Aftermath (17 page)

Sophie froze.
“You would not dare!”

“We will see!”
Geovonna
said then
made a quick escape before the woman thawed.

Selange entered the kitchen
, saw Sophie’s stricken face and hurried over,
“Sophie
is
everything
okay?”

The words were low, “She knows about Luzo…”

Selange’s eyes widen
ed
in shock, “She knows…how?”

“I don’t know…I don’t know,” the older woman whispered. “I don’t know.”

“Call Giuseppe, get to him before she does Sophie. Please, do it. Don
’
t let him find out from
her
.”

“She will not cross me
. If
she does she will regret it.”

CHAPTER
EIGHT

Alfonzo grunt when something struck him in the face and
he
blinked awake. Sal’s arm covered his nostrils and he grumbled.
They were in a
king-size bed and the kid
still
managed to
wind up on his side
, g
o figure?

He pushed the boy’s arm away and stretched his eyelids to adjust to the
curtained room
. How long had they slept? When he snatched his watch from the nightstand,
he frowned. He’d slept the entire
afternoon.
Shit!

His head turned to view his son
.
He wasn’t li
tt
l
e
Sal, anymore. Sneaking out to hang with the
teens was a bold move.
If anything had happened to his son…he grit his teeth…he didn’t want to think about it. Thank goodness nothing had. He decided not to tell Selange. She’d have a fit and
then
question the security
. T
he boy would be on lock-down the rest of his life.
Sal
learned his lesson
, besides despite his bad
decision to sneak from the house, he did make a good choice when he called his dad.

The
cell
spoke, “L
ou’s
calling.”

Alfonzo
slid up against the headboard
and reached an arm to the mahogany to
p
. He waited a few seconds for the
electronic
signal
scan
. He paid handsomely for the counter
-
surveillance technology. Anyone tapping into his cell signal or had bugs anywhere within the vicinity, he’d know. Shit worked, too. He got the go ahead then
tapped the illuminated
white
icon
on the black screen.
“Yeah, what’s
up
?”

“
They found the Russian
and t
alking
robbery for drugs
.”

Alfonzo cleared the sleep from his throat. He smelled food. His stomach growled from the aroma like a hungry wolf
,
“Yeah,
good.
”

“
Nothing else?”

“Everything’s clean as a whistle. Sidenote, the Sergio kid fenced Geo’s watch.”

“Not surprised.”

“He got 10G for a 200G piece.”

“Yeah, he’s really smart. Alright Lou thanks.”
The
n he hung-up
and watched the rolling white lights on the base of the device as it scanned then went green.
Still a clear signal.

Alfonzo fisted his eyes and yawned. He had to get moving. A late visit to Matteo was in order. First things first
, though.
He shook Sal awake. “Hey
...get up. Shower and get dressed so we can eat.”

The boy’s drowsy eyes opened and drool slipped from the side of his mouth, “Huh?”

“You heard me. Feels crappy not getting eight hours sleep, doesn’t it?”

“Uh-huh.”

“Well, hijo. If you want to hang with the big boys, better start getting accustomed to waking up feeling like shit.
Levantarse, ahora!”

Sal bolted forward, “Okay…okay.”

Alfonzo gripped his neck and brought
the sleepy
face to his chest
and shook
and the big but little
head wobbled. “I’m proud of you hijo for stepping up and taking responsibility
, comprende?
”

“
Sí, gracias. Do
es that mean I’m not in trouble anymore?”

“
Is that what you heard
…let me see those eyes…
were you drinking,
niño?
” Alfonzo joked, “I said I’m proud
of you, that
don’t
mean you
’re
off the hook for
sneaking
to a party.
No video games for a month, you little
rascal.
”

“Oh man…
no
mi
juegos
!”

“You gotta’ pay to play son,
so man-up!
”
Alfonzo quipped
and then gave the kid a shove before standing.

Sal pulled a face, “What does
that mean? Letting me off the hook and pay to play…i
t doesn’t make
any
sense!”

Alfonzo
cocked a brow in his son’s direction.
These were common idiomatic expressions and the fact the boy didn’t understand proved he was still an immature kid. Sal was eight…
but he’d say a
nd
a
half
. At
that age they really don’t know shit.

Alfonzo went down to the floor to start his push-ups. He attempted an explanation upon each exhalation, blowing out the words, “Whew-they’re common phrases people use
–whew –you know figures of speech –whew –like break a leg doesn’t –whew –mean break a leg –whew –but good luck –whew.”

“Oh, so letting me off the hook…um…is figurative not literal?”

“Do you look up words in the dictionary –whew?”

“Sometimes.”

“Do you know what figurative means –whew?” Alfonzo did scorpion push-ups. He liked
when his body awaken
ed
and adrenalin rush
ed
to his head. He liked knowing every part of him was alive, because he tested it each day to make sure.

“Ummm…when you don’t really mean something
, but something else.
”

“
That’s good Sal –whew. What does the ‘dog ate my homework,
’
really mean
or i
nfer
?”

The boy laughed, “I know that one…umm.” He crossed his legs like an Indian Chief and beamed, “I really didn’t do
the homework
and
the dog ate it is an excuse
.”

Alfonzo
smirked, “Yep,” he went down to the floor, switched into a one arm push-up. Put the other arm behind his back,
straightened his legs together, aligned his head and torso then in an exhibition of his strength, went rapidly up and down without contacting the floor.
He inhaled on ascent, on descent exhaled and this is when he talked,
“That’s right –whew –whew –whew. It’s figurative, and represents all bad excuses
, -whew –whew –whew
.”

He’d changed arms and was going up when S
al
suddenly
climbed his back and Alfonzo laughed, “Are you trying to break my
arm
?”

“I’
m helping you exercise.
”

“Yeah, how about I get on your back and help you, eh?”

“Nope. You’re heavy.”
Then he changed the subject, “Do I have a cousin Sergio?”

Uh-o
h the teenagers were talking. “Um-hum.”

“Did Aaron shoot somebody
to
save him…is that true?”

Alfonzo
held
the extra weight, elbows locked as
sweat trick
l
ed from his forehead. Sal was solid for his age and Alfonzo promised to get the boy in the gym more often. The muscles in his arms burned and he went low then sprawled on the floor, “
I didn’t see Aaron with a gun or shoot anybody.” Alfonzo said truthfully, although he
was aware of w
hat the boy had done.
“Guns should only be in the hands of adults trained and licensed, not kids. Got that?”

“Yeah, I got it.”

“Good.”

“Evangeline thinks I’m a baby because when the people broke into our house I hid.”

“Yeah,” he
tried a
tactful
approach
, “don’t get offended by it. Afterall she did let her cousin without a license drive her car and you all crashed because of a goat, hmmm, do you think that’s really smart?”

“No.”

“There you go. Now who listens to someone who doesn’t have common sense
, eh?”

Sal laughed, “You know you’re right dad. She doesn’t have common sense!”

                                            
       
****

Nico returned the final miniature screw to the cell phone and lay it on side of its counterpart then reclined in the high back chair. The girls hadn’t breathed a word to their mother about last night and neith
er did Aaron. He was giving the girls
the
ir phone
s back, but along with it, came a tracking system so he could stay abreast of their whereabouts. They needed constant supervision and after last night’s escapade, he warned the guards, if there was one more incident, they’d have hell to pay.

Their little escape route was closed and from now on,
if they so much
as
got out of line, he promised they’d see him back here alright, to ship their asses to boarding school until they turned eighteen.

He stood and stuffed the phones in his pocket, retrieved his suitcase and headed downstairs to say good-bye to Bianca. Ari was packed and ready, waiting in the car with the boys. He hastened his steps. In the corridor, he glanced around, one last time, thinking how different this family’s lives were going to be without Alberti’s presence. Obviously, he was a doting father and loving husband and his absence was certain to be missed. He inhaled and his nostrils flared. He would come as often as possible to visit. This was his family
and their protection an additional responsibility.

“Nico?”

He spun around to see one of the girls. She must have recently got out of bed. This was Madeline, the quietest of the pair. He could tell them apart. Twins often can. “Yeah, Madeline.”

“We’re sorry.”

Was she crying? He put down his suitcase and walked to the girl, “Come here, you.” He dwarfed her and pat her petite spine as he hugged her tight. “Listen to your mother. Be good.”

“I wish you could stay
, fratello,
”
she sobbed
.

His lips pressed tightly together as the girl gripped the side of his jacket. When she finally stopped crying he spoke, “I’m only a c
all away. I put my number in the
phones. You can call if you need to talk or just want a big brother, how about that?”
         She sniffled, “Okay.”

He kissed the top of her hair, reached inside
his pocket
for the phones and placed them in her hand. “No talking on the phone and driving or any of that nonsense
, c
apisce?”

She nodded.

“Where’s your sister?”

“Sleeping.”

“Alright, tell her I said bye and I’ll come soon to see how you’re doing, alright?”

Another nod.

Nico tipped her
chin up
with a finger
, “
Ci
vediamo
presto
,
sorellina
.
Ciao
,
”
then
gave her forehead
a lingering kiss
. He’d be back. This was his sister. He’d lost Vincent and gained double siblings. Yes, he would never distance himself emotionally from family again. They were the anchors keeping him from becoming a lost man.
He stepped away, gave her a reassuring smile as he picked up his suitcase
and went to say his farewell to the widow.