Chapter13: THE PRESENT

LORENZO’S P.O.V. As soon as I heard the bang, I grabbed Leo and pulled him under the table. It didn’t occur to me that he wasn’t remotely fazed by the sound. I covered him with my body and waited to see if I would hear anything else. I heard bullets raining outside and I decided to check through the window to see what was happening. My men were shooting at a car that was trying to speed off and I knew they needed my attention downstairs. “Stay here,” I instructed Leo and he nodded. He sat cross-legged under the table and began mumbling to himself. I grabbed my gun from the table and made my way downstairs. The men had stopped shooting and the car was lying in a ditch. Matteo rushed up to me as soon as he saw me and I didn’t even have to ask before he started explaining. Whoever was in the car had thrown a makeshift bomb using alcohol and a bottle. I watched as the guards dragged the now unconscious man and brought him to my feet. Normally, I would have waited until he was in the dungeons but I was impatient. I gestured towards the hose and it was brought immediately. I sprayed him with water until he was spluttering on the ground. “Who sent you?” I asked but he didn’t respond. I grabbed him by the hair and lifted him until he was at eye level with me. “I don’t enjoy repeating myself. What the fuck are you doing here?” “I was sent to give you a warning,” I was shocked at how easily he gave the answer. Then again, he looked no older than twenty-five and he had an air of inexperience around him. “Who sent the warning? Was it the Russians?” I asked but he shook his head. “I don’t know. I got a letter in the mail. They said I should throw the bomb and run away. They told me that no one would be home.” I thought hard for a second before plastering an unreadable expression on my face. “What’s your name, boy?” “James Bradford. I’m a college student. I didn’t know this was your house, Mr. DeLucia. I swear it. I thought it was a prank. I was promised money for it.” There was no doubt that he was telling the truth. “My son is upstairs, did you know that?” he shook his head. “It isn’t public knowledge yet but I think whoever sent you knew that.” “I’m sorry, Mt. DeLucia. Please forgive me. I will seven leave town. I can put in a transfer at college. You will never hear from me again. You can trust me, I’m not lying.” “I know you’re not. We all make mistakes,” I said and he sighed. He opened his mouth presumably to thank me but before he could, I fired a single shot into his head. “Regardless, actions have consequences.” I watched as blood pooled out of his head onto the ground and turned to Matteo and the others. “Clean it up and find out everything you can about the boy. I want that letter. I want to know why he was chosen and I want to know who sent it,” I instructed. “Get rid of the car too. I don’t want anyone figuring out what happened to him. The ones who sent him will piece together the puzzle.” Matteo hesitated and leaned in to whisper. “Shouldn’t we have let him lead us to the one who hired him?” “They would have killed him. I showed him mercy.” I walked out leaving them to handle the mess and I made my way back to my office. Father was gone but Leo was still sitting under the desk. When he saw me, he slowly came out. I didn’t know how to comfort a child who had just listened to a shoot-out. It was something I grew up around so I was used to it. “I’m sorry that you had to hear that,” I began and he just shrugged. His dismissive nature had red flags going off in my head. “Were you scared?” “No,” he didn’t hesitate. “I know what a gun sounds like, I’ve heard it before. My mum had one at home too. She said it was for safety and she asked me not to touch it unless someone wanted to hurt us.” “Has your mum ever shot a gun in front of you?” I asked and to my relief, he shook his head. “Where did you hear a gun for the first time?” He shrugged. “I can’t remember but they’re always there. Whenever they started, Mum would sing me a song and tell me not to listen to the sounds. It reminded me of her.” I opened my mouth to speak but no words would come out. Where could Isabella have lived with him that the sound of guns was so frequent? I had a few options in my head and I made a mental note to check them out when I figured out what James was doing here. “Did my father say anything to you while I was gone?” I asked and he hesitated for a split second before shaking his head. “You can tell me if he did.” “He didn’t talk to me at all.” I knew he was telling the truth but I couldn’t help but feel like there was something else he wasn’t telling me. I knew if I asked, he wouldn’t respond so I just sighed. The only way I was going to get answers was if I asked my father and I had no intention of doing that at the moment. “You should go back to your room,” I said finally. “I have a lot of work to handle and I might have to go out.” He nodded and made his way to the door without any hesitation. I watched him leave and ran my hand through my hair in frustration. I couldn’t remember the last time I had so much going on at the same time. I had the Russians to deal with, Isabella and my father. Speaking of my father, I noticed a piece of paper on the table in front of where it sat. There were some numbers scribbled on it with two words under DNA specialist. I should have known he wasn’t going to let that go so easily. I picked up the paper, scrunched it up and threw it into the trash. If I was going to use one, it wasn’t going to be my father’s contacts and it was not going to be because he asked. It was time he remembered that I was Capo and not him.