Chapter Sixteen
Gio
Something was wrong. I knew it the moment I woke up and saw the message on my phone.La famiglia needs you.I made my way through the city to Mama and Pop's place with hands gripping the steering wheel so tightly my knuckles were white. What the fuck else was going to go wrong? You'd think being in a city where there wasn't a strong mafia presence would make life easy. You'd be wrong. New Orleans might not have much of a mafia presence, but it still had it's crime ridden areas.
“Mio figlio. He's in his office.”
The way Mama met me at the door solidified the feeling that something was wrong. What the hell could have happened this time? “Grazie, Mama.” I kissed her cheek and moved past her to the stairs that would take me to the second floor and my father's office. With each step the tension rose. A quick knock on the door and I was pushing it open.
“Gio. We have a situation in Hollygrove.”
I froze at those words. Carly lived in Hollygrove. “What kind of situation?” I had to force my mind away from Carly and on business.
“The restaurant we acquired over on Monroe Street. There was a shooting. You need to get over there and make sure none ofla famigliawere involved.”
My tension rose at Pop’s words. The restaurant was a block away from Carly’s home. I didn’t like it. “On my way, Pop.”
I tore through the streets on the way to the restaurant. I knew the police would be there by the time I arrived, but since we owned it, getting information shouldn’t be too difficult. I wanted to swing by Carly’s, but that would have to wait. Business first.
When I pulled up near the police barricades I climbed out of my car and made my way to the officer standing closest to me. “Morning, Officer. I’m Giovanni Marchetti.Mi famiglia, my family owns this restaurant. I need to get inside and check on my people.”
“I don’t have the authority to grant you access, Mr, Marchetti.”
“Then find someone who does.”
I waited for what felt like forever, but was really only minutes, when a detective approached. “Mr. Marchetti, I’m Detective Burchett. If you’ll follow me. The crime scene has been secured so there is no chance of contaminating it.”
“Grazie, Detective. I am quite concerned about the safety of my employees.” I knew better than to ask what happened. I would find out once I was inside.
“Understandable. We’re still conducting our investigation so none of the employees are at liberty to leave, yet.”
“I understand, Detective.” I stepped inside and took in the scene. One booth was splattered in blood and the area surrounding it was cordoned off. The employees were corralled at the back of the restaurant, near the kitchen, and I made my way to them.
“Mr. Marchetti.Grazie a Dioyou’ve come.”
“Alonzo. Did we lose anyone?” Alonzo was the restaurant’s manager.
“Si. Annamaria was killed and Carlos was caught in the crossfire.”
I went to Alonzo and moved him away from the others. “Tell me what happened.” I kept my voice low so none of the officers wandering around would hear.
“Annamaria’s husband came in, brandishing a gun. She tried to get him to calm down and leave but he started screaming at her, something about her cheating on him. He was enraged. He told her if he couldn’t have her, no one would, and started shooting. Carlos tried to tackle him and was hit. They took him to University Medical Center. He was in bad shape, Boss. I don’t know if he’s going to make it.”
“Fuck.” I ran a hand over my face and sighed. “I’ll take care of it. What about the husband?”
“Shot himself. Dipshit fucked up and didn’t kill himself, though. He was taken to the hospital, too.”
“Annamaria had three kids, didn’t she?” When Alonzo nodded I continued. “I’ll see to it they’re not separated if they go into foster care, and they’ll be taken care of. Give everyone two weeks off, with pay. That’ll give them time to process what happened here and give us time to make repairs.”
“You got it, Boss.”
My mind was already elsewhere. I had things I needed to take care of, so as soon as the police let people leave, I exited the building and headed to my car.
First order of business; check in on Carly.
