Taking The Mantle

Chapter 24

The last few days have gone by in a blur. Luca and I flew down to Venezuela to confirm that the body was Antonio. It seems he got involved in a shootout at the border. He wanted to take care of the Sinaloa's himself but instead, yet another DiSilva brother has died in a frivolous war.

We took his body straight to Italy. He's going to be buried in the family plot, right beside Enzo. Rocco and Alice have been taking care of everything. The flights, the funeral preparations, all of it. I'm grateful for them because right now, none of us are capable of much.

We all sit in the family room. Alice has the children over by the fireplace, reading them a story. Our dinners are on the table in front of us but no one even touches their plate. I don't remember the last time I ate, or even slept really.

Luca is staring straight ahead. His eyes are glazed over and his jaw is clenched. Victoria sits beside him in a similar state. Tears rim her eyes but she refuses to let them spill. They might not be on speaking terms right now, but their hands haven't separated since we got on the jet.

Rosa sits beside me with her chin in her hand. She cried the entire flight here until there were no tears left to spill. The best I can do to comfort her is keep her close. Because I'm about two seconds away from crying myself at any given moment.

The door to the room opens and I turn my focus there. Rocco strides inside with a stack of papers in his hand. He approaches the table and looks over each of our faces before placing the stack in front of me.

"You need to sign a few things for tomorrow," he says quietly, placing a pen down on the table.

I nod and flip through the pages. It's shit for the funeral; the casket, the church fee, the flowers. I sign my name quickly. I don't give a shit how much this costs; we didn't give Enzo a proper funeral, we need to do better for Antonio. I glance up at Rocco once I'm done and he collects the pages.

He shifts his weight between his feet before clearing his throat, "we will leave tomorrow morning at 10 o'clock. We have the family priest scheduled to do the service at the church. The family grave is being prepared as we speak."

I nod slowly, "grazie."

He nods once and turns to leave, only to be stopped by Luca's voice.

"Did you know what he was planning?"

I look between the two men. Rocco slowly turns back around to face us. His brows are furrowed and he takes a step closer.

"No," Rocco replies firmly, "if I had known, I would have stopped him."

Luca's eyes narrow on him. He clenches his fist, causing the fork in his hand to bend. Victoria places her hand on his forearm and his gaze snaps to her.

"Do not blame him," she speaks softly, "Antonio was stubborn and headstrong, none of us could have stopped him."

"That's bullshit," Luca scoffs, pulling away from her, "I could have stopped him."

"Don't do this," Vic pleads, "not here, not in front of the kids."

Luca glances over his shoulder at his children. He watches them for a beat before his shoulders drop. He turns back around and simply takes Victoria's hand into his own.

"Is there anything else?" Rocco asks, still just a few feet from the table.

"No," I reply, "thank you for all your help."

"I'm just doing my job," he assures me before leaving.

Rosa's hand finds my leg and she looks up at me with a sad smile. I return the gesture, placing my hand on top of hers. She takes the wine glass in front of her and finishes it in one gulp. I grab my whiskey and do the same.