Chapter 4 - The Reunion in the Dark
The front door of our house flew open before I could even reach the top step of the porch. My mother stood in the doorway, wearing an old floral bathrobe, her hair pulled back in a loose bun. In her right hand, she held an old metal umbrella like a weapon.
"Audrey!" she cried, pulling me inside by the arm. "Who were those cars? What is going on out—"
She froze.
Standing on the rain-soaked porch, bathed in the yellow glow of the porch light, was Joseph Salvini. Water dripped from the brim of his dark coat. His hat was in his hand. He looked like a man who had walked through hell just to stand on that specific piece of wood.
My mother's hands began to shake. The umbrella slipped from her fingers, clattering loudly against the hardwood floor of the entryway.
"No," she whispered, stepping back, her face turning as white as a sheet. "No... this isn't real. You're dead."
"Rose," Joseph said. His voice broke on her name. He stepped across the threshold, not like a terrifying mob boss, but like a beggar entering a sanctuary. "I'm alive, Rose."
"Get out!" she screamed suddenly, panic overtaking her. She grabbed a heavy glass vase from the entryway table, clutching it against her chest. "Get out of my house! Audrey, get behind me!"
"Mom, wait!" I shouted, stepping between them. "He saved me at the restaurant. Men were following me!"
"He is the devil, Audrey!" my mother cried, tears spilling over her eyes. "He destroyed my life! His family told me he was dead! They paid men to drive me out of the city! They threatened to kill me if I ever returned!"
Joseph stopped dead in his tracks. His eyes widened in horrified realization. "My father... he did that to you?"
"Your father sent three men to my apartment while you were in the hospital!" Rose sobbed, her whole body shaking violently. "They told me you were dead! They showed me a fake death certificate! They said if I didn't take their money and disappear, they would make sure the baby inside me never saw the light of day!"
Joseph stood frozen in the center of our small living room. The grand, terrifying ruler of Chicago's underworld looked suddenly fragile, destroyed by the truth of his family's cruelty.
"I didn't know, Rose," Joseph choked out, tears finally welling in his dark eyes. "I swear on my soul... I believed you were dead. I visited a grave with your name on it every year on the anniversary of the blast."
My mother looked at him, searching his face for the lies she had spent twenty years expecting. But all she saw was the same heartbroken boy she had loved in the shadows of Chicago two decades ago.
"You... you didn't send them?" she whispered.
"I would have torn the world apart before I let anyone hurt you," Joseph said softly. He slowly reached out his right arm, pulling back his damp sleeve to reveal the constellation tattoo circling his wrist. "I kept the stars, Rose. Just like we promised."
My mother lifted her own trembling wrist, pulling back the sleeve of her bathrobe. The same stars stared back at him in the dim light of the living room.
Before either of them could say another word, the sound of automatic gunfire shattered the quiet night outside.
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Glass exploded from the front bay window. Bullets tore through the drywall, sending plaster dust raining down upon us.
"Down!" Joseph roared, throwing his body over both of us as Marco and Dominic burst through the front door, guns raised, returning fire into the dark street.
