For the Empire - Inganno

Chapter 30

JOHN PAUL

As I leave Charmaine's room the next morning to find something for her to eat, I can't get the vivid memory of Dominic's bruised and battered face, with his eyes hollowed out, out of my head. I feel like that will be etched in my brain forever.

My shoes echo loudly, through the hallway as the house is eerily quiet with a somber feeling throughout.

Looking back, we should have taken my dad up on his offer to grab a late dinner after the graduation ceremony, even though we could all see how upset Charmaine was, over not having Dominic there.

If we had gone out, we could have avoided the nightmare that was waiting for us when we got home.

If I hadn't been so caught up in what was in front of me, I would have turned back to make sure Charmaine stayed in the car. Instead, it was her horrified screams that snapped me out of my paralyzed state.

Timo's angry orders to get her out of there, are what pushed me towards her, to take her into the house, but she resisted and fought hard to get back to Dominic's lifeless body. Her screams and pleas to let her go run through my mind as well.

I haven't gotten much sleep the last two day, but I don't care; I just want to be there for her. It hurts me to see Charmaine like this and not being able to take the pain and anguish she's in away. I wish there was a way for me to erase the last image of her dad from her mind.

I walk into the kitchen and I find Carmela, my dad and Timo around the island talking quietly. They look up as I approach, their eyes are tired from lack of sleep as well. Carmela walks up to me and hugs me. "You need to get rest, piccolo. She needs you strong."

"How is she?" Timo asks looking over at me, as he lifts his cup of coffee. The steam rising over the top as he takes a sip.

"Not good. She didn't sleep much, again. The nightmares keep waking her up, screaming. Then when she does wake up, she begins crying again until she tires out and then wakes up screaming again."

I take a deep breath, feeling the heaviness of the situation on my shoulders. I open the fridge to grab a water bottle, taking a sip from the bottle.

"Do we know who's behind it? Has anything been found on Shorty?" I ask.

Timo and my father share a look before my father answers me. "Giovanni Dante. There was a note stapled to Dom's chest under his shirt; even though the message was clear—with how they mutilated his face and body—but it said this is only the beginning.

And with Shorty—his head was mailed to Timo in a package yesterday morning." My father sighs, deeply. "We thought we still had time to find Dom."

"Gio? But what did he have against Dominic or Shorty?" I ask, racking my mind through all the things I've heard over the years.

Timo moves to sit on the bar stool at the counter. "Giovanni's feud with me began over my sister, Serena. I had made an agreement with him to bind our families together by agreeing to have her marry him after I took over for my father. Gio was in love with her, but she didn't love him.

The marriage would have been beneficial for both families, increasing profits for us each with the merging of some of our businesses, but Serena begged me not to go through with it.

She had fallen in love with Dominic while he was here training the men. However, I told her I couldn't go back on my word and Dominic and Serena ran away and eloped."

"Gio blamed me, even though I was just as surprised as he was and then years later, when Gio's men were after one of my men for a debt, they killed Serena. They unknowingly killed the only woman Gio's ever loved.