Francesco lay in bed staring absently at the ceiling above him. Eleanor, as usual, was sprawled out across his chest. He wondered if she knew how restless she slept, never staying on her side of the bed. Somehow always ending up on his side, not that he minded.
Since he had been waking with her at his side, he found it harder for him to get out of bed. Unfortunately that was inevitable.
Since Eleanor had fallen asleep, he found himself unable to speak. Tomorrow — which was in two hours, was one that he feared, and fear wasn't a familiar emotion to him.
For his entire life, it had always been what it was. He would wake up everyday unsure if he would be alive by the end of it. It was such a constant worry, he had become desensitized to the entire ordeal.
But he felt like now he had something to live for, and not for someone else. He had always wanted to live because he knew his sister, brother, mother, and best friends relied on him. It was a passive motivation that only lay in his love for others.
But tonight, the tension that sat in his chest was a selfish cause. He wanted to live not because of Eleanor's attachment to him, but of his own attachment to her.
He would always be curious what it would be like to wake up to her for the rest of his life. To sire children with her and watch as they grew to adulthood. He was curious how he would handle having a family he created.
Would he be awful and absent like his own father? Or would his love resemble the love he felt from his older brother, Giuseppe. He hoped it would be the former, but he could spend hours on end thinking about it.
It what what made his chest so heavy as he lay there, uncertain of tomorrow. He wanted to return to Eleanor, despite his own mind running from the realization, in his heart he knew the truth.
He loved her. Even now as he lay there with Eleanor in his arms, he felt a contentment that he had hadn't felt since he was a child.
He had to come home to her.
After hours laying there without being able to fall asleep, Francesco knew it was time to make his way back towards the docks. The drive was already far away.
After thirty minutes of laying there, Francesco strategized a way to detach himself from his wife without waking her.
He could handle the look on her face when she realized that he was leaving. He slowly climbed from her arms, replacing himself with a pillow that Eleanor immediately hugged tighter when he was free from the bed.
He stood there, naked in the moonlight, staring down at her. He could feel his heart skip a beat as he watched her. Not before long, he pried his eyes away, reassuring himself that he would see her again soon.
Francesco dressed quietly, managing to sneak out of the home without Eleanor stirring. As he closed and locked the door behind him, Francesco buried any anxieties, hoping the end of his troubles would be today.
~*~
Francesco walked into his own home, frowning at the scene before him. His home was trashed, it would have appeared that Henri and Louis hadn't managed to make it here yet to clean. At the very least, he was glad Eleanor wasn't here to see the scene that lay before him.
Ignoring the mess in the living room, Francesco turned to Andreas, "What did you tell your friends?"
Andreas frowned, he was seated on the sofa, wringing his hands over and over again in anxiety. "They aren't my friends. But I told them they are meeting with someone who they think they can kill and rob."
"You're going to be an innocent civilian, my friend," Enzo said, clapping Francesco on the back, "That's a first;."
Francesco ignored Enzo, rolling his eyes and frowning at the drink in his hand. He refrained from commenting that the sun had barely risen and Enzo was on his second drink.
Now wasn't the time.
"You just need to stay alive long enough for the police to arrive." Giuseppe said. He had returned as soon as he heard word and spent the entire night thinking of every possible outcome. As much as Giuseppe would hate to admit it aloud, he was nervous too.
All of the men looking at Francesco with wary eyes, and despite his own emotions he held an icy resolve.
"That is doable." Francesco said with a sigh. He checked the Rolex on his wrist, a gift from Enzo, "I should leave now."
"Are you sure you don't want any back up?" Louis inquired, standing from his spot on the loveseat next to Henri.
Francesco shook his head, "It would only make Paolo and the police suspicious. I don't think a 'civilian' would walk into a common meeting with armed guards."
"They want to kill you, they may not care if the police are there." Henri commented, concern in his eyes.
Francesco shrugged, "Poi recita una preghiera e manda dei fiori a mia madre."
'Then say a prayer and send flowers to my mother.'
"And your wife?" Giuseppe asked with an accusatory glance. Francesco purposefully didn't answer, turning on the ball of his feet.
"I will call you when it is over with." He said dismissively before exiting the house just as quickly as he had entered.
~*~
Francesco climbed out of the driver seat of his car, locking the doors behind him as he made his way towards the front doors of Paolo's home. Paolo would have already been made aware of his arrival, as he had to sign in at the date a few meters away from the property line.
He could only assume that Paolo would've been relieved after failing to see anyone pull in behind Francesco.
There were two men standing at the door, they wore heavy frowns on their face and disregarded Francesco's presence. Instead of pausing, Francesco opened the door, seeing Paolo's back as he spoke to a random woman in his home.
He turned when he realized Francesco's presence and smiled, "Francesco, you are right on time, as always."
It took everything in him not to frown when he was greeted by the snake of a man. Instead, he managed a tight smile, shaking his hand and letting himself be pulled into the hug.
"Paolo, i assume you have a good reason to want to see me after breaking into my home." Francesco said.
At the very least, that part had been obvious, and he knew Paolo wouldn't be able to deny that fact.
"It is probably along the same lines as to why you didn't kill the rat I delivered to you. He couldn't caused me great trouble, but I am sure he still lives, no?"
"That is my business." Francesco said curtly, "What is it that you need?"
Paolo's facade almost cracked before he continued, "We have a shipment coming in, it is an unexpected one but I am eager for you to see the reward I have reaped for us both."
"And this couldn't be handled over the phone?"
"I understand your skepticism, but I have already agreed to put yesterday behind us. Today will be a sign of trust between us both." Paolo said, and his words were convincing.
Francesco felt the instinct that Paolo was being dishonest, but instead he shrugged, "Fine."
"We have to go to the docks."
"I couldn't have just met you there?" Francesco asked.
"No, we both have some trust to work on, and I don't want the police showing up unexpectedly."
"Fine," Francesco grabbed his keys from his pockets, making to go back to his car and follow.
"Actually, you will ride with me. My men will drive us."
"I have a car." Francesco said.
"Francesco, there is no need to make this difficult."
Difficult? Francesco thought, You are trying to fool me to my grave and call me difficult?
His jaw clenched and for a moment he wondered how many men he would have to kill as a result of shooting Paolo right there in his foyer.
Paolo made moves to exit the home and Francesco followed. The morning was still settling on the city. The wet dew from the night before was still on the plants.
Bees flew around the garden almost to the point of annoyance. Francesco climbed into the rear of the SUV that Paolo and his men boarded, sitting behind the driver seat.
In the rear, it had only been Paolo and Francesco, and as much as Francesco preferred silence, Paolo began to speak.
"I do want to apologize for yesterday, I gave me men specific orders but they did not obey — they are dead now."
"Your actions could have had my wife killed." Francesco pointed out, "I am far from accepting any apologies."
"I understand." Paolo said, turning to look out the window. For that Francesco was thankful. He spent the entire ride towards the docs deep in his own mind.
He had the intentions of this happening at Paolo's house. He hadn't expected Paolo to move the location at the last minute and he was sure that action had already screwed their plan.
With the police planning to be at the house, he truly would be isolated at the docks. He tried to think of ways out of this situation but it was far too late for a plan b.
They hadn't had the chance yet to think that far.
As the truck came to a stop Francesco realized all too soon that they had arrived to the docs. There were few people milling about at this hour on the weekends.
As most vessels were either docked for the weekend or in use, it left few patrons. Even then, those patrons were Paolo's own union workers who were more than willing to turn a blind eye at the sign of anything nefarious.
Francesco was the last to exit the vehicle, finding himself overdressed for the gravel walkway and dinginess of the docks.
One thing he failed to see was anything worth driving down here for. There had been four men walking before him as they went towards the building meant for processing shipments.
Inside of Paolo's building was empty aside from a few pallets sitting in the center of the the floor. The sounds of birds and waves were still audible from inside the building, echoing from the tall ceilings.
Francesco looked at the boxes curiously. He was feeling relieved that more men had not been with them and as he stood opposite of the others in the room, he had somewhat of the advantage.
On top of the pallets had been wooden boxes sealed numerous times, "What is this?"
Paolo waived to his men, "Let's open it and see."
Two of the four men with Paolo walked over to the crates with crowbars and began prying them open. His own curiosity got the best of him and Francesco moved closer.
"This was a deal that took me quite some time to acquire, but when the right time came, I couldn't help but jump on it."
Francesco frowned at the boxes as the lids were removed. Inside, surrounded by straw and what appeared to be home appliances were guns. If he had to assume, the other crates would carry more and even more ammo.
His eyebrows furrowed in confusion. It was damn near impossible to get guns into the country undetected, and the risk of arms dealing had never seemed to level up to the reward.
If anything, the police were on their way here now. Weapons were like a beacon and the only people Francesco knew to successfully deal arms were majorly from America, where the weapons were sold like candy.
That led Francesco to his next question, "Who got these here?"
"That is not important." Paolo said.
"It actually is, you brought a bullseye right to your own property." Francesco pointed towards the crate.
"That is not any of your concern, my friend."
Francesco had been distracted just enough fro one of the men with Paolo to get behind him, he heard the sound of a weapon clicking and the chill of the barrel at the base of his neck.
Francesco frowned and looked towards Paolo, "Why did I know this would happen?"
"If you knew, you wouldn't have come." Paolo pointed out, "Unless, of course, you had a plan that resulted in half of the queens police outside of my home."
Francesco cursed himself, he should've known his instinct was right and he should have acted on it before. His disappointment doubled when another person walked into the room. A familiar face that Francesco had always detested to see especially now.
Even Paolo seemed surprised by his presence.
"Luca, I didn't expect you." Paolo said.
Of course Luca was in on this. Luca walked in wearing clothes oddly causal for what he usually wore. Behind him were half a dozen men, as they approached the group, the men pulled out guns of their own.
"I wanted to make sure your gift arrived as planned before I leave." Luca said, shooting Francesco a cocky grin, "Francesco." He greeted.
He had half the mind in him to pull out his gun and shoot Luca where he stood, be damned of the consequences.
"You're right on time for the last part of our plan." Paolo said grinning at Francesco and rearming his gun.
"I know." Luca said. With a flick of his wrist, Luca stepped away and to Francesco's own shock one of the men behind Luca aimed his gun at Paolo and fired.
The shock of the action caused the others working for Paolo to hesitate before gun fire erupted. Francesco ducked, moving behind the crates to avoid the gun fire while pulling out his own weapon.
After the first shot, the men gathered their bearings, all ducking for cover and shooting for an advantage. While this happened, Luca stepped over Paolo's fallen body casually, pulling weapons off of him.
His men too busy protecting his idiocy, Francesco began firing, hoping to take out as many of Paolo's men as possible before figuring out what Luca here for.
One.
Two — miss.
Three.
Four.
The final man lay on the ground the first shot, but non lethal. Francesco finally stood from his spot, relieved to see that the men with Luca hadn't turned on him.
Francesco walked over to the fallen man, he struggled to reach for his gun just inches away from his reach. Francesco stepped on his wrist.
"I think this is the point where you say 'thank you' Luca." Francesco looked up to Luca, preparing to show him his ire when another gun shot went off, and not from himself.
Francesco immediately felt a hot searing pain shoot up through his chest then engulf his entire body. Luca's cocky grin changed to horror as he realized the man Francesco stood over had fired another gun at Luca's distraction.
Francesco first saw Luca kill the man with a gun in his own hand and then he fell himself falling.
And unfortunately the last thing saw walk Luca standing over him with a worrying look on his face.