Affirmation (14 page)

Alfonzo blew
hard.
He felt like the
eldest sibling
talking sense to the youngest. “Promise
you won’t lay a hand on Shanda, Geo
.”

Blue oceans stared in the reflective pools.
“You worry too much Alfonzo. Today you
have wed the woman of your dreams. For me it is a nightmarish dream
,” he chuckled
when Alfonzo scowled. “Eh, I’m joking. I have come to like the woman again. She and I have an understanding.”

“And what is that?”

“Be good or else.”

“See, that’s the shit I’m talking about. Everything with you is force. You can’t use it to solve
issues with a woman
.”

“Really?” Giuseppe teased.

“I’m not playing brother. Try using diplomacy.”

He inhaled, “If this woman carries my bambino, my life will change
.
I see you with your children
and I see joy. I want the same, but a mother who conceals a child from the father does not deserve diplomacy.
”

Alfonzo frowned, “
Shanda’s godmother to Sal
and
part of
our extended
family
.
I
do
have a responsibility
to make sure she’s unharmed
.
I
hope you
understand
that
Geo
.”

“You are cunning.” Giuseppe responded. Alfonzo knew of his weakness for his nephew and used it to get his way.
“I agree not
to
physically harm
Sal’s g
odmother. That is my wedding gift
.
”

Alfonzo nodded and then he grinned, “Promise on the blood of our grandfather. You break agreement
s too easily
. Remember when you
agreed
not to kill Darren’s kidnapper
, and then y
ou slit his throa
t?
”

They laughed at this and Giuseppe
punched Alfonzo’s arm, “Sí, but I did not agree.”

“Yes you did.”

“No I did not. You are mistaken.”

“Geo you said okay.”

“That is not agreeing.”

“Then what the fuck does
okay
mean?”

“Okay
means
it is satisfactory
. I
agree
means I
concur
.”

“Are you shitting me?”

“Eh, go on your honeymoon. I swear on the blood of our ancestors not to harm the pregnant runaway.”
He
hurried
Alfonzo
out of the car, “
Now
Go!”

Alfonzo gladly stepped back into the warm night air. Before he shut the door, he had to ask, “
B
y the way, why is there blood on your shirt?”

Giuseppe shut the door.
“
Congratulations on your marriage
fratellino
.
I must leave
, c
iao!”
And the chauffeured vehicle sped
through the open gate
.

Alfonzo glanced toward the guest house
and
he wondered if Nico and Lou were
inside
. He heard talking, not from the
residence
but the
outskirts of
the property. He also caught a whiff of a familiar scent that reeked of Domingo.
He decided to forego investigation of the
bodyguard’s residence
and headed in the direction of the voices instead.

The grass silenced his approach and once he neared the sounds, it
became
evident the
high pitched voices belonged to
the juvenile delinquents.
When he came into view their mouths
gaped
open
.
Alfonzo dared
the
m
to run.

Manny, Evangeline, Madeline and Nico’s sons were all there. Not surprisingly, Evangeline is the chica with the joint to her lips. Her hand fell to her side, but there was nowhere to hide
it
. Somehow she avoided burning her exposed leg.

The group
stood there mumbling phony crap. They congratulated him on his nuptials, said how nice he looked, Madeline even had the audacity to tell him she liked the wedding and similar bull-shit.

Alfonzo glared at the teens
and
stood directly in front of the ringleader and
stared Evangeline down. He raised her hand and removed the
unfinished smoke
. “I’ll take that.”
He
said and then
issued a
warning, “Go inside and behave. Any of you disrupt my
reception
and I’ll beat your asses, comprende?”

They scattered, glad to get away with only a verbal whipping.

Alfonzo smirked and waited until they w
ere out of sight and took a long drag of the
weed
.
One eye closed and with pursed lips he sucked in more. Man, t
he teenagers had
the
good
stuff
. He let the herb fill his lungs and exhaled, blowing residual smoke to the sky. Salsa music filtered
outdoors. The band was jamming. He did the
cha-cha up the walkway
, rolling his shoulders to the music and then took another hit before
flicking the
clip away
.
“Ah shit, th
ey’re playing
my joint!”
He exclaimed and added
an
extra kick
as he
dance
d to the tent
.

CHAPTER
FOURTEEN

Sergio held the ice to his eyes and grimaced at the pain. Thank goodness
his Uncle Nico came when he did
, al
though, he was surprised to see him
. He
assumed
Nico
died in th
e
car accident along with the kids. His lip felt huge when he opened his mouth to offer his condolences and received another shocker in return. 

“The boys are fine Sergio. The police messed up on the ID’s.” Nico lied.

“For real?”

Nico put
the youth
on track
and went straight to the point
, “Why are you here?”

“If I’d known you were alive, I’d sought you out instead of Alfonzo.”

“The money I gave you, is it all gone?”

Sergio moved the ice to his busted mouth and squint, “Um-hum. I used
it
to pay down some debts, but I have a problem with this guy. He’s threatening to hurt my sister if I don’t pay him the money I borrowed.”

“I thought you said you paid off your debts.”

“
Some
,” Sergio answered as he moved the ice-pack to the other side, “I didn’t get around to that one yet.”

“How much?”

“Two hundred
grand,” Sergio answered. He put another fifty on
the
top for his pockets. A dude had to make ends meet.

Nico’s mouth descended at the edges. His frown indicated he didn’t like what he heard, nor was he buying everything Sergio said. “What’s the guy’s name?”

Ah
,
man
!
“
He’s nothing but a
small time loan-shark.”

“The name.”

Sergio sighed, “Chip.”

“Where can I find him?”

“He has a hole in Brooklyn.”

“How long
were you given
to pay it back?”

“
Not long
.”

Nico crossed his leg and took a cigar from his pocket for a leisure smoke just like his dad. He’d grown
accustomed to t
he taste of the imported
Cohiba Behike. Alberti had cartons of the finest cigars in the world and this Cuban brand topped the list. He had to digest this information from his nephew for a minute. If he had to handle this mess with Sergio, he’d have to leave a pregnant Ari and the boys with Bianca. He didn’t want them in Eritrea, it was
too far away. At least
she’d be in Palermo with family
if anything went wrong
. He
blew a smoke ring, “Have you eaten, kid?”

Sergio sat up a bit, “Nah.”

“Lou can you
have
somebody
bring down a
plate.”

Lou nodded and exited through the door. He’d send a waiter with
the
food
. He was happy to return to
the celebration
.

Nico’s eyes narrowed when the door clicked shut
. He had
more words for the youth. “I heard you mouthed off at Giuseppe.”

“The motherfucker’s a goddamn psycho!” Sergio
exclaimed and then winced when spit got into his cut. “Ow.”

“Did the ass-kicking give you a newfound respect?”

“For him, nah fuck that.”

Nico took a healthy puff. Sergio was another street punk. A big-mouth kid with zero tact. Nico made another
smoke
circle and watched it dissolve slowly into the ventilated air. “There’s something you need to understand Sergio. I may be your uncle by blood but Giuseppe
and I are family. You
’re
to give him respect and
never
talk
about him in that way. If I hear another disparaging comment out of your mouth about my family, I’ll personally put a bullet in your head,
capisce?”

Was the entire family crazy, Sergio wondered?

He nodded because something told him if he didn’t Nico might really put a cap in his ass! “Yeah, I understand.”

CHAPTER F
IFTEEN

Giuseppe cracked his knuckles during the short flight
from Puerto Rico to the Dominican Republic. He might have cracked a smile at how clever Shanda was if he wasn’t so damn mad.
There were people
searching the globe for the woman
and
she was
right under their noses.
Puerto
Plata was
forty-five minutes tops
by air from
Bayamón. Most likely
she took the ferry to the island to avoid detection, which he had to
admit,
was a damn smart move.

“Stronzo!” He scowled aloud when he exited the plane and saw Tolo waiting at the
edge of the
air strip
beside
a tiny Fiat. “He could not do better than that?” Giuseppe muttered
as the double bodyguards dogged his steps. They were very big men and the car would be like sitting in a box with elephant
s
.

His shoes crunched the blacktop with each angry step. When he towered alongside the car he gestured
at it
, “What the fuck is this Tolo?”

“This is the only rental available Don Dichenzo.”

“What about car dealerships, did you consider th
ose
?”

“No.”

Giuseppe grumbled
and bowed his head to enter the small automobile, “Of course you did not. That would require abstract thinking. Let us go!”

                               ****

Shanda’s dream consisted of angry barks. They were the ferocious
kind from a small dog in peril or
sought t
o ward off danger. When the sounds abruptly stopped she smiled
,
thankful
for
the reprieve. But, the dream changed when her brain sparked to wakefulness because she recognized the canine warnings belonged to Ge
e. She slowly sat upright and in the darkness heard breathing. The human kind.

“You wake,” an accented voice said
from a darkened corner
.