I nod my head, trying to process the information and imagining how many times in my life I’ll go through a situation like this, maybe even with my son fighting; my eyes fill with tears, and I bite my lip hard, trying to stop them from coming out, I have to be strong. “Can I call him before I go into the vault?”
“Unfortunately not, a distraction is not a good thing when you’re fighting for your life. Besides, the call can be traced by the attacker; I have a radio frequency with me. I’ll be contacted as soon as things calm down, and I’ll try to put Luca in touch with you. Now, can you please move faster? We really need to get you into that panic room.”
I pick up the pace, always with Francesco holding my wrist. He goes ahead of me with the gun in his hand. We go down quite a few stairsuntil we come to a metal door. Francesco puts in a code, and it opens, giving us a view of a giant safe. Francesco finally lets go of my wrist, inserts the code into the safe, and opens the large metal door. I look out to see Paolo and two other soldiers talking to Francesco before he enters and begins to close the door.
“Paolo, can you check on Luca and his family and let us know through Francesco’s radio?”
“Yes, I’ll do that as soon as possible.”
“Thank you, and be careful.”
I see Paolo nod, offering me a tense smile before the door clicks and locks. I look around, and it seems I’m inside a studio, a small kitchen and living room, a bathroom and a bedroom, all the essentials needed for an emergency. I sit down on the sofaand run my hands through my hair, trying to clear my head.
“What’s next?”
“Now we wait, there’s nothing we can do.” I feel Francesco sit down next to me and put his gun down on the small coffee table.
“You must hate it here; I bet you’d like to be helping.”
“I won’t deny that I’d like to help and kill a few enemies. But being here with you, being assigned to protect the bride of the future Capo, is an honor. Don’t disvalue your life because it is one of the most important to protect today.”
“When everything calms down, how will we get out of here?”
“Luca, his father, and Paolo have the code to open the safe. It can’t be opened from the insidebecause here, we can never be sure if the house is safe. At a time like this, the code must have already been sent to your father, in case the worst happens, he can get you out of here.”
“Get us out of here; thank you for not leaving me alone.”
“It’s an honor!”
I pull my legs toward my chest, rest my head on my knees, watch Francesco turn on the television, and relax a little. It isclearly a failed attempt. I look at the TV, and it’s showing clubs, gyms, cafés, and restaurants that have been attacked; from the look on Francesco’s face, I assume they belong to the Camorra; he lifts the remote with the clear intention of changing the channel. That’s fine; I want to know what the situation is, too. He just nods, looking in the direction of the TV, looking tense.
“Who attacked the Camorra?” Francesco looks in my direction and stares at me for a second, perhaps pondering his answer.
“As far as I know, the Bratva and some traitor members of the Camorra.”
“They did this because of m…”
“Don’t finish that sentence; don’t beat yourself up or blame yourself. If they did it, it was out of ambition and power, not because of an engagement. Besides, even if many still don’t understand it, the marriage will give the Camorra more strength and will take away weapons from other mafias, leaving us clearly at an advantage.” I nod my head, knowing all the pros of my marriageandall that we will gain from it.
“After all, it’s a marriage of benefit.” Francesco keeps looking at me, reading me, probably knowing my feelings, maybe thinking I’m pathetic for having them. “Do you have a casualty estimate yet?” I can’t let my feelings weaken me; I have to think like the woman I want to be, a woman with power, a businesswoman who has to think about how not to let everything collapse.
“It’s still too early to say. The body count will only be done when things have calmed down, and we’ll probably have a lot of injured people, so we have to think about the living first. The first step is to arrange medical assistance, then deal with the funerals and try to compensate the families.”
“What are you waiting for? We’re going to be here for a long time, sowe’d better get to work. Let’s speed up the medical assistance.” He looks at me surprised, flashes a small smile in my direction, and nods slightly. “My father has a radio at home; we can get in touch with him so that he can contact doctors and arrange a safe place for them to wait until they’re needed.”
Francesco picks up the radio and tilts it in my direction, bringing it back close to his body a short while later. “Do you know the frequency?” I take the radio from his hand and put in the frequency of my father’s radio, hoping to get an answer.
“I know how to use a radio; my father has a weapons company, andI know how to use anything that might be needed in the field. Do you know how to handle a tank, Francesco?”
“I’ve never tried it, so I’m going to say no.”
“I do. Don’t think I’m naive just because I’m a girl and I study fashion; I know what I’m doing. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be engaged to Luca.”
“It wasn’t my intention.” I just nod my head, thinking that maybe I was too harsh, but they have to learn to respect me, to realize that one day I will be their boss.
“Salvador Mancini on the line.” Hearing my father’s voice causes a rush of relief to travel through my body, making me feel a little relaxed.
“Dad, it’s me!”
