunfire in the main church slowly dies down as Marco and our guards take out the last of Vincenzo’s men. The air is thick with smoke, the smell of gunpowder, and the sharp scent of the failed gas.

Silence falls over the cathedral, broken only by heavy breathing and my father's whimpering from the doorway.

Luca walks slowly down the aisle, his heavy boots clicking against the bloody stone floor. He holds his gun at his side, looking like an angel of death.

Don Salvatore stumbles out from behind a pew, coughing heavily, his suit covered in dust. He looks at the dead bodies around him, and then he looks at Luca.

"You..." Salvatore wheezes, his voice shaking with shock and thanks. "You saved our lives, Luca."

Luca doesn't even look back at the old man. His cold, piercing eyes are locked entirely on Vincenzo, who is clutching his bleeding arm on the floor.

"The meeting is over, Salvatore," Luca says, his raspy voice echoing through the ruined church. "And the trial is finished. Take your men and get out of my city."

Don Salvatore swallows hard, nods fast, and hurries his surviving men out the front doors, leaving my father behind.

I walk up beside Luca, my heels clicking softly against the floor. I look down at Vincenzo, who is shaking on the ground, bleeding and completely beaten.

"You ruined everything," Vincenzo whimpers, looking up at me with pathetic, tear-filled eyes.

"I'm your father..."

"You traded me away like i meant nothing to you, father," I say coldly, my voice completely flat. "And then you tried to blow up a church just to kill my husband."

Luca looks down at me, a fierce, burning pride shining in his blue eyes. He reaches out, wrapping his large, warm hand around my waist, pulling me tight against his side.

"Marco," Luca commands, not taking his eyes off Vincenzo.

"Yeah, Boss?" Marco steps forward, wiping a smear of blood off his cheek.

"Drag him, We are taking him back to the estate's basement bunker," Luca orders, his voice dropping into a dark, final tone. "My wife has a score to settle."