Chapter 25 Constantine
Constantine
The first person I called was Rocco, but he didn’t answer.
I didn’t assume the worst. I just figured he hated my guts even more now that Rome was on the brink of ruin and he blamed me for it.
I walked back and forth across the terrace as I made more calls.
Most of them went unanswered, and others who did pick up said they parted ways with Rocco when I left.
Aurelia sat on one of the couches with Medusa and watched me pace. She didn’t try to tell me everything would be all right, soothe my anger with meaningless words, fill the dead air with empty promises.
I finally reached someone who had some answers. “Hey, Roger. I’m trying to track down Rocco. Know how I can get ahold of him?”
The sounds of conversation were all around him, like he was among a large group of people.
All the voices sounded male, so he wasn’t home with family but still with the crew.
The talking died away as he headed elsewhere so we could hear each other.
“Rocco got messed up bad. Ambulance took him to the hospital, and I haven’t heard anything since. ”
I came to a halt on the terrace, unable to take in the beautiful sight of the sea in the distance. My heart turned to stone and dropped into the endless pit in my stomach.
“But from what I saw, I doubt he’ll make it.”
First, there was anger, the kind that made my eyes smart because the rage had no other pathway to escape my body. But the heartbreak came next . . . and then the guilt.
“The Roman Empire has fallen.”
I hung up the phone without saying a word and turned to Aurelia.
All it took was one look to get to her feet, to know whatever I had to say was important.
“Rocco’s in the hospital. Sounds like he won’t make it.”
Her hand immediately cupped her mouth, and she gasped. “Oh god . . . no.”
“I don’t know what happened.” The gunmen wouldn’t have been able to take him down, so I suspected it had something to do with Darius. Maybe Rocco had taken advantage of the chaos to try to decapitate the king.
Her eyes started to water, and she took a breath before she dropped her hands. “You have to go, Constantine.” She looked at me with wet eyes full of sincerity that shone from her soul.
“You know I can’t—”
“Save Rocco while you still can,” she said through her tears. “He might make it, but he won’t last long if Darius comes back to finish the job. Rome can still be saved, but you need to go now in order to save it. The Roman Empire needs its emperor, Constantine.”
Her voice was packed with emotion, packed with so much sincerity that I knew she meant every word she said. That she was putting our home and our people before herself.
“Now is the time. He won’t see you coming in the chaos.”
“If I fail—”
“Then don’t.” She started to breathe hard, her eyes still glistening. “Kill him, Constantine. Kill him, then come home to us. I know you can do this.”
She believed in me without question. Still had faith in me even though I’d let her down before.
She rose on her tiptoes and cupped my cheeks, coming as close to me as her little body would allow. “I know you can.”
I threw a bag together, but it was mostly filled with guns and ammo.
I didn’t expect to sleep or eat until one of us was dead, so clothes and toiletries were unnecessary.
I tossed everything in the back of the Range Rover parked out front while Aurelia stood there with Medusa, knowing I was about to drive off.
She held herself together, but her eyes betrayed her sadness.
I walked up to her, afraid this wasn’t a see you later . . . but a real goodbye.
Her eyes watered the longer she stared. Medusa inched closer to her, rubbing her snout against Aurelia’s hand and issuing a whine like she knew something bad was about to happen.
I moved into her and cupped her face, looking at the woman who’d stolen my heart across a dimly lit room what felt like an eternity ago.
I stroked her cheek with my thumb as I looked at her, and I felt her tremble in my grip as she started to cry.
“Sweetheart, our wedding is in two weeks. I promise I’ll be there to marry you. ”
Her hands gripped my wrists, and she nodded as she continued to cry.
“I promise I’ll be there in six months when our baby is born.”
She nodded again.
“But I have to do this first.”
“I know,” she said in a whisper.
“Cosa Nostra will protect you until I come back. They’ll be here in a few hours.”
“Okay.”
I pressed a kiss to her forehead and then her lips. “I fucking love you.”
“I fucking love you too,” she said as she cried harder.
I let her go before I kneeled down to embrace Medusa, my best friend, the only other woman in my heart. I kissed her on the head as I dug my fingers deep into the fur at the back of her neck. “I love you too, baby girl.”
She started to pant slightly, like she knew I was about to leave and possibly never come back.
“Take care of them while I’m gone, all right?” I kissed her again. “See you soon.”
I turned away from them both and got behind the wheel. I started the engine and drove off without looking at them again. I didn’t check the rearview mirror as I pulled out of the gate, knowing if I saw them one more time, I might turn right back around.
I sped to Palermo, getting there an hour quicker than I normally would have because I drove like an asshole. I pulled up to Villa de la Sirenuse, knowing Tommaso would be there, that the crew would be lying low in light of the violence infecting Rome like a fucking disease.
I was escorted into his study, and he was already there, talking on the phone to someone, and based on what I heard, they were discussing the events in the capital. He hung up, then turned to me. “Jesus Christ.”
I walked right up to him, facing off with him like an adversary rather than an ally. “We need to leave for Rome now.”
“We?”
“Yes, fucking we. Sicily may be an island, but you’re still part of Italy, the Roman Republic—and you should defend it with your life. I’m not going to stand by and watch Darius burn it to the ground. Are you?”
Tommaso took a slight step back, hands sliding into the pockets of his trousers.
“Are you?”
“Constantine—”
“Where is your patriotism? A madman is letting our enemies terrorize our people and set our monuments ablaze and destroy the Eternal City, and you’re going to sit on your hands and keep them warm? I’m Emperor Constantine of the Roman Republic, and I order you to bear arms and fight with me.”
“Constantine—”
I raised my voice to a new volume, a baritone and an intensity I’d never reached before. “I’m not asking you.”
Everyone in the room stilled, Tommaso and his two henchmen who guarded him day and night.
I stared Tommaso down, knowing he was capable of more than he showed.
He pretended to only care for power and money, but he wouldn’t have risked his neck for my brother if he were devoid of empathy.
“You think it won’t affect you, but I promise his shadow will make its way to Sicily and you’ll never see the sun again.
Once he realizes exactly how much Cosa Nostra is worth, he’ll gut you like a pig.
Help me defeat him, and you’ll guarantee your perseverance.
Either fight with me to protect your own skin or do it because it’s the right thing to do—or both. ”
Tommaso took another step back, looked me over as he remained lost in thought. He rubbed the back of his neck as his eyes dropped before he returned his hand to his pocket. “All right.”
I kept my expression stoic, but inside, a burst of relief hit me.
“Because it’s the right thing to do.”
We took the ferry across the channel that connected the southern tip of Italy to Sicily because it was harder to track than a fleet of private planes. It was also a lot easier to transfer everything we needed for the fight to come.
On the way, I made a call to Luca, the First Emperor of the Fifth Republic in France.
It was midnight when I called, so I imagined he was wide awake.
He answered. “Quite the shit show down there. I’ve been watching the news the way an old lady watches her favorite soap opera. Thought you were dead.”
“I’m not.”
“Rocco made it sound like you were.”
All the resentment I’d felt for Rocco disappeared the moment I knew he might not be alive long enough to see my face again. “Look, you owe me, and I’m calling in that favor.”
“I owe you? What the fuck did you just say to me?”
“We don’t have time to take a stroll down memory lane.”
“I delivered Vladimir on a fucking platter—debt paid.”
“One of your men decided to commit his crimes in my territory when he couldn’t do it in yours. You fixed your own fucking mess. Your little cult disrespected Pope Zephyrinus and the Vatican and God. That debt has not been paid. You owe me.”
Luca released an exaggerated sigh into the phone. “What the fuck do you want me to do? I can’t come in and put your city back together when I’m not the emperor. That’s your job, and I won’t do it for you.”
“My eyes are on Darius. I need you and your men to come in and control the gangs. They’ve all gone rogue, and I need them shoved back into their cages.
It’s a fucking free-for-all, and it’s got to stop.
Robbery, trafficking, drugs—it’s fucking pandemonium.
And I need all those assholes who fired on my people dead.
The police and military are handling it as best they can, but I’m sure some will fall through the cracks.
I can’t be everywhere at once, so I need your help restoring order.
Do whatever you’ve got to do to make it happen. ”
Luca was quiet as he listened to my proposition. He was probably sitting in an armchair, slouched with his elbow propped on the armrest, his closed knuckles against his temple. “Fine. I can get there in twelve hours.” He hung up.
Tommaso sat in the back seat with me, against the opposite window. “Bringing in the big guns . . . good.”