Chapter 33 - Conspiring Alliances
1374 Words
Roberto was seated up against the bedrest with Willow cradled and asleep in his loving arms as he pulled out his phone and thought to text Dante for any updates.
The anticipation was killing him and not knowing was beginning to take its toll on him.
Using his free hand to type the text message, he finally finished it and hit ‘send’…
‘Bro, updates???’
After about a minute of not receiving a text in response, he began to worry and sent a second message…
‘Dante, how is she? Don’t leave me hanging here!’
And once again, after a minute had passed, Roberto’s worries increased to a point where he could no longer sit by and wait any longer.
With Willow asleep, Roberto decided to slide himself out from beneath her and settle her head down gently against the pillow before tucking her in with the blanket to sleep.
Taking one last look at her in such a peaceful state and after such a horrible evening, Roberto then turned and lifted his phone up as he pressed ‘call’ to reach Dante.
Striding across the length of the room, he opened the bedroom door and stepped out into the hallway before softly closing the door behind him.
‘Ring… ring… ring…’
The phone rang over and over, and with each ring Roberto felt more and more concerned.
Even if something had happened with Alexa, something bad, Dante would have answered his call by now.
This was unusual to say the very least.
The phone rang once more before it suddenly ‘clicked’ and went through to message bank.
Frowning, Roberto hung up and looked down the hall in thought.
Suddenly an idea came to him, and he lifted his phone again, this time dialling a different number at the top of his contact list.
Lifting the phone up to his ear, Roberto began strolling down the hallway as he listened to it ‘ring’ on the other end, swallowing nervously and bracing himself for the possibility of bad news.
“Come on, come on…” he muttered to himself.
A ‘click’ sounded and there was a voice on the other end of the line. It was the voice of his younger brother.
“Yeah?” Matteo answered.
“Matteo, tell me she’s alright!” was the first thing that Roberto found himself demanding as soon as he got the chance to ask.
Matteo was quick to console his brother who was clearly worried about being left in the dark for so long without any news.
“Relax bro, Alexa’s alive. In fairly bad shape right now, but she’s going to make it.”
Roberto felt himself physically relax as he let out a loud sigh of relief into the receiver.
He closed his eyes for a second or two before reopening them and running his hand down the back of his neck.
“Thank god.”
“Yeah… it was certainly a close call, that’s for sure.” Matteo admitted.
A sudden thought entered Roberto’s mind and he couldn’t help but ask.
“Wait, why isn’t Dante answering any calls or texts?” he enquired with a frown.
There was a pause on the other end before Matteo sounded like he was contemplating what he would say in response.
He awkwardly cleared his throat before finding the right words.
“Uh… yeah… about that…” he began.
“I er… I kinda had to sedate him.”
Roberto’s frown deepened upon hearing this.
“What?”
“Look, you weren’t there, man. I made a split-second decision in the heat of the moment and went through with it. Nicola backed me up on it too, ask him!” Matteo explained.
“So where is Dante now?” Roberto continued to query.
“Upstairs sleeping it off. For now, at least.” Matteo replied dryly.
“Matteo, you know he’s going to skin you alive when he wakes up.” Roberto reminded with concern lacing his tone.
“I mean, you don’t just sedate the capo without some sort of a consequence, man.”
“Yeah, yeah… I’ll deal with our boss of a brother when he wakes up.”
“I’m serious Matteo, you’re really pushing your luck with him. I wouldn’t be surprised if he had you taken out in your sleep.” Roberto spoke with a sigh.
Matteo merely laughed on the other end.
“I’m not afraid of the big, bad Reaper.” he joked.
Roberto couldn’t prevent the chuckle that escaped his lips even if he tried to.
The truth was even with everything that had happened between them, they were still brothers.
They were all family.
And family was forever.
“Alright, alright… it’s your neck on the line, just remember that, yeah?” Roberto reminded, shaking his head and smiling at his brother’s sick sense of humour.
“Where are you now?”
“In the parlour man. Taking a load off with some of the boys. You should come join us!”
“Be there in a sec.”
With that, Roberto hung up on Matteo and proceeded to head for the castle’s parlour, located on the first floor.
He too felt like he needed a stiff drink after such a stressful evening.
-
After interrupting his eldest son’s romantic dinner, Don Diego was headed back to his private penthouse in his town car.
Pulling out his phone, he used his thumb to dial a number and held it up to his ear, taking a sip from his glass of tequila as he casually swirled in his opposite hand.
When the call answered, he smiled.
“Sono io. Ho fatto partire la ragazza a piedi, come previsto.” (It’s me. The girl left on foot, as expected.) Diego reported with a soulless smirk.
“Eccellente.” (Excellent.) Don Dario remarked on the other end of the line.
“Il tuo uomo ha mantenuto la sua parte dell’accordo?” (Did your man keep his end of the bargain?) Diego enquired, frowning and swirling his drink around in his hand.
“Sembra che sia stato interrotto prima che potesse finire il lavoro.” (It looks like he was interrupted before he could finish the job.) Dario reported solemnly.
Diego’s eyes appeared to widen in concern suddenly as he heard this unfortunate news.
He sat forward on the car seat as he spoke fearfully.
“Cosa intendi con interrotto?” (What do you mean, interrupted?)
“Il tuo eroe di un figlio li ha trovati prima che potesse tagliare la gola graziosa della ragazza… Ha detto che l’ha pugnalata, ma è scappato a piedi.” (Your hero of a son found them before he could cut the girl’s pretty throat. Said he stabbed her but he ran away on foot.)
“CAZZO!” (f**k!)
Diego scrunched up his face, leaning back against his seat and closing his eyes as he inhaled a deep breath focused on calming himself back down.
This was not good news.
Not by far!
He opened his eyes and spoke with venomous fury into the phone.
Diego was indeed furious that Dario’s hired hitman had failed to get rid of Dante’s mystery woman.
To take her out of the picture entirely, as they had originally planned.
“Doveva sembrare una rapina.... la ragazza doveva morire.” (It had to look like a robbery… the girl had to die, Dario!) Diego barked.
“Avevamo un accordo; ho tenuto la mia part.” (We had a deal; I kept my part.)
“Ora, ora... rilassati Diego.” (Now, now… relax Diego...) Don Dario cooed confidently.
“Ho le cose sotto controllo.” (I have things under control.)
“Controllo? Mi stai prendendo cazzo in giro adesso?” (Control? Are you f*****g kidding me now?) Diego spat down the line angrily.
“Quella ragazza è il nostro unico ostacolo. Voglio che venga portata fuori!” (That girl is our only obstacle. I want her to be taken out!)
“Pazienza, Diego... pazienza.” (Patience, Diego… patience.) Dario spoke with a dark chuckle from the other end.
“Tutte le cose buone arrivano a chi aspetta…” (All good things come to those who wait...)
- Writer
