104- Blissful Silence

Tony

Silence. Blissful silence. A never ending sea of silence as my body feels like its falling into a vast sea of darkness. Darkness that consumes me and I can’t figure out how long I’ve been laying in it. Yet, a piece of me knows that something isn’t right. My heart is heavy, and I need to wake up. Now.

Whatever’s happened to me I need to fix it. I hate feeling like this. This sense of dread and despair doesn’t sit well with me in any scenario.

Attempting to pull myself out of the vast growing darkness from the blissful silence that I’ve grown accustomed to, do I finally hear it. The faint sound of beeping. But what was it? What was that annoying sound that seemed to only get louder with each passing second.

Beep… Beep… Beep….

Drawn to the annoying sound do I keep trying to figure it out. That beeping noise drawing my curiosity as it continues to beep nearby. The sound eventually becoming louder yet I still felt like I was drowning.

A pressure. A pressure within my chest. A feeling that I hate having as the beeping continues. My endless darkness now becoming lighter as colors now move to greet my eyes as I move to see gray and white with hints of other colors the longer I let my vision adjust.

The beeping getting louder and louder as I attempt to move my head slowly. Huge tubes now greeting my vision as they move to connect to a couple of machines that were within my room.

Attempting to wiggle, I opt for my fingers and toes. Thankful that I still have movement within them. My ears finally realizing what that strange beeping sound was, the sound coming from that of a heart monitor machine.

What the actual fuck?

Suddenly sore, do I attempt to take in a breath of fresh air. My lungs feeling like led as every breath hurt to take in. My body feeling heavy, as if I was being held down by a bunch of weights or giant size elephants. The events hitting me all at once as I realize that I’ve been shot at.

Beep… Beep… Beep…

Jesus fucking Christ! Now flooded by the memory of what happened to me do I attempt to sort it all out. The mall. The lunch. The shopping. The explosion that hit all of us.  The sudden gun fight ringing all around us. The extra SUV’s suddenly appearing before me along with those four motherfuckers in tow only made my blood boil. Bloody hell.

Pausing, I suddenly remember one important piece of valuable information after everything that happened to us within the mall.

ISABELLA!

Hearing the heart monitor begin to speed up do I feel like I’m ready to burst out in anger. A woman dressed in dark blue scrubs along with a man in a white coat now moving to rush into the room. Lucus, Grant and Alex each on their tail as they do.

Oh thank God.

Spotting each of their familiar faces do I allow myself to calm down. Knowing I was in good hands with Lucus, and the others do I let my heart rate calm down. If only for a little bit.

“I-Isabella?” I croak; my voice rough. Almost as if something was lodged within my throat. Attempting to reach up and remove it am I suddenly stopped by that of a warm and gentle touch. My eyes locking with the person in question.

“Please Sir. Don’t try to talk. You’ll only make it worse. We had to intubate you when you arrived as you had been shot multiple times. Twice in the back with another piercing your lungs. So far that tube is helping you breathe while your body heals.”

Glaring towards the doctor who was standing before me do I try not to do anything too rash. The nurse and him continuing to run tests and double checking each of their machines before giving me the privacy I needed to be with my friends and family. My brothers.

Lucus attempting to offer me what little support that he could without hurting me in the process. Christ. He looked like fucking shit. His eyes red and puffy as if he had been crying for days. Grant and Alex both behind him and neither are no better than the other. Almost as if each of them hadn’t slept in days since the accident. My eyes now locked on each of theirs as I try to beg them with mine. The need to know now rising. A piece of me needing to know what happened.

Sighing, Lucus moves to speak up.

“Isabella is gone. Whoever it was that ambushed you and our men at the mall ended up taking her in the process. Enzo explaining that he had arrived a little too late to stop it from happening. That once the shooting had finally ended did he manage to find you. Fuck. There was so much fucking blood Tony” whispers Lucus, as he tries to continue without his voice cracking.

“Your heart. It stopped beating on us twice. Both times while you were in surgery. I almost feared that I would be calling mother and telling her that she lost another son. Aside from that we lost a total of 10 men. Grant here is trying to find them but each time we try we only hit a dead end.”

Pausing for air does Lucus move to continue speaking. His eyes never leaving mine as he does. “Three days Tony. Three fucking days. We thought we lost you. That mom lost you” squeezing my hand with his does Lucus move to close his eyes. Exhaustion hitting him on all sides as he moves to enjoy this moment between each of us.

Shit. Three fucking days? Clearly if there was a God somewhere out there then I prayed and hoped that he was out there protecting our woman.

Searching for a pen do I move to use my free hand to sign “pen” before Grant moves to find me one. Alex handing me paper upon his return.

Lucus letting Grant help me as I move to write out what I saw that day at the mall. The darkness ready to consume me yet again from all the pain meds now rushing through my body as I shakingly write out four sets of names. Names that would forever haunt me until they were dead.

Angelo Manocchino

Antonio Manocchino

Vincent Salvatore

Lucia Salvatore

A hiss rising to greet me as Lucus takes in a sharp breath. Alex smirking darkly followed by Grant. With another soft squeeze to my hand do I hear Lucus speak yet again.

“Sleep brother. You’ll need it for the plans we have to make.”

Chuckling to myself, I move to let myself be consumed by the darkness yet again. A blood bath soon rising at all the things we would do to each of those assholes forever touching our woman.

\~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lucus

Once positive that Tony was indeed fast asleep do Grant, Alex and I each move slowly to leave the room carefully. My brother and friend now fighting for his life. A piece of me knowing that death was a constant reminder to each of us as we’ve dealt death many of times but when seeing Tony fight for his own life did it become heartbreakingly painful. God or no God, I found myself praying for his life to be spared by the grim reaper himself.

Having heard from Enzo just how scared Isabella had been when being shoved into the black SUV and seeing Tony’s lifeless body covered in his own blood will forever haunt us. Especially since we weren’t there to help them.

Grabbing my phone, I move to call my mother. Knowing just how worried she was until I finally touched base with her. She and father were currently out of town with Isabella’s parents only seemed to make my chest ache. The Moretti’s. How would Angelica handle the news once she found out that her daughter Isabella had been taken. Fuck, would Matteo even allow us to marry his daughter after all that has happened?

Biting my inner cheek, I move to call my mother.

“Lucus?” comes the voice of my mother. Quick to answer on the second ring.

“He’s awake. Or at least was awake. He’s sleeping now” I answer softly.

“Oh thank heavens. How is he?”, exhales Sophia, my mother. Clearly on edge from not being close by.

“He’s okay mom. The doctors gave him another round of medication. He was a bit slow when waking up but otherwise the doctors say that he’ll be completely fine once he’s healed.”

“That’s great news son. Keep us posted”

“I will mom” pausing I debate on weather or not I should tell her what Tony did. “There’s something else too. Tony saw who it was that fucking took our Isabella.”

“Who?”

“The Manocchino’s and the Salvatore’s”

Cursing under her breath does everyone know who they were. Both families were the second most powerful compared to that of our own. But their families were really super shady and on a whole different level of crazy.

For not only did they employ the psychos like them, but they also didn’t value any kind of human life either. Only using them like cattle. Nothing was ever off the table for them when it came down to making deals with those willing to do it.

And while there enterprise was huge and each owned massive armies they also owned multiple properties all over the world. And picking the correct location could take weeks or even months. Both in which we didn’t currently have.

Sighing again, I move to return to my conversation with my mother. A part of me wishing that she was here to hold me closely like she used to when I was a child. The need to feel my mother’s embrace rising.

“Lucus. Son. Get those motherfuckers for each of us. Bring our Isabella home. Bring us there heads. Their families are nothing but a disgrace to all of the Mafia families alike. They crossed a line of no return. And now we finish it.”

“Yes… Mother”

Ending the call with my mother do we move to head for our rooms. Each of us needing that time alone to rest and regroup. Knowing that Tony was alive and in good hands are we able to get some decent shut eye, before continuing our search for Isabella.

My last set of thoughts being that of Isabella and praying to all the Gods in the world that she would be safe until we could find her.

Stay strong baby girl. Help is on the way. I promise.