𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐋𝐀𝐒𝐓 𝐀𝐍𝐆𝐄𝐋

00:16

•••
CHAPTER 16
so God said "you shall suffer", and I said fuck that

After my initial shock, whim hadn't lasted that long to my credit, I just stared blankly at Nico, waiting for him to explain.

"What's that?" I started, hoping I could get more insight.

"You'll have to watch a traitor get killed. And if you can't handle it, they'll strip you of the Ricci name," Calypso explained. And I stared at her blankly waiting for her to burst out laughing announcing it was a sick joke. To no such avail.

"That's simply unfair. Noemi just came back to us. You can't expect her to handle that," Nolan chimed in, his fists clenched in rage.

"It usually happens on one's sixteenth birthday," Jack said triumphantly. " Noemi is already 17. We can't allow this masquerade to go on any longer. Either she's a Ricci or not."

The brothers tuned to Nico, sitting at the head of the table, looking like a man who knew how earth shattering his decision was and how much power he wielded.

And, yet he looked like a man haunted by the phantoms of his own choices. Torn between his duty and the tug on his heartstrings.

"It has to be done."

"She just needs more time..." Noel intervened, only to be silenced by Nico.

Everyone was staring at me, so I turned towards Calypso and asked her the question that's been bothering me the most. "Did everyone go through that or is it purely discriminatory?"

Nico looked at me like he had already lost every ounce of hope he had.

"Everyone born with the Ricci names and the husbands married in. Not the wives though," Calypso explained.

I nodded understanding.

"It'll be done tonight before we have to go back to Italy," Don Emilio announced, conclusively.

"It's a fucking Tuesday," I sighed in despair. "Do I at least get to pick who gets killed?" I asked as everyone started to get up while I was staring daggers into Jack's being. I wouldn't even mind if it were him. My perfect victim, to be honest.

•••

"What's up with those assholes?" I breathed out once Nico got in his office, locking the door behind the six of us.

"They hate our family 'cuz Nico is the Don and he's not even thirty," Neo explained and I snickered mumbling "overachiever" over my shoulder to whom it may concern (Nico).

"Concentrate Noemi," Nico huffed, and I rolled my eyes at him.

Nolan looked out the window, eyes dark as he peaked from behind the dark curtains, lighting a cigarette. "They're bringing him in."

"Already?" Genuine anxiety resounded in Nico's words as he threw himself on his chair.

"Guys, it's not like I'm the one who's dying," I joked trying to lighten up the mood only to be shot down by Noel's "might as well be," as he sagged against the wall.