6. Giovanni

As the smoke from the explosion began to dissipate, the aftermath of the long-anticipated mafia wedding stood as a dark, twisted monument to chaos. Entangled amongst the debris and empty stare of terror on the guests' faces, I can feel my blood boiling with rage. 

It was supposed to be the first day towards my path to retribution; the day I made Lucia officially mine. Instead, it had become a macabre nightmare with probably a few important, high-ranking members probably dead. 

Someone had planted bombs at my fucking wedding, a wedding both secured by Famiglia and Camorra alike.

“Frankie! Dom!” I exclaim, calling to my brothers. I have to know if they survived!

The trembling figure in my arms snaps me out of my thoughts and I see the wide eyes of Lucia staring up at me, clutching at the lapel of my tuxedo. I want to push her away from me, but instead, I push my thoughts down.

I threw her to the ground and covered her with my body without thinking, protecting her with my life without a split second to think about what I was doing. As if she were someone important to me that needed protecting. 

Getting to my feet, I take her hand and pull her close to me while surveying the damage around me. There were important as fuck people here today, including politicians and their wives. Once this gets out… fuck, there will be an investigation.

First, I need to get to my father and siblings and make sure they’re alright. Then I can think about everyone else. My kin means more to me than the backlash we are about to face.

“G-Giovanni?” Lucia’s small voice sounds over the din of the screaming and I look down. 

She’s peering up at me with those gorgeous caramel eyes as if I’m her savior and the one who will make things right. But she has it wrong if she thinks I’m either of those things.

So why the fuck am I pulling her close to me? Why am I comforting my pawn?

“Gio!” I don’t let myself answer that when I hear my brother, Frankie’s, voice calling out. 

My head whips up and I see him running towards me with my men, their weapons drawn and checking their surroundings. 

“What the fuck happened?” I ask when I see the blood and soot on his face. His blue eyes are wide with a mixture of anger and confusion matching mine.

He shakes his head. “Let’s get everyone to safety before we get into that. Do you want me to get Emilia to take her home?” he asks, gesturing towards Lucia.

I look down at her again, her eyes are welled up with tears but nothing spills over her cheeks. She would only serve as a distraction right now, and I need to focus since everything depends on this.

“Yes. Get her to the estate and put three men outside my bedroom,” I say as I push her towards him. She’s wearing a look of shock and terror, but I cannot deal with her when I have other things to take care of.

With my gun trained in front of me and my men at my back, I make my way inside what’s left of the restored villa. I was prepared for a backlash, but I never expected anyone to go against this public accord between us and The Camorra. 

As I step inside, I see people sprawled out on the ground, groaning in pain, but no one is terribly hurt. The three political figures are making their way to the door and, with a nod in my direction, they silently tell me they’re sorting themselves out.

Good. I don’t want the fucking Feds here in my business.

“Spread out and look for more explosives,” I instructed three men on my right. “The rest of you try to get these fuckers outside the building before it collapses.”

With a ‘yes, boss’ they do as directed while I keep my eyes trained in front of me. I haven’t seen my father or my brother, Dom, yet. With each step, trepidation grows in my heart, because if something happened to them…

“Giovanni,” I turn to my left and see Vito leaning against a wall with a cut on his head and his front drenched in blood. “Where’s Lucia? Is she-”

“She’s been taken to safety, but that’s the least of your worries,” I say tersely as I make my way to him. “What the fuck was this?”

He narrows his eyes in a glare and pushes away from the wall. “You fuckin’ think I had anythin’ to do with this?” 

“You tell me, Vito,” I say as my fingers twitch around my Beretta. “Where the fuck are the rest of your people?”

Vito frowns. “They said their goodbyes early, don’t you even fuckin’ remember that?”

“How convenient,” I say, raising my weapon. “You have five minutes.”

His nostrils flare, and his pale face reddens at my accusations. “Why the hell would we try to kill you when we’re fuckin’ relieved this war is over?! Think clearly! I’m a goddamn Underboss, we don’t kill our own!”

As much as I hate to admit it, it’s true. The Camorra are as family oriented as Cosa Nostra, there’s no way they would Vito, a fucking Blue-blooded legend, in the line of fire to prove a point. 

Sighing, I lower my weapon and walk past him. “Get that checked out and tell your Boss I want a meeting in the morning. Someone wants to set fire to this fucking alliance and I want to know who,” I say, still pissed off as fuck, but I can’t allow my emotions to control my decisions now. 

That’s easier said than done because as I walk to the main table where Lucia and I sat before we took our first dance, that fury is multiplied. The entire wall is fucking gone and splattered with the remains of whoever was close to the area at the time.

The point of explosion - whoever planted the bomb wanted to kill me, but it looks like their timer went off late. 

“Mother-fucking…” I trail off, clenching my jaw. There’s no other explanation for what I am seeing now, no more bombs went off after this - just the one meant for me and my Camorra bride.

Turning around to walk out, I see the empty hall with the last of the stragglers walking out. Frankie assured me he would call for medical attention for the rest of the guests, so I’m not too fucking worried since the important people got out in time.

But even as I think this, it occurs to me that I still haven’t seen my father or little brother. I’m about to pull out my cell phone to call them, when my head whips up as Frankie walks towards me.

His eyes are wide and bloodshot as if he’s been crying. I don’t want to fucking ask what’s wrong because I know once I hear it then I would rain down Hellfire on anyone in my way. 

“Gio…” he murmurs, placing his hands on my shoulders. “It’s Papà-”

“Don’t fucking say it,” I growl, shrugging him off and taking a step back from him. “Don’t you dare fucking say it, Francesco.”

There’s no way anything would happen to my father. He’s Emilio Vittori, the fucking unkillable! No one would dare go up against a man as great as him with so many kills under his belt, there’s no fucking way!

Frankie doesn’t say a word, instead, he walks away from me and I know to follow him. He walks behind the villa where the bomb took out the entire back section, but that’s where I see him.

Laying in the fucking gutter like he was not a predator, shot in the head while the rest of his body was caught in the bomb. His cold gray eyes are staring up at the night sky, vacant where it used to brim with the Vittori fire.

“Who the fuck would do this, Gio?” Frankie asks, his voice choked up with tears. 

I get down on my haunches and look down at the man who shaped me into the person I am today. His cruel hand, the daily torture to make me stronger and cut off any empathy I could have had. 

My twin sister wasn’t the only one who died that day; my father made sure he killed the child left in me as well.

“They killed him and the bomb was planted underneath where I sat with Lucia,” I say as I reach out to close my father’s eyes. “They wanted to take out both the head and his protégé in one shot. This wasn’t just an attack on our family, Frankie.”

No. This was a fucking attack on the Cosa Nostra and even I know The Camorra wouldn’t rock that boat so openly. So who, then? Who would do something so fucking stupid?