Grave Digger – Brothers At Arms #4

Emily rose up with her son in her arms and headed down the hall.

The room went quiet for a few minutes.

Alfredo shook his head. “I never knew just how evil my grandsons were until now. They crossed that line now and there is no coming back for them.”

Delaney shook her head. “Oh grandpa, I think we always knew they would. Growing up with great grandpa’s stories. Then Pa urged them on the way he did when he wasn’t in jail and that only justified what was already in their minds.”

Leon looked over at Alfredo. “If your son and grandsons come here and cause any more trouble over this treason your father left as his legacy, they will be dealt with by the council. Your father thumbed his nose at the rules after he agreed to follow to get our protection and your family seems to be doing the same. They will be dealt with according to those same rules they flaunt. We run a tight ship, we have to, or we lose the power we have to protect the masses.”

Alfredo nodded. “I know what you will do and I know what will happen. That is why I told you about the diamonds and the pressurized tank. As far as I know, that is all my father would have told them about. There is nothing left for them to come here for.”

 Delaney shook her head. “They aren’t going to believe that grandpa and you know it. They’ll still come and they will probably shoot every man here because they gave up the treasure to Leon.”

Marty walked over to join them. “Then there’s the fact that Vincent’s daughter is here. Is that going to be a problem?”

Delaney shook her head. “It never made a difference to my dad. He didn’t feel a girl was very important. And it didn’t matter to my brothers either. If you aren’t a male, you are nothing.”

“But then you didn’t have a trust fund either,” Marty said. “But Lily does. It belonged to her mother and it’s worth a lot of money.”

Alfredo froze then a tear ran down his face. “That might make the difference, my dear. I am ashamed to say it but yes, that might make them come after the child. All my son and grandson’s think about is money. That almighty buck.”

Calvin who had been sitting on the sidelines the whole time spoke up, “Except that I haven’t filed the paperwork yet to put Lily’s name on the trust and Marty has complete discretion as to how it’s spent. Just as she had discretion over Sam’s money.” Shaking his head he added, “She didn’t care about the money as it was Sam’s to spend any way she wanted to spend it, but when we needed her to come in, Marty stepped up and put a hold on the money. When Sam came here to get her to lift that block that’s when we found out about the girl. Sam told us about Vincent being her dad. Marty called him and he set the price of 700k in exchange for the little girl. She paid Vincent 700 thousand dollars to take Lily.”

Marty shook her head. “That’s not quite how it all went down, he did ask me how much Sam had left, and that’s when I told him about 700k. He said that would have to do. What he didn’t know about was the second trust. That’s the one that’s going into Lily’s name.”

Leon growled. “He took the money and threw his own blood away?”

“He signed over his parental rights in exchange for the money,” Calvin told him.

“Then he has no more claim to the child,” Leon grumbled. “We will back her on this matter. If Vincent gave up his child, then the rest of the family will not claim her either.”

“And if that child was a son?” Delaney asked. She turned to Leon. “Would you protect a boy child?”

Leon stared at her then glanced down the hall as he answered, “It doesn’t matter to me if the child is a boy or a girl, my dear. But my protection would be determined by certain factors. Did the father know about him? Has he been taking care of the boy’s needs the whole time? Until we know more about the circumstances, I can’t determine what the outcome would be, can I?”

Delaney shook her head. “I don’t think my brother even knows the boy exists and I doubt he’s been taking care of him either.”

“Then don’t look for trouble where none exists,” Leon told her quietly.

Zeus quietly watched them as they talked. He then glanced over at Click and asked, “Any sign of the outlaw yet?”

Click checked the cameras. He looked back up and shook his head. “All we got out there is the two men that are left over from yesterday.”

Zeus nodded at him. “Make sure you watch the cameras, we need to know right away if and when the brothers get here. If you get tired then get Scout to take over.”

Click nodded. “You got it, boss.”

Leon sighed and looked at Delaney again. “We do need that young woman to tell us what she’s holding back.” He glanced over at Grave Digger. “She seems to respond to you better than the rest of us.”

Grave Digger raised his head and just stared at him. After a moment he asked, “So?”

“So maybe you could see what she has to say about the boy’s father,” Leon stated. “It might be better if we knew before the brothers got here, just what we’re dealing with, rather than after they arrive.”

Grave Digger leaned back in his chair. “What makes you think she’ll tell me anything? In case you didn’t notice, just telling us about her father being killed, was hard on her. It probably brought everything she went through back to her in full living color.”

“I understand that believe me I do, but if her son is a Raggetti we need to know.” Leon nodded.

“And if he is?” Grave Digger asked.

“Then we might have an advantage, wouldn’t we?’ Leon shrugged.

Grave Digger rushed to his feet and glared at him. “You would use a child against these bastards? Dangle him as a carrot in front of his father in a way to make the man behave?”

Leon glowered at him. “Mio Dio! Don’t be an idiot, young man. I would never use a child against men such as these. The child is an innocent, while his father is not. Nor would I ever dangle him as a carrot. The Raggettis don’t think like we do, that man would not care about his child, if indeed he is one of them.”

“Then how do you consider having the boy here is an advantage?” Grave Digger asked.

“That man will face justice knowing that he might have left a child behind that will never know him. Nor will he know that child.” Leon shrugged. “He will go to his grave knowing that his son will never have his name and the Raggetti name will die when he does.”

“That’s not a good enough reason,” Alfredo said. “My grandsons won’t care about leaving a child behind. Let the Raggetti name die out with them. I’m not long for this world and Delaney won’t carry the name forever. Just let this chapter die out when they are gone. You know as I do that the Council will end their lives. In one way that will hurt beyond measure, but in another way, it is almost a blessing. It will hurt because I raised Barrett with honor but he chose to turn his back on that. He wasted his entire life because he turned his back on the traditions I tried to teach him. He raised his sons without the honor most men live with but that was his choice. It will be a blessing because the struggle will be over. I can die in peace, knowing my father’s craziness is gone from this world. Once upon a time, the Raggetti name meant something, now it no longer does.”

“No grandpa.” Delaney shook her head. “Honor is taught by the man of the house, he wasn’t home much remember? The boys never listened to you when you tried to teach them. All they had was stories they heard and no father figure. They grew up mostly on the streets and that’s where they learned their shit.” Delaney shook her head. “And everyone knows there is no honor on the streets, it’s a battle of the fittest and baddest just to survive. They climbed that hill and claimed themselves king of the hill when they got to the top of the pile of garbage.”

Alfredo shook his head. “I lost one son years ago and his killer was never caught.” He paused. “And now I will lose another to his own greed. What does that say about me as a father?”

Delaney went over to him and knelt beside his chair. “Grandpa, dad was just plain stupid and you can’t fix stupid. You tried but he didn’t want to listen, he didn’t want to put in the work of being a decent human being. He wanted everything but he didn’t want to work for it. He just thought he could take it and everyone was supposed to give it to him. Well, that’s not how this world works is it? In the real world ,you have to work for what you want, not just take it. He never understood that. He listened to the stories of an old man and tried to bring back the old days. Even great grandpa had to pay the piper for his foolishness. And sometimes the piper can be cruel. Well now, Dad and my brothers are going to find that out the hard way but it’s a lesson you can’t stop them from learning. Leon is the piper and this time they will pay the price for their own stupidity. You have to let it happen.”

“I know, child.” Alfredo raised his hand and cupped her cheek. “As much as it pains me, I have to let it happen and so do you.”

She closed her eyes and nodded. “I know, but it’s almost a release for me. Dad and my brothers never had time for me unless it benefited them. I knew if I had anything at all, they would come and take it. I won’t have to worry anymore about that. I can’t and won’t help them now.”

Leon looked over at Grave Digger. “We need to know if her son is a Raggetti.”

Grave Digger sighed as he glared at him. He snarled but walked down the hall anyway. He didn’t care much for Leon’s reasons. To him, it didn’t make any difference.

 When he entered the Infirmary, he saw her sleeping with her son. He sat down and waited for her to wake up.

 Closing the door behind her, Emily carried her son over to the bed in the Infirmary and laid him down. Kicking off her shoes, she crawled into the bed and laid with him as she wrapped her arms around his small body. “They won’t find us here, baby,” she whispered as tears ran down her face. “I’ll protect you. I’ll find us a place that’s safe and we can hold up there until this war of the king of the hill is over. I’m sorry it has to be this way but your dad can never know about you.” She fell asleep as the tears dried on her cheeks.

She didn’t know how long she’d been asleep, but she when opened her eyes, she  stared at Grave Digger. “What are you watching me sleep for?” she whispered.

Grave Digger sighed and motioned for her to come with him. He nodded for her to head into a room adjoining the Infirmary.

She got up carefully so as not to disturb her sleeping son and joined him.

Grave Digger shut the door and motioned for her to sit down. Then he sat across from her and looked at her carefully.

“Will you just get to it, already?” She raised a brow at him.

“Leon wanted me to ask you if Anthony is a Raggetti.” He sighed. “I didn’t want to as it is none of his fucking business and the answer doesn’t really make any difference to me but he insisted I ask.”

Emily wrapped her arms around her belly and looked away for a moment as she shook her head. “That boy is mine alone. His dad isn’t in the picture and never has been. I don’t care what Leon wants, he can go to hell.”

Grave Digger nodded. “I agree with you. I don’t think he has the right to ask but I had to try. I’m sorry.” He stood and stepped toward the door to escort her back to her son.

 Emily couldn’t move for a moment as tears began to fall down her cheeks.

Grave Digger stepped back over and sat down with her again.

 “I have kept this to myself for years now.” She sniffled. “Well, who would I tell?” She shrugged her shoulders. “I have no family and no friends, especially here.” She looked down at her hands. “When my father’s bar blew up I got caught in the blowout. I was thrown to the ground and I was stunned. I couldn’t move for a few minutes. When the sirens were blaring and the trucks were coming to put out the fire, I heard footsteps running toward me. I tried to open my eyes and when I finally got them to open, I saw his face in the flames. He was so pissed and he was shouting at me but his voice sounded weird somehow. I couldn’t really hear him all that well. I think he kept saying it was my fault. What was my fault, he never said but he kept going on and on about ruining their mission by blowing up the bar. They wanted that bar and he was mad. He didn’t seem to care about my dad or the fact that not everyone made it out. No… he was mad about the bar blowing up. Then he told me he wasn’t going home with nothing and that I wasn’t much of a prize but he was getting something out of this deal.” She looked up at the ceiling. “I won’t tell you what happened next as thank God, I don’t really remember it. I was still out of it from the blast I think. He didn’t care that he was leaving me hurt and in pain as his brothers found him and dragged him away from the place. He just ran off in the dark and a few minutes later, I got up and stumbled home.”

Grave Digger clenched his fists as he sat and listened. He slowly shook his head.

“My whole world was shattered that night but somehow, I made it back to my apartment. I even managed to have the night deposit bag with me. Like how did that happen? I didn’t even start to shake until I locked the front door. I barely remember anything after that. Really, I look back on it now and I think I had a concussion? But after a while, the headache went away. It was sort of a blessing though. I mean I had blank spots and was spared most of it, simply because I was not conscious when it actually happened.”

“Did you know which one of those bastards attacked you?” Grave Digger asked in a strained voice.

She slowly shook her head. “I heard one of them call out the name Romano when he came running after the fire truck got there. I left Oakville for good three days later. He doesn’t even know about Anthony and I never want him to. I don’t even know or care who he was. Like I said before, Anthony is my son and my son alone.”