Trapped in his End Game (Series)

VINCENT

The city sprawls out underneath me. The delivery trucks move to and from their destinations like the micro machines I used to play with as a boy. It used to puzzle me. To enthrall me. How could so many people live in such a small place?

Before, I didn’t understand that the city was mine. With the Rizzos gone, I’m staking out my claim. Anyone who has business with me knows to be on time, or I’ll break their fucking legs. Anyone who so much as sneers at me loses their teeth. I will not allow anything like the Rizzos to happen again, and this is how you do it.

Jack promoted me to underboss. I get a cut from all the capos, now. No more running bullshit errands-I spend most of my time making phone calls. The feds are watching us so closely, he sends me out to give his orders. I’ll deal directly with the other bosses until the heat cools on our backs.

Fucking Carmine.

Last I heard, he was trying to give orders from his jail cell.

Just because you shot Tony Rizzo, don’t make you Tony Rizzo.

I slip a phone out of my pocket, my thumb hovering over a name. Looking around, I don’t see my wife. She’s finally happy again, but there’s still an undercurrent of sadness in her eyes. There’s still the fact that that piece of human filth killed her father, and her mother is gone, too.

But I can bring her back. I could tell her that the Rizzos are gone. It’s safe for her.

Jack won’t like it.

I play with it in my hands, debating, deciding. She wants her mother back, I know it, and I can’t forget the way she begged me to take care of her daughter.

Finally, I open the phone and click on her name. It rings three times before she picks up.

“Yeah?”

“It’s me. Vincent.”

She sucks in breath. “You told me you would never call unless-”

“Adriana’s fine. We actually-we’re married.”

A moment of stunned silence follows my words.

“Congratulations.” There’s another beat of silence. “Can I talk to her, please?”

I shut my eyes against the pain in her voice. “Listen, I called because something changed. It’s safe for you to come back to New York, if you want.”

“What? Are you sure?”

“Yes, I’m sure. Come home and visit your daughter. I know she misses you.”

I hold the phone away from my ear as she breaks into sobs.

“Thank you. Oh, Vince, that’s all I wanted-”

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“I still haven’t forgotten what you tried to do to me. Our prior conditions still apply. No begging her for money. Your debts with the Rizzos are done.”

“I just want to see my daughter again.”

“You will. I’ll see you later. Goodbye.”

I close my eyes for a moment as I end the call, wondering if I’ve made a huge mistake. When I open them, I hear a noise. Crying.

Adriana stands behind me, holding her hands to her face as tears stream down her face. “You called my mom?”

Ah, shit.

“Yeah.”

She lunges at me and throws her arms around my neck, sobbing into my shoulder. “I can’t believe you’d do that for me.”

I sigh into her body, my arms wrapping around her waist. My heart clenches and releases. I’m just so relieved that it was the right decision. “I’m your husband. Of course, I would.”

Her burning face pulls back and she seizes my hair. “I love you so fucking much.”

She kisses me with a ferocity that surprises me and simultaneously makes my pants feel tight. My arms loop around her and I pick her up, placing her against the glass as her legs wind around me. She nearly yanks my hair out as she kisses me, but I respond just as passionately. My heart hammers against my chest. She moans into my mouth as I seize her lips and bite them.

“You fucking better.”