Chapter 57 Truth coming to light
Lila POV
My father’s eyes watered when he stared at Mrs. Moretti in horror. Me? My stomach had dropped to the soles of my feet, my heart pounding as if it wanted to break through my ribs.
Damon smiled. “We never planned on making any trade. Your father had been put under the impression that we would trade your life for his, but that was never our intention…was it, Nico?” He glanced over my shoulder at Nico, and I turned around to face him.
Dark eyes bore into mine. “No it wasn’t,” he admitted. “But things changed.”
“Oh, nothing has changed.” Damon ripped the gag from my father’s mouth. “Tell them. Tell them who had Nikolai murdered.”
Sobs wracked through my father’s body, his face cut and bruised from what looked like one hell of a beating.
“I’m sorry, Lila.” He swallowed hard. “I had him killed, but”
Damon stuffed the gag back in his mouth, and I no longer registered any voices, any sound . The only thing I heard was my father’s word, my father’s admission of what I had hoped like hell wasn’t true.
All this time, whenever nico told me about my father’s role in Nikolai death I didn’t believe it. I convinced myself that they were all wrong. But now, it seems that the only person who was wrong…was me.
“I think the man isn’t done speaking.” Uncle Lucas rounded the table to stand next to nico.
“Oh he is,” Damon replied with a hiss.
nico glanced at Uncle Lucas, then at me, and then looked at his mother. “Let the man speak.”
She shook her head. “We heard enough.”
nico walked up, menace and conviction plastered on his hard face. “I said, let the man speak.”
“I’m sorry, nico, I can’t allow that. And this brings us to another issue.” She glanced around the room as if she was addressing the whole crowd.
“I love my son dearly” her stare returned to him “but I no longer believe that you are the right leader for this family, and neither does the majority of everyone here. The responsibility of leading and protecting this family is no longer yours, my son.”
nico straightened his shoulders, but he didn’t say anything. The look of defeat on his face spoke volumes.
Why wasn’t he saying anything?
This wasn’t a goddamn democracy. How could they just decide that he was no longer the leader?
He was the one that told me they had certain rules they had to follow. Surely getting rid of the leader wasn’t so fucking simple
Damon stepped right up, putting his face inches from nico. “I’m sorry, brother, but you blew it. You are no longer in charge.”
And then nico smiled before laughing maniacally. “You think I didn’t know you would do this, that you would challenge me?”
“No challenge necessary, brother. It’s already done.”
“And I suppose if I challenge you, you will tell the rest of the family that I killed Rex.”
Gasps and curses erupted. Shivers broke out over my body as panic flared up, threatening to burn to me to ash.
A man I didn’t recognize jumped off his seat and yelled, “Where is my son? Where is Rex?”
Nico still smiled. “Well he sure as fuck isn’t here, Uncle Varos. And you know why? I killed him.
I put my gun against his head and pulled the motherfucking trigger. Go have a look, his corpse is probably still lying right there where I left him.” He turned to Damon. “Right, little brother?”
Men stormed out of the dining hall and it felt like all hell was starting to break loose. Nico glanced at Matteo, nodding his head.
And the next thing I knew Matteo grabbed my elbow and pushed me behind him, readying his gun…protecting me.
Nico looked back to face Damon, who seemed like he had been caught off-kilter. “I’m sorry, little brother. Did I let the cat out of the bag too soon? Were you saving that card for another day?”
Damon bit his lower lip, his fists balled. I was sure Damon would strike, but then his mother placed a hand on his shoulder easing him back.
A man came running back inside and whispered something to the man Nico referred to as Uncle Varos.
It all happened so fast, I hardly blinked. Varos pulled out a gun, aimed it at Nico, and my heart stopped. I went cold, numb, my head blank as I watched it all in horror.
A gunshot resounded, and I closed my eyes. There were screams and curses, and my heart shattered broken into a thousand pieces.
Please God…please God.
But when I opened my eyes, relief flowed through me like the stream of living water when I saw that Varos had collapsed, and Uncle Lucas held the gun that made the shot.
I was shocked at the relief I felt when I realized that nico hadn’t been hurt. There was a time that I would have applauded anyone who put a bullet in his chest, but now I feared it.
Uncle Lucas lowered his gun, and every man behind him had their guns aimed to the other side of the room. The scene in front of me was horrifyingly dramatic as I witnessed one family split in two.
“Now” Uncle Lucas turned toward Damon “let’s find out what really happened, shall we?”
Uncle Lucas nodded toward a man on his left, and the man walked over to my father. My heart pounded, and ice filled my insides.
The man removed the gag, and my father sucked in a breath.
Uncle Lucas walked forward. “Tell us, Mr. Falcone. Please tell us your side of the story.”
From the corner of my eyes I saw Nico move slightly back toward me and Matteo. I wondered if he felt the need to be close to me. Even after everything that happened and would probably still happen, I felt the need to be close to him, to feel him.
My father took a few more deep breaths. “Yes, I had Nikolai killed. But only because I was trying to protect my daughter.” He glared in Damon and Selena direction. “Nikolai didn’t love my daughter. The only thing he wanted was to get his filthy hands on my money.”
“Lies!” nico mother shouted.
“It’s the truth! He came to me with an ultimatum, telling me that if I didn’t give him two hundred million dollars, he would make sure lila married him. And once he slipped that ring on her finger, he would make her life a living hell while living off her trust fund.”
Nico mother stormed forward and slapped my father hard across the face. “Liar!”
“Selena, stop.”
“It’s all lies!” she shouted to Uncle Lucas. “Lies, lies, lies!”
Suddenly everything started to make sense. The lies Nikolai told me, the way he acted like the perfect fucking man, pretending like he had no idea who my family was. He knew how skeptic I was of people wanting to be a part of my life, thinking that all they saw when they looked at me was dollar signs.