AllFreeNovel
Share Us
"We've been being duped for a lot longer than we realized," I lowly growled.
"We've had a lot on our plates," he reminded me.
Just then, his father finally revealed his grotesque form, using the top of the stairs like a stage for his eerie presence to be seen by everyone. We hadn't seen the man in years, but he stood before us today like he won the lottery. Everything locked within me, knowing nothing good could come from this. Keeping my expression tight, I never gave anything away through the nonchalance I strictly learned in my youth.
"Good evening!" Raising his flute of champagne, Mortimer raised his glass to celebrate the crowd.
Many applauded already, falling victim to his level of narcissistic mastery against their simplistic minds. He knew how to woo a crowd, and he had these idiots eating out of his hands. Draven never steered his stare away from the place his father stood to be the center of attention, but mine shifted to find someone else on the agenda. My father couldn't be seen anywhere, but I felt his daunting presence like an itch telling me I'd been being watched.
"Welcome to my humble gala where our funds will only help those who truly need it," he paused, waiting for us to catch onto something we'd been missing. His malicious intent could be read by all when his sights settled on his son. "Oh, how lovely. The table managed to allow two former seats to join us in our grand announcement."
"What is the meaning of this?" Draven kept his cool for everyone to believe he came under normal circumstances. "What are you scheming these poor people out of this time?"
Ah, creating doubt. Draven always did have his own way to work a crowd. After years of learning manipulation from the man acting as a living god before us, Draven picked up on how to do it, but he tried not to.
"Dear son, I'm honored you'll be the first to hear and the one to report about a new age, a new power." Emphasizing power, people in attendance began to whistle in excitement, kissing the ground Mortimer walked on. "Today, we toast to our success, our world being built!"
My gut began to sink just as my phone began to buzz in my pocket, cutting off the video I'd been recording. At least this much would be revealed with evidence for the others to see what Mortimer had been up to. Taking my phone out, I knew the line dialing me because it came from the extra post that we placed outside of the forest exit to the cellar. Thanks to the break in last time, we had to make sure nothing would slip by again.
"Call Costas," I hissed into the line for no one to hear around me.
"I've attempted his phone three times and have not been able to reach him, Sir." When the guard said that, panic set into my soul. Costas had been pinged to help Mario, but why would he not answer his phone? "I have a frantic woman who says she must speak with you or Draven."
The employee was too new to know who stood beside him, but after she told him he could suck his own balls and choke on them for not knowing, I comprehended Kasey stood at his side. Draven fixated on his father as I hid my phone from the man on the stage. Mortimer gave me a wicked grin as if he knew the exact phone call I'd receive.
"The table will no longer host us, but we don't need them!" Mortimer roused the crowd into more insane hysterics.
"Tony!" Kasey fretted, breathing too hard into the phone to be anything good. "It's Mario! He's bad! H-he killed..."
When Kasey began to wail into the line, I finally clicked together what we'd been missing all along. "He's the mole," I finished.
"He killed Rocco." Kasey couldn't pull herself together like this information should be vital for me to understand her dilemma.
"And Millie?" I whispered into the line, seeing the smirk Mortimer De Luca wore. Draven braced himself beside me, knowing something was going down where we weren't.
"I-I don't know, but I know it can't be good. When I heard him talking to Rocco through the cellar door, he said they have a special plan for her. Tony, I think he took her!"
"And on this night, we begin to watch the old reigning seats begin to crumble. Here's to funding our new power, one the table never saw coming." Mortimer raised his glass to his son. "Tonight is just the beginning. The loyalty is divided, but we've been one step ahead this whole time."
Grabbing Draven's hand, we didn't need to hear anything else as we dashed in a hasty exit. Keeping the panicked woman on the phone, I made sure to tell the guard to deliver her back to the house and to wait for our return.
***
A fire had been lit in the driveway to signal the corruption within. I felt nothing as we stormed into our home to see the dead and injured guards. Crying sounded from the kitchen, and I knew what we'd find there before ever entering. Kasey had said she listened through the cellar door, so Rocco stood against Mario within our home.
We headed there first, seeing enough of the guards rousing each other and getting a body count of our fallen. My stomach rolled to see so much damage to our home from vases being shot to blood and bullets lodged into the walls. Keeping my head down, only one person heard enough to keep me sane right now, and she was in hysterics over the man who sacrificed himself to save her.
Kasey held Rocco, slumped over his form to never let his cold body go, lying in his pool of blood. It covered her exposed skin like a horror movie prop, but we knew his was real. Rocco's gray coloring took over because no blood pumped within him, and no one had been close enough to revive him afterward. There'd be no rescue for the other seat in the house because Mario had betrayed us all. After a lifetime of working for my family, he chose corruption. Though, I guess he still worked for us, but he chose the evil father instead of the honest son.
"Rocco!" Kasey couldn't breathe properly with how she heaved for oxygen. Her makeup made a streaking mess down her red cheeks, under her swollen eyes. His body sat right in front of the door to the cellar, making me wonder if she had tried to come back through and save him but his form acted as a stopper. Petting his face with more affection than I'd ever seen from the scorned woman, I began to piece together their two weeks might've meant more than I planned on.
For me, Rocco kept her clear of my guards, but now that I stood over their devastating tragedy, I could remember the other clues Emilia had said. Kasey never fucked the same guy out of fear of attachment because she thought it would only lead to heartbreak. For two whole weeks with very little distractions, Kasey had given this man her complete attention.
"She loved him," Draven choked beside me, feeling the same grief he did the day he wept over his mother's hollow body.
Blinking back tears, I hated I had to be the one to ask her for help, but no service reached Costas for us to find out his location. The very thing Mario had sent him before this all happened, planning ahead and predicting our every move. My stomach wanted to hurl all the contents within, hating how easily fooled we'd been.
My eyes saw my Nonnie behind Kasey, slowly shaking her head at the sight. Out of all the people to leave alive, he left me the only person I still loved in my family. I had my suspicions she'd been in her quarters already when the incident began. Squatting beside Kasey, I tried to blink through all my grief. Placing my hand on her shoulder, she knew who it was from the gentleness of my touch.
