Page 67 of Mafia Daddy

Then I make the decision.

Kobek is right.

If the Leones tracked us, staying here puts everyone in danger. I wipe my eyes, turn, and run back out to the car…

I jump behind the wheel, start the engine, and peel out of the parking lot. My hands are still shaking, but I grip the wheel tighter and make a beeline back toward the city. The satnav guides me onto the highway. I keep checking the mirrors, terrified I will see black SUVs closing in behind me.

The drive feels endless. Every mile is filled with worry for Kobek, for Maxim, for what this all means.

I try Maxim’s phone again. Still straight to voicemail.

The silence on the other end terrifies me more than the gunshots did.

What if something has happened to him? What if the Leones struck while we were upstate? What if I am driving toward even more danger?

Tears blur my vision, but I blink them away and keep driving.

I have to get back. I must find Maxim. I need to tell him what I remembered about that night at the compound… the argument, the phone call, the chilling finality in Paolo’s voice.

I press the accelerator harder, the engine roaring as I race toward the city.

I just hope Maxim is still there when I arrive.

21

MAXIM

The bar door explodes inward as we burst through it.

Michael is right beside me, gun already drawn. Six of my most trusted soldiers fan out behind us, weapons raised.

The dim lighting and haze of cigarette smoke make the scene inside crystal clear in a single heartbeat. Three senior Lentini men are sitting at a back table with four of my own generals, men I have fought beside for years. Bottles of vodka and plates of food are scattered across the table. They look comfortable…

Way too comfortable.

I know exactly what is going down.

One of my generals—Marko, a man I once trusted with my life—looks up and pales. The Lentini men reach for their weapons.

“It’s over, Maxim,” Marko says, voice steady but his hand trembling slightly on the table. “The Lentini family is taking over. With the cartel behind them. Forgive me, but you cannot win this.”

The words land like a betrayal I have been half-expecting but still cuts deep. I raise my pistol, aiming straight at him.

“You will die for this betrayal,” I say coldly. “You and every other treacherous piece of shit at this table.”

“No, it is you who will die,” Marko says, a scowl on his face as chaos erupts.

Gunfire explodes through the bar. My soldiers open fire immediately. The Lentini men are fast, but not fast enough. One of them gets off a shot that shatters a bottle behind the bar before a bullet from Michael takes him in the chest. He collapses backward, blood spraying across the table.

I move forward, firing twice.

One of my former generals dives for cover, but I track him and put two rounds into his back. He crumples. Another general tries to run for the back exit. I shoot him in the leg, dropping him, then finish him with a bullet to the head as he tries to crawl away.

The Lentini capo at the table pulls a pistol and fires wildly. A bullet grazes my shoulder, burning like fire, but I do not stop. I put three rounds into his chest, watching him slump over the table, dead eyes staring at nothing.

Michael is a machine beside me, dropping another traitor with precise shots.

My soldiers clear the room with ruthless efficiency. Bottles shatter. Tables overturn. Screams from civilians in the bar are drowned out by the thunder of gunfire. One of my men takes a hit to the arm but keeps fighting.