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Chapter 10
“Watch out for any unidentified attendants,” Neo instructed. “I want reports of anyone suspicious. Take down anyone who tries to make trouble.”
Neo sat upright in the office chair while puffing his father’s half smoked cigar. There was no way he could finish it in one smoke, so every day he took a couple of drags and a sip of the bourbon. Frankie watched him with veiled amusement as he tried to come off as tough. Neo felt he would soon get the hang of it with some practice. He was sure his father wasn’t born tough, that he’d had years of training under Don Ermanno.
“Yes Boss,” Frankie replied.
He took another drag and then released the smoke slowly. “When will Balthasar’s report arrive?”
“The street team will have word within twenty-four hours.”
“Oh, and dig up all the information you can about the Mancini clan,” he further instructed. “They were originally responsible for my father being in a coma.”
“Your father destroyed them a long time ago. I doubt there’s any member of that clan remaining,” Frankie informed him.
He nodded. “Nevertheless, it pays to be thorough, right?”
After his morning session of combat training with Neeky, and a half an hour at the shooting range, three miles west of the DeLuca estate, he was feeling energized. He wasn’t sure if it was the exercise or the trainer that made him feel as though he was ready to take on the enemy bare handed, but his mind was clearer than it had been since learning of his brother’s demise.
Neo realized that the tension he’d been feeling in the previous days clouded his thinking. The guilt that he felt about delaying solving the woman’s riddle had somewhat subsided. He still blamed himself for his father’s condition, but the best thing he could do about it now was to make sure his father received the best medical attention. He also was focused on finding his mother and solving his brother’s murder.
“Call a meeting with the reserves,” Neo ordered. “We’ll meet after the funeral.”
“Yes Boss.”
“Neo … just call me Neo,” he told Frankie.
Frankie nodded and departed the office. It was time to head to the chapel to lay his brother to rest, but before that he needed to check on his father to see how he was doing. He had hoped that Adriano would have regained consciousness by now, but he also knew that was a long shot. The doctor and nurses’ update were the same … stable but unresponsive.
As usual, every time he saw his father lying in that bed unaware of what was happening around him, Neo felt as though he was going to fall apart. He placed a hand in his father’s lifeless one, closed his eyes and willed Adriano back to life.
“Dad, if you can hear me, please come back to us. I need you to help me find Mom.”
Neo half expected that his plea would garner some result, but his father still remained unresponsive. He left the room with a heavy heart knowing that when his father awoke, he’d have to deal with the fact that his son was dead and buried and he hadn’t had a chance to say goodbye, similar to when Ermanno died. It was like thirty years ago all over again.
With a heavy heart and new resolve, Neo got through the funeral service and made his way to the graveside. DeLucas from across the globe were gathered to pay their last respects to Doctor Giannino DeLuca, son of Adriano and Melody DeLuca. The absence of the parents was felt throughout the gathering, as the casket was lowered into the hole. Neo closed his eyes, still not quite believing his brother was gone.
Although the sun had come out in its full glory, it was a dark and gloomy atmosphere. The soldiers were on patrol, while the visiting DeLuca family had their own guards stand watch. The men’s faces were grim, their eyes expressing their wrath and anguish while the women sobbed quietly by their sides.
The flowers were being laid before the first shovel of dirt hit the coffin. Neo doubled his fist and clenched his teeth. But even that could not prevent the roar of anguish that ripped from his core. Some one came up behind him and placed a hand on his shoulder, perhaps for comfort or reassurance. It didn’t matter. Inside him was tearing up like someone thrust a spear inside his gut and twisted it.
“We’ll get them for sure, Neo,” the voice of his favorite cousin broke through his anguish. “Anything you need, we’re there.”
Enzo was the head of the family and one of the men he idolized. The man almost single handedly cleaned the streets of Bari to restore balance after the death of their grandfather. Of course, Neo was just a baby when peace was finally restored there, but the man was legendary. Even so, Neo didn’t want Enzo or the other family members to think he was weak. He had to show them that he too was a DeLuca and he could handle whatever was thrown at him.
“They’ll all die, every last one of them,” he swore. “I’ll make sure of it.”
* * *
Somewhere in Bronte…
Long pointy fingernails tapped the glass surface of the table. Brunch had been delightful, served under the shade of the balcony of the second level of the apartment. Dark glossy brown eyes stared out over the Tyrrhenian Sea, her mind on her father and his bizarre obsession with the woman.
She chuckled at the downfall of Adriano DeLuca’s little family. The funeral for the eldest son was in progress right this minute and she was annoyed that she couldn’t be there to witness all the outrage from their side. But that would have been foolish on her part and her father never raised a foolish daughter.
“Madam, she’s awake,” a male servant hummed.
She didn’t even look at him when she replied. “Has she eaten?”
