by Ali Parker
Family. Money. Love. Today would be no different.
"There are only a few things in life that have the right or ability to lift you to the highest of peaks and then in the next moment kick you in the gut and slam you into the hardness of the ground: Family. Money. Love. I'd have to say that for me, Vivian was my heart, the reason I got up some mornings when it was just too damn hard, ya know?" He looked up, and everyone nodded and mumbled in agreement.
I caught my old friend’s eye and held the stare to assure him that he wasn't alone in that moment. Joe had been in my life for as long as I could remember. My father, Papa Big, had grown up with Joe, and the two were like brothers, leaving me to accept the protection of Don Castaletta when my dad died.
No one would hurt for Vivian's death more than Joe, and yet we all would feel the weight of it. Izzy, Marco, and Freddy sat huddled together on the front row, their mother’s passing and their father's heaviness clearly weighing on them.
"Vivian will be missed by me and I know by all of you. She gave me three beautiful children and helped me raise them to be every fucking thing we thought they outta be, and they are. She was kind and gentle, loving and mean like a snake when she needed to be."
More mumbles went around, and a soft laugh bubbled up in the crowd.
Joe smiled and nodded at everyone. "If today had just been about the passing of a beautiful woman, then we'd celebrate, but it's not. It's about someone in this fucking city thinking they have the right to steal our crown jewel. It's about someone thinking that they can come into my house and take from me the one thing that belonged to me alone."
The emotion that flowed freely was anger, and the priest backed up a little. Joe was known for being the most generous of bastards in the city—and yet the most deadly.
A time of retribution and retaliation was coming.
When we had the ability to pinpoint who was going to suffer for what was done to Vivian, it was going to be a bloodbath. Joe placed his hand on the casket again as the rain shifted and sprayed him. He looked fierce and ready to take on the whole damned city if necessary, but his expression only mimicked the battle cry we all felt deep inside for justice to be served swiftly.
"We will find them, baby. We'll find them, and I'll kill every last motherfucker that was involved. Before I join you in the ground, we will avenge your death."
"Yeah!" one of the syndicate brothers yelled from the back row, a few others joining in.
Joe looked up at everyone and nodded. "Yeah."
They all yelled their agreement but me. I was far too lost in my thoughts. How someone could be ballsy enough to hit Don Joseph Castaletta, a name that shook fear across the United States and half of the countries we dealt with overseas, was beyond me. It was almost unbelievable, and yet there we stood, burying our matriarch.
I glanced up to Joe's dark green eyes boring into me. A look of question stained his aging face.
A simple nod added my agreement to the Don's statement. There would be no one else at the front of the search for Vivian's killers outside of me, Joe, and Izzy, and everyone gathered to say goodbye knew it.
Chapter 2
Demetri
The rest of the funeral was a blur. The priest tried to bring in a little more about the Lord into the mix, but I had already had my fill. A hole in the ground was the only rest and reprieve I expected after the life I had chosen to live.
I walked away from the crowd and moved along the dirt-covered tombstones as the rain lightly misted from above. I tried to work through the various enemies we had made over the years, finding the list much longer than I had anticipated. But we weren't just looking for a casual enemy or a rival syndicate. Whoever took Vivian's life had to have tracked her to know exactly where she would be, and that Joe wouldn't be beside her.
The fuckers knew what they were asking for. It was a death wish of the most daring kind — to rape and kill a mobster's wife in cold blood.
Joe would grieve today with his family and his kids, but I knew damn good and well that tomorrow he would be on the war path. Nothing would stop him or the rest of the syndicate until this mystery was solved and vengeance was ours.
I turned my head at the sound of footsteps. The leaves lay scattered along the ground from the long winter, giving the scene more color than any of us wanted in the midst of our suffering.
Tugging my black leather bomber closer, I offered a sad smile as I laid eyes on Izabella. Her long dark purple coat hid the black dress she'd had me zip up that morning. Every cell in my body woke up standing in the bedroom behind her, and it was all I could do not to slide the dress off her shoulders and help her forget everything.
I opened my arms to her in a brotherly fashion and lifted my head, beckoning her to come to me.
She walked slowly, her head down, but sea-green eyes cast toward me. Her silky raven-colored hair cascaded around her shoulders and danced along the curve of her breasts. She was a picture of blissful innocence, which didn't belong at all to the sensual vixen who stopped short of reaching me.
We spent all of our time fighting one another, but for that day, for that moment, I would relent and be anything she needed me to be to help her find peace.
I took another step toward her and wrapped her in my arms, leaning down and kissing the top of her head as the smell of her skin tugged at desire deep inside of me. I'd spoken my condolences to her that morning back at the mansion and held her while she cried. I didn't need to speak them again. We were both hurting, and the simplicity of allowing a hug between us was enough. It was more than either of us had offered the other in far too long. I almost couldn't remember why we were so determined to keep ourselves at arm’s length. Seemed futile in the midst of our shared loss.
"I still can't believe this is happening," she whispered against my chest as I brushed her hair back and tightened my hold on her.
"I honestly can't either. We'll find out who did it, Izzy. Don't you worry at all about that."
She laughed sardonically and pulled back, the look on her face quickly reminding me that her innocence was simply a facade that worked increasingly well to get what she wanted. "I'm not worried at all. I plan to find him before any of you do, and then I'm going to make him suffer far more than I do today."
I lifted an eyebrow and gave a smug look. It would be agony to suffer by her hands on a good day, but now? Fuck no. I almost felt sorry for the bastard that killed Vivian simply because nothing caused more pain than a woman scorned. Izabella was far beyond the simple emotion of scorn, which left the recipient of her attack on the wrong end of the battle. It was going to be bad if Joe caught up to him, but if Izabella happened to first...
"What are you thinking?" she asked, pulling me from my thoughts as she backed up a little and pressed her back to a tall pine tree behind her.
The shape of her figure couldn't help but beckon my attention, even through the confines of the large coat she wore. Her long sculpted legs crossed at the ankle, her two-inch heels professional and still sexy as hell. I'd seen what was under the coat a few times in my life, and I'd have paid a lot for the freedom to demand seeing it again.
I gave myself the pleasure of a quick glance across the length of her. Beautiful didn't even began to capture her.
I shifted my eyes up toward hers and found her staring back with no emotion to be found. Cold. Empty. The perfect killing machine.
"I was almost feeling sorry for the bastard that killed your mom. If you get to him first, it's going to be way worse than if Joe or I do." I licked my lips absently and ran my hands down the front of my suit jacket.
"Why? Because I loved Mama more?" Her eyes followed my tongue closely.
"I wouldn't doubt your love for your mom, but I was thinking because we would just shoot him point blank, but I'm pretty sure you'd make him suffer long and hard for what he did."
"Long and hard. Sounds like my kind of date." She shrugged and stood up, stretching a little and turning to walk back toward her family. "Actuall
y, I could use something to get my mind off of things. Long and hard will do perfectly."
A soft chuckle lifted from me as I shook my head. I had something long and hard she could take her time enjoying. It was more than ready to get her mind off of any and everything that might plague her, but it wasn't happening. The last time we let passion pull us into depravity, neither of us had wanted to come up for air. It was a dangerous place to be with so many people working to take your life.
Besides, we were too much like family, and no matter how much we might pine for each other, we kept it to ourselves. We would tease one another for the rest of eternity with the heat of what could be between us, but nothing more.
"Wear yourself out, Izzy."
She walked toward her father, and Joe opened his arms to her as they shared a long hug.
Freddy and Marco stood over to the side, looking sullen.
Marco caught my attention and motioned for me to join them. The oldest boy of the Castaletta crew, Marco was Joe's Consigliere, the guy that made sure all the business shit was in order. I was Joe's underboss, the guy in charge of everyone else.
There had been a good handful of years that Marco had been second in command, but after figuring out that he hated people, he switched positions to focus more on paperwork and managing Joe's affairs.
Freddy was the youngest Castaletta and the capo for our narcotics ring. Too bad the little punk ass smoked as much as he sold. His greasy appearance and glassy eyes made it easy to tell that he was a doper and had been for a long time.
"I think we should let things go for today. Tomorrow we get started again on trying to figure out who did this shit," Marco spoke slowly, his drawl lackadaisical, as was his way of doing things in life.
"Fuck that. I say we get in the car now and go figure out what the fuck happened to Mama." Freddy sniffled, his eyes red and puffy—from sadness or drugs, perhaps a combination of the two.
"Freddy. I don't think that's a good idea with the family here. We need to be with everyone, and you need time to grieve," Marco spoke softly, reaching out to touch the younger man on the shoulder.
"No, I'm with him. We need to get on this. It's been four days since Vivian was murdered." Everyone flinched as I spoke the words no one wanted to say. The Don's wife hadn't simply died, and she hadn't passed — she’d been raped and murdered in cold blood. Someone had gunned her down and taken her life not because she wore pretty clothes or had a nice purse but simply because of who she was.
"And we've been looking for four damned days and haven't found shit, have we?" Marco retorted, his face flushing a little. He touched his finger to his head and closed his eyes. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have snapped at you."
"It's all good." I looked over to see where Izzy and the rest of the crew were, glad that they weren't around to witness the backbone of the organization falling apart. "You go with the family, and Freddy and I will go look at a few more things that I wanted to check out at the crime scene. Today's Election Day downtown. There ain't no damned way the cops will be on site today. I just want more time to look for anything we can find. I'm sure the boys in blue swept the place half-assed like they do everything."
"I think Freddy should come home with me. His mother was buried today. I don't think he's stable enough to deal with anything that you might uncover." Marco moved his hand from Freddy and crossed his arms over his chest.
"I'm fucking right here. I'm going. You aren't my daddy, so back off me."
Marco started to respond, and I stepped in. "I'll take him for an hour, and then we'll be back at the house. Your father and sister are motioning for you to join them. Tell them that Freddy and I are going to grab a few things at the store and then we'll be back at the mansion, got it?"
I stood a good foot over Marco and Freddy. My height and size was something I was more than happy to use to my advantage.
"Fine, but only an hour." Marco looked between us and then turned on his heel and walked off.
Freddy stood stone still and spoke when Marco was out of earshot. "What's his fucking problem? It's almost like he doesn't want us finding Mama’s killer. What the hell?"
I put my hand on Freddy's shoulder and walked toward the long black Cadillac that awaited us at the back of the funeral procession. "I don't think it's that at all. I just think he wants everyone together, which isn't too much to ask."
"Then why'd you front him?"
I rolled my eyes. "I didn't front him. I simply told him that I wanted to check things out, and taking you with me would be a good time to confront you."
Freddy stopped before reaching the car, a look of confusion sweeping over his face. "Confront me on what exactly?"
I slid my tight grip up from Freddy's shoulder to the side of his neck, pinching a little and moving the punk-ass toward the car. "On you not doing your job right and how bad I'm going to fuck up your life if you don't start."
Chapter 3
Izabella
"I'm sorry you have to suffer this today, baby girl." My father's arms were warm, comforting, healing.
"I'm sorry too, Daddy." I glanced up at him and pressed my teeth into my bottom lip. I'd cried twice in my life, and I didn't plan on doing it again. Once was the night Demetri put up boundaries in our young relationship, and the second time was this morning for my beautiful mother. She was the only warmth in our large fortress, the only soft place to land. And now she was gone, and I was alone.
"I shouldn't have let her go alone that day. I felt something in the pit of my stomach that told me not to let her, and I ignored it. I hate myself right now." His voice was nothing more than a whisper as his eyes filled with tears. "We'll get through this together though, right?"
The mountain of a man before me was soon to crumble under the weight of his devastation. I had to get him home and spare him the public audience for his fall.
"Yes, Dad. We will get through it. We'll all rally around you like we always do, and vengeance will be mine." I touched the side of his face and let out a painful sigh.
"Ours." He gave a smile that seemed forced.
"Mine." I pressed a kiss to his cheek and moved back to see Demetri talking with my brothers. My eyes moved over the broad line of his shoulders as I tried to stifle thoughts of him holding me that morning. I hadn't meant to break down, but in the midst of him losing his own mother, it was just too much.
His words were kind, his hands strong, his lips so damn soft in my bedroom. I'd wanted so badly to take advantage of him lowering the wall between us a little. I needed to slide between the momentary crack in the structure that kept us at arm’s length and reach for him as a woman might a man.
"Are you coming home with us?" My father moved away from me and lifted his fist to his mouth as he coughed a few times.
"Of course." I offered him my hand and tucked myself against his side as we walked toward the cars, ignoring the boys. They would catch up a few minutes later.
"Joe. Hey, buddy. I'm so sorry for your loss. We'll be digging into this case deeply for you. I'm going to get Jonathan to pull the files, and if you need any insight or need anything — " Armstrong Kelley was one of my father's closest friends, and a retired captain for the police force. His son, Jonathan, was a detective on the force, and a damn good one. If only we could get Armstrong to pull Jonathan to our side — but Jon seemed to be a very different man from his father.
I glanced over my shoulder to watch D tug my little brother toward his car instead of coming with us. Demetri was a man of very little patience and a large personality that demanded attention. He had been in my life for as long as I could remember, and there wasn't a time when I didn't long for him to be so much more than a partner in crime. He was every wet dream I'd ever had. Tall, dark and handsome was what the girls in college used to say, but he was so much more than that. His dark features only accented his dominate alpha male persona.
More than anything, I loved to press up against his will and make him sweat at the idea that I had the power to ben
d it.
Marco walked over and stood beside me and wrapped an arm over my shoulders. "You know you two will be married one day."
"Fuck you," I mumbled and continued to watch D and Freddy.
"Be as pissy as you'd like about it, but Mother was right. You were made for each other. We'll just see which of you finally decides that being lonely is a game best played in one’s youth." He turned and kissed the side of my head. "I'm here for you. You know that, right?"
I shifted a little and wrapped my arms around my brother's waist. "Yeah, I know. I'm here for you too."
"I'm still in shock, I think." He rubbed my shoulder softly. "The last thing Mom told me was to make sure I called the bakery and had them spell Castaletta right for Dad's cake."
He snorted, and I swallowed my need to cry again. Not happening.
"It's not a common name, is it?" I glanced up at my brother and smiled. He looked so much like our mother with his dark features. His jet-black hair was from Mama’s side of the family, but his soulless eyes came from Daddy all the way.
"What are you looking at me like that for?" He tapped his finger on the tip of my nose and smiled down at me.
Marco. The one forever wanting to save us all from ourselves.
"I like the mustache and the little beard under your chin, but what is this?" I reached up and pinched the small patch of black hair that sat under his lip.
He yelped and jerked away from me as I laughed, unable to help myself.
"Damn. That hurt like fire. You unruly witch." He reached for me and wrapped me back into a tight hug. "I'm going to get you back for that."
