An Offer You Can't Refuse by Sal Bianchi (best beach reads .txt) 📕

clear in his eyes. He froze as he saw the two of us standing on the other side of the desk, and I noted that his gaze lingered on me as though he was trying to figure something out.

“What, uh… what can I do for you gentlemen?” he asked nervously.

“Lorenzo Russo, correct?” I asked as I stared him down. “I don’t recognize you. Did you join after I left, or are you just a part of one of the outlier families?”

He shot me a puzzled look for a moment. Then his mouth fell open comically as he realized what I was talking about.

“I’m afraid I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he mumbled weakly.

“Of course not,” I scoffed sarcastically. “You know, I’ve met some real scum in my life, but you? You really put a hit out on your own family in order to blackmail your nephew.”

He snapped his mouth shut, and his face went pale.

“I don’t you who you’ve been talking to, but--”

The bell mounted above the door chimed behind us and cut him off. I turned instinctively, worried it might be one of his other men preparing to ambush us.

“Hey, how much for a room?” The man who entered called as soon as he was inside the office. He reeked of alcohol, and I was a little concerned that he might have driven here.

“Gun!” Jase yelled, and I snapped my head back around just in time to see Lorenzo pull the trigger. The bullet sailed straight between Jase and me and struck the man who’d just entered. The man fell to the ground with a pained grunt, and Jase rushed to check on him.

I lifted my own gun instinctively and flinched as pain lanced through my injured shoulder. I pulled the trigger, but the shot sailed completely wide and missed Lorenzo entirely. I aimed again, but Lorenzo was already escaping through a door behind the desk.

“Damn,” I yelled as I scrambled over the edge of the desk and gave chase. I’d been so concerned about watching my back that I’d let myself get distracted.

The door led to a small backroom. Lorenzo was already at the other end, heading straight for another door that I assumed led outside. I lifted my gun again, but my arm was shaking, and I was unable to get a clean shot for the second time.

Lorenzo ran outside, and I sprinted through the backroom after him. I crashed through the door and looked around frantically to see where he’d gone. I spotted him a few feet away, running along the side of the motel, past the room doors. I hurried after him, pushing past the pain that was now radiating down my arm.

“Stop!” I yelled as I raised my gun again. There weren’t that many obstacles around. Even with my shoulder burning the way it was, I had a better chance of hitting him here.

Just as I was about to pull the trigger, a door just ahead of Lorenzo popped open, and a small boy came toddling out. He stopped in his tracks and turned to look at Lorenzo with wide eyes. Lorenzo skidded to a halt as the child stopped in front of him, and then, in a flash, he suddenly lifted the boy by the arm and held him up in front of himself like a shield.

“What are you doing?” A woman screeched as she stepped out of the room behind the boy.

“Stay back!” Lorenzo warned as he pointed his gun, first at her and then me. “Don’t move, or I’ll shoot him.”

As if to emphasize that he was willing to make good on his threat, he turned his gun on the boy who was now openly crying and calling for his mom.

“Just calm down, Lorenzo,” I called steadily. “You don’t want to do that.”

“Shut up!” he yelled. The hand holding the gun twitched against the boy’s head, and I froze entirely. His mom was standing about a few feet away, shaking but silent. “Put your gun down! Now!”

“Okay.” I nodded as I stretched my arm out away from me before slowly crouching toward the ground. “Look, I’m putting it down right now.”

Lorenzo had a crazed look in his eyes as he watched me.

“All right.” He licked his lips nervously. “Just stay right where you are. Don’t move until I get to my car.”

To my horror, he started to walk backward, carrying the little boy with him.

“No!” His mom screamed as she lunged toward him.

He turned the gun on her, and she stopped, tears streaming down her ashen face.

“Put him down,” I said as I took a cautious step toward him. He turned the gun away from the woman and back toward me.

“Good,” I said as I took another cautious step toward him. “I’m the one you want to kill, right?”

I took another step toward him.

“Don’t!” he barked as he thrust the gun at me.

“Put the kid down, all right?” I stated softly as I took another step closer. “He’s got nothing to do with this. You know that, right? Put him down, and then you can shoot me. That would make you a hero within the Family, right, if you killed the tradiatore who ran off to work for the feds?”

He swallowed, and the manic look in his eye seemed to dwindle a little.

“Fine,” he snarled after a moment of hesitation.

My eyes widened as he threw the kid roughly onto the ground and quickly advanced on me. He punched me in the stomach without even breaking his stride, and I fell to my knees with a huff as he knocked the air out of me.

“I’ll give you the death you deserve,” he growled as he cocked the gun and sneered down at me. “A proper execution, befitting a traitor like you.”

I swallowed as I stared down the barrel of a gun for the second time in less than a week. I’d only have one chance to do this right.

The moment his finger twitched against the trigger, I threw all of my