“She doesn’t.” Dominic spoke up. “She’s taken to bed sick with worry.”
Giovanni sighed. “Today Dominic and my men will do a ride with you. Tour every spot he’s known to visit. Speak to everyone. If he doesn’t turn up in two days we will alert the authorities,” Giovanni said. He rose with Eve in his arms. He walked over to Franco’s father. “You need to rest. Let your sons handle the search, I promise you we will do whatever we can to find him.” He patted the elder gentleman’s shoulder. The man took his hand and kissed his ring. “Bless you Don Battaglia. Please find my son.”
“Grazie, Don Battaglia.” Junior and his brother’s all said in unison.
Eve dropped her forehead on his cheek, and he could sense her tiring. He left the men and their worry to Dominic. Giovanni couldn’t help but notice how effortlessly Dominic managed the lie.
Mira sat up in bed. The door opened and Giovanni stepped in with a sleeping Eve in his arms. She watched him curiously as he returned their daughter back to her room. “Where were you two?” she asked.
Giovanni shed his robe and tossed it aside, then removed his pajama pants. “She spent some time with her father,” he answered.
“Everything okay?”
“It is now,” he said easing under the covers with her. Mira slipped down under the blankets and moved in close to him. Giovanni folded his arms around her. She rested and soon let his embrace lull her back to sleep. A smile settled over her face. She appreciated the fact that he was such an active father. Giovanni truly valued his role in their daughter’s life. It was good for them both.
****
The ringing phone drew him out of his thoughts. Kei rose from the sofa and answered. “Why haven’t you called?”
“It takes time.” Cheung replied.
“No! Time is something we don’t have!” Kei kicked the chair in front of him.
“Something happen I should know about?”
Kei wiped a hand down his face. He spent every hour on the hour with a gun in his hand. He’s had to answer too many questions from the authorities. Just this morning the F.B.I. visited him and asked a few questions about the Verseci family out of Brooklyn, and somehow that conversation turned to Mira. One agent in particular by the name of David Muntz has had a hard-on for him since Mira’s supposed death. The tall burly man with greying temples and hard features didn’t buy his home invasion tale. Lucky for Kei the code of silence that mafia pig took made it easy to craft. He sat in a cell with a bullet in his leg, silent. This only meant Giovanni Battaglia would send someone else to finish the job.
“What is it?” Cheung asked.
“A hit. On me.”
“Interesting.”
“No! It’s not fucking interesting! You’ve been in Italy for several days now and not a word. What the fuck is going on?”
“Things are complicated. We have an ally. Tomorrow there is a meeting in Naples with Giovanni Battaglia. He will be dead before that meeting ends.”
“Then do it fast! I want Mira and my baby here by Christmas day!” he slammed the phone down. Kei sat in the chair and rested his .45 in his lap. He dropped his head back and released a deep sigh.
Chapter Thirteen
Giovanni barely had time for his morning shot of espresso before walking out of the door. He left his soon to be wife in bed asleep. To wake her would only delay him. Every morning he managed to make love to her before they started the day. Now with Christmas near he felt even more nostalgic about their ritual.
“Buon giorno,” Lorenzo said in a gruff voice as Giovanni slammed the door to the car and reclined the seat. Lorenzo drove around the parked cars in their drive and headed south. Two cars followed with four of his men in each. “Change of plans. I arranged for us to meet near the ruins of Trajan in Benevento. Tourism should be light, enough to keep the meeting civil.”
“Why there?” Giovanni asked.
“I can control the meeting when our enemies are unprepared.”