Mad Max - Sapphire Knight Page 0,62
didn’t kill him. I’m sure he realizes as much. There was a voice in the back of my mind telling me to take my vengeance, to make him hurt. I’m a better person than Max, however, so I made my point and walked away.
I’m an utter mess by the end of the funeral, wanting to wallow in my desolation alone. I attempt to block out the emotions as people begin to make their way over to me. This isn’t a wedding, nor a celebration of any other kind. I don’t want them to say shit to me, just leave me be! Rather than be rude, I think of how my parents would’ve expected me to act if this were another’s services.
I draw in a deep inhale, and exhale away the anger. I offer my hand to the made man before me. He’s a friend of my father. There’s more in attendance than I can count here. Surprising since Dante Vendetti has killed so many of our people. I can only imagine how the syndicate will respond to so much bloodshed.
I’m not the only one at a wake today. There’s been several throughout the city over the past few months. I’m sure Joker’s been a busy man, attending them all in an attempt to keep the peace within the syndicate and save face. I know it’s all merely to gain the remaining men’s allegiance, and it’ll work. They’re too scared to follow someone without a founding last name.
The Five’s deaths began randomly. One from a different famiglia each week, and then it changed, becoming obvious the Five Famiglias were being hunted down. Everyone went into lockdown, except for my famiglia, that is. We were stupid enough to believe we were all safe, that the Castelano line would remain strong.
Another man passes me, offering their sympathies, and then a woman from my mamma’s circle. She hands me a container full of cupcakes with a bow on top. I thank her when, in reality, I want to toss the goddamn cupcakes back at her. Danny takes the offering from me with a solemn glance before I can assault anyone with them.
“You should’ve died along with them. How’s it fair you get to survive, but my fiancée was slaughtered with her famiglia? It should’ve been you.” The words are declared with an angry snarl. I raise my eyes from the man’s hands to stare into his fuming espresso glower. I don’t know how to respond, my mouth agape as he continues to toss his words like burning sticks against my bare flesh.
A large palm lands on the middle of my back, and then half of my body’s shielded by this dominating presence. “I will peel your eyeballs from their bloody fucking sockets if you ever speak to my wife like that again. A threat against her is a threat towards me. Do you have a death wish, motherfucker?” Max seethes.
I stare at the back of his head, at his light hair, lost in the moment. When did he get here? I didn’t see him anywhere. Not that I expected him to be present, but surely I couldn’t miss him.
“Mr. Macintosh,” the sour jerk acknowledges, swiftly changing his tone.
“Enough,” Max growls. “Get away from her before you stop breathing.”
The man moves on down the line, flashing me a parting look. It clearly declares this isn’t over between us. I don’t know what he expects from me. It’s not as if I can bring his fiancée back or that I had any choice in the matter as to who died. Anyone could’ve married Max in my place, his fiancée included.
“You may leave. My wife needs to grieve her parents in peace,” Max declares to the rest of the people in the room. He spins around, taking my hands in his palm. “I won’t allow them to speak to you like that. You don’t deserve their bloody bullshit.”
I blink, staring up at him. This is the first time I’ve seen him since I left the apartment…since I shot him. He touches me as if we’re still together, like this is all natural for him. Perhaps it is. Being surrounded by death is the life of a mobster. I’d toyed with the fact of Max being a gangster, but it never hit home how much that title was true until we married. He is indeed the henchman to Joker’s rule, and that’ll never change I’m afraid.
“You have your wedding ring on?” he questions, gesturing to my left hand.