Page 23 of Rome for the Holidays
Carlo walked by his side, along with another man that Vincenzo trusted.
Aldo had been Vincenzo’s guard for a long time, and if Vincenzo were to trust anyone, it was Aldo.
Knowing Aldo had been placed in this room and not guarding his back must have been Enzo’s doing and Aldo dropped to his knees, “Enzo told me I was to train some of the new recruits. I was not allowed at the meeting. I failed you.”
Vincenzo shook his head, “The only one who failed anyone was Enzo. We need to clean up his mess.”
Aldo stood, when Vincenzo held out his arm to him and Aldo grabbed a gun, as well as Carlo.
Carlo turned to the men, “No one leaves this room. If you step outside before we get back, you will be killed as we will know you are on Enzo’s payroll.”
He locked the gun cabinet back up, not waiting for anyone to reply, and the three men walked away, Vincenzo in the lead.
They went to the front door, not seeing Lucia or his siblings and Vincenzo took a deep breath, signaling Carlo to open the door.
Carlo did and the three men raised their guns as they walked outside.
They came under fire immediately, as Vincenzo knew they would be, and Vincenzo dove behind his motorcycle, while Carlo stayed behind the open front door and Aldo knelt behind a large planter.
Vincenzo looked around, seeing that the shooters were the men who had once been close friends of his father’s. One’s who had been in the trusted circle.
Carlo stepped out from the front door, shooting one man, and Vincenzo got in position, looking for the other men to see which shot he could take.
He aimed for one man, grazing him as the man stepped out from behind a tree, and dropped back down when they shot at him.
The shots hit the metal of his motorcycle, and knew he wasn’t behind the most protected area, but had no choice.
Aldo started shooting, hitting another man, but Vincenzo knew there were at least four men who had to have been waiting.
Vincenzo got to his knees, looking around for the men who changed position, and shot another man, but cried out when he felt the burn of a shot rush through his shoulder.
It hurt like a motherfucker and Vincenzo dropped back down, knowing the bullet had gone straight through his shoulder.
More bullets hit his motorcycle and he smelled gasoline when a bullet hit the gas tank of his motorcycle. He knew if someone shot his bike now, it would blow.
He cursed, getting to his knees again, diving for cover behind a tree, but he cursed again as he was hit again.
His leg smarted, but the bullet had only grazed him.
He was angry now, and slowed his breathing, shutting his eyes for half a second, going over the layout of the front of the house in his mind as Enzo had taught him.
He knew there were not many places to hide, or for coverage in case of a fight.
Like this one.
His father didn’t want men to hide when they were coming to his home. He wanted an accessible area to be able to see his enemies coming at him.
Even the backyard didn’t have many places to hide, and Vincenzo opened his eyes, lifting his gun, firing two shots at the closest tree.
A man cursed and jumped out from behind the cover of the tree, and Vincenzo shot him between the eyes.
He fell back and another man twisted out from his cover to try to shoot, and Carlo got that one with one shot.
Two more of them left. Vincenzo watched as Aldo stepped out from the planter he was hiding behind, raising his hands.
A man shot Aldo in the stomach and Vincenzo watched in horror as it happened.
Carlo shot the other man and as the last one tried to shoot at Carlo, Vincenzo turned his gun on him, shooting over and over until it was over.
