Code of Silence: Cosa Nostra #2 by Jasmine Denton, Genna Denton Page A

in his hands. A shiny, deadly weapon he’d wielded many times before. “You’ve taught me well. I can do what needs to be done.”
    “Maybe you can, but you shouldn’t,” he said. “The men will turn on you. They’ll retaliate.”
    “They can try,” he said. “But, then again, most of them have been answering to me for years and you’re hardly ever around. I think you can rest assured knowing your legacy will be just fine after you’re gone.”
    “You’re my son,” Sal said, a touch of panic to his voice now.
    “And this is the way you taught me,” Trey said, lifting the gun. He took aim, right in the center of Sal’s chest. “A life for a life. Blood for blood.”
    He shook his head in denial.
    “You always said the Cosa Nostra is a way of life. You can’t pick and choose which laws you follow—you must obey the code.”
    Sal grinned. “By the code, I’m untouchable.”  
    “You stopped being untouchable when you killed my mother.” Then he pulled the trigger.
    He didn’t see Bela stepping out onto the patio until it was too late. The sound exploded in the silent night, a blast that made his ears ring. Bela and Sal jumped in unison. In seconds, the bullet pierced Sal’s chest and released gushes of blood.
    Everything faded into slow motion. Sal’s body collapsed. Bela screamed, loud terrible cries that sounded so far away. The hot stench of gun smoke and the metallic smell of blood engraved themselves into his sense-memory, marking it with this moment. He was stunned—paralyzed for the first time in his life. He could do nothing but stare as the tragedy played out before him.
    Bela dropped to her knees at Sal’s side, sobbing incoherent words as she tried to put her hands over his wound to stop the bleeding. He was coughing up blood, trying to speak but unable to form sounds.
    Why was Bela trying to help him? Trey wondered in complete awe as he watched his sister try to save their father. After everything Sal had done to her? He’d stolen her childhood when he murdered their mom right in front of her, and then he’d stolen her freedom by forcing her into a marriage she didn’t want. He’d thought Bela hated their father, so why was she crying? And if she was crying…then why wasn’t he ? What was wrong with him, that he could shoot his own father and then just stand there and watch him die?
    Sal’s body went limp. Bela cried out in denial and tried to shake him, pressed her ear against his chest and listened, smearing blood on her face as she did. Her tear-filled eyes lifted to his in a look of hatred and confusion.
    “He’s dead,” she said as she stood on wobbling legs. “He’s…he’s dead and you…”
    He stumbled on his words. He wanted to apologize, to justify this, to try to convince her this was the right thing for both of them, but none of those thoughts would mold into a coherent sentence.
    Her face still distraught with horror, she turned on her heel and walked away from him. He wanted to go after her, to talk to her, but he let her go instead.
    Looking down at his father’s still bleeding corpse sent him into autopilot. The body needed to be dealt with. More importantly, the people needed to be notified.
    After taking some time to debate on if he should cover this murder up or just cop to it, he decided to make the exact opposite decision his father would’ve done. First, he called his most trusted soldiers. Geo, Tony, Victor and anyone else he knew would stand behind him without question. After confirming they were on his side, he called for an emergency meeting—this time, he requested the presence of all of the capos and the underboss. The higher ranking Cosa Nostra members started to show up in fifteen minutes, most of them arriving at the same time.
    As the men filed out onto the patio, they looked down on their fallen leader with saddened and angered expressions. “What happened?” Nik asked.
    With twenty already-informed soldiers standing behind him, he