Someone Like You

Chapter 24

Giovanni

I hang up the phone just wanting to get this over with and head back home to Zeniyah. We're all standing at the front of the field near the house where Theo is being held. 

"Capo, siamo pronti per entrare?" one of my men ask [Translation: Boss, are we ready to go in?]

"Siamo in 30. I primi 10 entrano e sgomberano tutte le guardie e ci danno il segnale. Io, Tony e gli 8 successivi entreremo. Poi entreremo gli ultimi 9 per assicurarci che ce la faremo. Inteso." I comand [Translation: There are 30 of us. The first 10 go in and clear all guards and give us the signal. Me, Tony, and the next 8 will go in. Then the last 9 will go in to make sure we make it out. Understood.]

"Si Capo," everyone says nodding 

"Farlo uscire vivo," [Translation: make it out alive] I add looking at each and everyone one of them. I give the signal and the first 10 make their way in, we hear shots going off and fighting as we wait for the signal. 

"Vanni, I'm going in with you and Tony si?" Sandro asks. 

"NO," I answer him 

"What then when am I going in?" He asks. 

"You're not, you have a kid that can't lose you," I say to him. He begins to protest but I give him a pointed look cutting him off. I point to the cars we have lined up at the end of the field for escape. 

"You're going to go back to the cars. in the main car, there's a briefcase, inside there's a switch and a button, it's connected to these," I say showing him the triggered grenades I have with me. "When you're given the signal, flip the switch and press the button, it'll start a 10-second timer, it's irreversible," I say looking at him seriously. 

"Ok, please stay safe," he says, pulling me into a tight hug patting my back. He heads to the car and after about 5 minutes I hear him say into the headset that he's set. 

The first 10 men signal us that we're good to enter and we make our way down the field, as we enter the building they begin heading out nodding to us as we go in. We split into groups of 2 checking the rooms on the lower floors for Theo. 

I bust down doors throwing in grenades in every other room. Finally, I bust down a door and find Theo tied up and knocked out with 3 guys standing guard me and Tony quickly begin shooting at them and hiding behind cushions in the room, it's dark and hard to make out much. 

Tony gets close enough and begins untying Theo trying to wake him up and make sure he's alive. I hear him groan out making me sigh in relief. Once all the guards are dead I tell the next group of men to head in and gather all the remaining wannabe gangsters in one area of the house knocking most if not all of them out. After we're sure everyone is on the main floor I tell all my men to head to the cars. 

I go around the house placing all the remaining grenades before standing back in front of the goons most of which are knocked out. 

"Sandro, flip the switch," I say. 

"You sure?" he says back into my ear. 

"Yeah," I say right about to walk out the door. Suddenly I feel pain as someone slams something into my head knocking me to the ground. I quickly try to recover remembering the countdown. I pull out my gun shooting aimlessly as I feel dizzy. I hear a scream knowing I hit someone. I begin running from the house into the dark field 

"GIOVANNI!! GIO!!! GIOVANNI ANSWER ME!!" I hear Alessandro yelling before he's cut off by the huge explosion. It all goes dark after that. 

Zeniyah

It's been 4 days since we heard from the boys. They were supposed to be back at least 30 days ago. Alex's broken down 4 or 5 times. I've tried my best to stay strong but I've barely gotten any sleep. Alex heard from an Italian news source there was a huge explosion at an abandoned warehouse making us even more nervous. 

We're currently all in the living room and I'm on the floor with Junior trying to get him to make cars around on his own, Alex lies on the couch laughing at my misery since Junior just keeps throwing the cars. I hear Alex's phone ringing making both of us jump, she grabs her phone answering it, and putting it on speaker,

"Hello," Alex says

"Alexandria," an unfamiliar voice says making her gasp. I raise my brows confused 

"Theodore," she whispers with tears in her eyes.

"Alexandria, we don't know where your brother is...or if he's alive," he says. Both of us hold our breath looking at each other. 

"Who Theo?" Alex asks tears sliding down her cheeks. 

"Giovanni, Alex we can't find Giovanni," he says and that's when I break down.