Chapter 3

Izabella

"I'm sorry you have to suffer this today, baby girl." My father's arms were warm, comforting, healing.

"I'm sorry too, Daddy." I glanced up at him and pressed my teeth into my bottom lip. I'd cried twice in my life, and I didn't plan on doing it again. Once was the night Demetri put up boundaries in our young relationship, and the second time was this morning for my beautiful mother. She was the only warmth in our large fortress, the only soft place to land. And now she was gone, and I was alone.

"I shouldn't have let her go alone that day. I felt something in the pit of my stomach that told me not to let her, and I ignored it. I hate myself right now." His voice was nothing more than a whisper as his eyes filled with tears. "We'll get through this together though, right?"

The mountain of a man before me was soon to crumble under the weight of his devastation. I had to get him home and spare him the public audience for his fall.

"Yes, Dad. We will get through it. We'll all rally around you like we always do, and vengeance will be mine." I touched the side of his face and let out a painful sigh.

"Ours." He gave a smile that seemed forced.

"Mine." I pressed a kiss to his cheek and moved back to see Demetri talking with my brothers. My eyes moved over the broad line of his shoulders as I tried to stifle thoughts of him holding me that morning. I hadn't meant to break down, but in the midst of him losing his own mother, it was just too much.

His words were kind, his hands strong, his lips so damn soft in my bedroom. I'd wanted so badly to take advantage of him lowering the wall between us a little. I needed to slide between the momentary crack in the structure that kept us at arm’s length and reach for him as a woman might a man.

"Are you coming home with us?" My father moved away from me and lifted his fist to his mouth as he coughed a few times.

"Of course." I offered him my hand and tucked myself against his side as we walked toward the cars, ignoring the boys. They would catch up a few minutes later.

"Joe. Hey, buddy. I'm so sorry for your loss. We'll be digging into this case deeply for you. I'm going to get Jonathan to pull the files, and if you need any insight or need anything — " Armstrong Kelley was one of my father's closest friends, and a retired captain for the police force. His son, Jonathan, was a detective on the force, and a damn good one. If only we could get Armstrong to pull Jonathan to our side — but Jon seemed to be a very different man from his father.

I glanced over my shoulder to watch D tug my little brother toward his car instead of coming with us. Demetri was a man of very little patience and a large personality that demanded attention. He had been in my life for as long as I could remember, and there wasn't a time when I didn't long for him to be so much more than a partner in crime. He was every wet dream I'd ever had. Tall, dark and handsome was what the girls in college used to say, but he was so much more than that. His dark features only accented his dominate alpha male persona.

More than anything, I loved to press up against his will and make him sweat at the idea that I had the power to bend it.

Marco walked over and stood beside me and wrapped an arm over my shoulders. "You know you two will be married one day."

"Fuck you," I mumbled and continued to watch D and Freddy.

"Be as pissy as you'd like about it, but Mother was right. You were made for each other. We'll just see which of you finally decides that being lonely is a game best played in one’s youth." He turned and kissed the side of my head. "I'm here for you. You know that, right?"

I shifted a little and wrapped my arms around my brother's waist. "Yeah, I know. I'm here for you too."

"I'm still in shock, I think." He rubbed my shoulder softly. "The last thing Mom told me was to make sure I called the bakery and had them spell Castaletta right for Dad's cake."

He snorted, and I swallowed my need to cry again. Not happening.

"It's not a common name, is it?" I glanced up at my brother and smiled. He looked so much like our mother with his dark features. His jet-black hair was from Mama’s side of the family, but his soulless eyes came from Daddy all the way.

"What are you looking at me like that for?" He tapped his finger on the tip of my nose and smiled down at me.

Marco. The one forever wanting to save us all from ourselves.

"I like the mustache and the little beard under your chin, but what is this?" I reached up and pinched the small patch of black hair that sat under his lip.

He yelped and jerked away from me as I laughed, unable to help myself.

"Damn. That hurt like fire. You unruly witch." He reached for me and wrapped me back into a tight hug. "I'm going to get you back for that."

"Oh yeah?" I lifted an eyebrow and reached for it again.

"Stop it." He swatted at me and moved back, rubbing his lip and giving me a dark look that promised retribution. "I'll tell Demetri you love him."

"He knows." I shrugged and turned to watch Demetri pop Freddy in the back of the head. "How could I not love him? He takes care of Daddy and runs our operation with an intensity that says he's all in."

"You love him because he's a good-looking man."

"And he has a fat cock." I shrugged and popped my brother in the chest as he turned and stuck his finger in this mouth, gagging himself. "Come on. Let's get Dad home."

"Yes. And don't ever say another word to me about Demetri. I won’t be able to look at him the same."

"Are you jealous of his assets?" I glanced behind me as my brother rolled his eyes.

"Not in a million years. A tool that is often used is far better than a bejeweled one that never sees the light of day."

I didn't grant him a response. Besides, he was enjoying himself far too much judging by his low snickers.

"Where's Freddy?" My father asked as he held the door to the car open for us.

I shrugged and climbed into the back seat of the Buick stretch limo first and slid over, making room for Marco.

He reached over and helped me work my shoulders out of my heavy winter coat as Father climbed in and sat across from us.

"He's with D. They're stopping by the store and then coming to the house. Freddy needs a break from everything, you know?" Marco spoke, pulling on his seatbelt and looking over at me, his eyebrow going up.

I rolled my eyes and pulled on my seatbelt as well, grumbling about the uselessness of them. Being strapped in a metal box while it rolled around was the most unethical decision made by the government. I'd have forgone mine, but my father would have given me hell over it.

"Freddy always seems to need a break. When is that damned boy going to grow up?" Dad's face was worn and ragged from emotion as he dragged his hand down the front of it.

"Hey, Dad, lay off of him today, all right? It's just going to cause a lot of drama you don't want if you start pushing him around and shit." Marco slid his hands down his thighs to cup his knees.

"Pushing him around? Someone needs to push him around. Did you see him today? I wonder if we're making any money off the drug ring or if your damned brother is smoking away the profits."

"I'm sure D will take care of it. He's a hard-ass, and I know he realized that Freddy was high... again." I added in my two cents, not really caring if Freddy was high or if D realized it. My mother was dead, and things would never be the same. Her murder had forever changed our lives, etching pain and sadness across us like a heavy wet blanket. The momentary break for a short laugh with Marco moments before was gone, and reality set back in.

"Ehhh, enough of that." My father sighed and slumped down in his seat, his hand coming up to rub his eyes as Marco reached over and took my hand.

"I can't believe this shit is happening, or really happened," Marco mumbled.

Dad looked up, the emotion on his once-handsome face breaking my heart. "What are we going to do?"

"We're going to find the bastards that did this and make them and everyone they love pay, Papa," Marco spoke softly, his hand squeezing mine as the air seemed to grow impossibly thick around us.

I nodded my agreement as my father's eyes shifted toward me. "We'll figure this out, Dad. It's going to take a little bit of time, but one thing is for sure, we need someone on the police force who can help us understand what they know."

"Well one thing’s for damn sure. They aren't going to give us information if we just ask for it, even if it was my wife that died. Armstrong made it seem easy, but you and I know that we need a rat on the force. His son would be perfect."

"Then we plant a rat. How hard can it be?" Marco dropped my hand and crossed his arms over his chest as the car pulled onto the freeway.

"Harder than you think," I whispered and looked out the other window. The city was busy for a rainy midday afternoon. Our lives had changed substantially over the last few days, and yet the world continued to spin, people living their blissfully ignorant existences and seemingly unaware of the evil that lurked just outside their windows.

I couldn't help but wonder if Mother had gone to Heaven, or if there even was a Heaven. We'd gone to the Catholic church a few times, Mama making us on special holidays and services, but she herself went all the time. Every Sunday without fail.

"You think Mama's in Heaven?" I whispered without realizing that I'd spoken it aloud.

"Of course she is. I don't know a more devout woman to God and family than your mama, Izzy." My father spoke before moving toward us and nudging me to move over.

He slipped in beside me and sandwiched me between himself and Marco. I couldn't help but find comfort in the contact.

My dad wrapped his arm around my shoulders and pulled me closer. "It's going to be hard to move past all of this, and we'll never forget the beauty and love that was your mother, but we will make it — together, like we always do."

Marco turned and nodded. "Dad's right. We will find these bastards, avenge Mama’s death and reign hell across this city like they've never seen before."

I leaned back and listened to the conversation as it continued between my father and eldest brother. I wanted to be at the center of it all and knew that both my brothers and my father would support me in doing just that.

"I need to kill someone," I mumbled.

Dad laughed, and Marco shook his head, looking back out the window.

"That's my girl. I have just the fellow. He owes me two million dollars, and he's disappeared."

"I'm not in the mood to chase my prey."

"Well, good, because he'll be at the Moonlight Bar tonight at eleven, so don't chase him; just kill him."

I sat up and gave my dad my full attention. "How did you get the tip that he'd be there?"

My father smiled and almost looked like himself again. "Because... Under a pseudonym, I invited him. He'll be there for sure."