I glanced at Remo who lay unconscious on the blood-covered floor. He’d passed out again, but hadn’t made a sound except for the occasional intake of breath or gritting of his teeth.

Samuel stepped out into the corridor and I followed, then locked the cell.

Pietro and Danilo waited in the corridor, both of them sweaty and disheveled, just like Samuel and me. My shirt clung to my skin and blood stuck under my nails.

“He’s a tough bastard,” Pietro said and pulled a cigarette out of his pocket then lit it.

“Maybe pain doesn’t bother him, but he’ll show a reaction when I force him to watch while I cut his dick off inch by fucking inch,” Danilo growled.

It was already late. “I’ll sleep here. I won’t leave until Remo’s dead.”

Pietro, Danilo, and Samuel nodded. “One of us should keep watch at any time,” Pietro suggested.

“I’ll start,” Samuel said quickly. “I’m too riled up to sleep anyway.”

“All right.”

We headed into the sleeping quarters and lay down on the cots. I closed my eyes. Despite the satisfaction I’d felt torturing Remo, I couldn’t wait for him to be dead, for this to be finally over.

A shout woke me. I jerked up on the cot, disoriented for a second. Pietro met my gaze from across the room. Danilo wasn’t there.

I jumped to my feet and ran toward the torture room. Fuck, had Remo freed himself? He was badly injured. I couldn’t imagine him having the strength to even stand.

When Pietro and I stormed into the room, Danilo stood in its center.

What I saw made me freeze. Serafina was inside the cell, shielding Remo with her body, her clothes soaked with his blood.

“You shouldn’t be here, dove. This isn’t something for a woman,” Pietro tried to reason with Serafina. He couldn’t see what Danilo and I did. That Serafina had chosen a side and it wasn’t ours.

“Where’s Samuel?” I asked. I hadn’t seen him anywhere. I couldn’t imagine Serafina hurting her twin but maybe I’d underestimated Remo’s manipulation skills and the power he held over her.

Serafina reached under her cardigan and pulled two guns, pointing them straight at us.

I rested my hand lightly on my own gun but I couldn’t bring myself to pull it on my niece. Remo was struggling to stand and didn’t have a weapon.

“Samuel’s going to be okay. He’s knocked out behind the sofa,” Serafina said.

Pietro’s face contorted with horrified realization. “Fina, you’ve been through a lot. Put down the gun.”

Serafina released the safety catch. “I’m sorry.” I’d been faced with many difficult choices in my time as Capo. Today marked the worst. I pulled my gun at the same time as Danilo did. Serafina pulled the trigger and Danilo winced, his hand flying up to grip a bleeding spot on his arm.

“Not a single move.”

Remo moved closer to Serafina, and his eyes met mine. He seemed almost stunned, as if he too was caught off guard by the events. “We only want to leave. No one has to get hurt,” Serafina whispered.

“Dove,” Pietro croaked. “You don’t owe this man anything. He raped you. I know emotions can get confused in a situation like this, but we have people who can help you.”

Serafina’s eyes filled with tears but she shook her head.

Samuel stumbled inside, looking dazed.

Serafina’s face twisted painfully before she looked at me. “Please let us leave, Uncle. This war is because of me, and I can tell you I don’t want it. I don’t want to be avenged. Don’t rob my children of their father. I’ll go to Las Vegas with Remo where I belong, where my kids belong. Please, if you feel guilty for what happened to me, if you want to save me, then do this. Let me return to Vegas with Remo. This doesn’t have to be an endless spiral of bloodshed. It can end today. For your children, for mine. Let us leave.”

Her eyes begged me but I looked away and at Remo. My hatred burnt brighter than ever, realizing he’d taken more than we’d ever anticipated. “Is she speaking in the name of the Camorra?”

“She does. You breached my territory, and I breached yours. We’re even.”

“We’re not!” Samuel roared, stepping forward, swaying. Remo lifted his gun a couple of inches and my fingers on mine tightened. One bullet was all it took…for what exactly? Turn Remo into a martyr his brothers and the Camorra would go into war for? Because killing him wouldn’t bring us Serafina back.

“You kidnapped my sister and broke her. You twisted her into your fucking marionette. We won’t be done until I’m standing over your disemboweled corpse so my sister is finally free of you.”

Serafina looked close to tears. “Sam, don’t do this. I know you don’t understand, but I need to return to Vegas with Remo, for myself, but more importantly for my children.”

“I knew you should have gotten rid of them,” Samuel said. Maybe the twins had changed Serafina’s feelings for Remo, intensified whatever twisted bond they shared. Children changed everything, I knew that.

“Send them with him to Las Vegas. They are Falcones, but you aren’t Fina. Be free of them and him. You can start a new life,” Pietro said.

Serafina shook her head. “Where my children go, I will go. Don’t you think I’ve suffered enough for all of your sins? Don’t turn me into another pawn in your chess game. Set me free.” She turned to me once more. “Let us leave. You failed me once, and now I’m lost to you. But please allow me to bring my children to a family that will love them. Allow me to bring my children home. You owe it to me.”

I’d owed her protection on the day of her wedding and a quicker rescue, but this, I didn’t owe her, and yet I felt like I did. “If I allow you to leave today, you are a traitor. You won’t be part of the Outfit. You will be the enemy. You won’t see your family again. There won’t be peace with the Camorra. This war has only begun.”

“When will this war ever end, Uncle?”

I met Remo’s gaze. He regretted nothing. This war between the Camorra and the Outfit would never end, definitely not in my lifetime.

I had often imagined how I’d set Serafina free by killing the man who tormented her. It had been my driving force.

Everything faded to the background, Samuel’s stunned expression, Pietro’s anguish, Danilo’s fury as I stared into my niece’s eyes.

This was about revenge. Revenge for her. Revenge she didn’t want.

I had to set her free, not because of her, because of Val and my children, because of Ines and Sofia. We needed to let go of her because Serafina was already lost. Maybe we’d lost her the moment Remo captured her. Maybe all the months of hoping had been wasted. Serafina had made her choice and today I had to make mine.

I wouldn’t drag the Outfit into a bloody war with the Camorra for her, not when she chose a life with Remo. Nino and his brothers would retaliate if I killed Remo. I would have done it gladly if it would have served its purpose, but it couldn’t. Serafina would never return to us, and her children had always been Falcones anyway.

I would protect the people who wanted my protection, who needed it more than Serafina.