Dark Saint

Chapter 34: Michigan

Gabriella POV:

The funeral was sad, because it was quick, rushed not special because of this "threat". Dante deserved better, Sophia hasn't been sober an hour since his death. She wont speak unless it's to ask for another drink. I think she really thought they would have a future together. I think in her own way she loved him. Adriano hasn't left me alone for longer than a few hours, he is always offering regular check-ins, asking if I'm okay, I just say fine now because it doesn't matter what I say he wont believe me, I'm not sure why he even asks.

Sophia also hasn't left the compound, like she doesn't feel safe or maybe she just wants to be as close to his memory as possible, she sleeps in his room and rarely comes out except now she's sitting on the kitchen floor, whiskey bottle in hand and head bent back against the oven door. I plop down next to her and take a long, deep drink straight from the bottle.

"I miss h-him" she hiccups the last word, I wonder what bottle this is.

"Me too."

She leans her head into my shoulder.

"I'll kill him."

"Adriano will kill him." I correct her. 

"No G, I will kill him. He robbed me, us of a future. You all saw it." Her tears pour fast and begin to dampen my T-shirt. "I was going to break him down, I was going to get his walls down G, he was going to be it." Her whole body shudders on a painful exhale.

"I wanted to love him. He was good, and kind, different from the men in this world."

I know she doesn't mean the real world but the mafia world, and she's right, Dante was different.

I cradle her against my body and rock her slightly trying to sooth us both.

                                             *

Adriano POV:

Two weeks, two fucking weeks and I finally have a hit. Ivan sent the link of the CCTV footage of Alejandro in Michigan, I fucking hate the cold but I hate that fucker more. I packed up everyone in less than an hour and we were in the sky two hours later flying across the country. Sophia insisted on coming even though she's probably going into liver failure with all the drinking she's doing.

The fasten seatbelt sign glows on and the pilots voice comes over the speaker advising us of our decent. Gabriella is asleep in the chair next to me, her eyes are puffy, she cry's a lot, I know she needs this as much as I do, not just to eliminate the risk to her and my family but to avenge him. No one touches what's mine, Dante was my family and Alejandro will know the extent of the consequences his actions have caused.

We pile into the Michigan house I bought online whist in the air, it's amazing what money can do when you have the right connections. Sophia heads straight for the cellar, which came stocked as per my instructions mid flight. Gabriella walks her bags up the stairs. 

"What's the plan boss?" Tonio sighs and cracks his neck as he sits down at the long rectangle dining table that faces the lake outside. Jay and Ivan join him at the table whilst the rest of the men I brought along with me set up a perimeter outside. 

I look at Ivan giving him a small nod and he begins to set out everything we discussed mid-flight. Alejandro is due to make a trade in two days time. Two days, that's all the time I need if everything goes to plan. 

After hours of discussions and arguing we have a plan, a solid plan, and a back up plan. I feel good about it. I trust my men and they need this revenge too. 

I leave Ivan to finalize the remaining details and search the house for my little bird. I check our room first but come up empty, I check the library next but nothing. Then I catch a glimpse of chocolate coloured hair against a crystal blue background. I watch her standing over the lake, the sun setting behind her making her tan skin glow. She swipes her hand across the left side of her face and then her right. She's crying. Again. 

When I reach her side I slip my hand into hers, she is freezing. She heaves a big sigh when I wrap my blazer around her shoulders. 

"Will it ever go away?" 

"Will what ever go away princess?" 

"The blackness inside my chest?" 

I grasp her chin and tilt her head to me, she shivers at the touch. Her eyes are rimmed red and her skin splotchy but somehow she is even more beautiful than ever. 

"Eres tan hermoso penquena ave. Te ayudaré a sanar, lo prometo." (You are so beautiful little bird I will help you heal, I promise.)

I watch as her lower lip trembles and I lean down and capture it with my own. I can taste the salt of her tears and she cries some more as I wrap a hand around her neck and another around her waist bringing her as close as she can get to me. 

"I promise."