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"Shit." I comb a hand through my hair and tug on the strands before I quickly comb the strands back into the perfect position. "Look, Brother, I don't think I've ever asked you for help-"
"Bullshit, you ask for help all the time. I can't get Father to push the meeting if that's what you're worried about." Giancarlo cuts me off.
"No, I need you to go onto the forums and find out which contractors are still advancing on this job. I need to find out how many are on my tail." I don't like having to depend on anyone, but right now I have to put my pride to the side in order to get out of here with Stella and Chance in one piece.
"On your tail?" Giancarlo says slowly, almost as if he doesn't understand. "Vitto, if you just kill her-"
"I can't... don't you understand. I can't kill Stella. She's my...They're my purpose." I tell him, admitting to Giancarlo what I don't think I've ever said out loud to anyone.
I knew from the moment I set my eyes on Stella's dossier that she was an angel just floating in the wind. Her family neglecting, her allowing her to befriend jerks and lowlifes, with no career, and no idea of the dangers around her. She was searching for a path. She was searching and I knew that I could lead her to greatness.
I've never wanted anything which is a major qualm with Babbo. He thinks I have no ambition. I don't for the goals he wants me to have. I don't want a seat at the table. Don't want the power that comes with my name. All I've ever wanted was a purpose. Something beyond the chaos and death that is my life.
"They're?" Giancarlo parrots, "Who's they?"
I turn to look at the two of them again and a wave of pride washes over me. "Stella and Chance, my son."
The line goes so quiet, I can hear a pin drop on the other side.
I bet that's not something he was expecting to hear.
Another moment later, Giancarlo focuses on business. "Where are you right now? How much opposition have you come across already?"
For the next ten minutes, Giancarlo and I go over every option that I have. Just like I thought, the forum is buzzing with the possibility of a mark who's talented enough to take out some of the best killers.
I scoff at that. The ones I killed were anything but the best. Mediocre at most.
At least five more contractors are on the way to us but lucky for me none of them seem to know the exact location or at least no one has let on that they know. It's possible for us to get through the state and up to New York without anyone catching us. I'm going to have to take the chance because I can't keep these two out here. Both of them are my responsibility.
I'll do everything I have to do in order to keep them alive. Now that I've found my purpose, there's no way I'm going to give them up.
* * *
And just like that, I know what real fear is.
That wet cough turned into a wheeze. That wheeze into a fever so high I don't think I've ever felt anything like it. I've always taken care of my own needs. Any illness, injury, or malaise, it's been up to me to take care of. Now a panic so intense it steals my breath away has seized my gut as I listen to both Chance and Stella struggle to breathe.
They must have picked something up as we walked through the forest, but it came down on them so quick there was no time to prepare. Not that I knew how to prepare for something like this.
What do you do with a baby that's sick?
My parents were never nurturing, when I was a child if there was something I couldn't do either I went without or Giancarlo or Christine and even then it always came with a hard lesson to learn. Now I was staring down at Chance and Stella as they coughed and sweated through a fever.
For the first time, I couldn't see the right path. Do I leave them here and try to get some medicines? I can't call the ambulance and there's no one around who I even remotely trust to help me.
A weak whimper squeezes through Chance's throat and I know the time for indecision is over. I've already called Giancarlo once today, I'm hoping that he can help me again.
Quickly I pull my phone out and dial my brother's number. "Are you dead?" He answers on the first ring.
"No... I need help... I...I...I ddd-" I slam my mouth shut. Anger bubbles up inside of me and memories of my father's personal form of speech therapy blast in my head.
I'm stuttering. I haven't had a stutter since I was seven, right before my father sent me away to complete my task for the family. My stutter was near debilitating but my father couldn't stand the weakness, he made sure to try and beat my impediment as far out of me as he could. In the end the only time my stutter would show was when I was scared.
I haven't had to deal with my stutter in all of my adult life. I didn't allow myself to feel fear yet now as I look down at the two of them I can't stop the crippling emotion from overtaking my senses.
"Vittore, take a breath and talk." Giancarlo is my oldest brother so he knows all about my stutter and what it means.
I do what he says and focus on the words that I want to come out of my mouth. Focus on each letter and the sound of it. Slowly, I speak and the words come out how I want them to. "I need help. Something's wrong with Stella and the baby. I can't get them to a hospital. They're not breathing right."
