The Brothers' Mission[Sequel](18+)

Chapter Twenty Six

Dominic

I hate the smell of funeral homes. The combination of flowers and chemicals makes my guts churn. Add the overpowering perfumes of my father's sisters, and I'm ready to yak. Each scent lingers on my clothing long after their tight hugs.

I always knew we would bury my father long before his life would end naturally. Occupational hazard and all. It doesn't make it any easier to accept though. I guess I kind of held out on some sort hope that it wouldn't actually come down to a bullet in his skull. Damn me for having that kind of hope. It's only good for letting a person down.

I wish I felt something more than anger though. I want to grieve. I need to mourn his loss so that I can move on emotionally and continue my life. But instead, I keep replaying the scene over and over again; the exact moment his life was snuffed out is stuck on repeat in my mind.

He surrendered. He made me surrender. And goddamnit, Amaris begged for our lives to be spared and offered her cooperation in return. That fuckface can never be trusted for any sort of deal. That shit is absolutely off the table. He shit all over the meaning of it when he immediately executed my father mere seconds after saying it.

I know there's bad blood between our families when there was once years of peace and a truce. I know my dad broke it. He said he had good reason and I trust that he did. This is going to turn into an all out war and more casualties will occur.

And I've had enough funerals the last couple of weeks. I will pay my respects to all of our men that lost their life by our side, but it doesn't make this any easier. The more I attend, the more emotionally shut off I feel. I'm getting used to only knowing how to be angry.

Being angry is helping distract me from missing Amaris as much. At least I know they will keep her alive; they wouldn't have gone through all this kind of trouble otherwise. I just hope that knife to her back didn't cause permanent damage. That would be a tough adjustment for anyone, and a woman like her... it would devastate on extreme levels probably. She's so headstrong and independent, that something that would take away her own capabilities, would break her. Well, break her more. She's already got a beaten down look to her. Her lack of freedom has been the first step in that. I can't even bring myself to think of what else they are doing to her without having the urge to rage out. My healing leg isn't fit for that yet though, and using a cane to help walk right now is another quick reminder of my limits.

I take a seat next to my mother. Seeing my mother so stony faced and brave is a slight relief. It's also a bit of a shock in comparison to her usual gentle appearance, but she's doing what she must to remain strong.

My sisters sit next to her, one next to the other. Maria's eyes are swollen and red rimmed, but she's not in hysterics. She's got her arm around Miranda's shoulders protectively. Her embrace is also providing a bit of comfort.

Miranda's eyes though. They hold such loathing and malice. She was a daddy's girl and the fact that she hasn't had a breakdown yet, makes me nervous. I expected her to need some sort of sedative to cope. But so far, just tears and cursed words. She's plotting something and it will no doubt end badly for her because she would be out of her depth.

My sisters aren't ignorant to this life. They haven't been groomed to be 'mafia wives' though, unlike my female cousins.

They both work legally for the family. Maria has been doing accounting alongside a couple more accountants for the family businesses across our territory and my Uncle DeMarco's territory. Miranda just bar tends and attends college. They really aren't suited to retaliate if either one were to try.

I eye Miranda's hands as she continuously clenches them into fists and opens them again. Over and over. I glance over at where Damon is standing at the head of our father's casket. I jerk my chin toward our youngest sister and his eyes track my movement. He knits his brows for a moment before nodding at me once. He continues talking to our Uncle DeMarco, no doubt discussing a time to hold a meeting about us stepping up into our father's place. It's a patriarchal family business and our mother wouldn't be allowed to permanently run things. Uncle DeMarco only heads the family territory in Philadelphia because he married our Aunt Gianna; my father's eldest sister.

We are at a quiet funeral home, about an hour away from our home. Our dad's wishes were to be laid to rest at the Sorrentino family mausoleum. We have men guarding each door in case someone tries to take advantage of our time of loss. No doubt the word has spread of our father's demise.

I should be up there next to Damon but my leg isn't feeling the best today after being cramped in the car. My mother was up there for a while, but I know she's feeling overwhelmed. She's l ready voiced how she doesn't know how to live without our father. They were together since junior high.

Grabbing my mother's hand, I bring it in to hold between both of mine. She looks at me and offers a sad smile before she sniffles and looks back toward father's casket.

We sit in silence, watching the many family members file in and take a seat, as well as our family's crew members as a collective unit.

My father was a well respected leader and this is just the beginning of what I'm sure will be a nasty war.

"Hey," Luca says gently as he sits next to me. His father takes a stand next to Damon and a couple of Luca's friends stand awkwardly nearby.

I sure take note of that cocksucker Cole being here. He's only alive because he has stepped in to help and he did help control the bleeding from my gunshot wound.

He's still a prick.

I glance around looking for his wife and daughter. It's too dangerous to leave them behind and he knows that, but I don't see them. "Where's Shelly and Madi?" I take another quick look.

He jerks a thumb over his shoulder. "In the restroom with my mom. Madi was crying and we didn't want to draw attention." He cringed and patted my shoulder apologetically before getting up and taking a seat further in the back with his other friends.

As the time goes on, more of my uncles gather near Damon and the discussion starts to move them further away from my father's casket. Business talk. Perhaps I should limp my ass over and join them now.

I lean over and whisper to my mother where I'll be and notice Miranda's seat is empty.

"Ma, where's Miranda?"

She looks toward the vacant chair. "She was just here. Maria? Where's your sister?"

Maria snaps her attention to the both of us, clearly having been in a daze. "I'm not sure. I'll go look for her." She starts to stand but I put my hand up.

"You stay. I'll go find her." With a quick peck on my mother's cheek, I head toward Damon as quickly as I can manage with my bum leg and cane.

He must notice something is off because he excuses himself from the crowd of uncles and meets me halfway. "What's wrong? You look like you're about to start shooting at people."

"Miranda just slipped away without anyone noticing. Where the fuck could she have gone?" I'm not in the mood to go on a hunt tonight, and I'm really not in the mood to find out if she's lost her goddamn mind and took off during our father's wake to try and exact some revenge.

Damon exhales loudly. "Let's go. If she starts this disappearing shit, she's going to be assigned a permanent guard detail," he says, clearly annoyed. "Once father is laid to rest, we have a lot of matters to tend to with the family. The uncles just couldn't fucking wait."

Like I didn't see that coming.