29. Emmett
Emmett
After a whole day of hunting down Giovanni and trying to get my mother to remember for the past few days, I finally fly back home to my wife.
But when I get home that night, I find my wife gone.
It’s been five days since that explosive night and just as long since I’ve been away but this time, I made an effort to reach out to her.
She never answered.
I didn’t want to ask Ty what was happening with her. After the day she went crazy spending money, I decided not to ask Ty about her every detail. I don’t want to spy on her anymore.
But she completely screened my calls this time.
And when I went to text her, it was as if she had blocked me and now, I get home, but she’s gone.
Of course with the trackers I had injected in her body, I know exactly where she is, but why the fuck is she there?
I call the culprit, already on my last never with everything that’s going on.
“Where is my wife?”
“Well, hello to you too, Monster,” George answers.
“Where’s my wife, George?”
“She’s here.”
“Why the fuck is she with you and why isn’t she answering her phone?”
“Tell me, Big Em, if Ivy had married Vaughn for real, what would’ve happened to all your plans?”
“That was never going to happen?”
“Why?” he presses, completely ignoring my first question. “Why did you need Ivy to marry you?”
“Simply because she does what I want her to do! Now, why the fuck is she there?”
Talking to George nowadays puts me on edge, simply because of the fat-ass elephant we try but fail to ignore. His baby mama.
Actually, ever since I married Angel, my life has been one hell of a ride.
Putting out fires, fighting secret wars, being put on a public forum where everyone now knows who to come for.
Normally I wouldn’t care about this. They can come for me all they want, but things are different now.
The whole reason why I was away is because I had to set up a whole militia round my mother’s new home. I’m not going to take chances now that snake Giovanni is loose.
What more, my wife?
“I’m coming to get her,” I state, grabbing my keys.
“That’s not necessary. She doesn’t want to see you.”
It’s like whiplash. “What?”
“Listen man, just give her time. You are, after all, behaving like a liar, a manipulator, and a man that won’t keep his word, disappearing without a word.” I hear the judgment in his words. “I’m sure she’ll call you when she’s ready.”
He hangs up before I can stop him. I toss my phone to the wall, smashing the screen.
Obviously my wife is still mad at me about the baby issue, but she needs to grow the fuck up!
What is she missing about this? I don’t want to have children, plain and simple.
She’ll come back to her senses. I’ll wait.
A week goes by and she’s still not back.
In fact, I discover that she’s been to Ibiza, sunbathing on the beach, shaking her sweet ass on a yacht she bought and named Pandora.
She’s been living her life, completely ignoring me, even after I got a new phone.
I confirm that she did, in fact, block me and that put me in a pissy mood so bad, I couldn’t stand it.
“Biting your men’s heads off just because you are having marital issues is very unmanly of you,” Grandfather says after a shit meeting where I’m given shit news with no progress.
“Gee, thanks for the observation,” I snap, running a hand through my hair for the thousandth time this hour. “We’re at war and she’s on vacation? Is she out of her mind?”
“Did you take her on a honeymoon?”
“What?”
“Alessio, the whole reason I wanted you to take a break was because I wanted you to take your bride on a honeymoon to really connect, but who knew you were this shallow and daft?”
“Why do we need a honeymoon when we can do all that right here?” I snap.
“She wants a pool? This residence alone has two of them and each one has a bar! If she wants to be on a freaking boat, the lake is right there! I had the library refurbished! She literally had half the books in there moved out to place all the new books she bought recently. What more does she want?”
“Alessio.” The old man shakes head. “You’re an idiot.”
“Grandpa, my wife’s safety is nonnegotiable! Until this world is safe, I won’t have her running around like it’s all sunshine and rainbows.”
“And there’s your problem, right there,” he says in that judgmental tone of his. “After getting to know my granddaughter the days you were gone, I realized that you are most definitely the problem. She has confessed her love for you, hasn’t she?”
I pause, eyeing him. “Yes, but that was?—”
“When you rejected her because all you see are the risks!” he snaps. “All you ever see is what could go wrong. You make your calculations from and nothing else.”
“Because I’m a realist!”
“No, you’re a cold cynic and that’s my fault! What happened to your mother changed you, Alessio. And now your head is buried under sand so much, you can’t even hear what your wife is trying to tell you!”
I hate being scolded like a little boy, but I can tell the old man is truly angry with me.
“Revenge is not everything,” he says silently and that sets me off.
“This isn’t about revenge. It’s about justice!”
After completely stripping Giovanni of his status, money, and assets, he knew I was coming for his life. So he ran.
Emilio has been quacking in his rathole, while his fake son has been watching me, waiting to see what will happen.
“You might have a soft spot for your sons but take a look at your daughter! She was brilliant and they reduced her down to someone who doesn’t even remember her own glory! I’m going to repay them in kind and get my justice!”
“Yeah, because you are the law?” he scoffs. “Well, you’re not God! You don’t have the power to control everything but yourself,” he states in a rough low tone. “And you need to get over yourself, Alessio. Go get help if you need it, but get over yourself or you will lose her.”
And with that, he presses the button on his wheelchair and leaves me stewing.
Everything’s collapsing around me. I feel like I’m losing it.
I grab my phone from the table and call my wife. It goes straight to voicemail again.
And just when I want to leave another voicemail demanding that she come back home, I’m told her mailbox is full.
What the fuck?
My week goes from bad, to worse, then straight to hell in a matter of quick, accurate but blindsiding strikes.
Kai calls me to come outside to the main gate where something was delivered.
When I get there, the men are standing around something, all of them with somber expressions on their faces.
When I get closer, I discover a medium-sized white box… with Giovanni’s head in it.
“There’s a note,” Kai says, opening it with gloves on. I lean over and read the two words.
You’re welcome.
“Find out who did this.”
“Yes, Young Master.”
Finding your enemy’s head at your front gate would be reason to celebrate for others, but I’m immediately on guard by this.
It’s bad news.
If my enemy is dead, it means I have an unknown enemy roaming close by, watching, waiting…
“And tell Ty to bring back my wife from Ibiza.”
“They left Ibiza several days ago and went to Prague, then to Beirut, and then to Cape Town.”
“Then bring her back from South Africa!”
“They’re at the beach in Zanzibar, Tanzania.”
“Just tell Scarlet to bring my wife back home, or that’s her ass!”
“Yes, sir.”
Honestly, jet setting around the world, running up bills. I have to make sure her cards are not blocked for fraud almost every single day, shocked when I see it’s from a different location each time.
I sent her more security, but knowing the daredevil my wife is spending time with, I know they’d try to ditch their security. Scarlet is a mess, but my wife…
She knows how to temper my anger with sassy indifference.
But still, I need her back. I need her back right now! I haven’t been doing well at all without her.
Haven’t slept a wink in days.
The thing in my chest hurts so bad, the pain meds don’t seem to work.
I’m in literal hell and now I find Giovanni’s head in a box. What is happening?
The news of Giovanni’s death rocks the family, but to my surprise, the old man remains silent.
“Can’t you see who did this?”
“Who?” I ask him, my mind racing.
“You look horrible, Alessio, but being the head of this Family means you need to be stable at all times! How can you miss who did this?”
Judging from the look on his face, I immediately get it. “The Beaumonts!”
“They know what’s going on here. This was a gift to welcome you as the new Don, but they want something in return.”
My father’s head.
Fuck!
“You need to get my granddaughters back here, now!”
“They’re landing tonight,” I tell him solemnly.
And then I’m punishing my wife by withholding orgasms until next month!
Before that happens, I call George again.
“You know, you’ve never called me this many times in a short period of time before,” he mocks. “It’s usually once a year. I’m touched.”
“What’s the meaning of this?”
“You have to be more specific, Big Em.”
“Don’t act like you don’t know what I’m talking about. After everything, you’re doing this now?”
“After what?” he says indifferently.
“George,” I grit out.
“You know what I want,” he says seriously. “I want us all to sit down and for you to acknowledge your sister.”
“I don’t have a sister!”
“Oh I forgot, deniability is your shield when it comes to everything in life.”
“You know what, fuck you!” I snap. “After everything, this is what you decide to do?”
I was mad at George for a few things and none of them are forgivable no matter which angle you look at it from.
And the crazy thing is, he wants me to open the doors for him with the rest of the guys because he has since burned that bridge.
The reason why he wants in… now that’s the great mystery.
“I didn’t do everything by myself, Em, don’t forget that!” he says calmly. “Oh, by the way, Ivy came here asking for my help. I know that’s been eating at you.”
I pause. “Your help with what?”
“Getting her a damn good lawyer and buddy, she got me!”
He hangs up.