John arrived fifteen or so minutes later with a man who knelt beside the downed Oscar and began looking him over. After a few minutes, he looked over at Leon. “I think I need a bedroom for this if you don’t want him to go to hospital.”
“No I don’t want him to go to hospital. They ask too many questions.” Leon looked over at John. “Put him in the cook’s old room. Then when you are done, please check on this young lady.” He pointed at Meena. “She may have some injuries that need attention.”
The doctor glanced at her and gave him a nod.
John and one of his other men picked Oscar up and carried him off to a room next to the kitchen.
The doctor followed them.
Anna and Evelyn were at the sink now, helping to get Meena washed up. Meena kept crying but seemed to have finally calmed down some.
Leon turned to Anna. “Do you know what else your sister had planned?”
Anna looked troubled as she nodded her head and gently swiped a wash cloth over Meena’s cut on her cheek. “If she was successful in her takeover, she thought she would be living here. She considered this to be a place of power. You wouldn’t be here of course but she wanted this house.”
“The family never would have allowed that to happen. Didn’t she know that?” Leon growled.
The women all stared at him.
Anna stepped back to allow Evelyn to finish attending to Meena and shook her head. “She didn’t care. She would have murdered you and Calderone and taken over your empire. That’s all she cared about. She didn’t think about the Family stepping in. She thought she would rule Boston. She didn’t think she would fail. She never thought she could lose. She had men out there and I’m not sure if your people ever found them. I know of the war that went down.” She shrugged. “Well, it wasn’t t a real war as they all gave up or got caught by the Sinners and your men. But there’s still Jasper to deal with maybe?”
“Jasper? Who is he and what does he have to do with Siobhan’s plan?” Calderone asked.
“Jasper is part of a sleeper cell she had. She had twenty men in various places all over the city watching everything that happened. When the gang was attacked, these twenty men stayed behind and watched what happened. When word was spread about Siobhan going down, Jasper got word to the rest of his men. He called me the day before yesterday and told me that I’d better stay where I was or he would kill me as a traitor. He told me Siobhan had given him her consent to continue her wishes if anything happened to her. He and his men were going to take over the city on their own. He told me Siobhan’s plan had merit and he wanted to take her place and be the one in power.”
“He thinks he can just storm my home and try to kill me and my son to take over Boston?” Leon asked incredibly.
Anna nodded.
“With only twenty men?” Calderone scoffed.
Anna shrugged. “I have no idea what he thinks or what the real plan was to begin with. Just what he told me.”
“I’ll show him just exactly what an old man like me can do.” Leon snarled. Glaring at Anna, he asked her, “Do you know who these twenty men are? Do you know their names?”
Anna nodded. “Yes, I know them. Siobhan never thought she had to hide her activities from me. She thought she had me under her control.”
Calderone cocked his head to one side and asked, “Whatever happened to her mother?”
Anna hung her head, shaking it from side to side. “We never talked about that after it happened.”
“Do you know what happened, Anna?” Evelyn asked as she finally sat Meena down in a chair and brushed her hair back from her face.
“Siobhan is what happened,” Anna finally told them as she visibly shivered. “Trisha told her not to go out one night and she defied her mother and went anyway. She told her mom that she was nineteen and she didn’t have to listen to her anymore. Her mom found her and dragged her away from the party she was at. She was totally humiliated. They were arguing loudly when they got back to the house that night. Siobhan was crazy but Trisha was worse. Siobhan grabbed a knife from the knife rack and stabbed at her mom. She didn’t even know what she’d done I don’t think.”
“What did she do?” Evelyn dared to ask. “You never told me any of this before.”
Anna shook her head sadly. “It was too much. I-I s-still have nightmares about it. Her first strike buried the knife in Trisha’s throat. She died instantly, but Siobhan couldn’t stop until her rage was spent. Later, I counted the stab wounds. She had fourteen when Siobhan stopped. She was covered in her mother’s blood when she collapsed to the floor.”
“What happened then?” Leon wanted to know.
“Siobhan got up from the floor and went to her room to shower. She looked at me on the way out and told me to pack a bag before she set fire to the house. She had no remorse at all. No feeling at all. It was so spooky. I couldn’t even speak I felt so shocked by it. She said the fire would hide what she’d done.” Anna shook her head. “I don’t think I could move for the longest time but when she came out of her bedroom with a bag in her hand, I finally snapped to it to run and collect some of my things. The fire was started by the time I ran from the house. She grabbed my hand and dragged me away with her. At the end of the driveway, she turned and stared at the house. It was fully engulfed by flames by then and all she could say was, ‘Bye mom, I hope you burn in hell.’”
“Cold,” Evelyn stated. “She was that cold. And her mother wasn’t much better. She’d planned some hideous things too.”
Anna nodded. “I saw her list and made a copy of the names on her printer. I was so scared that she would catch me. I planned to give them to Oscar so he could maybe get them into the right hands, but I still have the list.”
No one spoke for a long time then Leon got to his feet and reached for his phone. He dialed a number and spoke for a couple of minutes to someone on the other end. When he hung up, he made another call and spoke to Iceman. When he hung up his second call, he turned back to Anna. “I need a list of those names. Or rather, my men need a list of those names.”
“What are we going to do Dad?” Calderone asked.
“We are going to turn up the heat for these twenty men. I’m going to show them what this old man can do.” Leon growled.
When John and the doctor returned, John raised an eyebrow at Leon’s statement. He turned to Calderone and shook his head.
The doctor went over and took a look at Meena. He checked the wound on the back of her head. Then he checked her eyes and took her vitals.
Leon watched and waited until he was done.
The doctor shut his bag and walked back over to him. “She did not get a concussion as far as I can tell. Although, I suspect that she will have some extreme headaches for a day or so. She checks out to be in good shape, despite the bruises and cuts on her face.”
Leon let out a sigh of relief. “Thank you doc. You did well tonight.”
The doctor shrugged. “All in a day’s work for the Family.” He took his bag. “I’m going to go back and check on the injured man.”
Leon nodded as he watched him go into the room off the kitchen hallway. He turned to his head of security. “John, Anna will give you a list of twenty names that I want you to hunt down. These are men handpicked by Siobhan McCrary for a sleeper cell. I want them under my thumb by the time dawn comes.” Leon began to pace. “I called in the Sinners and alerted my grandson in law in Troy. He said he was going to get some of his brothers and give us a hand as well.”
“What else are you going to do Dad?” Calderone asked.
“I’m going to call Luther ONeill and tell him unless he wants his and his men’s blood shed on the streets, he’ll stand down for this. I’ll also tell him that if he steps into this I will pull out all stops and take over his businesses on behalf of the Family.”
Meena looked at her mom then Anna and finally over at Calderone “Can he really do that?” she whispered.
“Oh yeah, he can do that.” Calderone crossed his large arms over his chest. “He might not want to, but he can. Our father controls this city and everyone here knows it. He allows the other factions their own territory until they do something stupid like this. Then he puts his foot down to restore order.”
The doctor finally came back in and stood to one side.
Anna got to her feet. “Doctor, how is Oscar? Is he going to be okay?”
The Doctor nodded. “Yes, he’ll be just fine. He asked about how you were too, miss.”
Anna blushed and looked away. “I’m glad he’s going to be all right.”
Leon looked over at John. “I need you to stay with the women while I make some calls in my office. Do not leave them alone for any reason.”
“Of course not, boss.” John nodded. “Who is the younger one?”
Leon slapped John’s shoulder. “John. I’d like you to meet my daughter, Meena.”
John was stunned. “Your daughter?”
“My daughter.” Leon grinned. “Don’t worry, I only just found out too.”
“Well, congrats boss.” He grinned at Leon then turned to Meena, “Welcome to the family miss.”
Meena smiled timidly then moved closer to her mom as she nodded.
Leon then walked over to his daughter and took her hand. He gazed into her eyes. “In all the confusion, there was something that I did not get to say to you.”
Evelyn, Anna and Meena all stared at him.
Leon raised Meena’s hand to his lips and kissed her hand. “Happy Birthday my dear and… welcome home.”
Meena had tears rolling down her face as she stared at him in awe.
He then took a graceful step back and nodded at his son. “Come on Calderone, let’s go make those calls and get this done. I have someone to get to know and I’m hungry.” Leon walked down the hall to his office and when Calderone entered, he shut the door.
Meena looked over at her mom and her eyes were huge in her face. “Wow, so that’s the man you could never forget huh?” She grinned. “I don’t blame you.”
“That’s your father you know?” Evelyn scolded her child.
“I’ll give you this mom… you’ve got good taste in men anyway.” Meena grinned.
John just stood there and shook his head. He had a feeling things in the Vincinti household were going to change and that could be a good thing.
