Page 16 of Mafia Heiress
My voice gets lodged in my throat, but I need to know. What is going on? My mother shudders underneath me and begins to wail. Calogero comes out from the bedroom, face beaten, blood coming from his nose.
He sees me and jumps into our pile. He’s the oldest of the two boys, but he’s the sensitive one. The Momma’s boy.
“Where is Frankie?”
“He’s talking to Vito and them guys. He saw more than me. They knocked me out as soon as the door opened up. I don’t even know what happened.”
I grab him closer to me and kiss his head. I hand my mother to him and rise from my spot on the floor. My clothes are ruined, but I don’t care. I glance down to the foyer and Annette and the doctor are gone, all that’s left behind is a pool of blood and used gauze.
I march into my parents bedroom, Ciro following me. “What the fuck happened?” I ask.
“They took Daddy, those fuckers. I can’t believe they’d come into the house. We have a fucking code!” Frankie bellows. He may only be eighteen, but like me, he’s been through it all. This isn’t the first time someone has taken our father for collateral.
“Who was it?” Ciro joins the conversation.
“The Vitucci brothers. That fucking jerkoff Victor and his kid brother Sal. They came in here with ten men and took down Cal before I could even make it to the bedroom to protect Daddy. He pushed Momma and me into the panic room before closing the door. Annette...she didn’t make it in time. They shot her trying to come into the bedroom.”
His face is red and tears shimmer in his eyes, but he holds it in when he sees Ciro and Vito staring at him.
“Come here,” I say, opening my hands out to him. He glances at the other men, but gives in. He’s scared and this isn’t the time to act like a macho guy.
His body weight almost has me tumbling over, but I check myself stepping back to hold us upright. He begins to shake in my arms and I give Vito and Ciro the look.
They leave us alone and I bring us over to the bed. “You’re okay, Frankie. It’s over. We’re going to find them. I promise.”
“I’m going with you. Fuck this, Jack. I can’t take this shit anymore. Always looking behind my back, worried someone is going to die. What if that was Momma? Not that I don’t care about Annette, but fuck… I need to do something.”
I know the gnawing pain he has inside of him. This happened to me when they killed our cousin Julia when I was fifteen. We were in Sicily and her father had debts. They shot her in the head in front of me. From that day I vowed I’d change everything, starting with who is the one in power.
“Frank, you gotta stay with Cal and Momma. I’ll take care of the rest of it.”
“You’re a woman! You can’t do anything. They’ll just kill you too.”
His anger blasts into me, but I don’t react. I watch him tug at his hair and walk in circles. The blood on my hands has crusted to a brown color and my skin is tight with the need to shower.
“Francesco.”
The one word pulls him out of it. He stares at me, tears dripping off his chin. He’s helpless, and at the same time, determined to do anything. A combination that isn’t good for anyone.
“Giacomina, per favore.”
I stare into his eyes and rise from the bed. “No. You’ll stay and protect Momma with Calogero. I think I know why they’re doing this, and I’m the only one who can correct it.”
He bleats out profanity, but one of Ciro’s guys walks into the room and whispers something into his ear. His look cuts through me, but he disappears into the hall.
I make my way to the panic room, so I can run the tape and watch the events unfold. I press my finger to the panel in the wall and a screen pops out. I punch in the combination and a scanner flows over my face. A green light beeps and the screen comes alive.
I swipe the screen to get to the correct time and watch the whole thing unfold. They hit Cal as soon as they came in, then gave him an injection of something to make him sleep. Annette saw them from the stairs and screamed. They shot her in the hall.
Frankie tears down the hall into my parents bedroom and Daddy pushes them into the safe room before closing the door. He stands with his hands at his sides, not going for any of the weapons that I know are right next to him.
I try to get the sound working, but something isn’t right. I tap the screen to go back, but nothing changes. “Piece of shit,” I whisper, trying again to get the volume up.
“Let me help you,” Vito says. He places a hand on my shoulder and moves me to the side. I allow it because right now finding where they’re keeping my father is the most important thing.
“The volume isn’t working.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll handle it. I’ve installed more of these than I can count.”
