by K. Forest
“I’m here for you, Rodrigo, and to put a stop to this ridiculous vendetta that you and Anthony have been playing for years.” She walks past me, not even giving me a glance. Looking at my father, she demands he sit down. Then she walks directly over to Casas. The brunette female who had been standing next to Casas slowly makes her way to stand next to the blonde who is still by my side. I glance at Sam, who once again is standing completely still, hands down by his side, completely zoned in on the event taking place. Glancing at my father, he still looks stunned, his face etched in defeat. Putting her hands lovingly on Casas’s arm, Mother nudges him to sit down.
Compelled by her, he silently complies with her request, never taking his eyes from her. My mother grazes her finger along his arm, making her way up his arm to his shoulder. She sensually moves behind him and places both hands on his shoulders, lightly massaging him. Casas closes his eyes as he receives the caress he has been longing after for years.
“After all these years, the decision is very clear to me. I always knew who I truly belonged to.” She says huskily, staring directly into my father’s hooded brown eyes.
“I’ve been waiting almost thirty years for you to say that, my gorgeous Dafne. You are the only true love I have ever had. I’ve been waiting for my queen!” He says triumphantly, glancing at my father.
“I’m not the same girl you use to know, Rodrigo. I’m very different; I hope you will understand.” She declares.
“You are the same stunning young woman I have always loved. I told you I could give you the world, and I will, mi amor,” states Casas with passion.
My mother slowly brushes against his hair, until her bright red lips are against his ear.
His eyes close again as he can feel her breath against him. “Rodrigo, I’m older, wiser, harder, and colder now. I am already the queen to a king and a mother who will do anything to save her children.”
Casas’s eyes fly open, with the realization of her words penetrating his mind. However, it was too late. Red blood slowly starts seeping from his neck, as Mother, who is holding a sharp Japanese hair pin knife, had used a swift and ruthless movement slitting his neck. Her hair is now rippling down her shoulders, and her hands covered in Casas’s blood. Slowly, she drops the knife dangling in her hand. Eyes glazed, she now stands as the trojan horse.
The moments immediately following are acted out as planned. Hearing a loud shot coming from Sam’s direction startles me. I see him standing over the Spaniard pimp, who is laying in his own blood. Part of the plan had included the giant with the spiderweb tattoo guarding the door.
Thanks to Maria’s intel we were able to collect a favor. Come to find out the Ferraris had paid for his mother’s house a while ago. I do not know the reason behind it, but it gave us the leverage we needed. The giant bodyguard had covertly handed Sam a small gun after his pat down.
Chaos ensues almost immediately. The shocked crowd tries to disperse while Tony and Sam are both shooting at Casas’s men. More of my father’s men come barging through the doors taking care the remaining Casas allies as well as dispersing the crowds who were wildly trying to flee. I run over to my mother, attempting to shield her from stray bullets. Pulling her down behind the overturned table, my father swiftly joins us taking out his gun and protecting us.
In only a matter of minutes, the bedlam dies down with Casas’s men littering the floor covered in their own blood. It’s finally over. Slowly gathering up my mother in my arms, I feel her shaking hand reach up touching my cheek. “My dear son, a parent will do anything for their child, remember that my sweet, sweet boy.” She says in a soft voice, her eyes having taken on a dazed look.
When she sways slightly, Father reaches over to grab her. “I’ll take it from here, son.” He says, looking at me pleadingly. I give her over to him as he gently takes her in his arms and leads her off from the ring.
Smokey hair brushes up against me, the smell wafting to my nose. The brunette wraps her arms around me tightly. “Thank you for freeing us from Mr. Casas. We will forever be indebted to the Ferrari organization.” She lets go and walks over to the blonde comforting her with a hug. Both had been part of the plan from the beginning, and we ensured their freedom if they did as asked. They had loaded Casas’s gun with the real bullet, while mine had been loaded with the blank he usually reserved for himself. That is how he had always won over his opponents. He never played the game too often to place suspicion on his luck. Just enough to make him a hero underground and spread the legend of his luck.
Walking over to Sam, we all quickly leave the room before the police arrive. Our men will protect Father and Mother, bringing them out of harm’s way. My mother was never part of the plan that I was aware of. Sam had reluctantly left that important part of the plan out. I just witnessed my mother in less than five minutes take down a man who had a vendetta against my family for years.
Looking at Sam, he sees all the questions registered in my face. Quietly, he asks me to please wait for later and tells me that he would then give me the answers to my questions. I look at Sam again, and we lock our eyes in silent affirmation. It’s over. While I still have huge questions for him, we have avenged Mateo and Josephine. As we walk to a car left for us, I notice Tony holding his arm.
“We need to get you to Doc,” I say in concern as he is covered in quite a bit of blood.
“Aw, this is nothing, I’ll be fine. Nothing a tat can’t cover up.” He says nonchalantly, trying to act like it’s not a big deal getting shot. His eyes are filled with pain and anguish that he can’t hide from me. He breaks the silence. “I had to follow Father. Actually, I was glad to do it, if only to ensure your safety. I’m really sorry, Sonny, for everything! There is so much I wanted to tell you! But, with the rule about not being able to tell you things. He wasn’t making a whole lot of sense these past few months. I’m glad it’s finally over.”
“It’s not your fault.” I hold his good arm in assurance and to help keep him in an upright position. “This changes nothing, Tony. The Las Vegas property is still yours. This world is not for me.” I state, knowing that I had made up my mind.
“I love you, brother, you know that, and you better remember it.” He says pointing to the tattoo that us three brothers had gotten together. Blood is thicker than water. I won’t forget.
We embrace, and then I break away from him. “Go on now, get that shoulder looked at before you need a blood transfusion. Angelo will probably call you a vampire or something. He’ll have a field day if you end up in the hospital and need a transfusion.” I joke, trying to make light of the situation. I give him one last pat and walk away.
I can still taste the liquor on my lips. My head is pounding, my heart heavy. I am laying on the floor against the wall in the completed renovated barn at Lion Whiskey Distillery. The silence is comforting.
I play over the events of a few nights ago. Sam reluctantly shared that my mother had approached him. She had overheard Tony and Angelo discussing what we had planned. She was overwrought with fear for me as she knew how ruthless Casas could be. She had come up with a plan of her own to keep me safe. At first, he had been totally unwilling to even hear about it, but she threatened to carry it out with or without his help. He just couldn’t let her go it alone. So, he went along with it all, putting many safety measures in place. In the end, Casas had made it easy for her to carry out the deed as he was so besotted with her. Dafne Ferrari had sworn him to secrecy on the life of his newborn nephew.
Sitting here, I thought it would be one of the only places where I couldn’t feel my beauty. Yet I feel her disapproval slowly starting to overwhelm me. I can see her disappointment splashed over her forced smile because I haven’t been at the hospital to see our daughter. She tells me she loves me, but it’s written all over her face that I need to take responsibility, not exact revenge. Somehow, I couldn’t bring myself to enter that hospital. The chills and sour smells of the place haunts me.
I’m such a coward. Footsteps slowly
approach me and wake me up from my drunken state.
“Santos, I saw your bike in the driveway. What are you doing here? It’s two in the morning,” Lia says with concern. She walks toward me wearing her racing gear. Looks like she is up to her racing tricks again. If I wasn’t still half blitzed, I would join her in one of those wild races, loosing myself in an adrenaline rush.
“Oh, Santos, there are no words.” Her voice trails off. “Stay here as long as you need.” She sits down on the floor across from me, and both of us sit in silence. Her presence, without placating words, is oddly comforting.
Finally, the next day, I force myself to go to the hospital where my daughter is staying. Slowing the bike down as I reach the hospital parking entrance, I purposely pick a spot furthest from the front doors. After silent hours sitting in the barn, I sobered up enough to ride to the hospital. Lia invited herself to follow behind to make sure I arrived safely. “I’ll wait here, Santos. Remember you can and need to do this.”
I look at her with a half-smile. “Thank you.” The words come out in a murmur. She nods for me to get off the bike and go.
My spirit and soul have left my body since my wife died. She is the only woman I’ve ever loved, my bright star who fulfilled my whole being. A new tenant has taken occupancy: darkness crawling through my body extinguishing the light.
I’m not sure how long it took me to walk through the parking lot, but I somehow made it to the main entrance of the sliding doors. I stand now paralyzed and cannot go any further. The last time I stepped foot in the building, they told me I had lost my wife and both of my best friends. I despise this place; the smell, the memories, everything attacking what’s left of me. Vaguely, I comprehend hearing my name a couple of times.
“Sonny, hey bud. Lia just texted that you had arrived.” Angelo says walking hesitantly towards me.
The bright white hospital lights obscure my vision. Angelo guides me through mazes of hallways until we get to a door. Two men I remember meeting are standing guard.
“This is her room. I made sure she had a private room with only two vetted nurses. The doctors are on rotating shifts. We have been taking turns holding her. Being a month early, she was in this weird incubator for a while. The nurses told me that contact is important, so we all took turns rubbing her tiny hands and feet. Two weeks ago, she graduated to a normal little holding tank, and now we get to hold her all the time. She is so strong and beautiful.” He says hurriedly, urging me into the room. He points to the middle of the room. I see a clear medical bed with a tiny bundle wrapped in a pink blanket inside it. “She’s taken to the bottle effortlessly, a little milk machine.” Angelo nerves are making him talk faster than usual. He feels the distance between me and the baby, and he doesn’t know how to react.
Finally, he reaches in, picking up the tiny bundle, and cradles her in his tattooed arms. Somehow even with his rock star persona, he looks natural holding her. “Hey, sunshine. Guess who is here?” He coos looking down at her. “Your dad. That’s right, my ugly twin brother. He will grow on you as his bark is bigger than his bite.” He has a huge smile as he tenderly gazes at my little girl, my daughter. He walks towards me, still whispering soft and comforting words to her.
“Sofia,” I whisper, as he places the delicate bundle in my arms. She smells like sugar and baby. Closing my eyes, I inhale the scent. Memories of a conversation with Katarina roll through my mind, right after Florence and Lia’s accident.
I had shared my fear with her. “I’m afraid of what I’m turning into.”
“Well, my husband, that’s why I’m here to remind you of the amazing man you are. To remind you every day.” My wife always had the right comforting words to say.
The suffocating feeling overwhelms my head. I can’t be a father without Katarina. All the confidence that I once assumed coming here has vanished. Turning around, I hand her back to Angelo and proceed walking out the door.
Halfway down hallway, I hear Angelo yell my name. He grabs me with a hard shake. “Hey! I know this is hard, but that little girl needs you right now. You can’t just leave her.” He says angrily, pointing towards Sofia’s room.
I look at him with dread, already feeling myself drifting further away. “Katarina’s parents will take her back to the estate when she’s discharged. They can live there and care for her along with Nicholas. I will make sure they want for nothing, having all the help they need. I can’t be her father to her at this moment. It would do more harm than anything.”
Walking away I almost make it to the sliding doors, before I get twirled around by Angelo. “I’m not letting you go! Grow the hell up, Santos! I’m sorry that you lost your soulmate, but she left you the most precious gift she could ever give you! You’re not the only one who was left hurting!” He’s breathing hard and gripping my arm tightly.
“You called me, Santos; you never call me by my given name.” I state knowing he must be really pissed.
“I’m pissed at you! I feel what you are feeling; every god damn feeling. But try and be half the man you used to be. Go back in there and hold your precious daughter.” He is reeling in his anger, and I push him off me trying to regain my composure. Too many irrational emotions are swirling between us. He’s right; I know I am supposed to suck it up. I’m not the first to lose a wife and be left figuring out how to be a parent alone.
“Santos, Angelo, is everything okay?” I hear Lia’s voice behind me.
“No,” answers Angelo, “everything is not okay. My dear brother here is being a self-centered son of a bitch. He thinks he’s the only one hurting, and he can’t or won’t admit that there is a little baby waiting for him to acknowledge her.” He kicks a trash can out of sheer frustration.
“Santos, I know you are hurting and feel lost. But that little girl will help you heal. I promise it will help a little.” Lia pleads with me to see reason.
I’ve had enough of being told how I should feel or what I need to do. “Maybe I don’t want to feel! I hate the fact that she left me and I have to figure it out without her! She was my light!” I shout my words.
“I think your daughter will continue giving you the light in your life,” says Lia in a quiet, soothing voice. She leans in with a hug, defrosting part of my dark chilled wall away.
“God damn you, Santos! I’ve had it! I’m going to go pop your tires, so you can’t leave.” Angelo storms out of the hospital.
Lia starts to laugh. “Is he being serious about popping your tires?”
I break the embrace and feel a tight smile forming on my face. “Hell yes, he’s for real. He is trying to anchor us.” I say.
“He’s what?” She asks in confusion.
Looking down at her, I let out a breath. “Thanks for being a friend to the both of us. I really appreciate it, Lia. Please, can you go out there and make sure he doesn’t do anything to my bike?” I plead.
She nods her head still with a puzzled look. “Sure, I’ll try my best. What are you going to do?”
“I’m going back upstairs to introduce myself properly to my daughter.”
THE END
Epilogue
One Year Later
Today marks one of the hottest days recorded in Italy’s history. We are going on two weeks with extreme heat and no relief anytime soon. I take comfort in Lake Como like many others for some relief from the oppressive heat. As I swim further out, the cooler water quickly revives me. Turning back, I start treading water, observing my friends and family mingling around the boathouse beach area. Wave caps, boat engines, and people laughing echo from various palazzos around me. While happiness is not present, I have achieved a certain level of peaceful acceptance at the circumstances of my life.
Oskar and Germano have put together a BBQ memorial feast honoring my friends, Mateo and Josephine, as well as my wife Katarina. It has been a little over a year since their deaths. How fitting that it’s a hot as hell with the sun blazing down upon us. Turning to float on my back for a while, I spot a stunning cloud f
ormation. Hovering by itself surrounded by a completely blue sky, I begin to look for an image. Memories push to the forefront of my mind, and I think of my wife and I laying down after picnicking to stare up at the sky. She could find a horse figure in almost every cloud.
It’s been one year since my beauty left this earth, taking most of my soul along with her. For the sake of my daughter, family, and friends, I continue trying to make it through each day, one step at a time. I think back to seven months ago. Most people surrounding me had used the white glove approach, careful not to shatter me further. Well, the exception being Angelo, which in itself shouldn’t be a huge surprise.
About five months into my sedated, alcohol-infused lifestyle, he quietly came to me and asked me if I intended to keep indulging myself in this destructive downhill slide. Taking a sip of my whiskey, I ignored him, giving him the assumption that yes, I was not contemplating any immediate changes in the future. That same night, he showed up drunk, stating he was ready to bring me to my senses. Though he was already sporting a bruise on one cheek, I could sense he was ready for another brawl, and I was the only one around.
Standing with his fists balled up, he accused me of ignoring my daughter; worrying our mother and sister to death; and, most of all, making him do all the work in our business enterprises.
Ignoring the uncivilized baiting, I had yelled at him to get the hell out of my life and mind his own business.
But he was only at the beginning of pushing my buttons. “Not going to happen, Sonny. You need a good beating to bring some sense back in you. I guess that’s up to me. You’ve become a sorry sap of a person, wallowing in your misery. If Katarina could see you now, she would be disgusted with you.” He sneers.