Aftermath (15 page)

“
Sir, it is Viktor. May I speak with you a moment!”

Giuseppe straightened
, and the bed squeaked as he kneed off and tossed the cover over the
battered
corpse. He shook his gloved hand then wiped the blood on the edge of the
sheet
and leisurely joined his cousins.

“Sir
…
Fedrik!”

Giuseppe retrieved the weapon from his waistband.

“Sir!”

The doorknob
jiggled.

Nico
drew a
half sword from
his
leg scabbard and gestured the others
to the other side of the door.
He
wanted a Vincent kill
in
homage to his
deceased
brother.
Usually, when he
slaughtered men, h
is methods were
less messy. His work was the accidental kind, the car crash, the fall, heart attack or a person simply disappeared. Of course, when it came to torturing someone for
information that
on the other-hand got rather bloody.

Today, he thought of Vincent and in memory steadied his hand and nodded for Alfonzo to unlock the door.

“Crazy ass
!
” Al
fonzo
mumbled
and pull
ed
inward and the
foolish
Russian
took
the
step
in with
his
gun
out.

Alfonzo used the crack in the door and aimed at the man in the hall. Two silent shots to the head and heart and the man dropped to the floor. Meanwhile
, Nico’s blade severed
the man’s gun hand
clean off. The
handless man’s
mouth formed an O
and i
t’s uncer
tain whether
it was
to scream or
whether it
opened in
shock
, either way, no sound emitted from
it.
Instead, a ringing like a coiled wire released emanated in
the
brief
silence
.
Nico’s
weapon
went smoothly into
the
heart
and
downward then retracted with the delicacy of a gentleman slicing butter
.
The body
collapsed in a death heap at Nico’s feet. Vicious eyes of a killer locked with blue ice of the youngest man.
Raised to bring death is far deadlier than a man raised under pretense of having his own life. The
years reversed and his heart softened for the youth, in his eyes
Alfonzo
would
always be
the
boy unaware of his parentage. A
kindred soul
in many ways
because they were both placed in a life neither would have chosen
and could not escape
.
He nodded, gestured they had five minutes to get downstairs and Alfonzo’s body came alive.
 

Giuseppe
spat toward the bed and followed Alfonzo out death’s bedroom, unaware of Nico’s lingering pace to complete what the man with a heart left undone.

Alfonzo was in the corridor moving with stealth toward the stairway when the air shifted
and
Giuseppe
swiveled
and blast
ed
a hole through the head of a man who suddenly emerged from one of the
rooms
. The body bounced against the frame of the door then crumpled to the floor.

“Pay attention, cugino.
Your woman will be inconsolable if you are killed.
That is something I do not want, capisce?”

“
He would’ve shot you, not me.”

“Eh,
silen
zioso
.
Stay alive and do not get
shot.
I can see that woman of yours crying like an Italian mother falling on her knees, putting hands to the sky asking why…why?
”

“You’re too much Geo.” Alfonzo couldn’t help but laugh at the image and jogged down the stairs to the first floor.

N
ico’
s
short
delay to the van was the result of
a clean-up. He could not leave the room untidy and
eliminat
ion of
the
ir
sole
eyewitnes
s
was in order. The
strung out woman cowered in the closet, backing away at the sight of Nico. She whimpered, tears running rivers as he loomed there.
Devoid
of emotion
,
the
man she
had not
trust
ed
,
thrust
–and she f
elt
the stinging
cut
.

                                                ****

Sal was angry.
He had fun but Evangeline drank at the party and she was driving them home. He didn’t like her. She was mean and he refused to call her Evie like everyone else. She laughed at him when he told the story about the burglars breaking in his ho
use
. She giggled
louder
and snorted at the part where he led everyone to the safe room, but she didn’t do that to
Aaron
when he told his story.
Big deal he had a gun. Guns were dangerous, but they thought it was cool to kill people and he frowned. She was really dumb!

S
he was mad at him because he
snatched her
car
key
after that
and refused to give
it
back.
Aaron and Madeline
took her s
ide and forced him t
o hand over the keys. Apparently, a kid was too stupid to know right from wrong. Now, he
was sorry he came
because of her.

He sat quietly in the backseat, seatbelt on, staring out the w
indow watching the sun come up, listening to the sisters laughing and talking about boys
and
their stupid
music
.

Aaron met a girl and got her number and
was a
sle
e
p with
a
huge grin on his face and
a leg
stretched out on the seat
which poked Sal
in the side each time he shift his foot.

A musical ringtone interrupted their conversation and the silly one Evangeline squealed, “It’s him. It’s him!”

The
dummy
answered
her cell
and h
eld it
to her ear, chatting away as she drove.

Sal
stuck his head between the seats,
“What are you doing
Evangeline
?”

“Sit back and be quiet you little brat!”

“This is a brand new car
. It
has
VCD;
don’t you know how to work it?”

Evangeline pushed against the seat
really
hard, “Be quiet!”

Madeline asked, “What’s VCD?”

“Voice Activation Device, it’s a hands
free
feature on almost every new car.”

Evangeline glared at him in the rear view mirror, “I’m on the phone.”

Sal crossed his arms and stared back, “Well, that’s really smart,
driver
.”

“I’m sick of your mouth
Salvatore!
”

Evangeline spun around to
grab
him and Madeline screamed, “What are you doing?” She reached for the steering wheel and turned it too hard
. The v
ehicle went out of control. They were screaming like girls so loud it startled Aaron from his slumber. He looked around in a confused daze, saw Sal’s frightened face only seconds before the car struck a tree.

Aaron went flying against the rear of the driver’s seat upon impact and landed on the floor. The entire incident happened so fast that all Sal could do was pray he wasn’t dead. When Aaron sat up and shouted, “What the hell?” Sal sighed with relief.

They were stunned, but overall nobody was badly injured and the worse damage occurred to Evangeline’s precious car.

“Oh no,” she shrieked when they piled out to survey the crumpled hood and saw steam billowing from the radiator hose. “This is very bad.”

“It’s a car. Just be glad it’s not your face,” Sal glowered at the simpleton.

“Be quiet Sal!” Aaron yelled.

“No, if she’d been paying attention and not
talking
on her stupid phone, this wouldn’t have happened.”

“Ooooh, you are
such
trouble
Salvatore
.” The girl fumed.

Madeline cried, “Stop it. We are in trouble, unless we get home before mama awakes.”

Sal dug in his pocket for his cell
. He
wanted to go home.
The teenagers pounced on him, screaming and chasing him around the car, “No, Salvatore,” Evangeline pleaded, “por favore, do not call tuo padre.”

“Sal listen we’re
all
going to be in trouble, even you
for coming
.” Aaron reasoned.

“Let him call
,
we can’t stay here all morning. The polizei will come and we will be found out anyway!” Madeline interjected
.

Sal frowned, he already pressed the screen and
his
dad
was on speaker
. The group went silent when the bass voice echoed in the quiet, “What’s going on, hijo. What’s this about the police?”

Sal
looked at the
frightened
faces of his relatives. The
ir
expressions implored him not to tell.
Finally, they were afraid of him and weren’t laughing or teasing now, were they?

Aaron mouthed, “
You can’t drop a dime on family
, come on that’s not right
!”

“Uh, dad….promise you won’t be mad…”

CHAPTER SIX

Giuseppe snored loudly
with his head against the car seat and it collided with the window when the car struck a pothole
and he woke with a start, “Cosa?”

Alfonzo shook his head, when Giuseppe immediately returned to his nap without waiting for an answer to his question.

The mail carrier plane had landed in Catania, where a car awaited as scheduled. During the ride, Nico and Giuseppe slept, but Alfonzo was livid and found sleep impossible. Sal’s disturbing call was the reason.

The
vehicle
exceeded the speed limit as it raced across the Autostrada toward Palermo. He was going to Giuseppe’s villa, where
the kids were taken
in lieu of their beds.
Giuseppe after learning about the
incident
immediately sent his guys to clean up the teen’s mess
while he
and Nico
concocted cover stories for the mothers, a morning
outing with the kids to let the women rest
is the best they could think of
.

They were out of the car, Alfonzo leading the pack, furious at his son and the guards for not having the home secure. How the hell did they sneak out in the first place
?
Obviously, security at Bianca Luca’s was lax.

Alfonzo was the first to enter Giuseppe’s swanky home. The kids were huddled together on the sofa guarded by several of Giuseppe’s scariest men. He instructed the guys to deny them, water, food, phone
usage
and even a piss!

Alfonzo walked in front of the
juvenile delinquents
, stopped and shoved his hands in his
pockets and
glared
at
their innocent
expressions
. “Anyone hurt?”

“No dad.”

“No sir.”

“No.”

“No
Signore
Alfonzo.”