Annihilation
Page 17
Outside there were men smoking and talking. Their tiny lights the only visible brightness on the blackened lawn. When the men saw them their eyes became downcast and Alfonzo read they had arrived too late. It was Nico who spoke swiftly in Italian to one man then he looked at Alfonzo and frowned. “Geo is with my father inside. Alberti is dead.”
Alfonzo closed his eyes. He could not fathom the words. The man who came to his door and threatened to beat him to a pulp if he did not visit his dying father was no more. It hurt worse than he thought. Perhaps, because over the years he had grown to love his Uncle like a father and this news rocked him to the core. His blue eyes opened and it’s Nico who said, “I loved him too.” That made it real.
They began walking to the house, Alfonzo and Nico side by side in silent grief. They entered through the doors of time to see for themselves the body of the man they loved.
Men were cleaning blood from the walls. The bodies had been removed except one. In an opulent dining hall, seated at a table with a cigar and a bottle of Rum they found Giuseppe. He had a bloody scar on his neck and face and his entire right arm was heavily bandaged. His eyes were a mist of drink and sorrow, his anger a violent one. He gripped the cigar with his left hand, taking it from his mouth to speak and it boomed in the huge room like the devil’s drum. “Look, cousins. Look what those bastards have done to my Uncle!”
He pointed to the man slumped in death at the base of a wall behind the table. His face bloodied and his body riddled with bullets. Nico walked there and slid down the wall to sit beside his father. “I’m here, padre sono venuto.”
“We have all come too late!” Giuseppe shouted through his grief and tossed the empty bottle at a wall. “I will murder every one of them cuginos. They will die in their beds. I will butcher them like the pigs they are!”
Alfonzo breathed in sharply, this house was a slaughter home. The place should be burned to the ground. He walked to Nico and put a hand on the man’s shoulder, “We’ll bury him with honor cugino. Let’s get him home then be rid of this curse on our family. Let’s torch it, grieve and live on.”
Giuseppe stood. His fury resonated throughout the room at Alfonzo’s words. The man was ignorant about his family and he could no longer sit idle and let his cousin believe they could live peaceably when hounds were clawing at their faces. “We cannot torch sacred ground. This home sheltered refugees, and anyone who sought protection from the Nazi bastards. The descendants make pilgrimage’s here as homage to the dead. Calabrian’s revere this land and it stands for hope to many. Torch it cousin, would be like setting a fire to a Holy man.” He walked to Alfonzo, “We can never do such blasphemy.” His eyes fell on Nico whose spirit was weary and said, “Tell him Nico. You are now protector and advisor. Tell him or I will. We will have no secrets from this point forward. Tell him dammit. Alberti is dead, speak truth to our cousin so he knows!”
Alfonzo’s forehead wrinkled in confusion. What more was there?
Nico kissed his father’s ring and stood. The man who only a moment ago was filled with sorrow became rock. Whatever pain in his heart he felt solidified into stone, and when he addressed Alfonzo, it was from the spirit of a man reborn. “There will be no secrets between us three. We are the last of our father’s sons. Nico is right Alfonzo, we cannot burn memories. Our blood is mingled with that of a King. We are the descendants of the King of Italy; our great-great grandmother was his mistress. She was of African descent and her name was Semira. The men killed here with Alberti were an inner circle of loyalists who protected sacred documents and heirlooms given to her by her lover. There are people, mainly purists who seek to get them back and do not want the King’s name besmirched by the illicit affair. They come in quiet, they attack when we are weak. They want to steal are our legacy, our birthright and we cannot give it to them, ever. We are fighting a silent war every day to exist. The man Semira married was a Giacanti and he is the one who formed the Circle of Protectors to keep Semira’s children and those heirlooms safe. He is also the man many believe is responsible for the formation of La Costra Nostra. We are the black sheep, the bastard sons during a dark history in Italy. It is for this my father is dead!”
Giuseppe puffed the cigar. A connection to the old man he loved. He sat here for hours guarding the old man’s body as if he stood watch over a King. This was his beloved Uncle and a great man. He found in the presence of his cousins his anger quieted. Like his father, he was the hammer, Nico the hand and Alfonzo the heart of their family.
Yes, together they would survive these dark days since Alfonzo knew the truth. He saw the workings of his cousins’ mind as it absorbed the reality. They were of royal blood and of African descent. He had many heritages, a mixture of a man. He considered himself a Puerto Rican and yes, he was that too, but he could not ignore who he was anymore. He was a descendant of a king and a Mafioso born out of necessity in order to survive.
Giuseppe passed the cigar to Nico, “We take our beloved home cuginos, but first we honor him. To your father, our uncle and a true Giacanti. Salute.”
Nico inhaled hard then passed it to Alfonzo who did the same.
“After his burial cuginos we hunt the Russian Fedrik and take out our sorrows on the man!”
Epilogue
Two months later. Brooklyn, New York City
Shanda paced the floor as she spoke on her cell to Selange. She was faced with a dilemma. Selange listened, which was damn good, because Shanda had a lot to say. She was nervous and excited and mad all at the same time. How the hell could one night with Geo get through her protection, huh?
She wore a diaphragm and this shit wasn’t supposed to happen. Oh, she wasn’t feeling this baby shit at all without a man and she didn’t want Geo if he didn’t want her. That was her dilemma, tell him about the pregnancy or not?
“So, should I call him girl, what should I do?”
“I think -”
“But if I tell him and he pulls that male denial shit, by saying, ‘how you know it’s my baby’, I might get a gun and go kill his fine ass!”
“Well, if I were…”
“Nah, see this is your man’s fault. If he’d kept his mouth shut I would’ve had more than one night with Geo and we could’ve bonded more, you hear what I’m saying?”
“There you go blaming my man…”
“I’m so glad everything’s calm between you and your man and ya’ll are back to doing the nasty, but there’s a fire brewing in my life girl and I swear I’m becoming a raving lunatic!”
“It’s hormones.”
“You know what, fuck it, I’m not telling him shit. I’ll raise a kid on my own. I don’t want the hassle of daddy drama.”
“Shanda, that’s not fair. Learn from my mistake. I’m your best friend and I love you like a sister, so I’m telling you, don’t play games. Geo’s coming to visit this weekend. Come for a visit and sit down like a woman. Get him to agree to a paternity test and if it’s his you take it from there –but please get a DNA test first!”
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Novels in the Alfonzo series:
ALFONZO: Volume I
ASCENSION: Volume II
ANARCHY: Volume III
ATONEMENT: Volume IV
AWAKENING: Volume V
ANNIHILATION: Volume VI
Look for the next installment in the Alfonzo series, entitled AFTERMATH: Alfonzo Volume VII, coming November 2012.
Thank you for discovering Alfonzo’s world.