My phone vibrates, and I check the screen real fast to see who it is. It’s not a number I recognize, so I almost hang up.

Then I think of all the shit going down on the other end of this island, and I realize I don’t yet have the luxury to not be in charge. To ignore calls.

“Yeah?”

“Luca,” a familiar voice says, but I can’t place it.

“Who is this?”

“It’s Stefano,” he says in a whisper. “Is Bella with you?”

“Yeah,” I say, “Why?”

“Don’t tell her I’m calling you. Pretend it’s Gio or something.”

My mind starts racing. I don’t want to lie to Bella, I really don’t, but Stefano calling me? If I break his trust now, he might not let me in on whatever it is he’s calling me about.

“I’m kind of busy right now, Gio,” I say, feeling guilty for lying, but not guilty enough about it to come clean to Bella straight away.

“Good,” Stefano says. “Now listen closely. I got Michael. I’m holding him in the basement of the church. I haven’t talked to him yet. I want you here when he starts talking, but don’t bring Bella. Don’t tell her anything.”

“And why’s that?” I ask, using the exasperated voice I often use with Gio.

“I don’t want her getting upset and hurting the baby. So just lie to her, alright? If you have an issue with that I’ll take responsibility for it later. Just come alone. Quickly. You in Queens?”

This could be a trap. If the Rielas wanted to kill me, they’d want to make sure Bella didn’t know they did it. If I get rid of Bella to go find Michael in the freaking church basement, and if I don’t tell her where I’m going or why, and then I just disappear? She won’t be suspicious of her family, and–

“Luca,” Stefano says. “Get over here.”

“On the way,” I say.

“What is it?” she asks.

“We’ve gotta go,” I say. “Gio’s got those investors to reconsider our venture, but I’ve got to meet them now. In Queens.”

“On Easter?” she asks.

“They’re Jewish,” I say.

I feel like shit lying, but it’s all to get out of this. To get this life behind me, for Bella’s sake. I’ll explain it all to her later.

* * *

I get to the church parking lot and text Stefano.

I soon see him exiting the church from a side door. He’s just a dark shadow in the night, but I know it’s him from the way he walks.

I feel a sense of dread. Once I walk in there, if this is a trap, that’s it. I won’t get out of here alive if the Rielas are all in there waiting for me.

I nod to Stefano as I get close enough to see him.

He just gestures with his head for me to go in. He holds the door for me, and we head down a stairway.

We soon enter what looks like a store room. Stefano stops and looks at me with his hands in his pockets. “Bella doesn’t know what’s going on, right?”

“I told her I was meeting with the oil change guys,” I say. “And Gio.”

“Alright,” he says, his voice low. “We’re gonna get the truth out of Michael. You and me. If Tony had anything to do with it, I’m going to turn on him. You understand, Luca?”

I nod. A justified coup and change of power.

“And if Tony had nothing to do with it?” I ask.

“Then you know,” he says. “And you can take Michael back to your family, and they can hear it directly from the horse’s ass.”

“Alright,” I whisper. I figure we’re keeping our voices low because Michael is nearby and might overhear. “Just one question, Stefano, why in the freakin’ church basement on Easter Sunday?”

He sighs. “I figured he’d want to confess. Caught him slinking in at night. Hit him on the back of the head and knocked him out cold. Dragged him down here so I didn’t risk getting spotted taking him to my car. Didn’t want to drive around with him either, he might wake up and fuck me up while I’m trying to drive.”

I sigh. “So we’re gonna torture a guy on Easter?”

Stefano looks at his watch. “You wanna wait a few hours so it’s not Easter anymore?”

“Nah,” I say. “Let’s just keep it mostly honest.”

“Technically,” Stefano says, “The basement isn’t within the realm of God. Underworld and all that.”

The Lord will have to forgive me, but I’m doing this for peace. For Bella, and for my baby. If God can forgive soldiers in war, he can forgive me this one last sin.

“Let’s go,” I say.

We open a door, and I find Michael tied to a chair, a rag in his mouth.

Stefano holds the rag tight and leans in real close to Michael. “I’m gonna take this out. Now listen closely, I’m going to show you our hand before we even start the game. This is good cop, bad cop. Luca here is trying to get out of the game, so he’s the good cop. He even told me to go easy on you, on account of it being Easter and all. Me? I’m the bad cop. We both want the same thing though: the truth. Understand?”

Michael nods, and Stephano pulls the gag out.

“You killed Vinny?” I ask.

Michael nods.

“Use your words,” I hiss.

“I thought you were supposed to be the good cop,” he says.

I kick him hard enough to knock the chair over. He’s tied to it, and he goes crashing down onto the ground.

He spits out blood, and Stefano pulls him back up, plopping the chair upright so Michael can face us.

“You think Tony would accept you into the family, Gallo?” Michael asks. “He didn’t even accept me into the family, even after I was more loyal to him than his own kin.”

“So you betrayed him?” I ask. “You killed one of ours to try to frame him, to ruin the peace he’d worked to build?”

Michael laughs. “You’d love that, huh? No, Tony asked me to do it, and I was dumb enough to follow his order. I regret it, not because I killed that sap Vinny, but because I should have stopped letting Tony order me around a long time ago.”

“So Big Tony told you to kill Vinny?” Stefano asks.

“Yeah,” Michael says. “He wanted to make sure Luca couldn’t go straight, to keep Bella away from him. The truce was just to make himself look good for Bella’s sake.”

Shit. What do I do now? Do I let Stefano take out Big Tony? How can I start a new life with Bella after keeping a secret like this, one that’s ultimately going to lead to her cousin killing her father? And how could I even stop Stefano? Kill him? Then I killed the woman I’m going to marry’s cousin, after lying to her about meeting him in a basement to torture a guy.

Fuck.

I pull out my gun, cock it, and point it right between Michael’s eyes. “I’m the bad cop now.”

Michael snickers, so I kick the chair harder this time, and after he hits the ground head first, I kick him in the ribs a few times for good measure.

“Now listen, you shit. I’ll never forget the first man I killed. His face is stained in my mind. Every wrinkle on his face, the little flecks of brown in his eyes. The way his pupils dilated when he realized it was over. The other guys I killed? I don’t remember ‘em all like that. I can’t relive the whole moment when I close my eyes.”

I keep the gun trained right on him, my finger is already putting pressure on the trigger.

“The last man I kill is going to stay with me like the first one. So don’t make your ugly ass mug the one I see when I close my eyes at night.”

“I told you the truth already,” Michael hisses.

“If you insist it was Tony,” I say, “Then you’re coming home with me. Between you, Bella and me, we can get the truth out of Big Tony. I’ll hold you as long as it takes, and we’ll get every little detail. If I catch you in a lie, I’ll give you over to Tony. I doubt he’ll let you die easy.”

I feel Stefano’s hand on me, but I shove him away.

“Now,” I say. “If you tell me the truth right here and now. I’ll let you go. You don’t deserve it after what you did to Vinny, but I am going to be a changed man, and it might as well start with you. Let God judge you.”

I see his eyes dart from side to side, then he meets mine.

“What if you just kill me anyway?” he asks. “You swear you’ll let me go?”

I kick his ribs again, and I shout at him. “I could kill you now! You’re not in a fucking position to question my honor. Now tell me the truth, or tell me that it was Tony again. The rest of the Gallos aren’t going to just kick you in the ribs and shout at you. I’m only holding back like this because we’re in a freaking church basement on Easter!”

“It was Yuri,” Michael says. “Yuri paid me, Just like he paid me to kill Little Tony way back when, because the feud between you two was good for business. He didn’t like the idea of the truce, so he got me to stir shit up again. I did it for money, sure, but the real reason I did it is because Tony was never going to accept me. He always put that piss-ant Stefano above me because they were blood, and–”

I see the bloody hole pop open on Michael’s forehead before I hear the gunshot. Blood spurts out, and acrid smoke fills the basement. Michael’s eyes go lifeless, and his body goes slack. I turn around and see Stefano with the smoking gun in hand.

“I told you I’m the bad cop,” he says.