𝐅𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬 ( 𝐁𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐎𝐧𝐞)

𝐓𝐰𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐲 -𝐒𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧- 𝐁𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐓𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐞

𝐋𝐮𝐜𝐚

After the brief. The security details leave the room and the family is left alone. The room is silent but just a few crackle, and babble of us while adjusting the small ear pieces that came with the guns.

"Are you going to be okay?" the question was directed to the three women huddled together looking shrank, horrified, and out of place.

They don't say anything at first, they look confused, bewildered, but their eyes are fixed on uncle Raph.

"It's not as bad as it seems?" he comforts them. They nod in unison but remain seated.

"Come on, we need to go." I watch them take a few seconds to get up, how they each look at the guns put on the table in front of them as if they were afraid they would burst into frames when they touch them even though they each knew how to use a gun.

It's okay to learn it in theory, to laugh while doing it in case you might need the skill in the future, but a whole different case when the future is a few minutes away. To be confronted with a life your children are about to inherit especially since you are aware of the danger, the darkness that lives within it is not something any loving mother wants to live through.

Eventually, they stand, pull their guns and with trembling hands shove them in their pockets.

"The children are not afraid, you need to put your faith in them." uncle Bruno says. My mother scowls at him, and he hides a smile. It's the first real smile I have seen on him perhaps since they got the news that Charlie was dead.

When we leave the room, the security steps aside, parting like the red sea, like it's choreographed to allow us to step in the middle. It's moving time as we walk through the corridors of the Trippe B wines offices. I find myself relieved that most employees are inside the offices, just a few here and there, gawking at our entourage. I imagine its fascinating to watch.

The cars in the parking lot are many. It's a convoy that displays wealth and power to the outside eye, but to us, and those that understand the danger, the risk of being in organized crime can tell it's more than that. It shows tight security—a shield, a barricade so high it was impregnable. In a way, it scares me to know that this kind of travelling and security will be needed for the rest of my life.

I let out an excited sigh when I see the cars that lined up for us. They are new, we are so used to travelling in range rovers that having a different model is both exciting and anxious. My brain can't stop thinking of the reason. My father opens the first one parked at the exit—a Mercedes S600 Guard. All of them are black and beautiful.

Our travelling arrangement Is strategic just like everything else we've been through so far. My dad starts the car, and I can see him adjusting the mirrors and his seat before he reversed it until he stops beside uncle Raph and then he gets out, leaving the engine running. Uncle Raph slides into the back seat and his wife, aunt Soph sits beside him. In the passenger's seat, sits Emanuele—he is tall, with a golden head, a tattoo of an opened mouth of a tiger on the right side of his neck, the sharp teeth of the animal looking as menacing as he was. Matteo once said he is an assassin on retainer for the family, which is not shocking or surprising.

I get in beside Lia. Matteo is driving our car with Dev beside him.

My mother is in the same car with aunt Mia, and uncle Rom.

When we are all ready, the convoy starts its descent. A few cars in front, the family in the middle and a few others at the back.

When we arrive at the venue, we are shown where to part. I could tell the people directing the mourners must know my family, it's on their faces—the reverence.