by Amy Starling
“It's not that I enjoy it. I do whatever it takes to protect this family.” He squeezed my hand. “Sometimes, you gotta do terrible things to look out for the ones you love.”
On the way back to our seats, a pair of strange men caught my eye. They remained in the lobby, but were dressed in their finery like everyone else. The way their gazes shifted about the room, never once even looking at the coffin, seemed odd to me.
By the time I looked back, they were gone.
The funeral procession began, and we followed slowly behind the hearse to the Summerset Cemetery. The closer we got, the stranger I began to feel.
“Something's off,” I announced to Alec as we pulled after Leo's limosuine.
“Off?”
“I just have this bad feeling. I get it when I'm at the hospital sometimes, and it's usually right.”
“Oh. Hmm.” He frowned. “Well, it's a funeral. I imagine it'd be normal to have bad feelings there.”
Maybe he was right. I didn't think so.
Finally, after a long drive, we arrived. The coffin was unloaded and set up by the grave, where a priest waited to say prayers over the body.
Rain began to fall as the old priest spoke.
“Harry was a good man. He was beloved in life and will be sorely missed by many in death.”
His mother sobbed. Leo murmured something in her ear and offered her his arm.
I usually felt safe beside Alec, but that awful feeling got worse and worse. It was a sense of dread, that all of a sudden, nothing was right. The breeze and the rain droplets felt wrong on my skin. Even the calls of the birds sounded off-key. The priest's words became distant and muffled to my ears.
Then I saw it.
Three black cars slowly rolled past the graves. Their windows were so darkly tinted, seeing inside was impossible.
The cars stopped.
“Alec,” I hissed. “We need to go. We have to get out of here right now.”
He gaped at me. “Huh? Why would we –”
The car doors opened all at once, and out stepped four men each, all of them dressed in dark suits.
All of them holding guns.
Alec spotted them right away, but it was too late for him to stop them.
He pulled me to the ground just before they opened fire. Screams erupted in the crowd as bullets flew and found their mark. All around us, people fell. Most of them no longer moved.
The ones left standing ran. Alec and several others whipped out their own concealed weapons and fired back. He took down two men with one bullet each, both of them making horrible croaking noises as they breathed their last.
“Lucas!” Alec screamed at the top of his lungs. “You motherfucker! You attack us at a funeral?”
Lucas dove behind his car and fired back. “You wanna ruin me? This is what you get, kid,” he yelled. “If I can't have the family, then nobody can.”
Alec glanced down at me between firing shots. “Ceci, get in the car.”
But I was too afraid to move. Part of me hoped that if I stayed motionless, face-down in the mud, they'd think I was dead and leave me be.
A couple of other guys took out three more of the Giseppis. Lucas waved to the rest and slid into his car.
“We're done here. Drive!”
The cars peeled out of the cemetery, leaving the survivors to deal with the aftermath. Alec was like a bull blinded by rage. He sprinted for his car as if he'd forgotten I was even there.
“Alec, your dad!”
One of the men, Sam, yelled to him. Alec skidded to a stop.
Leo was on the ground, with Harvey's mother holding him as she cried. Alec and I raced to his side.
It wasn't pretty. Leo had taken several shots to the torso, and his white shirt was drenched with red. Blood dribbled from the corner of his mouth. He coughed weakly and groaned.
“Dad.” Alec got down on his knees. “Oh, God. Not you.”
Damn it, of all the times not to have my supplies with me!
Alec looked up at me, his eyes pleading. “Can't you do something? You're a doctor.”
I felt so helpless. What could I possibly do? Leo was dying, and we couldn't get him to the hospital fast enough.
I didn't have the guts to tell him any of that.
“Get him in the car,” Alec bellowed. “He might still make it.”
He and Sam hauled the heavy man into the back seat of the limo. Alec called for me to hurry, but I could hardly take my eyes off all the others who'd fallen around us. At least ten were on the ground. All were motionless.
“Ceci, let's go!”
I climbed into the back with Leo. Even knowing I couldn't save him, I went through the motions anyway.
Off came his coat, then I unbuttoned his shirt. Six bullet holes marked his chest. Oh God; I'd never seen so many in one person.
“Pressure,” I mumbled. “Must apply pressure.”
What else could I do? I folded his jacket and pushed it down firmly over the wounds while Alec flung the limo down the highway at ninety miles an hour.
“We'll be there soon, dad. Hold on.”
Leo's eyes opened a crack. He looked at me and grabbed my wrist as I tried to mop up the blood.
“Miss... Trenton.” He coughed. “Ceci. You're a good woman. Good for my boy. I'm... sorry I caused your family so much grief.”
Alec floored it. “Please don't talk. Rest,” he said. “Isn't that right, Ceci? He'll be better if he rests.”
I'd seen lots of family and friends lose their minds when they found out a loved one was dying or dead. But to see Alec's reaction, his denial, as his father passed away before his eyes was the worst of them all.
“Son. Listen. I was wrong about you. You're the one... who'll lead the Ciarellos to a brighter future.”
A cop car pulled out behind us, with sirens and lights flashing. Alec pushed the limo to go even faster.
“If you want to marry her, then... You have my blessing.”
His eyes closed, and his chest ceased to move. Alec kept talking to him. I couldn't stand the pain of telling him his father was already gone.
“Stop talking like you're going to die, you hear me? We'll get you in there and the doctors will fix you up. Ceci will take good care of you. You'll see.”
Sam glanced back sadly at Leo, then put a hand on his friend's shoulder. He didn't have to even say a word.
“Pull to the side of the road immediately!”
Defeated, he braked and rolled to the median. The cop got out and approached our car, then rapped on the window.
“License and registration please.” He peered in and covered his mouth. “Oh God.”
Alec put his face in his hands and sobbed.
Chapter 23 - Alec
Something snapped in me the moment dad passed on. In one instant, that flame of love and tenderness Ceci brought to my life was extinguished. The only thing I felt was hatred.
The men responsible for this had to die.
I was able to get the cops off our case with a fat bribe. Still, dealing with them slowed me down. Every minute that passed was another that Lucas had to escape me.
And I refused to let him get away this time.
Ceci and Janet talked in the kitchen while I waited for the rest of the men to arrive.
My men. I was the boss now.
I didn't even care anymore.
“It's simply horrible,” Janet said, pouring two glasses of hot tea. “In their line of work, you always know these things can happen. I guess it's just you never really think it will.”
“I hope Alec will be okay. He's worrying me.”
“He did just lose his father. He's a strong man, though, so don't you fret too much.”
“I feel like... Like I let him down,” she murmured. “I'm a doctor, yet I couldn't even save him.”
Even in my own agony, my heart ached for her. How could I make her see his death wasn't her fault?
The only one who was to blame was Lucas.
The boy
s filed in one by one and gathered in dad's – my – office. They were in there talking, probably whispering about what a shitty boss I'd be compared to him. I could never live up to his name, to the things he'd done for our family.
But I guess I had to try.
Not just for them, but for Ceci. For my child. They were too special for me to lose them, too.
Nico came in last, late as usual. He grabbed my arm and pulled me up the stairs.
“Those guys Lucas was working with? They were all Giseppis,” he said excitedly. “Checked the corpses of the ones you took down. The tattoos gave 'em away. Morons.”
“I figured as much. I'll kill them if I see them again, but you know I'm really after the big fish.”
“Lucas.”
“That fat sack of shit. How did we ever trust him? I feel like an idiot for not seeing it sooner.”
“Aw, he had everyone fooled. Don't beat yourself up.” His eyes twinkled. “Anyway, I got news you're gonna love. Come on.”
Soon as I slipped into my new office, the men quieted. Sam and Larry, my two second-in-command, gestured to the desk where dad used to sit.
“Go on,” Sam said. “I know we haven't had an official ceremony or nothing, but right now we ain't got time for that.”
I sat in the old leather chair. The scent of dad's expensive cologne remained on it, and I tried to not show how shaken it made me.
“The news,”Nico said once I had been seated. “I know where Lucas is.”
The men all began to talk at once, most of them saying how they'd love to kill the guy if they got the chance.
Well, too bad for them. That prize pig was mine.
“I was able to get the camera footage overlooking the cemetery where it went down. From that, I got the license plate of the cars they left in. Traced the vehicles back to some old warehouse by the sea, where I imagine the Giseppis are doing all kinds of illegal stuff.”
I bolted out of the chair. “Are you absolutely sure Lucas is hiding out there?”
“Positive. I flew a drone over the place a mere half hour ago. His ass was chilling in front of the TV, eating spaghetti and watching football. There was no mistaking it.”
“Then we go. Right now.” I grabbed for my gun. “I'm not letting him escape. Not after this.”
“Whoa, boss,” Larry said. “Let's not be hasty. This is the Giseppis' base of operations. We don't know what they got in there, but they're most definitely packing serious heat. We'll probably have to go through a lot of guys to get to Lucas.”
“I don't see a problem with that.”
Sam cleared his throat. “Calm down for a minute. You do this and hurt the wrong people, you're going to start a war with them. I ain't so sure that's wise.”
“They should have thought about that before teaming up with that traitorous rat.”
That's how I felt, but the men all seemed to be unsure. I hesitated. If Ceci were here with me, I knew what she'd say. She'd tell me to stay calm, to think rationally.
“Their entire family hasn't been endorsing his behavior,” Sam added. “He started out just working to get Tommy that drug. Once he got a whiff of power, he convinced a few of their guys to help him out.”
“But now they seem to have no trouble hiding him.”
“If they don't want to fight, maybe they'll give him up peacefully.”
I didn't count on it. The Giseppis fought dirty, just like Lucas, and I refused to take a chance they'd cooperate.
“Go get your weapons ready and meet me on the hill overlooking the warehouse. We won't storm in right away, but we all need to be prepared for the worst.”
Dad had something of an armory built in the basement. When all the guys had gone, I went down there to survey the selection.
Rifles, automatic weapons, a nice Desert Eagle... Which of these would be the gun to take Lucas's sorry life?
“Alec.”
Ceci waited for me at the bottom of the stairs. She hadn't said much to me since the incident yesterday. Although revenge played foremost on my mind, I worried about her.
I set down the magnum and went to her. She fell into my arms and sobbed.
“I tried. I really did. I'm so sorry, Alec, but there wasn't much I could do. It was too severe for me to –”
“Shh.” I hugged her close. “It's not your fault, you got that? Nothing was your fault.”
“But all those people, and your dad, they...” She cried harder. “I couldn't save any of them. I feel like if I had just done more, if I'd been a better doctor, I could have helped them.”
My men were waiting for me, but I let her cry as long as she needed to. She was the only one on this planet capable of melting the ice around my heart right now.
“What happened was horrible, and those who did it are going to pay,” I promised her. “But right now, I just have to be grateful nothing happened to you. If you got hit again, if I lost you too, I'd have nothing left.”
She pulled away from me. “I didn't this time, but what about the next? You're the boss of a gang. Things like this are going to happen. And the wife of the boss, I think, makes an excellent target.”
Her words stabbed me like a knife. She was right.
How could I continue being the leader of this family and loving her at the same time? What happened to my parents could very easily happen to her, or the kid.
What kind of good man put his wife and child at risk like that? Yeah, the Ciarellos were my family – but once I put a ring on Ceci's finger, she was my family too.
“Yo, Alec, you down there? We gotta go before Lucas gets antsy and bolts.”
“Coming.”
I rolled the magnum between my hands. Ceci didn't take her eyes off me.
“You're going after him?”
“I have to.”
“No, you don't. You can just run away from all this and live a normal life with me.”
“You don't get it, do you?” I loaded the gun and slipped it in my pocket. “Lucas is a rabid dog. He's gotta be put down. If he's allowed to roam free, he'll come back and bite one of us sooner or later.”
She grabbed my arm as I headed for the stairs. “If you go, something bad will happen to you. I know it.”
I turned and kissed her. There was such comfort in her sweet lips that I'd have stayed here forever – but I couldn't.
“I'll be fine. I promise. You stay here, okay? The guards will look out for you.”
I knew what I had to do. Even so, as I pulled out of the driveway, all I wanted was to run right back to her.
“Soon,” I told myself. “This will be over soon.”
But would it really? She wanted a normal life with me, she said. Long as I had this job, nothing about our lives would be normal.
Dark storm clouds rolled in over the choppy sea. Lightning flashed in the distance. Night was falling. Good. Lucas wouldn't see me coming.
Very soon, this would all be over.
Chapter 24 - Alec
The lighthouse on the hill provided a perfect vantage point. When I got there, the men were waiting, eager to go and make Lucas suffer for his betrayal.
“Damn thing.” Nico smacked the little drone on the hood of his car. “It doesn't fly in weather like this. Looks like we're stuck with old-fashioned binoculars.”
I picked up my pair and scanned the warehouse below. The parking lot housed lots of semi trucks and a dozen other random cars. Though I looked for Lucas's, I couldn't find it.
“I've been watching him until the camera feed started messing up. Last I saw, he was headed into the restroom to take a crap, so you know he'll be in there a while.”
“What's our plan, boss?” Larry asked, flicking his cigarette over the cliff.
“Hold on.”
The warehouse's side door made a loud clanging sound as it slid open. I shouldn't have been surprised at who came out, but I was.
“It's Tommy!”
“Tommy Giseppi?” Nico snatched the binoculars. “Well, how about that. We can ki
ll two birds with one stone.”
“No, we can't. Take him out and their whole family will come down on us. It'd be a bloodbath.”
Sam patted my shoulder. “Your dad used to say the same thing. He was a wise man.”
If he was so wise, then why did he stick around and let those gangsters kill his wife?
The thought, sudden and bitter and angry, popped into my head with no warning. It gnawed at me until I forced myself to shut it off.
“What's Tommy doing, I wonder,” Larry said.
“He sure doesn't look happy.”
He was waving his arms and shouting at a group of Hispanic men who looked to be warehouse employees. Unfortunately, from this distance, hearing his words was impossible.
“If we're just here for Lucas, maybe they'll hand him over if we ask nice.”
I was wary about the whole thing. One wrong move, one comment taken the wrong way, and this could escalate quick.
“I'll go down there with just you three,” I told them. “The rest of you, stay here and keep your ears open. If we call for help, swoop in then. But don't make a single move unless you absolutely have to.”
“Man, I'm so nervous I think I'm gonna piss my pants,” Larry grunted as we rolled up to the gate.
“You can't show them any weakness,” Nico said. “They'll attack if they think you're weak.”
“Everyone just be quiet and let me do the talking.”
The gate was shut and locked, but there was an intercom. Loud static hurt my ears when someone responded.
“What do you want?”
“Tell Tommy that the new boss of the Ciarellos is here to see him.”
I felt the gun in my pocket as the gate opened. Compared to the weaponry this gang packed, this magnum looked more like a peashooter. If shit went south, my chances of getting out alive didn't appear to be so good.
We parked and got out, making sure to hide our guns well before approaching the warehouse. Tommy greeted us at the front door with a big grin and a glass of booze in one hand.
“Ah, Alec. To what do I owe the pleasure? Don't believe I've ever had you or your friends visit me here before.”
I studied his face, which was yellowing somewhat. Still, he looked a lot better than he did the night Lucas brought him the drug. How long did the medicine last before he needed another dose?
