Red's Redemption ✔

Chapter 15 - Memories In Photo Frames

I grabbed the photo and looked closely.

"That's my mom!" I said pointing at the red-haired woman in the photo.

"She is hugging my mom. That is Constanzo standing by your mom and next to my mom-"

"That is Callum Vass." I whispered.

Vinchenzo nodded, "I thought so too."

"Oh my," I said feeling very shocked.

"But you know of this from before? You told me Kara was in love with Constanzo."

"I didn't believe but these photos... they are gold." I said feeling excited to have unlocked another part of my mother's strange past.

"You know... she looks a lot like you in those photos. You guys could be twins."

I nodded, "The red hair and the blue eyes."

"She is just missing the freckles."

"She is lucky to not have any," I said as I looked at my own freckles in the mirror.

"I disagree." He said as he placed a soft kiss on my neck, "They are beautiful, and I love each and every single one of them."

"I used to be bulled for them in school."

Vinchenzo frowned, "If I was with you I would have knocked them all out."

I laughed, "It's okay. I learned to love them."

"Good." He said as he hugged me from behind.

"I didn't have a choice." I muttered.

Vinchenzo spun me around and placed both of his hands on my face. He looked intensely into my eyes.

"You, Arianna Dawson, my wonderful fiancée are the most beautiful woman in the whole wide world. From your amazing red hair to your electric blue eyes to your gorgeous freckles and limbs, you are the definition of perfect. In the Oxford dictionary when they try to define the world "perfect" all they need to put is a picture of you. You are beautiful. I love you to the ends of the earth."

"That was romantic." I said blushing.

"It was meant to be." He said with a small genuine smile.

I just smiled and carried on looking around. I wasn't as surprised by the aesthetic of his room. His walls were all painted black and he had some rock band posters hung up on the wall. He had a queen-sized bed sitting in the corner. He had three shelves where he had an array of books which surprised me.

"Novels?" I asked.

"Mostly poetry." He said.

"I never knew that about you."

He shrugged.

"Are you hungry? Because I am?" He asked me.

I nodded my head.

We walked out of his room and made our way down to the first floor. Sienna and Dante were sitting awkwardly on the couch. Tristiaan was hugging a sobbing Francesca and Gianni was nowhere to be seen.

"Sergio's not coming." Francesca sniffed.

I saw Vinchenzo stiffen.

"Why?" He asked.

Francesca shrugged, "He doesn't care."

"Don't cry." He whispered as he went and hugged his sister.

"He is gone. He is dead. I can't come to terms with it." Francesca sobbed.

Seeing her break down so much made me want to cry as well. I may have disliked Leonard Vitali but he was half the reason why Vinchenzo was here today. I would go as far as to even say that he was a small percentage of (incredibly tiny) as to why we even met in the first place.

"You'll get through this," Vinchenzo said as he lovingly cradled his sister in his arms.

After a few empty days of doing nothing the funeral came. Vinchenzo had been alerted that Eliza had planned to raid the church and so he put in place all security measures he could. The roof of the church was swarming with snipers and the entrances were all guarded well.

After an intense conversation with Vinchenzo I discovered that one of his capo had taken Hayden in to safely keep him for Sergio. The story had come out that Claudia had left the compound without her son and simply never returned. She must have been kidnapped by Eliza. A thought that I hated to think that while we were sleeping, Eliza's crew had managed to get into the safe house's ceiling. If she wanted to kill us, she could have. It made me wonder why she didn't come into the house and only left her on top of the glass panel, with a crack in it (that's how her blood had dripped on me).

I was dressed in a short black bodycon dress that came all the way down to the middle of my thigh. I also wore a pair of sheer black pantyhose and a black stiletto. Vinchenzo was dressed in a charcoal-black suit.

"Ready. Are you?" I asked as I watched him check the time on his golden wristwatch. The very same one he had worn during our first meeting.

He nodded, "I am."

"Is the car outside?" I asked curious.

Vinchenzo nodded, "It is. Let's head out."

We walked out of the eerily quiet mansion and made our way to the black limousine that was waiting for us outside. All the windows were darkly tinted and so therefore I could not see into the car from outside. When we climbed in, I saw Francesca and Sienna, both of who dressed very similarly to me and Gianni, Dante, and Tristiaan whose outfits all resembled Vinchenzo's.

"Did anyone bring tissue?" Francesca asked.

"Here," I said handing her my small little hand-bag sized tissue box.

I had brought many of them along for situations like these.

"Thank you," Francesca said as she wiped a stray tear off her face.

"You're welcome."

Never once had I thought that Francesca would be thanking me or that I would ever be passing her tissues. From the beginning she hated me. I had no idea why or what I had done to offend her, but I guess she had warmed up to me over time. Her coming with me into the interrogation room that night about a week ago was her way of making peace. I appreciated it.

"Sergio's really not coming?" Vinchenzo asked.

"He is not." Gianni answered.

Gianni's eyes were bloodshot red. I assumed he was that sad over his father because he did not know what he had done. He didn't even know that he was an heir to the greatest mafia in both America and in Sicily itself. He was innocent and a bystander. To him, Leonard was a father who was always busy with his business and that was it.

Sienna sighed as she looked at all three siblings, "He might be waiting at the church. You never know."

"He said he wasn't coming." Francesca said, "I read the note."

"Maybe he meant to the house?" I suggested.

"Perhaps," Francesca said.

"It's a good thing he is not coming anyways," Gianni said and I looked at Vinchenzo with shock.

"Why do you say that?" Vinchenzo asked cautiously.

What was going on?

"I remember." Gianni said.

Hey Reddies!

What do you think is going to happen next? 
What will Gianni do with the restored memories?

Don't forget to vote if you enjoyed this chapter, and to leave your thoughts in the comment section! See you next week!

XOXO

Perla