Chapter 30 Constantine
Constantine
There were no further casualties other than the family seated together at that table. It was the Renaldo family, who operated one of the souvenir shops in town. My mother had gone to school with the father, so he was an old family friend.
They were brave for trying to help, but I wished they hadn’t.
When Tommaso and the other guys moved Darius’s body, my mother was still stabbing it, creating a huge pool of blood underneath her that soaked her dress and got into her hair . . . everywhere. She was literally soaked in blood, sweat, and tears.
The brightest day of my life turned into one of mourning.
When they took Darius away, my mother started to scream because apparently she wasn’t quite done massacring his remains.
I kneeled down next to her and grabbed her by the shoulders as she tried to yank Darius by the arm to continue her carving. “Ma.” I pulled her into me. “Ma, it’s done.” I took the bloody knife out of her hand and handed it to Tommaso, who set it on one of the tables.
She still looked pissed off as fuck, glaring at the body like it was still Darius, living and breathing, and she wished vengeance upon him like the head of the mob.
“Ma.” I tried to bring her back to me, tried to help her process the rage that couldn’t be satiated. “Ma . . .” I rubbed her shoulder and then her back.
She finally calmed herself and looked at me, blood splattered all over her beautiful face.
“He’s dead. It’s done.”
She shook her head slightly. “It’ll never be done for me, Constantine.” Then her eyes started to water as the grief replaced the rage. “I don’t care what Edric did, if he deserved it or not, it’ll never be done for me.”
I continued to rub her back. “You aren’t alone, because it’ll never be done for me either.”
Her eyes watered so much that tears dripped down her cheeks. She closed them before she nodded.
“But you gave that asshole what he deserved and saved everyone here, Ma.”
“I wasn’t trying to save everyone,” she said quietly. “I just . . . I heard what he said . . . and I fucking lost it.” Tears continued to stream down her cheeks. “Like I’d ever let him walk free after what he did to my boy. I’d do it again . . . and fucking again.”
“I know,” I said gently.
She breathed and sniffed, her eyes on the tile, and it was only then that she looked at herself and realized she was soaked in another man’s blood. “How’s Aurelia?”
“Shaken up but okay. She’ll be all right.”
“The baby?”
“I felt them kick a couple minutes ago.”
“Good.”
“I’m sorry about all this. I thought I’d killed him, but clearly, I hadn’t.”
She watched me, eyes still watery.
“Lost some good friends today because of my stupidity—”
“And you’ve served this country and protected our people for a long time, Constantine.
I’m sorry that it ended this way—but at least it ended.
” Now her hand moved to my arm to console me.
“I know you’ve hunted this man for a long time for what he did to your brother, and I want to apologize for taking a life that you should have taken—but I can’t. ”
“You deserve it more than anyone, Ma,” I said. “And truth be told, if you hadn’t, I’m not sure if any of us would be here right now. Because you’re a fucking badass. I know exactly where I get it from.”
Her eyes softened in their wetness, and she looked at the floor. “The love of your child will make you the most powerful person in the room. You’ll see, Constantine. You’ll see . . .”
I found Aurelia sitting on a bench in the courtyard at the clock tower.
She must have slipped off on her own to get some space.
She was still in her bloody wedding dress, Medusa sitting on one side of her, while Rocco sat on the other, his arm wrapped around her shoulders like he was consoling her in my absence.
When I approached, Rocco shared a look with me, then a nod, to let me know she was doing okay. He wordlessly left the seat, patted me on the arm, and then walked off.
I took the spot next to her, wrapped my arm around her shoulders, and pressed my palm to her belly like my hand was bulletproof.
“How’s your mom?” she asked.
“She’s okay. The adrenaline and rage are fading, and reality is creeping in.”
“I’m glad she killed him. She earned that.”
“Yeah.”
I rubbed her arm as I held her close, the night cool as the ocean breeze blew over the cliffs and into our hair. “I’m sorry about all of this. I should have done more. I should have known . . .”
“Con, it’s okay. It’s over now.”
“But friends as good as family are dead . . . and our wedding day is ruined.”
She stared toward the ocean, the lights from the mainland distantly visible on a clear night like this.
“Our wedding was in that church in the eyes of our friends and family and God. It was beautiful and special, and I’ll never forget it.
That was our wedding, and nothing could ever tarnish it.
I’m just grateful that the outcome of this night wasn’t worse.
A lot more people could have died, and at least now he’s really gone.
Our country can start to heal from the wounds he inflicted.
The Republic is secure under a new emperor.
And you and I can raise our baby in this beautiful village without having to look over our shoulders.
I know it hurts right now . . . everything hurts . . . but it’ll be okay.”
The heaviness continued through the week, through the joint funerals, and it was only then that people started to move on from what had happened.
Taormina was a quiet and safe place where nothing violent or dangerous ever happened, so I knew the village would be forever scarred by what had taken place.
I carried that guilt with me every single day, but I knew I needed to move on.
My mother asked me to visit Edric with her, so Aurelia and I went along. It was Aurelia’s first time visiting the grave, and we all stood together in silence as we looked at the lettering on the headstone.
Now that I knew his remains were there, I felt closer to him than I had in a long time. I felt like his spirit could truly be free, knowing what was left of him had been honored. He wouldn’t want us to be sad over his death. Would much rather we move on . . . especially my mother.
She stared at the headstone in silence, the flowers cradled in the crook of her arm, not a hint of a tear on her face.
Then she stepped forward and placed the flowers on his grave before she kissed her palm and placed it on the top of his headstone.
“I hope you can find peace now, baby.” She held her hand there for a long time before she stood upright and moved back.
“Every day I’ve visited him, I’ve cried myself dry.
The wound has always felt so raw, years and years afterward.
A part of me wonders if I always knew he wasn’t here, that I couldn’t rest or truly grieve until he was exactly where he belonged.
Because the moment I came here and felt the disturbance in the ground, it felt different.
Felt like someone else was here with me.
And now . . .” She took a breath, the breeze moving through her hair. “I feel like I can finally find peace.”
I sat on the couch on the patio with Medusa beside me, staring out at the sea in the distance, the wedding band on my left hand where I would keep it forever, night and day, in the gym and at work.
And even though I was happy, I wasn’t quite healed from what had happened.
It might take longer than a week . . . or a couple weeks.
Medusa turned when the back door opened, and she immediately leaped down to greet the person.
I knew it wasn’t Aurelia because Medusa wouldn’t jump off the couch if it were, not when she’d just seen her in the house a couple minutes ago. I turned to get a look at the person and saw it was Rocco. “What are you doing here?”
“Decided to drop by and catch up.” He gave Medusa a quick rubdown before he sat down on the couch across from me.
“Just decided to drop by?” I asked suspiciously.
“It’s only an hour flight. As convenient as it gets.”
“You gotta get there two hours early, and then it’s an hour drive here—”
“Not when you fly private.”
“But still,” I said. “It’s not that convenient. So why are you really here?”
He sat forward slightly, rubbing his hands together, and then gave a slight smirk. “Your wife texted me.”
I gave a slow nod in understanding.
“She said you’ve been down lately.”
“Hard to bounce back, I guess.”
He stared at his hands as he continued to rub his palms together. “It sucks it happened, but what are you going to do? Feel guilty forever? There’s not a single person in your life who wants you to feel that way, Con.”
“A lot of bad shit happened under my watch.”
“And you think bad shit won’t happen under mine?
” he asked. “I absolutely guarantee you it will. It’s a tough job, Con.
You’re running all the criminal enterprises of the country yourself.
You police the guys the police can’t even police.
And Darius was a well-connected, rich, corrupt motherfucker.
Look, I thought he was dead too. Everyone thought he was.
And even if he wasn’t, no one thought he’d pull that trick out of his hat. ”
“Rocco, I appreciate you trying to make me feel better—”
“It’s all done now, Con.” He cut me off with his tone. “You can keep living in the past, but where’s that going to get you? You’ve got a beautiful wife who wants to fuck your brains out, and you’re sitting here staring off into space. You’ve got a baby on the way—”
“Whoa, what did you just say?”
He shut his mouth and stared at his hands again.
“She told you about that?” We hadn’t actually consummated our marriage yet. After everything that had happened, I just wasn’t in the mood, and when she’d tried to get something going a couple days ago, I told her I wasn’t ready.
“She may have mentioned it.”
I shook my head as I chuckled. “Wow, woman’s got it bad, huh?”