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Fedel. His body was right outside the family gates, a bullet right between his eyes. He wasn’t even pale yet.
“Melody.” Liam stepped beside me and yet I didn’t move or speak. I was frozen. He was just there, dead. Gone. Like that. Killed by the very people he protected, my people, our people; they’d murdered him.
They’d never stood behind me either. All right, then.
“This is the boy that brought him,” Neal stated. I glanced up to the twenty-something-year-old with short hair and glasses. He was so skinny he looked like the wind could blow him away at any second.
“Who are you?” I wanted to ask, but I couldn’t speak, so Liam asked for me.
“Frankie sir….uh, Frankie Severino, Fedel…he umm…he was training me. I mean I was his backup driver, but he was training me in other stuff too. He said I could come in handy some day…”
Him? Come in handy? For what? Comic-Con?
“I’m the best biochemist on this coast. Anything you want, I can make….uh I guess this isn’t the time. Just, yeah. That’s what I do. And you should know not all the Italians are with this new guy, ma’am. A lot of people are shocked and confused but mostly everyone is split. I know all the people who are still loyal. He shot Big Tony too, but he’s still alive. Some other guys took him to the hospital. But—”
“But?” I finally spoke.
He lifted up a bloody phone. “Fedel’s last recording. Emilio left a message for you, ma’am.”
Taking the phone from his hands, I pressed play.
“Little sis!” he yelled. “God, you have no idea how long I’ve waited to call you that. Anyway, sorry about your dog. I let his puppy live, he looks like a real Chihuahua, though. Remember that conversation we had earlier…I hope you take it a lot more seriously now. Who knew so many of our people hated your guts?”
I didn’t want to hear anymore so I just let it slip from my hand and turned around.
“Liam, looks like we got our answer,” I said to him.
The Irish and the Italians were out for blood again. There was nothing left to say, no words to describe this. For the moment, I would focus on my children. I knew Emilio well enough to know he would be after them, that he would try to take them from me, and I wouldn’t give him a chance.
“Mel…” Cora started to speak to me but I walked right past her. I had nothing to say to her. When I got to Ethan’s room, I paused, realizing my hands were shaking. From anger? Or grief? I wasn’t sure.
Fedel…
No. I couldn’t. Not now.
“Knock knock.” I poked my head inside, knowing he was upset with me, and of course, he flipped onto his side, playing with his video games. Sighing deeply and loudly as I walked toward him, I sat down hard on the edge of his bed. He bounced but still didn’t look at me.
“Mio bel leoncino.” Falling back onto his pillows, I glanced up at the canopy of his bed. “Are you upset with me?”
No answer. Instead, I heard the engine of the race car in the game speed up.
“It’s okay if you are, I’m not changing my mind. You can’t stay—”
“Mom!” He groaned, sitting up and glaring at me.
“Yes?” I asked softly, trying not to smile.
“Why? I’m older—”
“Because I love you,” I said. He froze, a frown on his lips.
“You can’t just say that, it’s not fair.” He pouted, lying back down next to me, and I brushed my hands through his soft hair.
“I can say it because it’s true,” I whispered, my heart hurting again. “I love you so much Ethan, even I can’t put it into words. You are my son, my first child, and the thought of anything happening to you…it scares me so much Ethan that I sometimes can’t sleep at night. You know Mom and Dad do things other people think are bad right?”
He nodded, his head beside me as he wrapped his arms around me. “But Dad says sometimes we need to do bad things to get good results. If he doesn’t do it, someone else would, and we could get hurt.”
Sounds like a completely Liam answer.
