For the Empire - Inganno

Chapter 51

My eyes burn with unshed tears, learning the fate of my old neighbor and my best friends' dad.

Uncle Timo keeps his eyes on me as he speaks again. "Frank left a letter, letting authorities know that he had relatives in Italy that would take care of Enzo, and he was sent to live with his Uncle, Cristian Romano.

Some are aware, The Romanos and Bracco's are the founders of the prominent mafia family in Italy, Fratellanza (Brotherhood). We broke away when my great-grandfather moved to the States in the early 1900s. But we've always maintained a good work relationship, which is why Frank worked for my father before I took over.

Cristian took over the Fratellanza at the age of twenty after his father passed away and is the current Don of the organization.

He took Enzo into his care, but in doing so, trained him as an elite assassin for the Fratellanza. As a result, Enzo completed his first mission or kill at only 13 years old."

I can't keep the tears in as I think of Enzo, losing both his parents brutally, so quickly. Then instead of receiving support, love, or help to cope, he was trained to kill, to murder. JP pulls the stool I'm sitting on closer to him and holds me as I cry quietly into his chest.

"Charmaine, cara, he's not the same person you once knew." Uncle Timo says quietly. I look up at him, and I shake my head disagreeing, but he continues.

"Doing what he does for a living, and to do it in the manner he does—he's known to be extremely violent, brutal, in his killings with both men and women, Charmaine. That changes you; he's not the same."

"No, Uncle. He is. I know he is. He could have hurt me, killed me even, but he didn't."

"Char..." JP tries to cut in.

I get up quickly. "No." I shake my head at all of them. "I know what you're all thinking. But Enzo wouldn't hurt me. He didn't recognize me at first—at the library when he attacked me—yes, that's true, but that's because I had colored my hair and don't go by my real name."

"What? Charmaine's not your real name?" Joey asks, completely confused. I roll my eyes at him.

"Not now, Joey," Tony states, irritated, and Joey clamps his mouth shut but still looks at me with his eyebrows creased.

"Stella," I say, looking at Joey. "My real name is Stella, and Enzo only calls me Stella."

"Cara mia," Uncle Timo grabs my attention. "I'm not saying Enzo is a bad person, necessarily; however, what he did and experienced molded him at a young age to think differently. So you need to be careful around him; you don't know what could set him off."

He looks at me thoughtfully before he adds, "I need you to see what he knows about last night, was he part of the gunman's crew. The video shows he shot the gunman as he pushed you out of the way, which I'm grateful to him. However, I'm assuming he kept the mask on to conceal his identity from those he works with, so it appeared as if one of our men killed the gunman."

"You mean she's still allowed to see him?" JP asks incredulously, and someone sucks in air at his question before I can.

"What do you mean allowed, John Paul?" I ask, enraged.

"Bad move, Romeo," Santino comments quietly, sipping his coffee; JP glares over at him.

"I think I'm old enough to decide for myself, who I will or will not be around, John Paul," I state, glaring at him.

"That's not what I meant, Char," JP reaches out for my hand, but I turn away.

"Yes, it is! You told me the other day that I was naive for believing he had nothing to do with Pop's or Shorty's murders. And the truth is, the person who killed them or at least was part of it was here, in this house, the whole fucking time!