Fratelli: The Awakening (The Vampire Cartel #1)

22. Dizygotic

Chapter 22

Dizygotic

4 2,000 feet in the sky - 4 hrs flight

April 14, 2018

(8 Days Before Death)

The ride to the airport felt familiar. Like the drive to New Orleans—fraught with tension over the unknown. Dolly sat in the SUV, chauffeured by Tristan, with Lucio beside her instead of in front of her. Lucio led the conversation, delving into aspects of her past she preferred to leave unvisited.

Dolly responded, albeit distractedly, her thoughts drifting to Charmaine’s conversation and her inability to recall what they discussed. Inside, she felt as if the things her friend had said were important, but now she couldn’t recall anything but fragments of her friend’s concern.

Was she warning her not to go, or was she warning her to go but not to stay long? What was she warning her against?

It was uncharacteristic of Charmaine or Sonya to complain about dating choices, considering both had a history of being drawn to “bad boys” for what they believed were good reasons. So, it couldn’t be his ties to crime.

What had Charmaine warned her about?

“You, okay?” Don Lucio asked.

“Mmhmm,” she replied.

When he took her hand, she pushed away the nagging thoughts. Now, the strangeness of him wearing leather gloves on a muggy April day was her focus. Before she could voice her curiosity, they reached the private airport. It was here, for the first time since meeting him and his celebrity clients, that she discovered he traveled with an entourage. Seven men, all of them dressed in dark suits, waited by the private jet for their arrival. She glanced over at Lucio, who was now staring at his phone.

“How long is the flight?” she asked.

“Four hours,” he mumbled.

“How long will we stay again?” she asked.

“We leave when you are ready. I know you are concerned about your brother,” he replied. “I don’t want to separate you two for long.”

“Are they coming with us?” she asked.

He glanced over to the window and then shrugged. “Not if you don’t want them to.”

“Is it wrong to say I rather it be just you and me, you know, in the clouds?” She asked. “Especially if we, you know, if we play around.”

“No. It’s my preference, too. They’ll fly commercial,” he said.

She looked straight ahead. Her gaze lifted to the rearview mirror and caught Tristan staring at her. His gaze lowered. After they left, Tristan’s friendly demeanor had soured. He barely spoke to her. It disturbed her, but what could she do?

When the SUV came to a stop, her door was opened by another man, and she emerged into the sunlight. It blinded her, thanks to the darkness in the SUV. It also caught her jewels and scattered sparkles across her neck and face. She felt undeniably beautiful, yet with every step she took towards the plane, a growing sense of dread coiled in her gut, twisting and constricting. Then the source of her apprehension became clear. Before boarding the plane, she looked back at Lucio, who was engaged in conversation with Tristan while standing by the SUV. He didn’t notice her hesitation, but his men did. And the frozen stares they gave her from beneath the dark lenses of their sunglasses made her skin goose pimple.

The fog in her mind cleared. One of the unanswered questions that had been nagging at her suddenly surfaced: Lucio had never explained how he knew her birth name was Darlene. That personal information was sealed in court records, a detail she had only learned after her parent’s death, when she found it mentioned in the will from which she was excluded. It shocked her. How, then, did Lucio come to know?

“That problem we discussed?” Lucio asked Tristan.

“Jack Boudreaux will have an unfortunate accident this evening in his home,” Tristan said. “Not before he learned the reason he was so unlucky.”

“And the family? The trust fund?” Lucio asked.

“Still working on it. May take a little longer.” Tristan said.

“I need you to go underground. Make sure things are smooth here with our recruit. And for you to remain unreachable to the Fratelli .” Don Lucio ordered.

“I’m sorry Boss. I have been summoned. Shakespeare reached out,” Tristan informed him.

Lucio's brows drew together in concern. Tristan never disobeyed an order from him, but a meeting for the Fratelli did present challenges if each brother consiglieri was not present and accounted for, and it was forbidden to ignore an invitation to attend.

Tristan glanced over at the plane. He saw Dolly pause and stare at them. He then returned his gaze to his master. “Now do you see why it is dangerous taking her to Vegas. If they discover her, how can you prevent them from taking her? It’s best I come to protect you both.”

Lucio smirked. “You can’t protect me. And no one protects her but me.”

“I have to attend. It is the order,” Tristan said.

Lucio ran his tongue over his left incisor and snorted approval. North America and South America were his. No one gave orders to him other than his father. This had to be Domencio’s doing.

“Fine, you and the men fly commercial. Lamont, bring him too,” said Lucio

“It’s too soon. He won’t understand this one, boss, and the team is breaking him in,” Tristan said.

“I’m running out of time to get my plan in place. Do it,” Lucio said.

Tristan bowed his head in respect.

“She doesn’t want you with us.” Lucio smiled, as if boasting. “She only wants me.”

Tristan's left brow lifted. He’d seen his boss smitten, but his behavior was just so far from the man he knew. Could he be bewitched? He looked again at Dolly, who remained at the top of the ladder to the plane, staring out at him, daring him to convince Lucio to go against her wishes. She wasn’t a damsel in distress. Behind the veneer of innocence and beauty lurked an ageless power that had surfaced to change their world. It sent a shiver up his spine. And vampires didn’t shiver.

“Stop worrying. I’m fine. Everything will be fine,” Lucio smiled after he read his consiglieri's mind. “We stick to the plan. I’ll take the risk. Just make sure you maintain focus and monitor our soldier boy. Oh, add her brother to the party. That should cover all bases.”

Tristan gave a slight nod of respect and walked away. Lucio followed Dolly into the plane. They were early, but only by a little.

Dolly was seated when he boarded. There was a flight attendant and two pilots—no one else. The tension and doubt in her head melted away the moment he smiled. Her mother Lucy told her she had a way of compartmentalizing her distress. When things got really scary and tough, Dolly just denied the entire experience, turned her mind to nothing but the positive, and shoved the doubts to the back of her mind.

“Ready?” he asked.

“I am,” she replied.

He sat next to her on the plane. The seating was different. It was definitely big enough to accommodate fifty passengers. And the seats were large and comfortable, like a leather recliner that swiveled or moved. There was even sofa seating, and a private room to the back of the plane.

“Have you flown before?” he asked.

“As a kid, yea, but those trips I barely remember. After my parents, traveling for me stopped,” she said.

Lucio took her hand in his and kissed her knuckles. “Don’t be afraid.”

“I’d like for you to talk to me. I feel like I do all the talking.” Dolly said and removed her hand from his. “Tell me about you. For starters, how old are you?”

“Thirty,” Lucio replied in a dry, disinterested tone.

“Oh, okay. Do you have a wife and kids?”

Lucio's eyes stretched. “No.”

“Right, And your family? You have… brothers, you said?” Dolly glanced over at him when he hesitated to answer. He cleared his throat and spoke but looked straight ahead as he did. “I have three brothers. We are twins. We are double twins.”

“Double twins?” Dolly frowned. “What does that mean?”

“It’s called dizygotic identical twins. In a woman, the occurrence happens when two separate eggs are fertilized by two separate sperm and the eggs split. It is rare. It makes the woman give birth to two sets of identical twins during one birth. The result is four brothers, but two distinct sets of brothers. My identical is named Domencio. The other set of twins that are identical to each other, are named Sebastiano and Marcello.”

“Wow. I don’t think I have ever heard of anything like that. Not even in school. Your mother must have been shocked. Is she alive?” Dolly asked.

“No, my mother died when we were babes, and my father, let’s say he has never recovered from the loss of her.”

“Any other family?” she asked.

“Not that I know of,” Lucio replied.

“Okay, umm, where do your brothers live now?” Dolly inquired.

“What is this about? You seem concerned?” Lucio asked.

“I’m not concerned. I’m curious. We’re having a conversation,” she said.

“About me, not them!” Lucio snapped.

She blinked at him, a little surprised. “Well, excuse me. I mean, every conversation with you is about my family and my past, and you offer nothing about yours. Now you’re pissed because I’m curious?”

“Excuse me, Mr. Di Salvo,” the attendant said. “You have a call.”

Dolly glanced up at the woman, who stared only at Lucio. He accepted the phone. He accepted the call. During the greetings exchanged between Lucio and the caller, she unfastened her seatbelt. She got up from her seat and headed to the bathroom. She just wanted space.