Chapter 2: Chapter 2
Don Rocco hosted a lavish pre-wedding boll to formally announce to his friends, the long-awaited union of Alessandro, his son, and Deloria Raffael, the daughter of his friend, in his residence at honest man's Avenue, a posh suburb of Trapani, a Mediterranean city on the western end of Sicily. The glorious Villa stands alone, watching over the Zingaro reserve, offering a breathtaking view of beaches, cruise liners and a wonderful landscape of the city along the Mediterranean coastlines.
It was an extraordinary confab from the world of the godfathers, drug cartels and the business magnates from far and wide, and a roll call of cream de la cream from Milan and the city of Sicily. Alessandro was conspicuously missing, and so was Longoria. If Don Rocco was perturbed, he did not show it. He was at the head of the table; full of life, offering toasts for a blissful married life to his son, Alessandro long life and prosperity in his businesses and that of his associates.
Some of the finest Italian culinary and exotic drinks, befitting for royals, dotted the landscape of the dining table; the type that the super-rich elsewhere could only wish they have it on their tables. The savvy chefs rolled out sumptuous meals from spinach mascarpone and hammock Rotolo, the braised Italian sausages with cheesy polenta, chicken with agrodolence sauce and the Italian baked meatballs...a show-stopping display!
When it comes to the drinks department, the selection of which was second to none in the affluent western nations: the Macallan Lalique scotch whisky, the cask malt whisky, Black Bowmore, Hibiki, MassetoTuscany and a whole host of other luxury liquor.
The JAM HOT musical group held its audience with a spellbinding stellar performance. The atmosphere around the party was saturated with vapour, bellowing from uncountable cigars, like the chimney. Thanks to the celebrant for making it available in excess: the luxury Mayan sicars, Cohiba Behike and Fuente Fuente Opus X Cigars...you get the picture.
They ate, smoked and drank to stupor. Then danced themselves to lameness.
At the event, social distancing and other protocols made for the consumption of the public by the government in the wake of a sword-wielding pandemic ravaging the world, with Italy, co-hosting the ground zero with other Western countries, was floored.
Don Rocco's aid approached him and spoke into his ears, and handed over to him a cell phone. Don Rocco moved away from the noisy hub and began to speak. After a few minutes of conversation, Don Rocco handed back the phone to him. His mood changed; it appears his senses were no longer with him. He confided in his wife and Mr Rafael Gabriel, then off he went, driven off to the Marina Restaurant where he met with Deloria, lounging away in the cosy atmosphere of the Restaurant with a swollen eye. She has been in tears since her encounter with Alessandro.
Don Rocco besieged her with a hug and a peck on her cheeks, then made himself comfortable. "He left me," she started, "at first, he made me believed he was leaving me for the Seminary; it was a smokescreen. The truth is that Alessandro has been suspicious of foul play from the close attention I receive from you. All of these doesn't border me, but my primary concern is that Alessandro had found out the killer of his slain friend." she said, with tears cascading down her pale cheeks. Don Rocco placed his hands on her back, showing genuine concern for her plight. He then offered her some tissues and stole a look at her flaunted cleavage lustfully and quickly threw his head away to avert the rising wave of temptation in him. "Don't you worry yourself too much about this matter," he said. "It is under control. Alessandro is my son, I shouldn't find it a daunting task to convince him for things to come back to normal. I and my wife are going to put ourselves on his ass, and when we are done with him, you are going to have your hubby come back to you on bended knees!" "You think so, Mr Rocco?" She asked, smiling at his funny choice of words pronounced in Italian parlance.
"Enlisting himself in the Seminary is the beginning of his journey to priesthood," she said, "does he know what he is committing himself into, shouldn't someone be educating him already for his misbegotten idea?" "Especially he that already knows the sensual pleasures of a woman," added Don Rocco. "You could be right," he said, "if not, what on earth could make my son Alessandro forego a rare species of a woman as Longoria that has it all, plus giving up on his right as the crowned prince to an eternal empire of reaches for a hermit and celibate life of a priest? I don't want to believe he had found out about the murderer of his friend until proven otherwise, and beyond a reasonable doubt from him. Deloria, I would like to rob minds with him as father and son should, probably, I should be able to unearth the source of his madness. Then I shall get back to you soonest.
Unbeknownst to his paramour and to those who matter most in his life, Alessandro's long spell of absenteeism from home in recent years that led to the killing of his friend for allegedly misleading him to eternal damnation was a mistake on the part of Don Rocco Epifany. Alessandro has found refuge in a false self emancipating career in the priesthood, and was halfway through to becoming a full-blown catholic Priest! Little wonder, there was a significant departure from his old self to a more updated and refined version of himself. Even though the motivation behind it was to escape being forcefully given away into marriage to a woman of his father's dreams.
Don Rocco Epifany was heartbroken, the world of his imagination he put herculean might to build for close to a century is about to be caved-in. He was always at hand to settle quarrels and restore peace in times of trouble among his circle of friends; a kind of shock absorber for them. But now, he is falling apart rapidly by the second; day after day and night after night, but no one has come to his salvation. His problems are larger than life itself!
Shortly before the commencement of an emergency meeting between the two troubling families, Don Rocco Epifany went into a pensive mood, unlike his old sprightly self that was quite a chatterbox. Margarita, his beloved wife rarely saw her hubby show his weaknesses openly, but that iron man in him, with the heart of gold and nerves of steel.
She took his hands and tucks them into hers and strokes them with the mildness of the touch of a toddler while looking at him with a reassuring eye that speaks, everything is going to be alright soon.
Mr Raffael Gabriel Massimo and Mr Epifany Rocco DeAngelo occupied the head of a state like a boardroom table and their wives sitting beside them respectively and of course, Miss Deloria, sitting next to an unoccupied seat meant for her absconded significant other. All lavishly dressed to match with the important occasion.
Signalling the Paley open, Mr Raffael Gabriel removed the fat Cuban cigar from his mouth, the source from which came a cloud of smoke that partially beclouded the serene ambience of the venue, but no one seems to border a bit. Raffael is not the type that will go around an issue but drives the agenda straight to the point.
"Rocco," he said, "you know what roughness we've been through our blessed childhood days and we've managed to sustain the relationship through thick and thin moments. What is it I heard your son did to my daughter? Your son has manipulated my daughter's heart and set it off tangent for the only god knows how long. Is he happy now, for maiming her emotionally and psychologically? Would she ever forgive him? I wouldn't want to blame your erring son entirely for the misdeeds; he should have been called to order for veering off the course of the relationship too fast and too far." Mr Raffael ripped through 'the Don' with his razor-sharp tongue and left him seething with rage.
Don Rocco comports himself, suppressing the pangs from the blow dealt on him by Rafael Gabriel's temper tantrum. He laid his two hands on the table and began to speak,
"No third party should come in between lovers. If things are moving smoothly between them, fine, but when things turned sour, they should do well to put their house in order without the interference of anyone! Raffael, you shouldn't dare tell me how to discharge my responsibilities towards my son; no one tells Done Rocco how to parent!"
Each of his last three words was followed with a fist bang on the table. The meeting has become tension socked and sitting on a keg of gun powder. Angered by the bang on the table, which to Raffael was blatant disrespect for him, rose to his feet, armed with a Titanium Gold Desert Eagle Pistol, he points it at Done Rocco. Don Rocco refused to bat an eyelid." I know you are capable of pulling off surprises like this," he said, snarly. "Trust me," he continued, "I will never get caught off guard by you." He retrieved his Holland And Holland Royal Deluxe Double Rifle from his overcoat woollen Logo- Jacquard with lightning speed and trained it on Raffael.
They wagged the guns at each other, almost squeezing the trigger; accusing one another of betraying the trust of the other. They do this freezing out of each other for every available minute of misunderstandings in their lives, but never for once dared to pull the trigger. They are record-breaking friends with the most number of sticks in the western world!
Their blood boils to a thousand-degree Fahrenheits, with mean expressions on their faces. Deloria and the other women cackled and scampered for safety.
After the spat, Don Rocco Epifany and his wife walked away, feeling embarrassed and too large to have stood so low to have a tiff with his friend that by all standards was below him.
Two days after the standoff, Alessandro came back home in yet another rare reappearance. His mother, Mrs Margarita, sitting in the anteroom, nursing a cup of coffee, at the same time, paying serious attention to a comedy programme streaming on the TV. Mascara, the comfort-seeking cat was in a duel with the TV for Mrs Margarita's attention. While the characters on the TV tickles Mrs Margarita pink, Mascara the cat purrs and catwalks around beautifully to get itself noticed by Madam. Just when it was about to get what it wants, Alessandro interrupted by giving his mum a big hug, then sat down beside her. She was just about to descend hard on him but the remorse shown by him mellowed her down.
" You fancy for some?" She asked. "Yes please mother," he said. She stood up with great effort and went to the kitchen and brew some coffee for him despite the Choir of servants at the house, and served him, treating him like the baby he always would be to her. Alessandro looked at his mother and smiled, and said a big thank you to her, but Mrs Margaritta wasn't smiling at all. "Your father would like to have a word with you, but not until you have had your rest." She said.
***
Mr Epifany DeAngelo took him out on a hunt for wild Boers at the strait of Messina in a Ford F-150 super duty truck, fitted with all the hunting gears they would need. Alessandro took charge of the wheel and jets out to the wild, cruising the rugged terrains that lie between them and their hunting destination.
"Child," said Don Rocco to his son. " You want to be rich, powerful and famous like me?" Alessandro looked at his father with a puzzled but questioning looks at the funny utterances of his father "Yes, I will," he said, "Who wouldn't want to be like you, father?" Still with traces of surprises written on his face. " Then learn the virtues of patience, love and forgiveness in your sentimental life. I know deep inside you you will say this crazy old fool has started again with his unending sermons. You see your mother? she is the reason why I am where I am today, because I've tolerated all the awful stuff women do to frustrate their husbands, and I've endured it. Now, look where it has brought me. She has shown me the art of making money other Mafias put together could not.
Don Rocco chides him for walking out of his life partner unceremoniously, bringing shame and disgrace to the impeccable name of the Epifany DeAngelo's, a name that exudes prestige and rings the bell at its mention across the Roman Empire.
"Whatever Deloria knows but kept away from you is nothing but a whiff of wind. Go and meet her halfway; she is ready to make amends. While you are at it, do it quickly; the wedding bells are tolling." The truck bumps into a pothole and threw Don Rocco off balance. He screamed, "god damn it, what the hell just happened! Alessandro, I don't want to die young. " But you are already 80+ dad," "to die young is to die a wretched death, don't you know?" "No father, I don't, but now I know." "Then drive this piece of shit like you are in control of it, will you?" "Yes, I will, father."
" Stop the car, Alessandro. I think I saw something." Don Rocco cocked his gun and tread stealthily outside and away from the vehicle. Gradually, treading becomes prowling, and then boom! He took a clean shot from a vantage point but missed just by the whiskers! It was a Coyote.
Don Rocco hopped back into the truck and continued on their journey deep into the jungle. They came to an open field and camped under a canopy tree, where they could easily spot any approaching danger.
"Back to our previous talk," said Don Rocco as he led Alessandro on a footpath, armed with their guns. "Get prepared son to take what belongs to you and make your parents proud, especially your father." Alessandro parted his lips to let out words scrambling to come out of it, but his father wouldn't borrow him a second from his time. " You are too handsome and sophisticated for a priest of God," he continued, lighting flame into his Savinelli Miele Honey Tobacco Pipe. "You are wasting already for taking that path. Look at you; I cannot even recall the last time you attended the Holly mass, let alone say the Rosary. Yet, you want to become a priest."
"Listen, child, the divination school belongs to people who desire to grow in holiness and stick to its principles, not you. Remember who you are; the beautiful blood of the Epifanys runs in your veins, that blood has condemned you to a Mafia's way of life."
Alessandro sighed, then raised his bowed head gently to meet that of his father's stern and uncompromising, then gave him a big hug. " I love you father," he said. "Is that all you've got to say? Asked Don Rocco anxiously. "I will think over it," he said, just to make his father feel good.
Alessandro respects his father such that he doesn't want to drag issues with him, but he is not ceding any part of his resolve to his father's will either.
Don Rocco went silent, not knowing what to do next; for it is clear he has exhausted all the tricks he has got up his sleeves without coming near to achieving his goals.
Back home, Mrs Margaritta awaits her hubby anxiously to find out if his demands have prevailed over that of Alessandro. Mr Epifany opened his mouth and said to her, "woman, it was a dead-end meeting," Margaritta looked at him worrisomely and said to him, "what is the next line of action?" "Terminate his life," he said bluntly. "You have my full backing on that one; sooner than later, he shall be replaced with another." She said.
"Who is going to be handed that job of honour?" "Who else would it be if not Deloria"? Answered Don Rocco. "Hee Haa! Perfect pick," she cried.
"Deloria coming into prominence as the ghoul in the world of your enemies has created a stir in parts of that world; recall her last mission in the City of Monaco? Oh good lord! It would be a night to remember for a long time to come. It was like the much anticipated second coming of Christ; a rapture of sorts took place; quite a handful of overnight disappearances and some high profile killings, not of the righteous, but of the unfortunate ones who have, in one way or the other, sinned against you. Please tell her that my son is a nobleman of a high ranking and that I still love him. Therefore, his life should be taken from him nicely, not the gruesome way she kills others." "Alright love, you can count on me to deliver your message like it was from the horse's mouth."
To give life to his words Don Rocco took a break to somewhere off the coast of Sicily in his GigaYacht, bonding with his mistresses. He was soon joined by Deloria, who was brought on board by a speed boat. Don Rocco secured her to the inner cabin where they were left alone all by themselves.
"Am afraid," he said, fondling with her hair while she looked at him with wide-eyed attention. "Many things might come to light if I am generous enough to leave Alessandro to walk the earth for another 96 hours; I want him assassinated within 3 working days!
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