Chapter 25 Constantine #4
President Barsetti’s suit was covered in dirt and grime, but he looked unharmed otherwise. When he spotted me, he cut short his conversation with one of his military sergeants and hurried over. “You all right?”
I nodded, the wound stitched and wrapped tightly in gauze. It was the same place where I’d been shot for Medusa, and I knew this recovery would be a lot worse since it was the second time. “You?”
“I’m fine,” he said like he couldn’t care less how he was doing. “You came back.”
“Yeah. I did.”
He stared at me for a while, as if processing his resentment in order to release it. “Good. Rome needs its emperor.”
My decision had been made without needing the time to consider it. It was instinct, something I just knew. “It’ll take me some time to get Rome back in order, to put the gangs back on their schedules, and to make sure the Skull Kings are permanently dismantled, but once that’s done, I’m done.”
Both of his eyebrows rose. “Why?”
Because I’d found my place—finally. It wasn’t in the streets of Rome.
It wasn’t upon an iron throne. It was in Taormina, in the sunshine that reflected off the water, in the small village with everyone I’d known since I was a kid.
It was in the glow of my mother’s love, in my sister’s smile .
. . with the woman who would be my wife.
“I did what I set out to do—and now it’s time to move on. ”
“You know Rome will collapse again the second you’re gone—”
“I know the exact person who should take my place. A far better choice, if you ask me.”
I sat with Tommaso on the patio of the restaurant, both of us ordering drinks that we didn’t touch.
Rocco had checked himself back in to the hospital because he was in no shape to do anything else but recover.
I’d been working the whole time, putting the city back in order, removing the graffiti that marked the buildings.
And killing everyone who had become a traitor to their own empire.
“What’s next for you, Constantine?” Tommaso suddenly asked.
“Time to settle down in Taormina.”
He gave a nod like he’d expected that answer. “You ready for that?”
“Never thought I’d be excited for something so simple.” A grin stretched across my face. “But I am. And now that Rome will be in safe hands, I can really enjoy it. Move on and not look back.”
He watched the people pass on the sidewalk for a long time. Without looking at me, he said, “And Edric?”
“I haven’t gone by the house and grabbed him yet. But I will.”
“I can go with you if you’d like.” His eyes came back to me. “I dreamed of having you as a son-in-law, but that doesn’t mean I don’t still care for you like my own.”
My eyes dropped at his unexpected affection. “That means a lot to me, Tommaso.”
He looked away again.
“And it’d mean a lot if you came with me.”
I stopped by the hospital and sat at Rocco’s bedside.
He was knocked out, the TV still on in the corner.
I got comfortable in the chair and put my feet up on the edge of his bed as I watched the screen. It was some soap opera where a cougar was having an affair with her stepson, and there was lots of drama and spice . . . pretty entertaining.
Aurelia texted me. I’m sorry to be clingy, but when are you coming home?
I’d been working all week. Collapsing into bed just to sleep for a couple of hours before I was back on the streets again. I hadn’t had a chance to call or text much. Be as clingy as you want, sweetheart. You know I’m into it.
God, I miss you.
A warmth like sunshine filled my veins. I loved it when she wanted me. Loved it when she needed me. And I loved that she was so transparent about it. I miss you too. I’ll probably head home tomorrow. Just gotta tie up some loose ends.
Okay. Let me know when you leave.
I will.
How’s Rocco doing?
He’s asleep right now. I’m at his bedside.
Will he be able to leave the hospital soon?
I think so.
The conversation died, so I slid the phone back into my pocket.
A couple minutes later, Rocco blinked a few times as he stared at the TV, the soap opera coming into view. “They haven’t gotten caught yet?” he asked in a raspy voice.
“Her husband just found the text messages. Think he’s gonna confront her.”
“You think he’ll blow her head off or just divorce her?”
“I don’t think they blow people’s heads off in soap operas.”
“Well, they should. That’d be great television.” He released a heavy sigh as he pushed himself up in bed, then clicked the button to make the top half of the bed lift to support him. “How long have you been here?”
“About an hour.”
“You’ve been watching me sleep for an hour? Fucking creep.”
“I was watching the show.”
“Right.” He turned his head to look at me. “Doctor said I can go home tomorrow. Thank fucking god.”
Then the timing was perfect. “Cosa Nostra and I are leaving tomorrow.”
“How long will you be gone?”
I stared at him.
He stared back.
It took a couple seconds for it to click, and when it did, his eyes changed. “You aren’t coming back . . .”
“No.”
He gave another sigh before he lifted himself farther up.
“I thought I would want it, but I don’t. I’m a different person now.” I wanted to raise my kid in the village, have a quiet life with Aurelia and Medusa, spend time with my mother while she was still around. “Which works out great because I think you’d do a much better job anyway.”
He turned his head to me when he heard what I said. He stared, the silence somehow louder than words.
“I abandoned Rome to a psychopathic dictator—but you stayed.”
He continued to stare at me.
“I betrayed my country and my people for one person—and you stayed. You continued to fight against Darius and preserve the Roman Republic. Even when you knew it would probably claim your life, you continued to fight back. My reign has ended, and yours has begun.”
He continued to hold his silence as he stared at me.
I couldn’t figure out how he felt about it, not when his face was as stoic as stone. “Do you accept?”
“You didn’t betray your country, Con. A man should always put his family first, and that’s exactly what you did.
You wouldn’t be the right leader for Rome if you’d done otherwise.
I think I made you feel bad because . . .
I didn’t want to do it alone. I blamed you for everything, when it’s obvious Darius was always a complicated problem.
And what I said about your brother . . .
it was fucked up, and I regret saying it.
Would take it back if I could.” He looked away when he finished, like he didn’t want to see my reaction to the last thing he said.
I’d felt no anger toward him at all, but now, I felt somehow lighter. “You can take it back.”
After a hesitation, he turned back to me.
“Because as far as I’m concerned, it never happened. So, do you accept?”
His eyes flicked back and forth between mine, but he let me change the subject and move on from the past. “Yeah.”
I smiled. “Good.”
“Do I get your place?”
“Fuck off,” I said with a laugh.
“Well, what the hell are you going to do with it?”
“Fair point,” I said. “I’ll make a deal with you. I’ll sell it to you—if you let us stay there when we visit.”
“Are you gonna visit often?”
“Probably not.”
“How much?” he asked.
“More than you can afford. But in a couple months, you should be able to cover it. I’m flexible.”
“Sounds like a deal,” he said.
“The least I can do for . . . abandoning you.”
He looked at the TV again and watched it for a while.
I stayed at his bedside even though I still had a lot of things to do. This story had a happy ending, but I was still bummed I wouldn’t see him every day like I used to. He was the closest thing I had to a brother . . . since mine had died.
“Have you gotten Edric yet?” He turned back to me. He pushed the blankets to his waist as if he’d gotten warm in that little bed.
“No. I’ll swing by tomorrow.”
“Alone?”
“No. Tommaso said he would help me.”
“Good,” he said. “Do you . . . feel better now?”
I thought about it for a while before I shook my head.
“I made my peace with it when Aurelia told me she was pregnant. That made me realize I needed to live in the present and not the past. But it means a lot to me that I can bring him home . . . and lay him to rest. It’s closure, the last page in this shitty story. ”
“It wasn’t all shitty,” he said. “Pretty fucking epic if you ask me.”
I’d met the love of my life, finally put Isabella behind me, and met some of my closest friends on the way. And now, a new stage of my life was about to begin—and I’d never been more excited. “It was, wasn’t it?”
The cemetery was located outside of Taormina, a short ten-minute drive. My mom hadn’t spoken of Edric in a long time, but I knew she still went there every single morning. That was confirmed when I arrived at his headstone and a fresh bouquet of flowers was there.
He hadn’t been gone that long, but time had already made its impact. The stone had lightened from exposure to the sunshine and the salt in the air. Grime had started to build up in the crevices of the engraving.
Tommaso and some of the other guys unloaded the oil drum from the back of the van.
They rolled it down a plank of wood to get it to the dirt.
They’d drained it in Palermo, and now nothing was inside except for the bones.
Even sealed inside the oil drum, his body had still decomposed, and since it’d been over seven years, there wouldn’t be much left of him.
I grabbed a shovel and started to dig at my brother’s grave site. The others helped me, and an hour later, we reached the coffin that had already deteriorated. It was sealed shut even though there was nothing inside, so I pried it open and popped the lid.
I climbed out of the grave, then moved to the front of the van. I leaned against the grill and stared at the side of Mount Etna, the volcano quiet for the time being. I could hear Tommaso and the guys working, transferring the bones from the oil drum to the coffin before they sealed it shut again.
I didn’t have the heart or the stomach to watch. Couldn’t see what was left of a man who still felt so real to me.
Tommaso released a quiet whistle to let me know they were finished.
When I walked over, they were shoveling the dirt back onto the grave.
“Thanks, guys.” I grabbed a shovel and joined them, putting the dirt back in place and compacting it with the bottom of our shovels, doing our best to make it look like it hadn’t been disturbed. But because my mother visited every single morning, she would know something had changed.
Hopefully, she would assume it was just scheduled maintenance. I wouldn’t lie to my mother, but this was one secret I would take to the grave. Let her believe her son had been killed by an idiot driver rather than broken into pieces and used as a nightstand.
Now that I was about to be a father, I thought about it differently.
I grieved for my mother in a way I hadn’t before.
If that ever happened to me . . . I wouldn’t be able to go on.
When I pulled into the driveway of my home, I stopped when I got past the gate. I didn’t open the garage. Just gripped the wheel and stared at the place that had become home. The place that I had left in search of vengeance, power, and wealth.
I hadn’t realized all that was right in front of me the entire time. I just had to get my wife first and bring her here.
I pulled into the garage, then stepped into the house.
Aurelia and Medusa were there waiting for me in the hallway. Aurelia burst into tears at the sight of me and rushed to me to hug me harder than she ever had. Held on to me like she dangled over a cliff with spikes down below. She breathed hard against my chest before she released an unexpected sob.
“Sweetheart.” I cupped the back of her head as she cried against me, cried like I’d died instead of lived.
Medusa was right at my feet, looking up at me before she raised a paw and issued a whine.
“In a sec, baby girl,” I said quietly, consoling Aurelia first.
She finally pulled away enough to look at me before she reached up and cupped my face. “I’m so glad you’re home.”
I bent my neck to kiss her, to pull her into me. “And I’m never leaving again.”
Her eyes flicked back and forth between mine. “If he’s gone, then we can return to Rome—”
“No.”
“You can have both, Con.”
“I don’t want both. This is what I want.
” I moved my hand to her belly. “Just this.” I kneeled down and lifted up her shirt to kiss her stomach.
That was when Medusa got impatient, moving her snout under my arm and trying to pull it toward her, demanding attention.
She used to be the only woman in my life, but she had two other people to compete with these days.
“Hey, baby girl.” I cupped her face with both hands, then ran them back through her fur, making her eyes soften at my touch.
Then I kissed the top of her head and gave her body a rubdown, bringing her in for a hug before I let her go.
I stood upright and looked at Aurelia again, looked at the eyes that made me soft the moment I saw her. “It’s good to be home.”