Chapter 23

Chapter 23
Lorenzo's POV
I stood in my father's study, everything left untouched and covered with white sheets, I had not been able to step into this room in a long time because anytime I did, I heard their screams over and over again.
The huge painting of my father hung on the wall behind his chair, his eyes stared down at me, the painter had an incredible job, he had even captured his piercing gaze, I felt like he was going to speak to me any minute now.
I heard soft footsteps behind me and I figured it was Anna so I did not bother looking back.
I felt a gentle touch on my shoulder and the faint scent of lilacs and peonies tickled my nostrils, Anna did not smell of lilacs, mother had smelt like lilacs.
I spun around with great urgency and when my eyes fell on her, my heart squeezed in anguish and then it also soared with hope all at once.
Hope that my mother was by some miracle, alive and well and standing before me, and there was anguish because I knew it was only a fool's hope.
"Hello my little prince" my mother said, her smile spread across her beautiful face and it hurt my heart to see her smile like that.
"Are you really here mother??" I asked.
I could hear the hopefulness in my voice as I spoke.
She gave me a sympathetic smile and said "You know the answer to that don't you darling?"
She was right, I knew there was no way she could be here but still I had hoped that maybe, just maybe she was here indeed.
"How am I seeing you" I asked the ghost of my mother.
She smiled and said "I have come to ask you to abandon this crusade you have embarked upon, your father and I do not need Vengeance, we simply want you and your sister to move on with your lives"
I stepped back, her hand which had risen to caress my cheek fell away.
"What are you saying right now?" I asked the woman who looked like my mother.

She smiled sadly and said "I am telling you stop this madness before it is too late, I want you to live a normal life, find a good girl and get married, have kids of your own, live a happy life away from the shadow of the mafia world"
A scoff escaped my lips "None of that is possible for me until I see the Severinos burning in the flames of their own ruin" I said with determination.
My mum shook her head and said "That is not the sweet boy I raised, you have become bitter and vengeful"
A bitter laugh left my lips even before I realised it "Your sweet little boy died along with you that night, he was forced to become a man all of a sudden, a man whose only driving force is revenge" I said, my voice was slowly rising as I spoke.
"Listen to me Lorenzo, you are destroying yourself, I am sorry, I really am that I am not here to take care of you, I am really sorry that you and your sister turned out this way" mother said.
"Don't tell me what to do, they must die, this is the way for me to find peace" I yelled at her.
"Look at yourself, you have become bitter and dark, your father and I raised you to be a good boy who listened to his elders all the time but now, you stand here yelling at your mother" my mother said.
"You are not my mother, you are a figment of my imagination and if you were truly my mother, you will recall that my mother taught me the mafia code, blood will be paid with blood, life will be paid with life and that is what I am honouring, the code of the Mafia" I said to her with a cold smile on my face.
My mother closed her eyes and tears spilled onto her cheeks.
"I was born into the world of the mafia and it is all I have ever known and I refuse to let my enemies walk away unscarred, they will feel the heat of my anger and it will burn them whole, this was the promise I made over your graves and I will keep that promise come hell or high water" I said.
"And you to do that, you will kill even the woman you love?" My mother said.
At the mention of Andrea, my heart twisted but I swallowed it quickly.
"Andrea made her choice and she will bear the consequences" I said.
My mother shook her head and said "I am sorry Lorenzo, I really am, I hope you find your way again"
I smiled and said "I have found my way mother and it is marked with the blood of my enemies"
My mother shook her head and tears spilled from her closed eyes "Good bye Lorenzo" she said and then she was gone in the blink of an eye.