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Chapter Five
Vito
Plain Fuckery
On the ride home, I thought about Nicole. I had everything I needed in my life, except her. I knew what I wanted the first time her buggy collided with mine at the market. I had come out of an aisle without stopping and ran right into her.
“Excuse me,” I’d said it before I saw who I’d hit.
“It’s okay. I wasn’t paying attention either,” she replied.
The sweet sound of her voice caused me to look up and check her out. Her mocha-brown skin, cute button nose and penetrating eyes made me stop and stare. She dressed casually in jogging pants and a sweatshirt, but her shapely thighs and voluptuous breasts hinted at a banging body underneath the baggy clothes.
To stop her from moving on down the meat aisle, I said the first thing that came to my mind. “Do you shop here often? I’m just getting into cooking for myself,” I lied.
I was only at the store to surprise my workers with lunch. I could have had my assistant pick up my items, but this was employee appreciation week for my company, and I wanted to show them that I could make a grocery store run for paper plates and other items needed for the party. It was a running joke that I didn’t shop for myself. I wasn’t even good at making online orders. I would have someone I hired to do it for me.
I wasn’t an expert at pushing a buggy around because I had bumped right into this beautiful woman.
“I come here every week about this time. That’s the least busy time for this store. If you come on the weekends, they’re slammed and you can’t find anything good.”
“That’s good to know,” I said. I would make sure I was there next week at the same time to see her again.
“What are you cooking? Looks like you only have paper goods.”
I looked down at my cart. “Oh, I’m just looking around to see what I might want to try. These paper plates and stuff are for my office.”
“Gotcha. Well, I’m going to finish up shopping. I suggest you start out cooking something easy first, like spaghetti.” She let out a light giggle.
Her laughter made me smile so hard that I wanted to bottle up the sound and take it with me. Even better, if I could put her in my buggy and take her home, that would have been wonderful.
“I might just do that,” I told her as I watched her walk away. Seeing her go was just as glorious as watching her from the front. I stood there watching her ass jiggle in those jogging pants until she turned down the frozen food aisle.
I didn’t know her, but my gut was hardly wrong. She was a nice girl and wife material. My wife material. I made a plan right then and there to be at the grocery store every week, a development that shocked my chef the first time I came home with groceries.
Almost home, I continued to weave through traffic while thinking about Nicole. My phone buzzed. I hoped it would be someone calling that could distract me from thinking about her. I couldn’t have been more right. But this was the call I didn’t want. It was a phone call I would never forget.
“Hello,” I answered quickly, recognizing the caller's name. “What’s good, Enzo!”
“Nothing’s good right now.” His voice was thick with tears, though I could tell he was holding them back. “Are you sitting down?”
I had an immediate sinking feeling. Enzo wouldn’t call if it was good news. He would have started out with a text. I braced myself and said, “I’m driving. What’s up?”
He ordered, “Pull over, right now.”
I weaved my way through traffic and pulled over onto the right shoulder. “You’re making me nervous, Enzo. Why the fuck am I pulling over? Who do I have to kill?”
His revelation floored me. “Grandfather is gone. Someone has murdered the Don. Our Don.”
I couldn’t grasp the Don dying of natural causes, much less being murdered. The man was fucking invincible. “Hold on, Enz. Wait a fucking minute. You can’t just say that shit to me. Where is he?”
“He’s at the family’s memorial being prepared to lie in state.”
I hit the steering wheel. “Lie in state? What the fuck, Enz? You can’t be telling me what you’re telling me. I’m not trying to hear this right now.”
“I wish I had better news, but someone murdered our Don, our grandfather, and I’m working to avenge his death. You know this is hard for me too, but I wanted you to hear it from me, not others in the famiglia.”
Enzo’s words kept reinforcing that my grandfather was indeed gone. The world started spinning off its axis. I wasn’t even in this universe anymore. Many men wished they were Don Ermano DeLuca, and sure, he had enemies. But no one had shown any fortitude or desire to kill him.
Still in disbelief, I roared, “How? Hell no! He can’t be gone.”
“He’s gone, and the offender will be handled swiftly and brutally,” he stated bluntly. “The funeral is in three days. I need you to—”
“I know what needs to be done. I’ll be there tomorrow.” I ended the call and repeatedly yelled into the empty vehicle, “Grandfather! No! Not my fucking grandfather.”
In a matter of seconds, I had gone from a high of thinking about the first time I met my future wife to the low of losing one of the most important people in my life. I had gone from a soft lover boy to a murderous grandson that could only think of revenge.
