Chapter 28
Chapter twenty-eight
Blood on your queen.
The chilling omen wraps around me, filling me with a coldness that I can’t shake and stealing my slumber.
I’m sitting on the couch in a fluffy robe with blankets wrapped around me. It’s almost eleven at night. Since sleep evades me, I turn to popcorn and romantic comedies. Silly, sappy love stories are what I need to get my mind off the fact that someone in my family wants to kill me.
Digging my hand into the bowl, I shovel pieces of buttery goodness into my mouth.
I wanted Valerio and his family to be the killer, but after seeing his face during our discussion, I know he is telling the truth. This infuriates me. All the times Valerio has been on the wrong side of the tracks, and now he decides to walk the straight line for once.
My thoughts drift to Dominic. I wish he was here to keep me company, but he had to work on his other cases.
Glancing at the open notepad on the end table next to me, I look at the list of everyone in our family. Next to each name is the chess piece they could represent. Every guess I’ve made seems logical, except one, the killer sending me the king piece.
I guess in a way, I could be a king, since I’m operating as a leader in a man’s world. But in my gut, I know that king has to mean my father.
The doorbell rings, jarring me from my thoughts and I almost jump out of my skin. Fumbling for my phone, I see Lucia’s face on the camera. Breathing a sigh of relief, I rush to the door and open it.
“Luci, what are you doing here?” I usher her inside.
“Working. I finished an assignment. I had just gotten home when I saw your light on and I wanted to stop by. It’s been so long since we spent time together.”
Sadness sweeps over me. “Yes, it has.”
She holds up a box as she walks into the living room. “I brought cannolis. I had to go pick up the payment from Pietro, and he was making them fresh.”
“He was at the bakery at this hour?”
Lucia places the box on the coffee table next to the bowl of popcorn. “You know that place is a gold mine. He probably wanted to butter me up so he can be in your good graces when he asks for another loan to expand the bakery.”
I raise my eyebrows. “I never say no to carbs. And Pietro has never missed a payment, so I’m sure we can work something out.”
Lucia takes off her coat and drapes it on the chair. “Other clients have told me they’re trying to get in touch with you, but your time is being occupied elsewhere.”
“That’s not true, everyone that has contacted me I’ve gotten back to.”
Lucia places the box on the table and grabs some popcorn. “So, tell me what’s going on.” She sinks into the armchair and narrows her eyes at me. “Have you really been working together or just fucking?”
Oh Lucia and her blunt tone, straight to the point. But I wouldn’t expect anything less from my best friend.
“A little of both…I guess.” I could never lie to her.
She smirks. “You know I’m good for going back to an ex, but is it purely physical or are your feelings getting involved? You know you’ve never been able to separate the two.”
“I know, I know.”
“What happens when all this is over with, and you find out who the killer is? He’s going to go back to his work investigating people like us while you’re going to continue your empire and hide everything from people like him.
” She leans forward and flips open the box revealing the hard shell of a cannoli bursting with vanilla cream.
I don’t respond and instead focus on emotional eating. Grabbing one of the cannolis, I shove it into my mouth. The sharp crack of the shell breaking beneath my teeth is followed by the sweetness of the cream on my tongue.
“Mmmm, Pietro outdoes himself every time.”
Lucia looks at me. “Cipi, you know I’m just trying to protect you.
I don’t want to see you get hurt. I know Dominic isn’t your enemy, but he’s not built for this world.
That’s why he left the first time. You know, I’m all for a girl having fun and getting her needs met, but don’t drag feelings into it. ”
“It might be too late.” I take another bite of the cannoli.
“Oh, Cipi.” Lucia whips out her phone and starts typing.
“What are you doing?”
“Plotting out Dominic’s funeral because I know this time he’s going to break your heart and you might never recover.”
“Luci, let’s not get too dramatic here.” I groan.
“Honestly, I should give him a good whack to the head. It’s been weeks that he’s been on this case and we still have no idea who wants to kill you.” Lucia places her phone on her lap.
“We have had a few good leads, but they didn’t turn into anything,” I admit. “Have you noticed anything different with Matteo, Salvatore, and Bruno over the past few weeks?”
Lucia takes a bite of the pastry and shrugs. “I’ve been busy with work.” Her eyes widen as she swallows. “Cipi! You’re not suggesting one of them had anything to do with it? How could you even think such a thing? They’re family. Bruno got shot in the head and Salvatore was almost murdered.”
“I know, but someone on the inside is orchestrating this and I just can’t figure out who.”
Soon the conversation shifts from this enigma to more light-hearted conversation.
For the next hour we’re just two best friends chatting about life and watching TV.
The clock tolls almost one when Lucia glances at her phone. “I have to get going. I need to head home and get some sleep.”
I walk her to the door. “This was fun, we need to do it again.” I give her a hug.
“We will.” Lucia hugs me tight. “Just be careful with Dominic. I don’t want you to get hurt.”
I nod and close the door behind her.
Walking back into the living room, I flop onto the couch and mute the TV so I can be alone with my thoughts.
My eyes fall onto my laptop on the coffee table.
Opening it, I begin to go through all of the video footage AJ had downloaded onto it.
Skipping to the date of my party, I flip through many of the cameras surrounding the mansion.
One angle catches my attention.
Two servers are putting desserts on the tables next to my cake. The one on the right excuses himself and begins walking toward the doors that lead onto the porch.
“That must be Paul Williams,” I murmur as I watch him run his fingers through his blonde hair.
I shift through the outside cameras. In the frame of the fourth camera, I catch a shadow in the far right corner.
At the edge of the property in the woods are two figures. Clicking the buttons, I zoom in on the image. It’s fuzzy and slightly blurred, but I recognize Paul and a man wearing a hoodie.
Pressing another key, I’m able to clear the image enough to identify the second person as Valerio.
“Well, I guess that clears Valerio and proves where he was at the time I got shot,” I mutter, closing the laptop. I curl up on the couch. Valerio was right about one thing. Chaos does burn from within, and that’s exactly what’s happening now.
Next to the laptop are the three pieces to Dad’s chess set. The king, rook, and bishop stare back at me along with the black feathers.
I know I’m missing something.
My hand instinctively drifts toward the Glock resting beneath the throw pillow.
Silence fills the room with the only noise being the slow tick of the grandfather clock in the hallway.
I should go to bed but I know I won’t be able to sleep. The box my dad left me suddenly comes to mind. I had put it somewhere after Dominic had carried it up from the basement. Maybe the pantry.
Strolling to the kitchen, I open the pantry door and see the box waiting for me. Dragging it out, I plop it onto the wooden floor.
The cardboard is weathered and the tape is brittle, but the handwriting in sharpie is none other than my dad’s.
My heart aches. It shouldn’t have taken me years to open this box, but the pain was just too much.
Pulling back the flaps, I peek inside.
There is an old photograph of my Dad and me when I was little, a few children’s books he used to read to me, my baby blanket, and then some artwork I made for him on his birthday.
Confusion fills me.
I understand the emotional attachment Dad would feel about these items, but I expected something else.
Taking each object out and placing it on the floor, a smile spreads over my face as I drift back to my childhood.
It was a simpler time, a portion of my life when I was filled with innocence and happiness before I became tainted.
Grabbing the baby blanket, I pull it to my chest and hear the swoosh of something fluttering to the floor.
It’s an envelope.
My name is written in Dad’s fancy script.
Heart in my throat, I pick it up and tear it open.
The cursive script meets my gaze as I realize it’s a letter from Dad.
My Dear Cipriani,
If you’re reading this, it means I’m already dead, and it wasn’t from natural causes. A part of this is my own doing. I’ve allowed this lifestyle to become my identity. I wasn’t the nicest boss. I shed a lot of unnecessary blood, and I made more enemies than friends.
As stated in my will, the empire is yours. You are not only my daughter and first-born, but the only person I trust to carry it. You’re the only one with the spine and brains to outwit them all. This will be a dangerous game. You’ll have a lot more to prove being a female, but I know you can do it.
Don’t trust the men around you. Watch their actions. Listen to their words. Power makes snakes out of brothers and vipers out of sons. I know there is a traitor inside the family, maybe more than one, I don’t exactly know who. But if I can’t figure it out, within the next few weeks I’ll be gone.
There’s something else I have to tell you. Something I never told anyone. Something I should have confessed a long time ago.
The hit on the Marconi Family wasn’t business, it was personal. You were too young to remember the slaughter, but this act of revenge began when I was a teenager.
Before I was capo, before I met and married your mother, I was deeply in love. The woman was the youngest Marconi daughter, Francesca Marconi. We were young and believed we could change the world. We were going to marry, but our families hated each other and forbade our union.
We didn’t care. We were going to run away and get married.
Our decision to leave became even more urgent after Francesca revealed to me she was pregnant with our child.
None of our families knew about the pregnancy, but Francesca made the mistake of telling her older brother Aldo.
He was next in line for the throne and wanted to keep the bloodline pure and the legacy untouched.
Behind the family’s back, he put a hit on her.
He killed her and my unborn child. He had the guards make the murder look like it came from the Capuano Family.
For years the families were at each other’s throats.
I snapped and from that moment I plotted my revenge.
Once I became in charge, I made it my mission to avenge Francesca’s death.
I told everyone the Marconis had been working with the Feds and selling information about the families to the DA in exchange for immunity.
It was a lie. A cover. That way no one would care when they were eliminated.
That fateful day finally came. During the wedding of Aldo’s daughter, my men ambushed them and killed everyone.
I made that bloodline come to an end. Or at least I thought.
These past few weeks have made me question everything.
The newspapers said there were no survivors, but now I think one got away.
I wish I could undo everything. I wish I had never gotten involved with Francesca.
I wish I could have kept her safe. But vengeance has a cost and you may be the one who has to pay for my wrongdoings.
This is a war of strategy. They will come for you like they did for me.
You’ll want to strike back, but if you go down the path I did, you’ll lose everything that makes you human.
All I ask is for you to be smarter than I was. If you’re not careful, you’ll end up lying next to me.
Find the killer before they find you.
Trust only Lucia, Gigi, your mother, and Nonna. No one else. These men lust after your throne and will do anything to take it. The only man worthy of your trust is Dominic. While I’m not happy with his decision to work with the FBI, I know he will never hurt you.
The queen protects the empire and I know that you will.
I love you always
-Dad
What the fuck!
The Marconis had a daughter. Pregnancy. Murder.
The letter trembles in my hands as my mind reels from the bombshell Dad has just launched at me.
Scrambling to my feet, I rush to the living room and sit down on the couch.
I knew Dad’s death wasn’t an accident.
Someone murdered him and did a damn good job of covering it up.
Someone from the Marconi family must have cheated death. They escaped that day and have waited decades to enact revenge.
I read and reread the letter over and over to make sure my mind isn’t playing tricks on me.
Guilt fills me. I shouldn’t have waited this long to open the box. If I had found this letter right after he died, I could have caught the person responsible instead of it being almost fifteen years later.
What am I going to do?
Dad had told me to only trust the women in this family, not the men. But I can’t put Mom, Nonna, Gigi, and Lucia in harm’s way.
I look at Dad’s words. He had mentioned that Dominic was trustworthy.
I should pat myself on the back. Despite the protests of the family, I had made the right choice bringing him onto the case.
I take a picture of the letter with my phone. Then I crumple the note into a ball. I’m the only one who knows this information and I need to keep it that way. I can’t risk this confession falling into the wrong hands.
Taking a deep breath I throw the letter into the fireplace.
As the flames consume the letter, my father’s words echo in my mind.
The queen protects the empire.
“And the queen avenges the king,” I whisper.