Dead Man’s Hand

Chapter 1

Antonio

I walked over to the sniveling piece of shit on his knees and raised my gun, pointing it right at his head.

“Please,” he begged quietly. 

My brother never begged. He was the leader of the Scavuzzo Crime Family, having taken over for my father when he became too sick to run the organization, but after what he had done, he didn’t deserve to live.

“You want forgiveness after you killed our sister?”

“I didn’t do it,” he urged. “Antonio, you know me. You know I would never do anything like that.”

“Video footage doesn’t lie,” I said coldly. 

I stared at my brother, the man I used to look up to, and pressed the gun against his head. His eyes turned to steel as he prepared for his fate. At least he was taking it like a man.

“I’m being set up, but you do what you have to do. Be the good puppy that Giuseppe turned you into.”

I smirked at him. It was funny that he thought Giuseppe had any control over me. He was doing a good job of hiding his fear, but I could see the slight tremble of his body, the way his eyes widened as my finger moved to the trigger. In this life, there were only ways to live, by the code of the Family or against us. He made the wrong choice, and now he was going to pay for it.

“Alessandro Scavuzzo, you’ve been accused of murdering one of your family and found guilty. I hope you rot in hell.”

I pulled the trigger, watching as his head jerked back and he seemed to kneel in suspension for just a few moments before his body crumpled to the ground. The sound of the gun reverberated through the four walls of the basement, sending a sharp snap down my spine.

I jolted upright in bed, my body sweating as my heart raced out of control. Glancing around the darkness of the room that I didn’t recognize, I grabbed my gun and trained it on the lurking shadows. Slowly, my heart found a normal rhythm and the room came into focus. I wasn’t back at the family home in Chicago anymore. I was in Colorado, way up in the mountains where no one would ever find me.

Lowering my weapon, I wiped the sweat from my forehead and laid back down, staring up at the ceiling. I rarely slept through the night now. Memories of all the things I had done, in the name of the family, haunted me constantly. Everyone was gone now, everyone but Carly. I wasn’t welcome with her, though. I had killed one brother and aided in the death of another, not that I knew it at the time. I had been working for my uncle, always thinking he was guiding me to the best of his abilities, and he was. I just hadn’t realized it was a power grab. I had trusted him because he was my father’s number two, always there by his side. I was just the enforcer. I was the best there was, but that also got me into trouble. I was meant to take action, not to think. I would never make that mistake again.

Tossing off the blankets, I got up and headed for the bathroom. Staring at myself in the mirror, I hardly recognized myself anymore. My hair was longer now, hanging in a shaggy pattern around my cheekbones down to my jawline. My face, always clean-shaven, was now covered in a thick beard. When I headed into town, the locals scattered, terrified of the mountain man that only came into town for supplies.

When I left Chicago, I took all the money I had saved and anything my father left in his safe. That was something Giuseppe had never gotten his hands on. He never had access to my father’s personal items, though I’m sure he would have given enough time. If Carly hadn’t come back to end things, my uncle would have taken over, and I would have been a slave to a mad man. I had taken the omertà, the code of silence and loyalty to the Family. I was a Made man, and I couldn’t just walk away from the family. But with everyone dead, I had the chance to start over. I didn’t deserve it. After all the things I had done, I should be in the grave or in jail. Why Carly had let me live, I’ll never understand. 

She had been trained like the rest of us, to be a killer. She had an assassin with her that day. Carly could have easily taken me out, along with any number of the other men working with her. But she had spared me, and now I was left to relive the choices I had made for the rest of my life.

Dropping my gaze from the mirror, I splashed some water on my face, trying to wipe away the nightmares that plagued me. Walking out to the kitchen, I opened the cabinet to grab some coffee, but the bag was empty. I tossed it in the garbage, only then seeing the grocery list I had made that was still sitting on the kitchen counter. I’d completely forgotten about it yesterday.

I got dressed in jeans and a henley, then pulled on my socks and winter boots. As I looked out the front window, the storm that was already moving in told me I didn’t have a lot of time to get into town and back. Not to mention, the two lane roads running through the mountains were pretty shitty, and I would have to hurry if I wanted to beat the weather.

Climbing into my truck, I slammed the door and headed to the closest grocery store. I would also need to get extra gas for the snowmobile. If the weather turned too bad, at least I would still have transportation. As I pulled onto the roads, I clenched my jaw. The roads were already slick. I should have been more prepared for this shit. It took me almost forty-five minutes to get into town, when normally it would only take me twenty. 

Hunching my shoulders against the blistering wind, I pushed through the doors of the local convenience store and grabbed a shopping cart. Like usual, everyone stopped and stared at me like I was about to murder someone. I did have a gun on me, that habit hadn’t died out. I would always make sure I was protected, but these people didn’t need to know that. I filled my cart, adding twice as much as most people in this town did. Unless you were in town to stay at one of the casinos, these people were scraping by on the best of days. Winter was always harder, and I had only been here for a year. 

I started unloading my groceries on the belt, ignoring the way the cashier trembled as she reached for my purchases. It only pissed me off further when I loaded up a bag of salt and she jumped like I was going to reach across and snap her neck. Maybe at one point in my life that would have been true, but I wasn’t the same man now. At least, I liked to think I was a little different, despite still being slightly feral.

“I—is there anything you need?” she asked, barely looking at me.

I ground my teeth and shook my head. I rarely spoke to the locals. I didn’t have anything to say to them anyway. I handed over my cash and shoved out of the store, irritated with her reaction. If I thought there was a better place to live out the rest of my miserable life, I would gladly go there, but living up here in seclusion was about as close to living a normal life as I would get.