Chapter 17

CHAPTER 17

Garrison

The funeral for Alex's father lasted three hours. It was a grand event, though not excessive, and I was surprised by how normal everything was. I'd attended plenty of funerals in my life—the field crosses tattooed around my arm could attest to that—and this one stood out only because of the number of people in attendance.

Less than a week had passed since Alex's kidnapping, and I was still on edge as I kept one eye on everything from the side of the chapel. Like most traditional catholic cathedrals, the building had been designed with aesthetic in mind more than safety. There were plenty of doorways and little hidden alcoves where someone could hide.

Plus, the distractingly ornate decorations didn't help. To me, it seemed like every praying statue and painted cherub was actually an enemy lurking in the shadows.

If I was still seeing a therapist, they would probably diagnose me with hypervigilance, but as far as I was concerned, there was no such thing as being too vigilant when someone was actually out to kill you.

Or kill Alex, which was basically the same thing.

Finally, with the afternoon sun creeping lower and lower through the stained-glass windows, the funeral came to an end. Some people left immediately, but all the Mariano family and everyone closely associated with them, were invited to a reception in the church's attached greenhouse. Small tables had been set up along the pathway to provide refreshments, encouraging guests to mingle among the flowers.

Alex posted himself under a large rose trellis at the far end of the greenhouse, and I stood just a step behind.

We stayed there, finding camaraderie in silence as they watched over the reception. There were several people present who I recognized. Alex's uncle was a blight upon the crowd, while Ghita mingled easily. Meanwhile, Valente stayed off to the side in a similar position to a bodyguard. The man seemed motionless, but every now and then his gaze flickered over toward Alex.

Although, if one watched carefully, they would see Valente's gaze slip past Alex's shoulder to land on me, as if he couldn't quite process what he was seeing.

I was careful not to meet the man's gaze.

There were also several family members who I had never seen before but were easy to identify. Alex's mother shared a very similar bone structure with her son, especially when she was scowling.

Apparently, she didn't approve of the last-minute change to hold the reception in the greenhouse, but Alex had insisted.

However, there were still many more people I didn't recognize. If I wanted to stay by Alex's side, I'd have to learn all their identities eventually, but for now, I treated everyone as a potential threat.

After the crowd had been allowed to socialize for a while, Alex stole everyone's attention by tapping one of his silver rings against the side of a champagne glass.

"Everyone. Thank you for coming. I'd like to say a few words."

What followed was the most standard speech I had ever heard. It didn't even specifically sound like it belonged at a funeral. Alex's speech could have just as easily been presented at a wedding, an award ceremony, or a court appearance, and it would have made equal sense.

Technically, nothing Alex said was insulting or untrue about his father, so no one had a reason to complain, but it was also obviously pointless.

A bit of excitement came when the greenhouses sprinklers suddenly turned on, watering the various plants and the guests as well. Everyone shouted, ducking under jackets and purses in an attempt to stay dry. The light spray raining down on them drifted through the air like mist, clinging to everything it touched.

Alex didn't even try to hide. He just stood under the falling water and laughed.

"Well, I guess that's my father's way of telling me to get on with it." The sprinklers shut off just as Alex raised his glass, toasting the sky as if it were a person.

Everyone followed him, though not everyone drank. Many were too suspicious to consume strange food or drink, even among their so-called family.

Considering what had happened to Alex, that was probably a good idea.

Alex took a quick sip of his own champagne, glancing toward me with a smirk, then set his glass aside.

"Now, I'm sure everyone is wondering what happens now. There has been some... confusion these last few weeks. Please rest assured, I am fully capable of taking over my father's position. In fact, I plan to start by reviewing all my father's previous dealings and plans in order to become better acquainted with the responsibilities expected of me." His expression twitched into a half-smile, and light glinted off the new silver ring in his eyebrow. "I assure you, no detail will go overlooked."

While the words sounded reassuring, a murmur of discontent passed over the crowd. Most people knew what Alex really meant.

No one was safe.

Not even those previously approved by David Russo. Any business that Alex didn't like would be dealt with accordingly.

Lorenz Mariano, Alex's uncle, looked especially upset, gripping his champagne glass so hard that the stem was in danger of breaking. I kept an especially close eye on the man and my fingers briefly twitched toward my gun.

However, Alex's uncle gave them no problems.

Instead, it was Valente who stepped forward from where he'd been hiding under the shade of a dogwood tree. His shoulders were stiff, as if his skeleton had been replaced with iron. It threw off his gait, so he didn't move with the same dangerous grace as usual.

"While we're all glad to hear that you're taking your role seriously, Alex. I think I speak for everyone when I say that a funeral is not an appropriate time for business."

A muscle in my jaw twitched as I ground my teeth together. Referring to Alex by his first name in such a formal setting, like he was addressing a child, was a blatant sign of disrespect. The man was too smart to have done such a thing by accident. He was intentionally trying to undermine Alex in front of all their family and allies.

"Oh, come now," Ghita interrupted, stepping up next to Valente. "Where else will he get a chance to address all of us? The family rarely gets together at the same time. I'm sure Uncle David would understand."

She slapped Valente on the shoulder in what looked like a friendly gesture, but the hit was unusually hard. Even from a distance, I could tell she'd put all the strength of her five-foot frame into that slap.

Valente shouted in surprise and staggered, grimacing as he clutched his shoulder.

My hand made contact with my gun. I was ready to charge forward, but Alex gestured for me to stay put.

With narrowed eyes, Alex left the frame of the rose trellis to stalk toward Valente with slow, measured steps.

"Something wrong, Valente? Are you injured?"

Before the man could answer, Alex grabbed the front of his shirt, popping off the buttons as he tore it open. There was a moment of struggle, but Alex managed to remove enough of Valente's jacket and shirt to reveal his shoulder wrapped in bandages.

Valente slapped Alex's hand away and pulled his clothing back into place.

"It's nothing. Just an accident."

"Oh, I agree." Alex tried to prod Valente's shoulder again, but the man dodged out of the way. "The gunmen at the aquarium didn't mean to shoot you. That's where it happened, right? When you were covering us so Garrison and I could escape?"

The rest of the greenhouse had gone so quiet, Alex and Valente may as well have been the only two people present. Even the plants seemed to be holding their breath.

As the pair stared each other down, I snuck a little closer, so I stood at Alex's back. From that angle, I couldn't see Alex's face, but the other man's tone of voice spoke volumes.

"When we questioned the survivors from that little shootout, they said they accidentally shot the man who hired them." Instead of the serious tone one would expect from a person accusing someone of betrayal, Alex spoke with a light tone of someone imparting a fun bit of gossip. "At first, I thought that was a lie meant to point us toward the Bianchi family, but then I realized something."

His sentence turned cold at the end, like stepping through a hole in the ice and falling into dark water below.

"My mother is good at what she does." He passed a nod to the woman in question standing just a few feet away. "She knows how to get a confession out of someone. She would never fall for a lie, so what the gunmen said must be true. They did accidentally shoot their employer, and it was not the Bianchi family. So, do you want to tell us, in your own words, where you got that bullet wound?"

Before anyone could move, Valente suddenly lunged, but he didn't aim for Alex. Instead, he grabbed Ghita, wrapping one arm around her throat from behind and pressing a gun to her head with the other hand.

Everyone around them jumped back. Many pulled out their own weapons, though they weren't sure where to aim.

I remained at Alex's side, my gun halfway out of its holster. Drawing it would be useless. I didn't trust my aim enough to shoot Valente without hitting Ghita.

Would a head on confrontation work better?

It might at least distract Valente enough to get the gun pointed away from Ghita.

No, Valente would likely just end up shooting Ghita before she could escape.

Despite the tense atmosphere, Valente's hands were steady as he pressed the gun a little harder into Ghita's temple.

"Accusing me of attacking this family. How did you come up with such an assumption?"

Rather than get upset, Alex turned his back on the entire situation and went over to the nearest table to pour himself another glass of champagne.

"You were surprisingly sloppy. Once I started thinking that it might be you, everything fell into place. You were at the aquarium, and you distracted my bodyguard right before someone took a shot at me, but you didn't try to protect me until it looked like I might survive. You're one of the few people who can get close enough to drug me and has enough authority to come and go as he pleases. You even helped interrogate the gunmen, where you could conveniently kill anyone who said too much."

Swirling the champagne in the glass, Alex watched the bubbles for a moment before he continued.

"When D'Angelo Bianchi also got shot, the opportunity to use him as a scapegoat was too perfect to ignore, wasn't it? Unfortunately, using a drug only the Bianchi family have access to, and burying me on their property was a little too obvious to be believed."

In the end, Alex put the glass down without taking a sip and turned back to face Valente. He smiled, and Valente's finger tightened on the trigger.

I wanted to smack Alex.

What was he doing, antagonizing the man pointing a gun at his cousin's head?

"You've got no proof," Valente said, but even he didn't sound convinced. He knew this audience didn't require proof. The Mariano family lived by their own law.

Alex acted as if Valente hadn't said anything. "The one thing I can't figure out is why. Why try to kill me? Initially, I thought it was because you didn't want me to take over the family. But your first attempt on my life came before my father was dead. Before I even knew he'd been arrested. You've always been loyal to this family. So why?"

For the first time since I had met the man, Valente's hands shook. The barrel of the gun jerked against Ghita's temple, making her whimper, but she didn't flinch or try to pull away.

Valente's eyes turned to chips of flint, like hard bits of stone with no life inside. He calmed down by breathing deep through his nose.

"I wasn't loyal to the Mariano family. I was loyal to David. I've spent years as his shadow, and I was happy to do it because I thought that was where I belonged. A mafia king needs a wife and an heir to maintain power. He needs to be respected, and a relationship like ours... it wouldn't be respected." His hand faltered for a moment, dropping a few inches like he'd forgotten about the gun he was holding.

I crept forward, ready to yank Ghita out of the way, but before I could get close enough, Valente snapped back to attention.

"It was all fine, until you came along, refusing the respectable marriage arranged for you. Wearing your deviance like a badge of honor. And David just accepted it. He let you live the open life he never allowed for us."

While Valente ranted, Alex sighed and checked his watch. Once Valente fell silent, he finally looked up with an expression of bafflement written over his face.

"That's it? You set my father up to be killed, then tried to assassinate me, all because I'm gay and you're jealous?"

Pulling Ghita backward by the throat, Valente moved toward the door. "He was my life. I made him who he is, and I could take it away just as easily. He needed to be reminded of that."

People parted around out of his way as he dragged Ghita across the greenhouse. She stumbled with each step, struggling to walk backward with an arm around her throat.

Yet, despite holding her hostage, Valente barely paid her any attention. His gaze remained firmly locked on Alex.

"At first, I was going to let you go, but you couldn't just fall into line. No, you started flaunting this outsider around, just to taunt me." Since both his hands were busy, Valente nodded at me.

If it was true that Valente and Alex's father were secretly lovers, then I could see how my presence would have exacerbated things. I stood beside Alex in the same way that Valente had stood beside Alex's father. The only difference was, we didn't have to keep our relationship secret.

Seeing someone else get exactly the life he wanted must have been like a slap in the face. He had reason to be upset, but that was no excuse for threatening Alex's life.

With a tired huff, Valente shook his head. "I'm not going to explain myself to a spoiled brat who had everything handed to him. You wouldn't understand. Now, I'm leaving, and if you want Ghita to remain alive, then you won't try to follow me."

In response, Alex shrugged then looked down at his watch again. After studying it for a moment, he smiled.

"No, you aren't going anywhere."

Valente opened his mouth to argue, but when he did, an unexpected cough suddenly struck him. The violent hacking sound caused his whole chest to spasm, and a few drops of blood sprayed from his lips.

Ghita took the opportunity to flee. She pushed his arm off her throat and ran to duck behind Garrison for safety.

Not once did Valente try to get her back. He was too busy struggling to breathe.

At the same time, everyone else in the room started showing the same symptoms. All except for Ghita, Alex, and me, of course. We remained fine.

I breathed a sigh of relief and shoved my gun back into its holster. Our plan had worked.

"What?" Valente managed to sputter before being cut off by more bloody coughing.

Several others around the greenhouse mimicked the question.

Alex clapped his hands together once, like closing a book at the end of a story.

"Perfect timing. That turned out to be one of my better plans." He inspected the leaves of the rose trellis, turning them over to reveal brown spots already forming on green surfaces. "Though, I do regret that the plants will probably die."

Still coughing, Valente fell to his knees and clutched his chest. His eyes, however, drifted toward the ceiling. "The sprinklers."

"Yep." Alex abandoned the leaves to address the suffering crowd. "I have to thank you, Valente. Being drugged sucked, but it gave me the idea. Though I couldn't just slip it into the wine. Too many suspicious people in our family. I couldn't be sure everyone would drink, so I needed another delivery system. The greenhouse was a lucky find. Sorry, about the last minute change, Mother. I know you hate things like that."

He nodded toward her in a show of genuine remorse.

She glared at him, obviously more furious about being poisoned than having her schedule interrupted. One hand gripped her chest as she struggled to speak around a violent coughing fit.

"I can't believe you would..." She didn't bother to finish that sentence. Of course, Alex would go so far. He was a Mariano. They won by any means necessary.

"Don't worry," Alex called to the group that was rapidly growing sicker by the second. "I have an antidote, of course. It's right here." He pulled out a box that had been hidden behind the rose trellis. "There's enough for everyone." From the box he pulled out a small glass vial filled with liquid.

It was the same vial Ghita, Alex, and I had taken earlier to spare ourselves the effects of the poison.

Alex sloshed the liquid around for everyone to see. "You can have it once you've sworn your loyalty to the Mariano family's new leader. But, since you should already be loyal, that won't be a problem, right?"

With me on one side and Ghita on the other, Alex stood below the rose trellis as one by one each person got on their knees to take their unholy communion. In exchange for a vow of loyalty, they were given a lifesaving vial.

Alex's mother was the first to take the vow, and although she was still angry about being on the receiving end of such a trick, there was a light in her eyes that spoke of pride. She had raised her son to one day take charge, and he was living up to those expectations spectacularly.

Throughout it all, Valente was left on the floor. His coughing grew quieter, though blood continued to drip from his mouth, until eventually he went silent.

From that moment on, the man never made another sound. Not even his heart dared to beat.