LOGINThat stab wound didn't kill Antonio after all.A public hospital in Sicily stitched him up, but he was left partially disabled.The infection damaged the nerves in his abdomen. His right leg was permanently crippled, and he could move only by dragging it along the ground, inch by inch.Whenever it rained in Sicily, the old wound hurt like hell, and only the cheapest painkillers got him through it.I never would have known any of this, but one day, as I passed through the garden, I overheard the estate guards gossiping about him.They said Antonio had never left Sicily.He lived in a drafty shack and got by hauling crates of fresh fish packed in ice for local fishermen.Every morning at first light, he'd drag his bad leg up the mountain road and gather a bouquet of white camellias.Then he'd walk for more than an hour and quietly leave the flowers in a corner by the estate gate.After that, when I went out in the car now and then, I'd catch a glimpse of that familiar figure in the rearv
Leonardo, who'd rushed back, came to stand beside me and looked down at the man on the floor."While the Sabatino family was making its move, the Carbone family's North American branch finished taking over seven rackets in New York. After today, the Vescari name will be dead in New York."Antonio looked up, disbelief all over his face."So... I've got nothing left?"He said it so quietly I could barely hear him."No more Vescari family. No more Don... nothing."Then he laughed suddenly."All I've got left is my life."Before the words had left his mouth, he grabbed the knife he'd thrown on the floor and drove it into his lower abdomen!Panic shot through me. "Antonio! Are you insane?"I gripped the armrests, staring at him as if he'd lost his mind.Blood gushed from the wound and soaked half his white shirt in an instant.He had stabbed the exact spot where the bullet had hit me seven years earlier and cost me my uterus.The hall went silent.Antonio doubled over in pain and coughed up
I dove to the side.But he was faster. His finger was already on the trigger.My face went grim.Antonio, still kneeling and white as a sheet, suddenly lunged at him like a madman.Without a moment's hesitation, he hurled himself at the gunman.I froze as the two of them crashed onto the dining table, sending dishes flying everywhere.The impact knocked the gun from Danny's hand and sent it skidding across the carpet."Who said you could point a gun at her?"His face cold, Antonio pulled the knife he always kept in his boot and drove it down.The blade went straight through Danny's right wrist, and he screamed.Danny curled up in pain, but Antonio pulled the knife out and slashed the tendons in his left wrist."Who do you think you are? You're nothing but an animal. You think you've got the right to point a gun at her?"Then he threw down the dripping knife and punched him again and again.He didn't stop until Danny passed out cold.The Carbone family's guards closed in with their guns
When Antonio's plane landed, Sicily was in the middle of a storm.By the time he reached the Carbone estate, Leonardo's men were already waiting at the gate to stop him.Antonio didn't say a word. He just knelt at the gate in the pouring rain and waited.I had no idea how much time had passed. Inside, I sat on the couch beside the floor-to-ceiling windows, reviewing a restructuring agreement the Zurich bank had just sent over.Leonardo came over with two cups of hot black tea, handed me one, and glanced out at the downpour."Cecilia, he just coughed up blood. It doesn't look as though he can hold out much longer. Do you want to see him, or should I have the patrol throw him into the sea?"I closed the file, took a sip of tea, and answered calmly."Then let him in."Leonardo nodded with a smile."All right. You talk to him. I've got some business to take care of."I nodded and didn't say anything else.Ten minutes later, the front doors slowly opened.Antonio stumbled in, leaving a trai
But Antonio had barely stepped out the door when brakes screeched in the courtyard. Five black Maybachs pulled up sideways in front of the steps.The doors opened, and more than a dozen of the Vescari family's captains climbed out, surrounding Salvatore.Antonio stopped, lowered his head, and stepped back beside a pillar."Father."Salvatore climbed the steps, looked him over, and slapped him across the face.Smack!Antonio's head snapped to the side. The cut on his temple from the day before split open again, and blood ran down the bridge of his nose.He clenched his jaw, his hands curling into fists at his sides."And where do you think you're going?"Salvatore slammed his cane against the ground."Do you know what happened this morning? The New York DA seized our two docks in the east district, and Citibank and the Zurich bank froze three of the family's trusts at the same time!"Antonio looked up sharply, disbelief written across his face.One of the captains in charge of shipping
Meanwhile, at the Vescari estate in New York.Antonio had been sitting on the couch all night. The sun rose and filled the room, but Cecilia still hadn't come back.On the table was a plate of the tiramisu Cecilia liked. It had been sitting out so long it was starting to slump.Antonio looked confused and lost.In all their years together, no matter how badly they fought, he only had to ask a servant to leave tiramisu on her nightstand.And she'd take care of everything for him.As always, she'd be waiting when he came home at night to take off his coat, which reeked of liquor, and pour him a glass of warm water.But this time, she never came.Then he heard the soft shuffle of slippers on the stairs.Antonio's eyes lit up.He looked up, but it was only Lillian, coming in wearing a dressing gown.She came over to the couch, leaned down, and touched his face, looking worried."Oh, Don, did you sit here all night?"Her tone was petulant."The Donna certainly has a temper. But don't worry,







