Vincinti Stories #2
“I always thought so, but I crossed that line when I called the Cutter in, didn’t I?” Leon lamented. “I stood there with no feeling in my heart as I watched what he did to her. She bled and I didn’t care one way or the other. I listened to her screams of pain and blocked them out.”
“She didn’t deserve your compassion, Dad.” Calderone sighed. “With some people, you can’t show mercy. She certainly never had mercy for her fellow human beings. Look what she did to you.”
H e reached for his phone and texted his men, telling them to disarm the guard but not to kill him.
Leon then went to the window closest to the room the women were in and luckily, he could open it.
Slipping inside, he quietly made his way down the hall and pulled his weapon before he entered the room.
He caught a peek at his other security men entering and neutralizing the guard. The intruder offered no resistance.
Finally, when John entered the room with the two women, they both just looked up at him. Neither of them screamed or offered any resistance but instead they both got to their feet.
The older of the two of them pushed Evelyn behind her. “Who are you and what do you want here?” she asked.
“I’m here to rescue Evelyn. I won’t hurt you if you don’t try and prevent that from happening.” John stared at her.
“Who sent you?” the woman asked in a whisper. Fear colored her eyes and her stance stiffened in front of Evelyn.
“Leon Vincinti sent me,” John stated firmly.
Evelyn stepped from behind Anna and looked stunned. “Leon? Are you sure?”
“Yes ma’am. I’m more than sure.” John nodded.
“After all this time... why did he wait so long?” Evelyn’s body was shaking.
“He didn’t even know you were waiting for him,” John explained.
“Siobhan never allowed him to know where I was?” she asked. “She always told me he forgot me as soon as I left. When she went to ransom me, she said he’d asked Evelyn who? ”
John shook his head. “Leon never knew she had you until yesterday. That bitch Siobhan told him she watched him over the years because she wanted to see him broken. She thought he took the life of someone she cared about years ago but he didn’t even know the man at all.”
The other woman gasped and held her hand to her mouth. “Richard? She did all of this because of Richard?”
John turned his head to look at her. “And what is your name?”
“Anna,” Evelyn replied. “Her name is Anna.”
He stared at her then at Anna. “You know this Richard character?”
Anna shook her head. “Yeah, I know that loser. I told Siobhan years ago that he wasn’t any good but she was in love.” She air quoted the phrase ‘In Love’ as she glared at him. “That bastard only used her. He loved her money, never her, and she was the only one that couldn’t see it.”
“Do you know where he went when he left here?” John questioned.
She shrugged. “I hear he went to Vegas and became a gambler with her money. He knew he didn’t dare come back here. Of course, no one could tell Siobhan that and believe me, we tried. She just never believed us.”
“Leon isn’t going to like this.” John snarled. “She told him just days ago, she blamed him for her boyfriend being dead. She never told him he was still alive.”
“I told you she never believed Richard would walk out on her,” Anna reiterated. “She became so bitter and took her hatred out on Leon. I think that was her only reason for living after a while. She had to take the great Leon Vincinti down or die trying.”
“Well, she died trying then didn’t she?” John told them.
Anna paled and sat down hard at his announcement. “She’s dead then?” she whispered. “Are you absolutely sure of that?”
“Oh yeah, the bitch is dead, long live the bitch,” John stated flatly. Looking over at Evelyn, he said, “And you have a date with Leon.”
“He didn’t forget me then?” Evelyn whispered.
“No, that man never forgot you.” John shook his head. “He just never knew what happened to you.”
L ess than an hour later , their car pulled into the Vincinti estate. Evelyn and Anna held each other’s hand tightly as the gate swung shut behind them. Both women were afraid of the meeting coming up for totally different reasons.
Anna was very afraid of the upcoming meeting with the man who thought he had reason to hate her. He’d hated her for the last forty some odd years and while he thought he had reason to do so, he couldn’t have been more wrong if he tried.
They mounted the stairs but Anna’s steps were slower and more awkward than she would have thought. She really didn’t want this confrontation to mar Evelyn’s reunion with her man.
When Leon came out at the top of the steps and saw them both standing there, his eyes were glued to Evelyn.
Evelyn stopped and gasped as she stared at him in wonder.
Then he rushed down the steps and swept her into his arms to embrace her so tight that she squealed. Then his lips were on hers and it was a long while before she could breathe. When their kiss broke both looked dazed.
Leon looked at her and whispered, “I can’t believe you are finally back in my arms.”
“Me either,” Evelyn whispered back. “I’ve waited so long for this day. I almost gave up on you.”
Leon smiled. “Never give up on me. I have loved you for more years than I care to remember.”
“Me too,” Evelyn admitted as tears rolled down her cheeks.
Leon lifted his head and looked at the others standing on the steps. His eyes brushed Anna’s and he moved on only to whirl back to stare at her. His confusion at her appearance turned to a glare as he finally remembered her face. “Anna Brandon? I never thought you would come here.”
“I didn’t want to but your man wouldn’t allow me to stay at home,” she offered as an explanation. “He insisted I come here.”
Leon lifted his head and glared at John as he issued his order, “Take her to a cell, and make her comfortable.”
“Leon?” Evelyn gasped in horror. “What are you doing? What are you saying?”
“I’m saying that this woman is a criminal and I want her in a cell.” Leon growled. “I’ve been looking for her for a very long time.”
Evelyn gasped and held her hand to her throat as she looked between Leon and Anna. “What did she do that was so horrible?” she finally asked.
“She murdered my wife Lysette, Calderone’s mother. Then she ran away like a fucking coward.”
Anna looked over at Evelyn while John grabbed her from behind. “I know you believe that Leon, but it wasn’t me that killed your wife. I was blamed but I didn’t do the deed.” She finally looked over at Leon. “Why would I kill her? I didn’t even know her.”
Evelyn looked back and forth confused. “It cannot be true. I know this woman, Leon.”
“It was Siobhan that killed your wife that night, not me,” Anna informed him. “If you think Siobhan is tough, you should have met her mother.” Shaking her head she told them, “I wasn’t sorry to hear Siobhan was finally dead. All I could feel was freedom.”
“How do I know you’re telling me the truth?” Leon gritted his teeth.
“Why would I have a reason to murder your wife?” Anna asked simply.
“What purpose did Siobhan have to kill my wife?” Leon shot back just as swiftly.
“She wanted an alliance with you to form one huge crime ring in the city. With you, you would bring the family and with her, she would bring in the Irish mob. Her Irish mob... not the westside one. She would freeze them out and run them out of town. Together, the two of you would rule this city. Only you wouldn’t rule this city together for long.
Please remember this was before she met Richard.
She would have murdered you in your sleep and the Family would have been pushed out of Boston altogether. ”
“And she thought by killing my wife I would fall for her?” Leon sounded skeptical.
“She thought you wouldn’t be able to resist her,” Anna told him.
“What about my son?” Leon asked. “Or would he have met with an accident as well?”
Anna hung her head. “He would have been next and when you were all upset at losing your wife and your son, she would have ended your pain probably with a bullet to your head in a suicide claim.”
Leon sat there for a moment and thought about her words. Everything she said made a weird kind of sense to him. He’d gotten to know Siobhan enough to realize Anna’s words could be the truth. Finally, after all these years, he finally knew why and who really killed his wife.
Leon looked over at Evelyn and found her looking back at him with hope in her eyes. “I know she’s telling you the truth,” she whispered. “Anna is as much a victim here as you and I are. She had to live her life as Siobhan’s servant.”
“I don’t know what to believe anymore. I’ve hated her for the last thirty five years and I’m not sure I can quite forgive her yet,” Leon told her.
“But you have to at least entertain the idea that she’s telling the truth?” Evelyn asked.
“I can do that,” Leon agreed. “As long as nothing else happens to endanger our lives. There’s always someone out there that would dare to seek to take the work of others and try to take their place. And I have a feeling that despite the fact that Siobhan is dead there are others out there lurking.”
L eon tossed his cell phone across the room. “That sonofabitch!”
Calderone stared at his father. He’d never seen him so unraveled. “Dad, come on. Just try to calm—”
“Calm? I’ve never even gotten to meet her!
I never knew she even existed before yesterday and now, some greedy shit-head has her.
He’s off his fucking rocker too!” Leon paced as he ranted, “I want my family whole! I want these two women to live a charmed life from here on out. I want to lavish them with...” He gripped his hands into fists.
“Love and gifts. Parties and good times. All the joy they missed while being locked up or too scared to live a life. All because of fucking Siobhan. I wish I would have killed her myself. Then she hires some fucker that gets ideas of grandeur? I am gonna kill him myself.”
“DAD!” Calderone shouted from across the room.