26. Allegra
26
Allegra
S creaming pierces through the night. My eyes snap open, disorientated. Am I dreaming? The banging on my door indicates I’m fully awake. Bonnie sits up, wide-eyed. I listen as thunderous steps race around the villa.
“Allegra, get up,” Rosa screams.
I’m out of the bed in a flash, yanking open the door. Rosa is dressed already. “What’s happening?”
“Fire,” she pants. “In the western field.”
Fuck! Fires are always a threat in the summer. Usually, by the time we get to harvesting, the likelihood of them happening is low. The temperatures dip to a safe level, but this year we’ve had an unseasonably hot summer. A heatwave has gripped most of Europe for months.
We’ve never had a fire before and I’m momentarily stunned. We can’t afford to lose the crops. It will devastate our earnings and will take years to recover. One field is manageable but if the fire spreads, we’re in trouble.
“Allegra!” Rosa shouts.
“Take whoever you need to fight the fire. I want the surrounding fields doused with as much water as possible to prevent it from spreading. I’ll be right there.”
Rosa takes off running. Sprinting to my closet, I dress as fast as I can. Bonnie is still looking confused. I forget she can’t understand Italian.
“There’s a fire. I need to go and help put it out. Stay here, okay.”
“Allegra, I can help.”
“Please, Bonnie. I can’t be worrying about you when I need to focus. Please stay here.” My words aren’t meant to hurt her, but they are true. My sole focus has to be on the fire, and it would be impossible if I knew Bonnie was close by—close to danger.
“Okay. I’ll stay with Kelley and Pete.”
“Thank you,” I say, kissing her on the lips.
Racing out of my room, I spot Kelley. “She’s in there. Get Pete and stick together. Do not come outside. The air will be thick with smoke.”
She nods and sets off to my room.
It’s organised chaos. We’ve trained for this. The risk is too high not to have a plan should the worst happen. It’s unfortunate the field ablaze is the one furthest from the villa. It takes precious minutes to get there and every second counts.
The air is filled with smoke. I jump on a quad bike and rev the throttle. There’s an orange glow lighting up the night sky. “Toni, warn the neighbouring farms,” I call over the noise of flames and people screaming directives.
He nods and takes his own quad west towards our closest neighbour. Each member of the vineyard team is trained to use the water hoses. I’m happy to see they are already fighting the fire with a precision usually only found in professional firefighters. All around me, water rains down as they try to soak the unaffected fields.
Rosa barks orders like a drill sergeant. Jumping off my quad, I race to the closest hose. I can’t see how much of the field is burning, and until the fire is out, I won’t know the true extent of the damage.
“We’ve covered the surrounding acreage with all the stored water,” Rosa shouts next to me.
“We’re making headway,” I call back, nodding to the blaze. It’s still roaring, but the constant assault of water is finally dampening the beast. Hope soars we’ve averted catastrophe.
An uptick of wind slows our progression. The fire dances to the east, and for a heart-stopping moment, I think it’s about to skip into the next field, regardless of our efforts.
More people arrive. Several are from neighbouring farms. They’ve brought mobile water tanks and begin unloading on the still-burning vines. The fire hisses and spits, but it finally dies down. There’s a collective cheer as the last flame is extinguished.
Leaning over with my hands on my thighs, I take a second to breathe. It’s difficult with the stench of smoke still prominent, but I think I might pass out if I don’t get some oxygen in my lungs.
“Keep watering,” I order after I’m done with my mini-breakdown. “We can’t afford to let it ignite again. I want someone on every corner of this field until we are certain there will be no flare-ups.”
Everyone scuttles around me, preparing to keep working. Lorenzo charges up in his silk dressing gown. “Fuck,” he curses. “God damn it. Is everyone okay?”
“All safe. No casualties. We can’t say that for this section of the land, though.”
“After all these years. I can’t believe it happened,” he says, shaking his head. “You did well to train them, Allegra. This would have been so much worse otherwise.”
Yes, it would have.
“I’m going to walk around and see the extent of our losses. Want to come?”
He nods, and we set off through the mud. The ground is a proverbial quagmire. I’m not worried about that, though. The sun will dry it out quickly. That’s the worrying part. The weather predicts another week of record-high temperatures.
“We’ll need to get the water butts and tanks filled immediately.”
“I’ll make sure it’s done,” Lorenzo says. We walk with purpose around the edge of smouldering plants. So much love and work went into this crop. Old vines that produced exquisite grapes are ruined. I feel the prick of tears and berate myself. I can’t be seen as a blubbering mess.
“I’d say two-thirds of the crop in this section is gone.”
“Lucky.”
Rosa jogs up alongside us. “The starting point seems to be over there,” she says, pointing to a charred area roughly fifty metres to our right. “A young seasonal worker who turned up a day early was the one who spotted it. He’d come out to get familiar with the layout of the fields.”
“We owe him,” I reply. “He saved us from disaster.”
The three of us wander over and begin scouring the area. The smell is overwhelming.
“Fuck,” I hear Rosa growl. She’s bending down with her hand outstretched. I watch her brush some soil away and then pick something up. She turns to me and holds out what looks like a cigarette butt.
My blood runs cold. The fire wasn’t the result of the weather. Some stupid asshole was smoking near the plants. My team knows they are never to smoke or have open flames near the foliage or surrounding brush. It’s just common sense.
Unfortunately, not everyone is blessed with it. I’m betting one of the early seasonal workers sparked up as they wandered around and dropped the butt without thinking.
“Gather all the new staff in the restaurant, now,” I seethe. Rosa doesn’t reply. She just leaves.
Lorenzo dips his head and sighs. “Idiots,” he growls.
I agree, and I’ll make sure I find the moron who is responsible. They’ll never work on this island again. After confirming everyone is doing what they’re supposed to, I hop back on the quad with Lorenzo riding pillion.
The restaurant is buzzing with worried chatter. Faces I’ve never seen before sit with wide eyes and soot covering every inch of them. Most of these people would never come into contact with the head of a house, let alone two. When I’m out in the field, working, I stick to the people I know, simply because it’s a more relaxing environment for me. I don’t have to be the Allegra Malgeri. I can just be Allegra, picking fruit like everyone else.
“You know who I am,” I start. There are a few nodding heads, but most sit stock-still. “I intended to introduce myself tomorrow, along with the new arrivals. Well, you’re about to get acquainted with me sooner.” My voice is glacial fury. “Tonight, one of you walked the perimeter of this land, smoking.”
There’s a rumble of noise. “I promise, Ms Malgeri, it was none of us,” a strong young woman says confidently. “I’ve worked with everyone here for years. We travel around as a group, and we have enough experience and sense to never light anything near the plants.”
“Clearly someone did,” Lorenzo barks. “Our crew has worked this land for generations. None of them would have been so foolish.”
Lorenzo doesn’t need an introduction. The embroidered LF on his robe is a big enough clue as to who he is.
The young woman isn’t unsettled by Lorenzo’s ire. “I promise you, sir. It wasn’t any of us. I’ll stake my life on it.”
A dangerous thing to say to a Don. One I don’t think she’d say lightly. Something isn’t right.
“Bring Rosa to me, please,” I call. I don’t give a shit who does it. I just need her here because I have a sinking feeling.
“Allegra,” Rosa chimes as she steps into the restaurant.
“I need to see the cigarette butt.”
She pulls a small bag out of her combat pants’ leg pocket and hands it to me. My eyes gravitate to the tiny gold writing which circles the beginning of the white paper just past the butt.
I feel the blood drain from my face. Lorenzo steps up and holds me by the elbow. “Allegra?”
My head snaps to Rosa. “Get Toni and Mia. Now!” I bellow. My voice must have been loud enough for Toni to hear because he bustles in seconds later. Rosa runs out to find Mia. “Toni, I need your back up piece.”
He instantly reaches to his back and pulls out a pistol. It’s heavier than mine, but it will have to do.
“Allegra, what’s wrong?” Lorenzo asks.
I shove the plastic bag in his hands and run out the door. As soon as Lorenzo sees what I saw, he’ll understand. Mia and Rosa are running towards me.
“Giani set the fire. We need to get to the villa now.” That’s all the direction they need. We race to the house, keeping vigilant. There is no sign of life which could mean anything. If Giani were here, I’d expect to be fired upon, but there is nothing.
We approach the main door in a tactical formation. As with the fire, we’ve trained for these situations, too. I slip in first, silently looking for any movement. When I’m sure there is none, I signal for the others to enter. Directing Rosa and Mia to the ground floor rooms, Toni and I creep up the stairs. We take our time to check each room. Kelley and Pete’s bedrooms are empty, which I expected.
What I didn’t expect was to find them unconscious on my bedroom floor. Pete has blood coming from his head and Kelley has a nasty gash on her cheek. I want to run to them, but we need to clear the room first. Toni checks the bathroom and signals it’s clear.
My heart drops. Bonnie isn’t here. Giani has taken her. I promised to keep her safe and I’ve failed. Again.
Toni drops to his knees and scoops up Kelley. Rosa and Mia join us and set about helping Pete. I’m rooted to the floor, staring at my now empty bed.
Molten rage fills my body from the tips of my toes. He finally crossed the line. Giani has no clue what’s coming for him. I will gut him for this, personally. By the time I am finished, the Arellos will be nothing but a stain on my shoe. I’ll burn everything Giani loves to the ground.
Taking out my phone, I send a group message. It’s only polite to warn the other families of the carnage I’m about to unleash on that man. I return the phone to my pocket and hand Toni’s gun back to him.
“Be ready to leave in ten,” I say with steel in my voice.
Stripping off my clothes, I shower and change into black combat pants and a T-shirt. Taking my gun from the safe, I insert a full magazine and send the slide forward, taking a moment to verify I have a round in the chamber. Putting the weapon on “safe”, I holster it and add an extra magazine to my belt. Things are going to get messy.
I close my eyes and bring Giani to the forefront of my mind.
You wanted a war. You’ve got one. I’m going to tear your family apart.