Chapter Twelve- Snow
“Are the satellite phones back up?” Buddha asked the air hostess.
“I’m sorry, sir, the phones aren’t back up just yet, nor is the in-flight Wi-Fi. I do apologize for any inconvenience.
“I really am sorry, Mr. Ricci,” she apologized again before walking away. I just know she was probably cursing him profusely in her head.
“Chill, we’ll be landing soon; it’s not her fault the phones are down,” I said to my brother, who ignored me, defending the air hostess. He waved me off and then rubbed his forehead.
“Is he alright?” Angel whispered in my ear.
I turned to her and simply shook my head.
I knew Buddha was antsy to get home because of a situation with Dior and her stepfather, Lewis.
His explanation of what happened was brief; all I knew was that Dior visited her old home and somehow left with a busted lip, courtesy of her stepfather, Lewis.
Buddha had been losing his mind since then. I already felt sorry for Lewis when he met up with my brother; it wasn’t going to end well for him.
“No, he isn’t, but let’s go ahead and mind our business,” I said, lifting my hand, placing it over her shoulder, hugging her toward me.
Smiling, Angel rested her head on my chest. I was so relieved that Angel was back in my life, safe and sound.
I was going to do everything in my power to protect Angel and my baby, she was carrying.
Angel and I discussed her moving in with me because she couldn’t possibly go back to the home she shared with Edwardo.
Even though my brother had our people clean up, making sure no bodies were left.
Or that Buddha and I were ever there. Angel was worried about the bad blood between the two families, thinking she wouldn’t be welcomed, but I assured her I would speak to my parents on her behalf.
Nothing and nobody was about to stop us from living together and being a family.
“I’m thinking I should go back to daddy’s house,” Angel said, lifting her head from my chest. I looked at her as though she had lost her marbles.
“Why the fuck would you wanna do that?” I asked, pinching between my eyes.
“I just can’t leave the house like I never lived there at some point.
I know men that my father would contact to clean up his crimes.
I can contact them and have them come and sweep the house.
You know, get rid of the evidence of what happened.
Then I guess I can sell the house or something, but I can’t just walk away as if the house never existed, Snow.
” I heard every word Angel said, but I didn’t agree with anything that she said.
“That part has already been handled. Do you really think we would leave a bunch of dead mothafuckas just lying around? We got our men to go in and eradicate any and everything that could point those murders back to us. Maybe you should just go ahead and burn that mothafucka to the ground,” I told her, meaning every word.
“So the house is clear? Even my father’s body is gone?” She asked softly. I nodded my response, and she shifted her eyes, looking away from me. “Where did you guys put him? Like, what did you all do with him?”
“We got a friend of the family who owns a funeral home. All of the bodies went there and ended up in the incinerator.” I explained, feeling absolutely no remorse for what Buddha and I had done.
“Ok,” Angel said, with a faraway look on her face. Maybe she was sad about what happened to her father. At the end of the day, he was still her blood, even though he treated her pretty fucked up. “I still think I should go there and maybe get some of my personal stuff.”
I realized that no matter what I said, Angel would still insist on going to her house, so I let it be.
“Alright, when we land, I’ll take you over there.” I finally agreed. She gave a tight smile before she put her head back onto my chest.
“Thank you,” she muttered softly.
I looked over at Buddha, the way he was rubbing his chin, and I was surprised his skin didn’t come off in his hand.
“Aye, do you need me to go with you when you go to find Lewis?” I asked him. He turned to me and smirked.
“Nah, I got this. Lewis is mine,” he responded before he looked away.
Damn, I really did feel sorry for what was about to happen to Dior’s stepfather. He should have kept his hands to himself.
*****
By the time our plane landed, it was about 5:30am. Everyone was tired and a bit agitated. Beforehand, Buddha asked Tony, one of the security guards, to be waiting for us when we landed.
As Tony drove us back to the main house, Angel fell asleep. It allowed me to let my brother know that Angel wanted to go back to her old house.
“Do you really think that’s a good idea?” Buddha asked, shaking his head as he looked at me.
“I think she needs it for closure or something. She’s insisting on going. I’ll just go with her and be in and out real quick.”
“Fuck closure, going back there isn’t smart.
Who knows if the police set up some sort of trap and you walk right into it.
Don’t fucking do it,” Buddha said, wagging his index finger at me.
I sighed heavily and ran my hands across my face.
Now I was in a fucked up position because I had already promised Angel that we would go.
“I see you’re thinking about whether you should risk it and take her. I mean, all you wanna do is make your fidanzata (girlfriend) happy, right? But I’m fucking telling you, I feel it in my gut, do not fucking go over there.” Buddha warned me again with a stern expression.
Lifting both my hands in defeat, I was left with no choice. “Ok, fratello (brother), I hear you. We won’t go.”
“Good.” He said, giving me one last warning look before he turned away. I sighed softly as I looked at Angel sleeping peacefully. I knew she was about to be pissed when she woke up and learned we had a change of plans.
“Where’s everybody, Yusef?” Buddha asked the chef as we walked into the kitchen at the main house. From the moment we arrived, it had been unusually quiet, with no signs of anyone, not even our father. Yusef turned and looked at us with a very strange expression.
“Mr. Tomasso is upstairs with Rocki. I’m sorry, don’t you know what happened?” Yusef asked, focusing on Buddha.
“Why is Tomasso with Rocki? Where are Sofia and my mother…and my wife? Everyone had strict orders to stay here until we got back.” Buddha said, raising his voice at the man.
“There was an incident last night with Mrs. Dior,” Yusef said, pointing at Buddha. I frowned, wondering what the fuck happened.
“The fuck do you mean an incident with my wife?” Buddha asked, pointing at his chest.
“Um, I cannot say for certain what the exact details are, but I think she wasn’t well and your mother and sister took her to the private hospital about fifteen minutes away,” Yusef explained.
Before he could say another word, Buddha turned to make his way up the stairs to find our father.
Both our phones died right as we landed, and we hadn’t gotten around to charging them.
“Damn, I hope everything’s ok,” Angel muttered next to me.
“Yeah, me too.”
“What time do you wanna leave to go to the house?” She asked, folding her arms, waiting for me to answer. I sighed softly before rubbing my nose.
“Look, Buddha doesn’t think it’s a good idea for us to go over there, and I think he’s right,” I told Angel, knowing this was about to turn into an argument.
“Well, I could give a fuck what Buddha thinks; he ain't my nigga. I am going over there. That is my home after all, I need to see what condition the house is in, and nobody is about to stop me. So if you wanna be scary and stay here, it’s cool, but I’m going.
” Angel’s head did that twirling-around motion when females wanted to get extra spicy.
“We don’t know what we’ll meet going there. The police could have surveillance on the house or some shit. We should lay low.” I tried my best to reason with her, but from her facial expression, I could tell it was of no use.
“You can stay here; it’s fine. I’m not even about to beg you or judge you. But I really need to do this,” Angel said, reaching up to squeeze my shoulder. Just as I was about to say something, Buddha came back into the room.
“I gotta go see what’s happening with Dior.
Tomasso couldn’t say much, so I need to go over there and see what’s up.
” Buddha was walking and talking at the same time, heading toward the front door.
“I’ll see you both when I get back.” He gave me a warning look before he made his way out the front door.
Turning to face me with a hand on her hip as she tapped her foot impatiently. Angel made up her face. “Well, who you gonna listen to? Me or your brother? Either way, I’m walking out that door.”
I swear to God, my taste in women sucked! First, Ciara, now I had to deal with this loony tune of a female.
“Angel, we’re going over there for fifteen minutes, and not a minute more.
Do you hear me?” I said, giving in, knowing fuck well I was about to regret it when Buddha found out.
So I guess I had to do everything in my power to keep him from finding out.
Grabbing Angel by the hand, I led her toward the front door before Tomasso came down the stairs.
*****
I stopped my Rolls-Royce in front of Edwardo’s gate, or more so where the gate was supposed to be, and frowned.
“Jesus, you and your brother even took the gate?” Angel asked, looking over at me, amused.
“Why the fuck would we take the gate? Nah, someone removed the gate. This is what the fuck I’m saying: we don’t know what we’re walking into.” I stressed again, looking forward, staring at the house in the distance.
“Stop acting pussy; I’m sure there’s a reasonable explanation about the gate. I’m not even worried about all that. Drive up and let’s go,” Angel said, pointing forward. I stayed in that spot a few minutes more before I eventually gently eased the car onward.