Chapter Three #2
Alessandro looks to be around the same age as Rocco. Both men in their fifties… with daughters. Rocco takes care of his precious Luciana while Alessandro has Emma. Or does he? I still can’t figure it all out.
“You killed my brother,” Alessandro says to Gabriel. “That cannot stand.”
“I killed your brother because he kidnapped my wife. He was going to kill her. I had no choice.”
“You wanted my brother dead for years.”
Gabriel’s stoic expression doesn’t change. “I did. He killed my family. He gave me this scar. Who could blame me? And if you come for me, Alessandro, I won’t hesitate to kill you too.”
“I came here to talk peace. I’m willing to work with you, Gabriel.”
I stiffen. Will Gabriel agree to this… working with the man who’s brother destroyed his life?
“Why the fuck would I want to work with you?” Gabriel asks. “You’re a cockroach, Alessandro. You were there the night Giovanni killed my parents. I remember you laughed. The last thing I want is to work with you. I would much prefer you go away and never show your face in this city again.”
“If you don’t agree to work with me, Gabriel, then I’ll have no choice but to go to war with you.”
“You’re outnumbered,” Gabriel states, nodding to his guards and me and Rocco.
“I have countless men waiting outside for me. They will blow this restaurant to smithereens if you try anything to me. I have power, Gabriel. I can easily kill you. But I came here to offer peace. It would make things easier for all of us.”
“No,” Gabriel says with a scoff. “I won’t make peace with you. I will kill you one day. That’s what will lead to peace.”
“Fine,” Alessandro responds with tight lips. “Then I’ll come for you too. And I’ll kill your wife, finishing my brother’s final act.”
I step forward before I can stop to think. “What if I told you, Alessandro, that we had something to make you not attack us?”
Both Gabriel and Alessandro stare at me in shock.
“The location of your wife and daughter,” I announce. I can’t say that I already have Emma. Gabriel would be pissed. “We will hurt them if you don’t comply.”
Alessandro’s frown deepens. “My wife and… daughter? I don’t have a daughter.”
“You lie. Giovanni confirmed that he has a niece to Gabriel. You have a wife and daughter.”
Alessandro jumps to his feet and grabs me by the shirt, yanking me towards him. “I don’t have a wife and daughter. You are mistaken.”
“And you are a liar. You don’t want us to use them against you. So if you don’t want them to be hurt, I suggest you go crawl back into the hole you came out of.”
With a huff, Alessandro pushes me away and storms out of the restaurant.
Gabriel gives me a long, hard stare. “I told you to not go after his wife and daughter.”
“I had to see if they’re real and they are real. We can use them against Alessandro. You know this is the best idea.”
“I don’t want to hurt innocent women any longer.”
“Are they innocent? Valentina Greco married that monster. And his daughter is a product of that.” I push Emma’s kind face out of my mind.
It has to be an act. It has to be. Her innocence cannot be real because if it is, I will not be able to go through with this.
“We use them to hurt Alessandro into submission. We won’t kill them.
We’ll just use them long enough until Alessandro leaves or you get the chance to kill him.
But it’s a good idea, Gabriel. You know that. ”
He stares at me for a long, hard moment before he nods. “Fine. I agree. It’s a good idea.”
“Gabriel,” Rocco says shocked. “I have a daughter. I don’t agree with hurting someone else’s daughter.”
“This is not up to you,” I snap and Rocco gives me an annoyed look. “It’s up to Gabriel. So?”
Gabriel sighs. “I didn’t want to do this.
I still don’t. I’m going to try and kill Alessandro first before involving his family.
But if I can’t… then we’ll go find his wife and daughter.
And we’ll use them. But let me try to kill Alessandro first. He’s heavily guarded and I have to make sure that his death doesn’t come back to hurt Aurora. Give me time.”
“That’s fine,” I breathe out. “Do you really think his wife and daughter are innocent?”
“I doubt it. If his daughter was raised by a man like Alessandro and Giovanni, then I know there’s a darkness in her. A stain that can’t come out. As for his wife… she has to be a monster herself to be married to Alessandro. But we’ll come to that when we have to.”
“Fair enough,” I say. “Try to kill Alessandro sooner rather than later.” That way I can let Emma go then. That way I won’t have to hurt her.
I return home to find Emma listening to one of my albums on my record player. It’s an older band. The song if soft and wistful. Almost melancholy.
And to my surprise, I find her… crying. Just sitting on the couch, crying.
“Emma?” I ask.
She startles when she hears me, wiping at her tears. “You’re home. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have touched your albums.” She stands up but I motion for her to sit back down.
“It’s all right. You live here now. You can listen to my albums.” Gabriel’s words come back to me – if a daughter was raised by a man like Alessandro and Giovanni, there has to be a darkness in her.
I just can’t seem to find it anywhere, no matter how hard I look.
“Thank you.”
“Why were you crying?”
“No reason,” she squeaks. I know she’s still hiding something from me. It’s a deception. Is Emma truly as innocent as she appears? All of this could be an act to get me to trust her. Even saving that girl could have been an act. No one is that selfless.
“You can tell me,” I urge.
She sighs. “It’s just a song that reminds me of home. My life on the farm. It just made me sad. That’s all.”
“Was your life a bad one, where you came from?” Surely she was spoiled rotten having been raised by Alessandro.
“I’m tired,” she says instead, getting up. “I’m going to bed. Thank you once again, Leo, for your generosity in letting me stay here.” She walks away before I can get more out of her.
If Emma doesn’t share everything with me in time, I’m going to have to torture it out of her.
And I’m not sure if I’ll be able to do that.