AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Chapter 7
Antonique Anderson, lovingly known as Neeky suffered from severe anxiety and the only remedy she found that worked was being in the action. Since arriving in Sicily, she’d been quite anxious, having nothing to do but wait on a spoiled brat to come to his senses. Her nightmares about her parent’s death started again from the first night she was there. She needed something to get her mind off what happened thirty years ago and was growing impatient with Neo.
The man who rescued her and her brother was like a father to her, earning him the title Papa. Papa Robert was a father to dozens of kids like her, although only having three children of his own. Those who lost parents, runaways and many who needed guidance were taken under his wings and given a home. Many of them finished high school and went off to university to become upstanding citizens.
However, Neeky’s one desire was to find those who murdered her family and that was why she had no interest in becoming anything but what she was, Papa Robert’s little dynamite, as he loved to call her. When she heard of Nino’s demise, the only thing she could think of was finding those responsible and making sure they never saw the light of day again.
“You motherfuckers are going to pay with your lives,” she uttered as she did a round house kick on the bean bag in Adriano’s home gym located behind the guesthouse. As the bag swung and came back to her, she twirled and ended with a reverse round house.
“You’re pretty good,” a male voice sounded behind her.
It was one of the DeLuca men. She hadn’t quite learned their names yet … or rather, she wasn’t interested in learning their names so she just stared at him as he entered. As he approached, Neeky sized him up. Shiny black hair touching his nape, sharp eagle-like nose that curved in at the tip, full fleshy lips that were two shades too dark, he was a smoker, that much she could tell. He was wearing sweat pants and tank top that showed off muscular arms, a little too bulky for her taste.
“Care to spar with me?”
She pulled off her training gloves and started moving off. “Sorry, I’m done training for the day.”
He scoffed. “You think you’re special don’t you, because you used to fuck the DeLuca cock?”
Neeky stopped and whipped around. “Jealous because you didn’t get a chance to suck it?”
He started to move in her direction when another man entered the gym. “Hey Marco. Boss called a meeting. You too Miss.”
“Be right there,” Neeky replied before the man went back through the door.
As she moved off, Marco grabbed her arm, his face coming close to hers. “We’ll pick this up later.”
Shrugging off his hand, she wrinkled her nose and glared at him. “You should watch your breath, it stinks.”
Since the gym was next to the guest house, she decided on a quick shower and change before the meeting. She pondered whether ‘the boss’ the soldier referred to was Neo or Papa Robert. She hoped that Neo had come to his senses and was ready to work hard to find his parents instead of going off on his own and getting killed.
Then there was the issue of her being the only female soldier in the camp. She knew coming to Italy would have been a challenge, but she never imagined that everyone would think that she was Nino’s girlfriend, especially Neo. She was given to understand that the two brothers were inseparable. Therefore, it surprised her that Nino hadn’t opened up to Neo about his relationships. It irritated her that they made snide remarks about having a sexual relationship with Nino, but it wasn’t her place to tell them the truth about who Nino’s true love was.
After her shower, she joined the gathering in the main house. A room she was unfamiliar with, which appeared to be a conference room was packed with men she hadn’t seen before. A huge table was on a platform, seating about eight distinguished looking men with Neo at the head. Chairs were lined up in rows which were already filled up and some of the men were standing at the back of the room.
Her eyes fell on Neo and noticed how different he looked from yesterday. The black suit he was wearing hugged him beautifully and the day-old stubble he had before was now gone. Clean shaven, he was quite handsome, the most beautiful man in the room, if she was honest.
Neeky had never seen anything like this. Meetings between Papa Robert and his kings were done in a dusty old factory office around a metal table and some plastic chairs. In fact, she’d never slept in a mansion before. She knew that her friend Giannino was rich, but she never expected that they were this wealthy.
“I brought everyone together here,” Neo started talking and all eyes were on him. “Because you are by now well aware of the situation. I know many of you might not see me as your leader but I want to assure you that I will do my best to take care of business in my parents’ absence. I wish to appoint an interim COO for the shipping and food processing companies, while all other positions will remain the same.”
During his speech, Neo named several of the men that wee seated at the table as those in charge of the business aspect of things. After he’d had them sign documents along with the lawyer who was also seated at the table, they left.
He then invited Frankie, a few other men, and his uncle to the table where talk about the events of the last week commenced. Frankie took the seat nearest to Neo while Papa Robert took the next. He talked about how he blamed himself for not finding his parents even though he’d been talking to a woman via his father’s cell phone, but now she has gone MIA and he had no idea how to find the church the woman was talking about.
“Church?” Frankie asked. “What church?”
Neo took out the phone and apparently, searched it for a second and then pushed it in Frankie’s direction. Neeky was watching Neo’s face the entire time and saw the despair and grief etched there. His eyes had a faraway look that spoke of his anguish and the guilt he was feeling. She wished she hadn’t been so hard on him before, but he needed a wake-up call. She also wondered what caused him to come to the decision to call this meeting.
Frankie leaned over and beckoned Neo closer. They spoke for a minute in low tones where Neeky noticed Neo’s expression changed to one of surprise. After the little chat between Frankie and the new boss, Frankie called a few more men who came to stand next to him as he stood. Neo also stood as well as Papa Robert who said something to Neo which Neeky could not hear. Papa Robert then looked across the room until his eyes settled on her, then he beckoned her over. As she approached the table, she saw Neo’s expression change.
“What the hell’s the matter now?” she muttered under her breath. “What’s going on Papa?”
“You’re going out with the team to get Adriano,” Papa Robert responded. “They figured out where he was.”
“Okay.”
The men began to move out but Neo called her to the side, his eyes displaying his displeasure. “Just stay outta the men’s way. I’m only letting you come with us for Uncle’s sake.”
“Sure thing, Boss,” she replied sarcastically, rolling her eyes.
That brat was still upset about the day they met and yesterday in the car. She had really hoped that he’d have calmed down so he could concentrate on the tasks ahead. However, his ego was going to be his downfall and Neeky was not looking forward to it at all. He was her best friend’s brother after all and she felt it was her duty to take care of him. She just wished that she could tolerate him just a little, but he was a hard pill to swallow.
A medical team was on standby at the DeLuca mansion awaiting the arrival of Adriano and Melody should they need medical attention. Neeky felt like she was in some high-power drama as everything around her felt surreal. Doctors and nurses were waiting in one wing of the house which seemed to suggest that this thing happened before. The area had been transformed into what she deemed a mini hospital or at the very least a clinic. There was a large master room with a hospital bed, an examination room with all kinds of equipment, and a room for the nurses. Neeky figured that with the kind of work the DeLucas were involved in, they didn’t want the authorities involved in this business, therefore they had to keep a low profile, and public hospitals were not known for discretion.
“This is some crazy shit!”
