Anthony Brambilla

This first chapter will be a short one.

Coming from a mafia family was not easy, it was very dangerous. You never truly knew who your friends were or who you could trust. Many of the men were cruel and ruthless, even if a family member were to go against you or betray you they wouldn’t think twice about killing you. Not even their wives were safe from death. But the Brambilla family was different, they loved and protected their loved ones. The Brambilla was a different breed, they did not kill for the fun of it, only if their lives were in danger. But hurt any member of their family there would be nowhere to hide and death was a certainty. There were no human trafficking or drug deals involved in their business. They had many legal businesses and were very well known but feared by their enemies.

Leone Brambilla loved his wife and treated her with respect, and if anyone was the boss of that family, it was her. Their sons were brought up to treat women with respect and never force themselves upon them. Lazaro was the oldest, his brother, Anthony was three years younger than himself. When a beautiful young woman approached Lazaro, begging him to help her rescue her mother and father she promised him anything he wanted. The price she had to pay was to promise to be his but of course, they fell deeply in love and had a son and twin daughters. Caterina too was the boss of her husband just as her mother-in-law was to Leone. Now Anthony was the jokester, always cracking jokes and loved to tease his brother who was the serious one of the two. They were as different as night and day and yet the bond they shared was unbreakable.

Anthony was sitting with his family in the living room watching his nephew and nieces playing. Luca was now five and the twins were just a little over one year old and were crawling. He looked at his parents who were snuggled together on the sofa. His brother and wife were also snuggling on the other sofa. He really loved how close they all were and seeing them so happy he was feeling a little bit jealous. But he knew there was no one special out there for him, no one that could cause his heart to race. He had made peace with the fact that he would forever be alone. But then again, he wouldn’t be alone because he had the love of his family.

“Anthony, aren’t you going out with one of your many girlfriends tonight?” Lazaro asked, he was curious as to why he was still here.

“No, I think I’ll just stay with you guys tonight and after we put the kids to bed I thought we could all go to the movie room and watch a movie together.”

Later when Caterina and Lazaro went to put the children to bed Eleonora looked over at her youngest son and could tell that something was on his mind.

“Anthony, you’ve been very quiet all night. Is something troubling you?”

This was as good a time as any to tell his parents what was on his mind. “There is something I would like to discuss with you. I was thinking of going away for a while.”

Leone turned his attention to Anthony. “Why do you want to go away? And where would you go?”

“There’s really no reason, I just feel like doing something different for a change. Different scenery, meet some different people.”

“Where were you thinking of going?” his mother asked. She didn’t like the thoughts of her children being away from home no matter how old they were.

“I was thinking of going to America, maybe New York. I would only be gone a few weeks at the most. It’s not like I’m needed here for anything important right now because Lazaro has everything taken care of. I guess I just want to take a vacation. Time to rethink my life and where it’s headed.”

The next day he and Lazaro were outside target shooting. Not that they needed it because they were both excellent shooters and always hit their targets.

“So Dad tells me you want to go to New York for a few weeks.”

“Yeah, I thought a change of scenery would do me some good.”

“Mom doesn’t want you to go, and neither do the rest of us. You should be here with your family so we can protect you. The kids are going to miss you.”

Anthony took aim and made his shot, hitting the poster right between the eyes. “I don’t need anyone to protect me. I’m quite capable of protecting myself as you very well know. And I’m not going to be gone forever and I will call Luca once a week.”

Lazaro took his turn and his bullet went in the same spot as Anthony’s. “I’m going to miss you.”

“Wait, did you just say you were going to miss me?” he asked with a smirk on his face.

“We’re brothers so of course, I’m going to miss you. I don’t think I have ever told you how much I appreciate everything you’ve done for me in the past. You helped me save Cat, you’re my children’s uncle and they adore you. Maybe you’ll meet the love of your life there.”

“I’m not going there to find a woman.”

“I know you’re not, but you just never know what’s going to happen.”

That night, the night before he was leaving for New York Luca asked if his uncle could put him to bed.

He sat up in bed watching Anthony as he read him a bedtime story. “I don’t want you to leave us,” he said in between sniffling.

“Oh Luca, I am not leaving you, I’m just going away for a little while and I’ll be back before you know it.”

“Why do you have to go?”

“I just need to explore new places. I promise I will call you all the time.”

“I’m going to miss you.”

Anthony put his arms around the little boy and stroked the back of his head. “I will miss you too and do not worry, I will return.” Giving him a kiss on the cheek he covered the little boy up with the blanket and told him to go to sleep.