Out of Bondage
Page 19
* * *
“He’s telling the truth,” She announced, pulling her hand away from Luca’s chest as quickly as possible.
* * *
He flashed her another wink, sending terrified chills down her spine.
* * *
“Good,” Nico said.
* * *
He folded his arms and continued to look at his brother. Luca Riccardi had never behaved like a brother to him, but like a shadow. Luca had followed him, casting darkness upon each place Nico had walked. Even in his attempts to start over with Eve, that shadow had followed him.
* * *
“Now answer me this Luca,” Nico started again, “Why have you followed me? We have already fought and you were free. Why did you come back for revenge? It’s been years since you already took everything I had away from me.”
* * *
Luca grinned, “I came back because I needed to show you something brother.”
* * *
“What did you have to show me?”
* * *
“I needed to show you that you were wrong about the world.”
* * *
“How?”
* * *
“You’re wrong about the world being filled with goodness. It’s filled with men like you, who keep your head down and pretend that everything is love and purity, but the world is dark and twisted and vile. I needed to show you that you were wrong, that there is no such thing as happy endings.”
* * *
Nico looked at his twin brother who spat out each of his vile words with such conviction and for the first time in his life he pitied Luca. Luca lived in a world where he used his violence to prove that love couldn’t exist because in their childhood, he had known no love. With Giuseppe as a father, who could blame him for turning out like this. Troubled past aside, Nico couldn’t allow his brother to terrorize him like this.
* * *
“There is love in this world Luca. I am sorry that you feel you must destroy my happiness to have me on your side.”
* * *
Luca chuckled, “As much as I’m enjoying this sentimental chat brother, if you’re going to kill me, I want you to get on with it. Have one of your cretins put a bullet in my brain and end my misery.”
* * *
“If you wanted to die, you could have taken your own life at any minute,” Nico replied calmly, “I don’t believe you want me to kill you brother.”
* * *
“I’m a prisoner in my body Nico… Just set me free… I know you want to after all that I’ve taken from you. So if you’re not man enough to do it yourself, have someone else do it. I’m ready.”
* * *
Nico couldn’t tell what to make of Luca anymore. He was unhinged from reality and he deserved death more than anything, but the way he was begging to be free was unnatural. He had an inhuman lack of attachment to his existence. Whether he lived or died was inconsequential to him. He was a being who pursued stimulus after stimulus without a care for the past or the future, a true drifter.
* * *
“Perhaps you’re right about me brother,” Nico sighed, “Perhaps I can’t kill you. But I can call the British authorities. Once they run your prints, they'll know exactly what to do with you. I’m sure you have a record here.”
* * *
Luca scowled, but said nothing. Nico knew he was right about the record.
* * *
“Daniella, call the police.”
* * *
“Nico, no!” Eve screamed.
* * *
She could feel the gun trembling in her hand and the desire to shoot mounting. She couldn’t believe how easy it was for Nico to put them at risk again. She now knew that Luca wouldn’t stop terrorizing them until he died. They had their chance and they should take it.
* * *
“What’s wrong Eve? We cannot kill him now. Look at how he wants to die. We need to punish him for what he’s done, have him face justice.”
* * *
“If we let him go, he’ll escape,” Domenico said icily.
* * *
“We shouldn’t let him go,” Edoardo agreed.
* * *
While he didn’t possess the same hatred for his half-brother that he had for his half-brother’s father, Edoardo wasn’t eager to have a man like that kicking around. Luca was obsessed with vengeance and addicted to violence, and far more dangerous than any of them were willing to admit.
* * *
“Listen to me,” Nico said calmly, “We cannot just kill him like this. We are not Luca.”
* * *
“Cousin,” Domenico interrupted, speaking up for the first time.
* * *
“He is dangerous to all of us. We must do something with him or he will kill again. You know this is true. I understand you don’t want blood on your hands.”
* * *
“Good Domenico,” Luca chuckled, “Prove to him you’re more than a little boy.”
* * *
“Quiet,” Edoardo growled, jutting his gun into Luca’s head.
* * *
Eve took a step back, worried that Edoardo would be trigger happy again.
* * *
“If we take you to prison, you will get out,” Domenico said, “And I cannot let you get out. Goodbye cousin. This is the end.”
* * *
“Domenico no!” Nico screamed.
* * *
It was too late. Domenico plunged his knife deep into Luca’s belly. He pulled it out forcefully, and stabbed Luca again, this time in his heart.
* * *
“Domenico!” Daniella yelled.
* * *
“Guns down,” Nico commanded.
* * *
Everyone in the room dropped their guns and they landed on the floor with a thud at the same time that Luca did. Luca was choking, unable to speak as blood began to flow from his mouth and the stab wounds. Domenico stood back and watched Luca twitch, unable to do anything but feel pain as he lay there on the ground.
* * *
“Do we just watch him die?!” Daniella yelled.
* * *
No one responded for a beat and Daniella walked out of the room. Eve followed her. She had no desire to watch Luca twitch on the ground like a dead rabbit. Eve held Daniella who looked sickly pale like she was going to vomit. Eve was shocked at how well she herself had been desensitized to violence.
* * *
“It will be okay, Daniella.”
* * *
“How will they get him out of here?” She asked.
* * *
“Edoardo knows a man who can do just about anything.”
* * *
They were quiet for a moment and Eve listened into the living room. Luca was dead. The men were discussing moving his body. Domenico walked past them.
* * *
“Is she okay?” He asked Eve.
* * *
“She’ll be alright.”
* * *
“We need white sheets. Edoardo has a man coming by with a hearse.”
* * *
Eve smiled. She knew Edoardo was handy that way.
* * *
“Perfect. Thank you Domenico.”
* * *
“Take her upstairs for now.”
* * *
Domenico bounded upstairs and held her arms around Daniella until they arrived in Daniella’s bedroom.
* * *
“It’s weird, how people can just be gone like that.”
* * *
“I know,” Eve replied.
* * *
“And all of this for what? What is Domenico going to do?”
* * *
Eve shrugged, “Have you considered that he might be the heir at the helm of the Riccardi syndicate?”
* * *
“Impossible,” Daniella shrugged, shaking her head.
* * *
“Why impossible?”
* * *
“He’s too young…”
* * *
She looked away, suggesting there was more to it than that.
* * *
“Giuseppe took control when he was seventeen years old. It was a different time, but Domenico is old enough to lead.”
* * *
“That’s not it,” Daniella confessed.
* * *
“Then what is it?”
* * *
“I’m pregnant Eve. I’m pregnant and we aren’t even married yet.”
* * *
Daniella began to cry and Eve wrapped the young girl in a hug.
* * *
“Does Domenico know?”
Daniella shook her head. She rested her head again on Eve’s shoulders.
* * *
“He has no idea. And I have no idea how he will react.”
* * *
Eve replied, “Listen here, sister, he will be alright. You have stood by him through all manner of things and he has always been there for you. He will stand for you with this.”
* * *
“My father will be furious. We are not married.”
* * *
“But your husband is a Riccardi. That must be good for business.”
* * *
Daniella nodded. She knew Eve was right. Daniella pulled away from Eve as she heard a knock at her bedroom door.
* * *
“Who is it?”
* * *
“It’s me, Domenico.”
* * *
“I’ll leave you two alone for a while,” Eve announced.
* * *
She opened the door and allowed Domenico in as she returned downstairs to join her husband and Edoardo. They were cleaning the floor from Luca’s blood and the smell of vinegar filled the entire apartment.
* * *
“He’s gone.”
* * *
Nico didn’t seem thrilled or upset, just finished.
* * *
“Yes, my brother is gone. We’re done with all of this.”|
* * *
“And the Riccardi syndicate back home?”
* * *
“Domenico will take the mantle,” Nico replied.
* * *
“I will assist him tangentially for a few months,” Edoardo added.
* * *
“And then this is really all over. I can finally see my son again.”
* * *
“Yes. We’ll be home soon.”
* * *
Eve closed her eyes and took a deep breath in, relieved that this was almost finished.
7
Family Business
Domenico and Daniella moved out of the apartment that night. Edoardo’s London contacts helped get rid of Luca, marking him as a John Doe and shuffling his second (and real) death out of the eyes of the police. On the day Luca was cremated, Nico went to the morgue, requesting that Eve and Edoardo leave him alone to say goodbye to his brother.
* * *
As he watched the cheap wooden coffin slide into the crematorium, Nico tried to muster up some tears or feelings of sadness, but he couldn’t. He’d mourned the loss of his brother long ago. This ghoul that had risen to torture him was nothing like Luca — his good sides had perished well before their teenage years.
* * *
As Nico ensured that this time, his brother was really dead, he thought about the duty he would now have to his family. Someone had to take over the Riccardi syndicate and he did not wish for that somebody to be him. He had someone else in mind, someone who could take up the mantle that Giuseppe Riccardi had set down. Someone who could send their family onto a path of righteousness.
* * *
Without someone taking the lead, there would be chaos. And Nico was finished with chaos once and for all.
* * *
Leaving the morgue, he decided to walk home. London was blustery cold and rainy to boot. A thick layer of smog engulfed the city, leaving Nico particularly desirous of a quick departure. First, Martina would return, they would spend weeks with Matteo and leave for their honeymoon soon after.
* * *
Nico knew that Eve wouldn’t be able to enjoy the honeymoon until they had seen their son. And Nico agreed. He had never imagined that his life would finally settle enough for him to be a family man, but he was slowly settling into the role one day at a time. Now, thinking like a father was becoming something natural to him. After everything his family had been through, he was ready for the contrast.
* * *
He was prepared for summers in Maine, rather than summers on the run in Europe. He was prepared for a lifetime of playing with his son, rather than trying to save him or forcing him into adulthood too early. Nico was ready to become more of a man than his father. He approached the new place that they’d all crowded into. Edoardo had driven away to pick up Martina so the lot was empty.
* * *
Outside, Nico surveyed the street, another nervous reflex that he knew would take years for him to drop. He saw no one, of course, and then he entered the flat. The days of being followed home were over. Safety was going to become the new normal and one day at a time, Nico knew he had to adjust to it.
* * *
When he entered the house, the first person he saw was Eve, waiting eagerly for him in the kitchen past the foyer. She had a bottle of champagne chilling on ice, a celebration for Martina’s return. She was dressed up for her son Matteo and the smile on her face revealed just how excited she was to see him.
* * *
“You look nice,” Nico muttered to her in greeting.
* * *
He wrapped her in a hug and Eve nuzzled her head into his chest.
* * *
“Thank you my love. I can’t wait to see our son again.”
* * *
“It’s been too long,” Nico assured her.
* * *
“Are you alright?” Eve asked.
* * *
Nico nodded.
* * *
“And everything went alright?”
* * *
Nico nodded again and then replied, “Is it strange for me not to feel sad?”
* * *
“Your brother opened fire at our wedding,” Eve replied.
* * *
That answered that question.
* * *
“Are Domenico and Daniella here?”
* * *
Eve shook her head, “They’ll be back soon. They went out to get some pasta for tonight.”
* * *
“Mmm. Is Daniella doing some good old-fashioned Italian home cooking?”
* * *
Eve nodded, “I had a feeling that would make you happy.”
* * *
“The two things that make me happiest are seeing my son again and knowing we have a crazy honeymoon to look forward to.”
* * *
“You still haven’t told me where we’re going!”
* * *
“It will be a surprise,” Nico replied with a wink.
* * *
“Hold on,” Eve said, hushing Nico, “Do you hear a car?”
* * *
“Could be Edoardo?”
* * *