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Chapter 2
Two days ago…
Neo awoke with a start, sitting upright while his heart pounded out of control as sweat drizzled down his face, neck and back. His already curly hair twisted into tighter curls from the dampness of his night sweat. He’d never had a nightmare before, and he was stunned for a minute as he tried to recall the dream. He knew there were monsters chasing him, but other than that, nothing else surfaced.
He was about to lie back on the pillows when he noticed the unusual sounds filtering into his bedroom at the ghastly hour of six in the morning. There were voices, shuffling off feet for what sounded like much more traffic than normal in the DeLuca household.
He was home for the weekend from University and had planned to sleep until noon, then awake in time for riposo. Riposo was the Italian version of afternoon siesta. Instead of taking naps, the Italians would close their shops and head home to spend time with the family. Since Neo was away at Uni most of the time, the weekend riposo was an important ritual for him and his parents.
The shuffling of feet and chatter continued to the point where it led him to swing his feet from the bed and started towards the door. As he was about to open it, he remembered that he liked to sleep in the nude and backtracked, coming to the closet where his robe hung on a hook inside the door. After robing, he trotted to the door and pulled it open.
Neo was taken aback to find two guards posted on either side of his door. There were others along the passageway and he could tell that there were others in the mansion. Stepping between guards, he moved towards the bannister and looked down into the family room where he saw several DeLuca soldiers and his mother sitting on the sofa with her face in her hands.
“Mom?” he shouted.
Melody’s head snapped up, her eyes widening as she looked up at him. Neo saw the despair in her eyes and how pail her skin was. With her red rimmed puffy eyes, he could tell that she had been crying.
“Neo,” she replied, her voice hoarse.
Bolting from his position at the rail, he sprinted down the stairs, unconcerned that he was only dressed in a robe with nothing underneath. When he reached his mother, she burst into tears once more. Neo sank to the sofa beside her and wrapped his arms around her.
“What happened?” he asked Frankie who was standing close by.
Adriano was nowhere to be seen and the tension in the room was palpable enough to be sliced with a sword. Neo’s heart thudded wildly at the thought that something happened to his father.
“Is it dad?” he asked. “Where is he?”
Frankie silently shook his head while keeping his eyes on Melody. Neo wasn’t sure what was going on, and he could no longer stand the suspense. He crooked a finger under his mother’s chin and willed her to look up at him.
“Mom, pull it together and tell me what’s wrong.”
Melody was bawling uncontrollably to the point of having hiccups, and almost hyperventilating. Frankie walked over and rested a hand on Neo’s shoulder, shaking his head slowly to convey his disapproval.
Neo was not pleased at Frankie’s silence. He released his mother and stood to face the captain of his father’s soldiers. “Tell me now what’s going on, or I’m going to get really pissed!”
Frankie pulled him aside, to the farthest corner of the room away from Melody, speaking to him in low tones. As Neo listened to Frankie’s words, his back stiffened and his heart started drumming heavily in his chest.
“No,” he shook his head. “Why the fuck would you joke about something like that? Now tell me what is really going on.”
Frankie grabbed his shoulders and made eye contact. They were about the same height so their eyes were level with each other. Neo noted the hardened jawline, the taut lips and the crease between the brows. Frankie kept his voice low, but something in it told Neo that he wasn’t joking.
“Your father has gone down to the scene,” he told him. “And he ordered that you and I stay here with your mother.”
That speech went over Neo’s head as Frankie’s previous words echoed in his brain. He knew when the blood rush from his head and he knew when bile rose to his throat, threatening to choke him. He swallowed as he chose not to believe such ludicrous news. He just spoke to his brother last night.
The dream from earlier rushed back to him much clearer than before. It was of a monster but the monster wasn’t after him, it was pursuing Nino. He closed his eye briefly and pushed down whatever emotion threatened to rise to the surface.
“No,” he shook his head in disbelief. “No, he went to Jamaica to visit his friends before heading to Sudan. It must be a mistake.”
“It’s true Neo, Giannino was killed last night.”
Neo didn’t want to hear it. “Why haven’t you gone with Dad then?”
“He received a call not long ago and said he needed to go by himself. A team is supposed to follow him discreetly.”
This was all so surreal. Moving away from Frankie, he turned and noticed that his mother was not sitting where he’d left her. Some of the soldiers who were milling around before were not there and there seemed to be a commotion outside the front porch. Neo felt like a zombie as he moved in the direction of the activity with Frankie close on his heels.
He parted a group of men and stepped outside to see his mother’s car surrounded by a group of guards. She had her head through the window, threatening to run them over if they didn’t move. Neo ran up to the driver side.
