Angel’s Trumpet by Sem Thornwood

 

Mom could only take it for a year and a half.

For the last year, she was not very well. She finally told dad, Bella, Valerio, and Verona. After that, our house was dark and desperate. I wanted to stay back there to see her. I promised Bella that I’ll stay, but I couldn’t take it for long. It was horrible to watch my mother die and everybody being sad all the time.

Maybe I was a coward, but I ran away. Mom was not sad that I left for work again, but Bella was. I didn’t want to leave her alone in that house with my father when mom was sick, but I couldn’t stick for long. At least I knew dad was not going to try and promise her to someone. Mother was not okay with that, and he could not say no to her when she was sick.

He was already losing himself little by little every day. Some could say he was desperately in love with her, but I knew better. He had an unhealthy obsession with my mother. He even got jealous of us because she loved us more than him. Actually, I thought she loved everyone more than she loved him. She hated him, and I couldn’t blame her. He was hurtful to her. He never hit her, but he consumed all her hope and dreams, and happiness.

My biggest fear was to be like my father one day. I didn’t want to carry his legacy in any way. I didn’t want to be a Capo like him, a husband like him, or a father like him.

I was not at home much on my mother’s last days, but I got to talk to her before she died. I got to say goodbye.

Funny enough, my first words when I stepped inside the room were, “I don’t want to say goodbye.”

Mom smiled. Even though there was not much life left in her eyes, she had that same glimmer she always had when she looked at me. “Then don’t Sal. Just spend time with me. I have missed you.”

I sat on the bed and brought her pale hands to my lips. She felt cold. “I missed you too, mom.”

“Is everything okay? You have been working hard.”

I shook my head. “We shouldn’t talk about work.”

She giggled. “Then what should we talk about? My death?”

My heart squeezed. “God, no.”

She patted my hand that was holding hers. “My boy, I am not scared of death. I am only sad because I am leaving you with him. I wish I could outlive him. I wish I could see all of you truly happy without him.”

“I wish that too,” I whispered. The tears were so hard to hold back.

“When I found out about my condition, I made a promise. I promised myself that I wouldn’t leave any legacies for you because I wanted all of you to live your lives the way you wanted. I didn’t want to impact you and guilt you into listening to me.”

My brows came together. “That sounds a lot like there is a but after.” Honestly, I didn’t care. I would do anything she wanted me to do.

“There is,” she confirmed, smiling. But her smile disappeared not long after. “You are the eldest, Sal. You are the heir. Among all of you, you have power. Don’t let your father overpower you.”

“He is Capo.”

She shook her head. “I don’t care. Don’t let him get to you, and don’t let him get to the others. You have to protect yourself and your siblings from him. All those out-of-state trips earned you friends, Salvatore. Use your friends.”

My eyes widened. I was not sure if she was really saying what I thought she was saying. “You want me to overthrow him. Took his title.”

“Not exactly. I am just giving you ideas. I don’t want you to get hurt. He is going to hurt you because he will see you as a threat, and he is going to hurt Isabella just for the fun of it. I want you to be happy. Please make sure he won’t get to you or your siblings.”

Maybe it was treason or just stupidity, but I was not going to deny my mother. So, I said, “I promise,” and kissed her cheeks.

She looked at me with gratitude. She knew I was not just lying to make her happy. She knew how I was with promises. When I made a promise, that was it for me. I would lay my life to keep it.

After my mother’s funeral, I didn’t even have time to mourn. Everybody was far gone, and I needed to take care of everything. Dad was in no condition to rule over one of the deadliest crime organizations, and his consigliere Brando Panaro was ready to use that.

Yeah, no. I was here to take over. If I couldn’t mourn my mother the way I wanted, then I was going to do good to my promise.

When we were at home with the Mazzonis and Panaro, dad flew to his office. He was showing weakness. It made me mad because a weak Capo meant a weak Outfit. But it also made me glad. It was easier to overthrow a weak Capo. If he couldn’t pull himself together, he would have to give up his place and make me Capo.

I was about to have a talk with Bella. She had it the worse. I was going to ask what I could do for her, but my intentions were interrupted by Brando Panaro. “Salvatore,” he said in a tone that I didn’t like one bit.

My eyes must have shown him my displeasure because he stepped back from me. Then he looked at Bella in a way I also didn’t like. “I know you are all devastated, including Capo. Maybe you and Isabella should go away to mourn. Staying at home can be hard. I know, I lost my wife six months ago.”

Yeah, he got so upset that started looking for a young wife right away. Planning to marry someone forty years younger than him just so he could have sons.

“Father needs help. I can’t leave,” I said in a firm voice.

Brando had a twisted, ugly smile. “I will be here to take care of business. You go mourn your mother, son.”

Was he stupid enough to believe I was going to leave him alone with dad at this point? even if I didn’t have my promise to mom, there was no way I would trust Panaro with anything important. “I will stay. Dad is not in good condition. There is more job for us. We need a meeting tonight. You, me, Rafael, and Antonio.”

Luckily that made him left. I was running out of patience as it was. “I hate that fucking guy.” Though his suggestion gave me an idea. “But he might have a point, Bells. I think you should be away from us. I want you and the twins to go to the lake house.”

She only nodded. “Can Mia come with me too?”

Honestly, she could have anything she wanted. I wanted her happy, and I was going to give her even better than Mia. So, I pressed a long kiss to her forehead and said, “Don’t worry, Bells. Please just get better.”

Then I slowly approached Mia. I haven’t talked to her at the funeral, but I did notice how she took care of Bella and my twin siblings. I was grateful for that.

Before I could talk, her eyes found mine. “Sal, how is Bella?”

She was staying in the safe territory because she knew I was not going to talk about how I was. Which was shit, by the way. “I want her to go to the lake house. She and the twins.”

“Okay,” she said in a soft voice. “You want me to go with them?”

I nodded. “You, Mateo, Emiliano,” I said, referring to her and Bella’s bodyguards. Then I added with a stiff voice. “And Alessio.” I wanted him there, half because of how sad Bella was and half because of my promise to mother. I was not going to let father win over and make Bella miserable. She was in love with Alessio, and she was going to get Alessio.

Mia’s eyes went wide. “Are you sure?”

“Yeah,” I nodded. “From now on, I will do things right.”

Turned out I was not very good at doing things right. I was not good at keeping my promise to my mother.

I was expecting Father to attack me first. Or, to put it better, Brando to attack me first. Dad was too far gone to do anything. And to be honest, I was ready for Brando. I was ready to take down my father and become Capo. Only he hit my blind spot. He attacked Bella rather than me.

After that, it was extremely hard to pull myself together. I was almost sure I was going to let it go. After seeing that hurt look on Bella’s face, I was sure I was done. Just a week after my mother’s funeral, I was ready to accept defeat.

But then I didn’t. I find the strength to fight. And it was not Alessio’s harsh talk about saving Bella or Antonio’s calculated reassuring words. It was what their sister did.

She found me on the back porch of the lake house in the dark, smoking a cigarette. The place was awfully quiet. And even though I called her out of all people to told her I was coming the day before, we haven’t talked privately yet. I didn’t know why. I didn’t even know why I called her. Maybe it was because I didn’t have the guts to talk to Bella after what I have done to her. Maybe it was more than that.

She didn’t ask me what was wrong. She asked me another question. “Sal, are you okay?”

I couldn’t find it in me to lie to her. “I am not.”

She didn’t sit on the seat next to me but instead kneeled. Her hands were on my knees. Maybe she realized she has to be as close as possible to see beyond my walls. “Something happened?”

I nodded but still didn’t look at her. I only inhaled my cigarette.

“Want to tell me?”

Then I looked at her. Those blue eyes were so soft on me. I didn’t deserve that look and knew it was going to change the second I told her what I did. “You are going to learn anyway. I would rather keep you like this for a while.”

“Like what?”

I just shook my head and took another breath from my cigarette.

But to my surprise, Mia was not having it. She reached and snatched the cigarette from my hands. My eyebrows went up as I looked at her. “Like what?” she asked again.

“Like there is not a coward in front of you! I would rather you don’t look at me with hate in your eyes.” Like everybody else does.

That made her eyes soften even more. Shit, I didn’t deserve that look. Not after what I have done to Bella. Yet she gave it to me and whispered, “What if I promise I won’t.”

A joyless sound escaped me. “You cannot promise that.”

“I can.” She waited for a second. “Because you promised me the same.”

Well, that was horribly different. In her case, I was the asshole, and she did nothing to deserve hate. I, on the other hand, was guilty in every regard. But for some stupid reason, I believed her promises. Still, I couldn’t look her in the eye as I said, “Father promised Bella to Brando Panaro.”

Her breath hitched. “He cannot.”

“Well, he did, and I could do nothing to prevent that.” my pleading eyes found her blue ones. “You know I was ready to make everything better. I was going to make her marry Alessio. I wanted her to be happy. But I couldn’t stop him.”

For a second, Mia was silent, and I was sure she was going to shout at me hateful words and left. Honestly, I wouldn’t blame her for that, but she did something else. She caressed my knee lightly. “It is not your fault. It is your father’s.”

“I couldn’t stop him,” I said with wide eyes.

She was still calm, but her eyes were filled with the intensity of the situation. “He is your Capo, Sal. You cannot simply stop him.” She paused for a second. “But you can fight him.”

“I can’t. I already lost. “

Then she stood up and cupped my cheeks with both of her small hands. Even when I was sitting, she was not too taller than me. Yet, the gesture made it feel like I was a kid and she was the adult. “You haven’t lost yet, Salvatore. I know Alessio won’t let that marriage happen. Help him. Do whatever needs to be done for Bella and for yourself and for all of us. Finish him.”

She was openly telling me to overpower my father. That was treason. I was actually impressed by her bravery, but I couldn’t speak. She was looking at me with those light eyes in a way that made me speechless.

But what made me more surprised was what she did next. She leaned forward and brushed her lips to mine in a featherlight kiss. “You are not a coward or a bad person now, but if you give up, you will be. You can decide your future.”

And after that, she left. Just like that.

Her kiss didn’t stir up the need to kiss her again or do more than kissing. It was not a sexual move anyway. It also didn’t bother me. The goal of the kiss was so different than all the kisses I have received all my life. It was intended to give me courage and hope.

And it worked.

I got back on my feet. Surrounded myself with influential people. There was only one man who wanted my father to win. Duran Ricci, the former Underboss of Columbus, did want my father in power. Even though his son was underboss now, he still held dominion over all Ohia. But in the end, it didn’t matter. In the end, I managed to kill my father.

After Bella was rescued and happily married to Alessio, there was nothing holding us back. So, we did it together. Alessio, Antonio, Bella, and I planned the death of Giovanni Vasile. He may be left behind a Duran Ricci that was definitely not going to believe he killed himself, but he wouldn’t dare speak. He wouldn’t dare oppose me when every other underboss wanted me as their Capo.

So, after months of pain, hearing Antonio’s voice as he told me, “It’s done,” was the most beautiful feeling.