I’m tempted to check the video feed.
But I don’t.
I promised Caligula I wouldn’t.
At last there’s a knock from inside. I yank the door open, hand on my gun, and find myself looking down at Caligula’s face.
“We’re taking a break,” he says. “Strike needs the bathroom. Down the hall on the right.”
Ferraro pushes past me. “Where’s the can?”
“That way,” I say, thumbing over my shoulder, because Caligula is still in the doorway and I’m still looking at him. “Well. Looks like everything’s going okay.”
“No one’s tried to kill me yet.”
I give an unwilling half-smile. But then I hear footsteps on the stairs, and both of us turn.
Sammy.
I cross to him as he hits the landing, peering curiously into the open dining room. “Didn’t I tell you to be out tonight?” I say, keeping my voice low. “Where’s Ricky?”
“He wanted to go to a club.” Sammy’s eyes flick to the floor. “After dinner. He wanted to go…”
And I understand. The night I met Sammy was the last time he was at a nightclub, and a group of Clemenzas jumped him out the back and beat him.
“Okay, kid,” I say, softer now. “Where’s Vito?”
“He dropped me back and he’s taking Ricky home.” Sammy’s trying to move past me again, to see into the open dining room door. “What’s going on?” But then he catches sight of someone in the room behind Caligula, and his eyes go wide.
“What is it?” I ask.
But he can’t seem to speak. Caligula and I both follow the direction of his gaze instinctively. He’s looking at Scaglietti.
And then Sammy turns as if to run.
I grab onto his arm before he can, because I need to know what the hell is going on. Caligula has come onto the landing, and he looks worried. “Sammy, what’s wrong?” he asks gently.
“That’s one of them,” Sammy gets out.
“One of who?” I demand.
“One ofthem,” he says, so urgently I’m starting to get alarmed myself. “One of the ones who—” He gestures at the side of his own head, at his temple.
He breaks away as my grip slackens in surprise and runs back downstairs
I killed them. I killed every one of those Clemenza fuckers who were beating him the first night I met him. But Sammy was only half-conscious when I got there, never sure exactly how many had attacked him in the first place.
Apparently one of them got away.
But I’m going to end him now.
The men inside the room turn, surprised, as I shoulder past Caligula and into their conclave. Then they see the gun in my hand. Shouts rise up, but there’s only one voice I hear.
“Dami.Stop.”
I’m only a few feet away from my target. At this range, it would be very fucking hard to miss.
But I stop.