Capo Dei Capi (Secrets of the Famiglia Part 1) novel Chapter 40

Death is final.

We all will meet the same fate as the boy who now lies in the black coffin, his face cold, hollow, the mask of all that made him left for us to mourn.

Lorenzo Catelli was a boy filled with love and life. He made me believe I was more than just the face of a woman I never knew, yet so many feared and loved.

He made me see, I was deserving of my own identity, and he loved me regardless of who I found once I opened those gates and found myself lacking. Lorenzo Catelli looked at me and saw me with a knife in my hand, as the man who dared touch my sister laid beside my feet on the floor bleeding to death.

I am a monster, a killer, and I will kill again if it means I protect the ones I love, and Lorenzo, my beautiful friend, loved me regardless of what he knew. I couldn’t protect him, there was no way I would have known he was going to die.

After Marco left, I made a vow to end the one who did this to him. No matter what.

The funeral is filled with people, some who shed fake tears, and those like me, with real sorrow.

Most of the people in attendance today only got a glimpse of Ren. They never knew him, not like the few of us who could say different.

My attention takes me into the distance away from all of us. Standing by an old tree is Kylie Bray, and Vincent Stone arguing. Vincent- A man of power, a far-removed relative of Ilarias’ through marriage. Kylie Bray- A Texan heiress, a close friend, and woman who has been in love with him for years.

Kylie is a friend who is as loyal as the man she calls father.

And Vincent, the faithful cousin of the Catelli siblings, the Stone brother born in our world. Vincent is the 3rd son of Victor Stone, but Vincent’s family, love, and loyalty belong to the Catelli siblings. His ties to them are forged by strong bonds, and the territory he owns and runs by their side solidifies that bond.

But that isn't what makes Kylie and Vincent complicated. It's the fact that on paper, they are step-siblings who are caught in the web of love and hate.

His hate for her is so cruel, and her love for him, raw and real. When she looks at him, it sends shivers in my body. I doubt there's a word to describe the way those two look right now. Not even my brush could perfect that scowling hardened face of Vincent, or self- hating gaze Kylie watches him with.

“Stop staring, it’s rude,” Guilia whispers as she nudges me.

I drop my eyes, and as they have done this passing hour, look at Marco. My lips remembering our kiss last night, his haunted black depths as he stood across from me outside my house, almost defeated. The dance we shared, our forbidden moment that happened while Ren was getting shot at. The beginning of one story, and the ending of another. How Ironic is life, it gives you greatness, teases you with possibilities of tomorrows, but never grants you forever.

In one night, I went from dreaming of Leonardo Catelli to kissing his brother. From one night, I went from having Ren in touching distance to mourning him. And 5 days later, here I am burying him, a 19-year-old boy who didn't deserve this.

There are always consequences to our actions, I wonder which of Ren's actions led him to a coffin.

I see my friends, in their suits, resembling equal parts of hate and pain. If what Deno and Marco say is true, one of them could have killed Ren. Could the others be guilty too? The thought makes an already sinking pit in my stomach twist. Betrayal is not a natural emotion to swallow. When it stems from those you hold close, betrayal is not an option until its evidence is staring you right in the face.

Deno, Marco, Gabriel, Romero, Michel, and Leonardo step forward to throw a handful of sand on the coffin as the scream of Lorenzo's mother calls to the god we pray to. Nicole Catelli is a strong woman. It is sad to see her so fragile and weak.

Early death is the one thing in this world, I was born in, I loathe the most. We are all doomed. The laws of this world don't give a fuck if you deserve it or not.