Assigned to Her [Mafioso Book#4]

Chapter XXXIII: Killer

Cars whizzed by on the roads, pedestrians going about their day with high rise infrastructures leering down at their rushing figures. There was one such infrastructure, one of the tallest in the area, whose top floor encased in glass. The sunlight pouring in through the glass illuminated a large and spacious office where two men stood on either side of a mahogany table, peering over a blueprint laid out between them, discussing and making notes about the plans.

One of them stood with his back to the window, sunlight streaming in and casting his figure in a shadow with another standing across from him, scribbling onto a notebook in his hand.

Both of them had been so engrossed in their discussion that they gave a jump when the office doors suddenly burst open, a third man staggering inside. Both men reached for their guns on instinct but relaxed to recognize Tazio's figure hunched in the doorway, breathless and winded from what appeared to be his run here. Seeing his state, both men knew something was wrong.

Piero instantly rolled up the blue print, putting it away while Salvatore gathered his things, ready to leave and knowing that he'd be debriefed of the situation in the car.

Handing his bags to the man in front of him, Salvatore slipped his hands into his slacks pockets and began his way to the door, expecting Tazio to follow.

"I am so sorry..." Tazio choked out, still hunched over and his forearm over his mouth. The Mafia Boss freezing a step behind him at the words. "Salvatore...I am so sorry..."

"They're hurt..." The second-in-command straightened his back to the Mafia Boss who stood waiting for him to tell him who was hurt.

"Who was hurt, Tazio?" The Don asked calmly, looking over his shoulder at the man at his back, watching him turn to face him with an ashen face and trembling lips. "Tell me,"

"Victoria and Demetrio..." He spoke hardly above a whisper, the names tumbling out as he stared down at the floor beneath him, the dark wood being illuminate by the pouring sunlight that felt too sharp on his back with the Mafia Boss before him. "They...Mattia and Tonio were taking them back to the estate from school and this...this car just came out of nowhere and rammed into them and, and, and...I'm so sorry..."

"Does Nicole know?"

"Yes, she's on her way to the hospital as we-"

"-Targeted?"

"-Targe-yes, yes, it was a targeted attack,"

"Have you found the man?"

"Working on it,"

"Let me know the moment you have him," Salvatore commanded and stalked out of his office, taking the elevator down.

Even though it was his personal elevator and bigger than most, the space felt too small, too suffocating as he dug his short clipped nails into his palms, trying to get his mind out of the muddles haze of a parent's anxiety and try and look at this more clearly. Try to figure out who knew about his children's existence, who knew and who would be targeting them.

His children, his baby girl, his princess and his knight in shining armor. His Victoria and his Demetrio. A seven and five year old child, who have done nothing be born to Salvatore's name and reputation.

The realization of them having been in a car crash, and the fear they must have gone through, the trauma of being caught in such an ordeal, the injuries they must have suffered, the pain they must be feeling.

Salvatore knew the way his heart squeezed in his chest and the way his lungs constricted was nothing compared to the pain his children were suffering. His emotional wounds were nothing compared to the physical manifestations of their ordeal. His helplessness to realize that he wasn't there, that he couldn't have helped them. Being unable to protect them from such an attack made him feel inadequate, not worthy of being a Mafia Boss to the biggest crime syndicate, nor to be called 'daddy' by his two beautiful and innocent children.