13. Carmine
13
Carmine
C armine was growing sick and tired of Saige playing with him. He was possessive in every sense of the word, so he didn’t want anyone else having what was his. The fact that she wasn’t home the few times he dropped by there let him know that she was in hiding. He didn’t want her to be afraid of him by any means, but now she had to see the side that Victoria saw.
“Why the fuck do you need to know anything about Qua?” Luca stared at Carmine.
He clenched his teeth so tight that they could’ve shattered. “Because I just fuckin’ do! I feel like he’s been moving funny, so I just want to make sure everything is everything.”
“Moving funny in what way? He doesn’t know shit because he’s not involved with shit besides patching you fuckers up.”
“Are you going to give me what the fuck I need or not?!” Carmine shouted, jumping up out of his seat.
Luca chuckled, kicked his feet up on his desk, and lit his cigar. “No.”
“Bet,” he nodded. “That’s why the son you hold so near and dear to your fuckin’ heart and your big brother is trying to have you killed! Watch your back you old fuck!”
Carmine decided to play his ace in the hole before storming out of his dad’s office. He was just going to have to figure shit out on his own. Taking his phone out of his pocket, he texted Aden and scheduled a flight within the next hour. He needed to go home first and see his kids before he flew to Virginia and did some reckless shit.
The moment his ass touched the leather seats in his car, his phone started ringing with a call from Nico. Ignoring it, he started the car and jetted home. Nico called him back-to-back-to-back until C got annoyed and turned his phone off altogether. He knew the only reason Nico was calling was because the cat was out of the bag.
When he overheard his big brother plotting to kill his father with their Uncle Francesco, Carmine was honestly shocked. He already felt like his uncle was a shifty and shiesty character, so he was more shocked about Nico’s involvement. Nico acted like Luca was the best thing since sliced bread, and since he was promised the reigns to the Sartori empire, Carmine didn’t understand what the problem was. He still didn’t know what the problem was because Nico never explained it to him. All Nico told him was that it wasn’t what he thought but never gave more information than that. Regardless, it didn’t matter to Carmine because all he needed to know was that he had one up on his father’s most prized possession. The smug expression on his dad’s face earlier pissed him off to the point where he felt like he had to play his hand.
He didn’t give a fuck anymore. Not having contact with Saige was making him feel like he was losing control. Saige was the one area of his life where he had complete and total control with ease. It wasn’t easy anymore, and he wasn’t feeling that shit at all. Things with his dad were always hard, and things at his own house were chaotic because he had two wild children on top of an annoying ass wife. Saige was his calm , and he wasn’t about to give that up for anyone. Especially not to another man.
Arriving home fifteen minutes later, Carmine got out of his car and entered his house. It was unusually quiet for two in the afternoon. His kids were normally running around, screaming, and playing. When he was met with total silence, he was slightly confused. It was early October, so he knew they weren’t out in the pool. It’d been cooler than usual for that time of year in Philly, so Vicky had been trying to keep the kids in the house.
“CJ! Baby girl!” He called out, jogging up the stairs.
He checked their rooms and didn’t notice anything out of place. Checking the rest of the house, he realized that no one was home even though Victoria’s car was in the driveway. He plopped down on the couch and placed a call to Vic to see where they were.
“What?” She answered with an attitude.
“Where the fuck are you with my kids?”
“Gone.”
“And what the fuck is that supposed to mean?” He snapped.
“Would you like the definition of gone, Carmine?”
His blood that was already boiling was spilling over. “Bitch, you better mean gone out to get fuckin’ ice cream and on the way back.”
“We’re never coming back,” she said after a few minutes of silence. “Carmine, I’m done. I’m done with being your punching bag, I’m done with being a fuckin’ nanny for you, I’m just done , Carmine. You can go be with your whore.”
Carmine squeezed his phone so hard that his knuckles turned white. “Okay, bet. Fuck you. Where are my kids? You can’t keep them from me.”
“Goodbye Carmine,” she said before hanging up.
“Everybody wants to play with fuckin’ Carmine today, okay,” he said aloud to himself, opening the banking app on his phone to empty his bank account.
His eyes popped wide open when he saw his account balance was already at zero. The only other person that had access to that account was Victoria, which meant she’d already taken the money. Calling her back, Carmine heard an automated message telling him that the number was no longer in service. The thought of not having access to his kids pissed him off beyond belief. If it was one thing he didn’t play about, it was his Junior and his baby girl. Victoria had just kicked everything up another notch for him. He was about to be on a rampage and there wasn’t a fuckin’ soul that could stop him.
Carmine called the real estate agent in Virginia that he’d bought Saige’s house from. Offering her ten thousand dollars, he asked her to run Quadir’s name and get his address. When she told him no addresses came back under that name, he was confused because he knew for a fact Quadir owned a house. He’d heard his father talking about the medical suite that Qua had there. She ran his name three more times and came back with nothing still. Thanking her for her time, he went to his other bank account that Victoria had no idea about and transferred the money.
Carmine dashed right back out of the house, hopped in his car, and sped over to Victoria’s mother house. He knew that if anybody knew where the hell Vic had disappeared to, it would be her mother. Throwing his car into park forty minutes later, he grabbed his pistol with the silencer on from under his seat, slid it in his hoodie pocket, and got out. He banged on the door a few times.
“What the hell do you want, Carmine?” Vivian snatched the door open with a cigarette hanging from her lips.
“Viv, I’m only going to ask you this once, where are my kids?”
“How the hell should I know?” She rolled her eyes.
He took his gun out and pressed into her temple, causing her to scream and drop her cigarette. He forced her inside of her house. “I know that you know, Vivian. Tell me what the fuck I need to know or today’s the day I end your life. You know I’m good for it.”
“I don’t know wh—”
Before she could finish her statement of bullshit, Carmine silenced her permanently. Her body dropped to the floor, and he stepped over her like she was a bag of trash. Searching the downstairs area, he found her phone in the kitchen. Vivian’s phone was never locked because his kids always had it when they came over. Going through her text messages, he realized there was none between her and Victoria. That was unusual because they talked every single day. He went to her call log and saw that Victoria was the last person she spoke to.
“Lying bitch,” he spoke to himself, tapping on the Facetime button on Victoria’s contact.
“Mommy, I said I’ll call you when I get there,” Victoria answered, looking like she was driving.
“This ain’t your fuckin’ mother,” Carmine flipped the camera so that Vic could see what he’d done.
She let out a gut-wrenching scream. “Carmine, no!”
“Bitch, yes! Bring my fuckin’ kids home or your entire bloodline is finished. And you know what’ll happen if you call the police so don’t even try it,” he told her before hanging up.
Dropping Vivian’s phone on the floor, he stomped on it until he was satisfied then left the house. He got back in his car and headed to the hangar to hop his flight.
“Carmine, I can’t keep doing this,” Aden told him once they were both onboard.
“Can’t keep doing what? Because every time you fly this muthafucka you get paid very well. Now fly this plane before I kill you and yo fuckin’ family,” he calmly threatened, taking his seat.
Aden’s pale white face turned completely rosy red. He turned on his heels and darted straight to the cockpit. Carmine was unhinged, and the next person that came at him sideways was gon’ catch a bullet. If he didn’t need Aden to fly the damn plane, he would’ve shot him too.
An hour and a half later, Carmine had landed in Virginia and was on his way to Saige’s house. He didn’t figure she’d be there, but he still wanted to check and make sure. Once he pulled into her driveway and saw that her car was parked like it had been every other time, he knew she wasn’t there. As he sat there, he contemplated his next move. Opening up the web browser on his phone, he searched Quadir’s name and found what hospital he worked at. Listed on the website was Quadir’s office number, so Carmine decided to call.
“Thank you for calling Children’s Hospital, this is Jackie speaking, how may I help you?”
Clearing his throat, he decided to put on his cool, calm, and collected voice. “Hey Jackie, how you doing today? I was hoping to speak to Dr. Burrus about some concerns I have with my child.”
“I’m great, thanks for asking. Unfortunately, Dr. Burrus is out of the office for the next week or so. I’ll be happy to—”
Carmine ended the call because he didn’t need to hear shit else. He was at a dead end. He had no way to find out where the fuck Qua lived, nor would he be able to get at him at his job. Instead of driving around, he parked his car and got out. He still had a key to Saige’s house, so he let himself in. It was useless to drive around because with the way he was feeling, he was liable to go on a shooting spree.
“What the fuck do you want?” He answered the phone for Gennaro as he looked through Saige’s refrigerator.
G sucked his teeth. “Man, what the fuck have you started? Pop is on some rampage with Nico because of some shit you said.”
“Oh, you mean the fact that I overhead Uncle Franc and Nico plotting on how to kill dad?”
“What?”
“Yeah, so if he’s on a rampage, it’s not on me, it’s on your fucked up ass brother. Y’all so busy putting that muthafucka on a pedestal and meanwhile he trying to destroy the empire dad built. All of y’all can kiss my fuckin’ ass, straight up,” he snapped then hung up.
Most of the food in her refrigerator was starting to go bad, so he checked the cabinets next and found some snacks. He was going to make himself at home because Saige was bound to return sooner or later. And he’d be waiting for her whenever she got there.