Mobster's Vendetta (10 page)

I fire.

My bullet flies through the room and
punctures the guy’s leg, blood sprays in slow-motion onto the
cement floor. I crippled him. He falls hard, groaning.

I pull off my headphones and I hear Joey
yell, “What the fuck?”

My eyes immediately search for Erin. She is
pinned underneath Joey against the wall. The room fills with more
people...security, I think.

Antonio scoops me up off the floor, takes
the rifle, and holds me.

“It’s okay,” he says soothingly. “You did
great.”

“What happened? Who was that?” I question,
my hands shaking.

“Zee. He’s a guy we’re interrogating,” he
sighs. “We left the guy for a couple minutes with a rookie,” he
informs me, angry at himself. “When we were walking back, we saw
Zee taking off down a hallway.”

“Why did you tell me not to kill him?” I
ask, trying to catch my breath.

“I saw the look in your eye. And you’re a
great shot,” he laughs. “But, I still needed to ask him
questions.”

The thoughts that had run through my mind
were not of killing, rather of protecting. I don’t know where I
would have shot him if Antonio hadn’t yelled to me.

“What are you doing down here?” he asks
me.

“Joey brought us down here. He was showing
me how to use a rifle. And Erin wanted to shoot, too,” I spill out
in a rush.

I look over Antonio’s shoulder to see two
security guards dragging this Zee out the door, leaving a trail of
blood. Behind them is Vito lifts Erin, and, cradling her is his
arms, walks to the doorway cautiously to avoid the blood. Antonio
and I follow him out into the main room. Gilly is not at the
security cameras. He is sprawled out on the couch with a bag of
ice. I hurry over.

“Gilly, are you okay?” I ask.

“Yeah, he hit me on the back of the
head...put me out for couple minutes.”

“Do you need anything?” I ask. Gilly looks
so vulnerable lying alone on the couch.

“I’ll be fine,” he says good-naturedly.

I look around the room, but can’t find my
sister among all of the people. Every face I see is male.

“Where is Erin?” I entreat Antonio.

“Vito must’ve taken her upstairs.”

The elevator seems to take forever to arrive
with all the different people coming and going because of the chaos
this guy, Zee, started. Antonio tries to call Vito, but it goes
immediately to voicemail. My patience is fried, and I am about to
suggest we walk up the stairs when finally the elevator is free.
Antonio punches in the family floor code, and, thankfully, we’re
off.

Chapter 8

Marked Man: slated for death

Megan:

As soon as we walk into the suite, I can see
that things are not good with Erin. Doc Howie and Ennio are already
there, talking quietly when we come in. Clarissa is sitting at the
table with her head in her hands. Seeing Ennio surprises me the
most...we haven’t seen him in over a week.

We quickly say our hellos, and I rush
directly to Erin’s room. She is on the bed enfolded in Vito’s arms;
her head is against his chest. She is silently crying. I cautiously
sit on the bed next to them and brush the hair out of her eyes. My
sister again seems fragile, like a porcelain doll.

I am guarded by what I should say. Her
behavior has been so erratic when it comes to these types of things
happening. She spent thirteen years not having to deal with it,
now, unfortunately, scares like this are a constant fixture in our
lives with only short reprieves.

A soft knock on the door jam. Doc Howie
comes in. He checks her pulse, and Vito shifts Erin so that Doc can
listen to her heart. His expression is unreadable.

“Ennio would like to speak to you,” he says
to her tenderly.

Suddenly, a voice I recognize travels
through the main room. My father! I have mixed feelings when I see
him. I’m angry that he hasn’t kept in touch with us or even
contacted Erin on her birthday. But at the same time, I miss him.
That twinge consumes me as I walk directly to him and encircle my
arms around his waist, hugging him to me. He leans down and kisses
the top of my head. That fatherly gesture releases some of my
anger.

After all, the phone goes two ways. I
could’ve called him. But a niggling voice in the back of my head
stops me...a whisper that reminds me what he is probably doing. I’m
not really sure why I can easily accept the lifestyle from Antonio,
but not my father. I’m certain it has something to do with the fact
that I’ve always known Antonio’s legacy and decided I wanted him
anyway. My father lied blatantly for years and years.

“Why don’t we all sit down?” Ennio
suggests.

I release my dad and feel a hand on my
shoulder. I turn my head...everything in the world that makes life
worth living is standing there beside with love shining in his
eyes. Antonio takes my hand and leads me to the table, and we all
sit down. Clarissa is quiet.

“Clarissa is going to a boarding school for
the next semester. It is very safe there. Many influential people
and A-list celebrities send their children there,” Ennio rushes
out. He must think that running his words together quickly will
lessen the blow.

Tension starts in my neck and runs all the
way down to my toes. They’re sending her away! That’s why my
father’s here. Antonio brought this up before, but I thought the
idea had been forgotten. Antonio squeezes my hand reassuringly. I
already know his opinion on the subject.

“Doesn’t that cost a lot of money?” I
ask.

“Don’t worry about that,” my
father rumbles. I suddenly realize lately that my parents must have
been squirreling away the
blood
money
he’s made over the years. I’ve never
seen any of it, that’s for sure. We have lived very frugally for as
long as I can remember.

My biggest objection is that I won’t be
there with her. It is an unbelievable opportunity, and she will be
with Clarissa...but I can’t help having an issue with losing some
control. I glance over at Clarissa, she has an unreadable
expression. Maybe she doesn’t want my sister to go with her?

“It seems as though this has already been
decided,” I say quietly. Clarissa stiffens, and I reach out a hand
and place it on top of hers. “If you don’t want Erin to go with
you, maybe there is another school she can go to...one that is just
as good...just as safe?”

“Why would you think I wouldn’t want her to
go with me? I have been so afraid that you wouldn’t want her to go.
I am so excited that I won’t be alone, I can hardly contain
myself,” Clarissa says earnestly. Her face brightens.

“If everyone thinks it’s the best thing...I
just want my sister to be happy and safe...to get past all of
this,” I say.

Ennio and Clarissa are obviously pleased.
Clarissa claps her hands in delight. My father is exactly the same
as he was when the conversation started...unmoving and stoic.

“I’m going to be sending Joey with them as
added security,” Ennio continues. “Even though the school is a
fortress most attendees bring their own security.”

It is obvious by the way everyone is
speaking that they were expecting a fight from me. But I could
never take anything away from my sister. I agree with all of them
that it could be just what she needs. It gives me a great deal of
relief to know she will be with Clarissa...even more to know that
Joey will be there, as well. My father gets up and goes to Erin’s
room.

Antonio kisses my cheek and whispers in my
ear, “You’re doing the right thing.”

Thirty seconds later, Vito storms out of
Erin’s room. His face is chiseled into a frown. With fists clenched
at his side, he walks straight out the door into the hallway,
leaving. Antonio follows him.

“Now that that is settled, I need to get
back down to the casino.” Ennio says his goodbyes, and it’s just
Clarissa and I left in the room.

“I can’t wait! It is going to be so much
fun!” Clarissa squeals.

A few short moments later my father comes
back out.

“She’s sleeping,” he says quietly as he
approaches me and hovers over my chair. “Come with me,” he orders.
As we walk by the kitchen counter, I notice two new cell phones
that weren’t there before. “Those are for the two of you,” my
father scratches out.

I stand frozen in place, unsure of what this
is about. The awkwardness between us is palpable. We have had no
parental supervision in weeks. Basically, we’ve been living on our
own with the generosity and company of Clarissa’s family. My father
motions me out into the hallway.

As we exit the suite, Antonio and Vito are
in a heated close-knit conversation. They abruptly stop talking
when they see us. Antonio sends me a half smile, but Vito won’t
even look our way. His head is hanging. Hair drops down around his
cheeks, his appearance is crestfallen. Antonio doesn’t ask any
questions as my father and I get on the elevator...he just watches
us leave. I don’t even have the courage to ask my father where we
are going, but I don’t need to wonder for long as he presses the
button for the basement.

The enforcer area has cleaned out since the
mayhem earlier. My father takes me over to the door that houses
Gilly who is there looking healthier than he did an hour ago.

“Hey, Gilly...how are you feeling?” I
ask.

“Much better, thank you,” he says in a
chipper tone. “How are you doing, Patrick?”

That is an interesting tidbit. He knows my
father. Well, I guess in a way, Gilly knows everybody. I suppose my
father does, too.

“Fine,” my father clips off.

The firing range has been cleaned
thoroughly. The remnants of ammonia invade my nose. Not one drop of
blood remains. I am numb to the whole thing right now, which must
be a defense mechanism. When these types of things happen, there’s
a disconnect between my body and my brain. My soul takes
over...like it knows exactly what to do. It sends signals to my
body to protect itself. Self-preservation and defense rule me.
Fight, flight, or freeze...I fight.

I take a deep breath and ask “How’s Mom?” I
want to know the answer to this more than I care about what we’re
doing down here.

“A little lonely without you girls,” he says
unemotionally.

“Why doesn’t she call us?” I hated the sound
of the pleading in my voice. It gives the impression that I’m needy
or weak, and I don’t want anyone to feel that way about
me...especially my father.

He loads a gun I’ve never seen before. It’s
small and black. He doesn’t look at me when he talks. “I told her
not to.”

“Why?!”

“It’s better for everybody. The less your
mother knows, the safer it is for her...and you. Hasn’t that
boyfriend of yours taught you anything?”

“She could’ve called us, Dad!” I yell at
him, my temper rising. “The phones are secure. You and Antonio use
phones,” I admonish. “I had a phone in South Bend.”

“You can talk to your mother when Tutti is
put down. I just gave you new phones, use them wisely.”

“What about Luigi Prazzo?” I ask. Antonio
speaks about them as though they are a package deal. My father has
not even looked at me during this entire conversation as he loads
and checks the gun.

“He’s already dead,” my father says with
absolutely no emotion.

I want to suck in a breath
and think,
How horrific!
But I can’t. Only thought that runs through my
mind...One down, one to go.

Chapter 9

On Ice:
Dead!

Antonio:

Zee managed to give us important information
before he got fucking loose. While he spilled his shit about
Prazzo, I already knew that he was dead. Patrick had already got
him and surprisingly gave me the details. No one will ever find
Luigi Prazzo unless they decide to take down the new high-rise over
on Lexington.

The important intel he gave us was about
Uncle Tutti...the only one left. Zee put up a fight but we
convinced him to talk. Tutti’s men have been hijacking
tractor-trailer trucks all over Illinois, selling the stolen goods
on the black market. Following the routes and tracing them back is
the best way for us to trap him. Figures Tutti would be doing shit
like this...hijacking and fencing stolen property is a low form of
organized crime.

Afterwards, we dropped Zee on the doorstep
of the family he defected from. Literally...we threw him on the
sidewalk. Let them deal with him.

It will be a relief when this is all over.
Maybe we can go back to school and finish out our senior year,
although Megan probably doesn’t even need to do that. Lucia has
been tutoring her, and, with all the credits she already had, her
diploma is as good as being in her hand. I would love to take Megan
on a vacation. A real one this time. Anywhere she wants to go.

*****

Antonio:

Vito is a live wire. He says he’s just
pissed because Patrick was an asshole to him. He’s lying. He could
give two shits if Patrick acted like a jackass to him. I didn’t
mention the discussions of sending Erin with Clarissa to boarding
school. I wasn’t sure it was going to happen, and I never let my
suspicions sink in regarding his feelings toward Erin. It’s hard
for me to see her in that way because of her age...and the fact
that I only have eyes for one person. But Vito has done an
excellent job of taking care of Erin. She has been a difficult
responsibility. Her volatile emotions and reactionary behavior has
been a cross we’ve all had to bear. I wish I knew a way to help him
deal.

I’m hesitant to take him with me to the
meeting tonight. His explosive mood could really be a problem. If
Demetrius is there, that will only add fuel to the deadly fire
already burning.

Back at the hotel, we change and head to the
car. The meeting is at the same place, so we don’t rush. We know
how to get there.