Take Me Higher (Castaletta Syndicate #1) - Ali Parker Page 0,4

their father's heaviness clearly weighing on them.

"Vivian will be missed by me and I know by all of you. She gave me three beautiful children and helped me raise them to be every fucking thing we thought they outta be, and they are. She was kind and gentle, loving and mean like a snake when she needed to be."

More mumbles went around, and a soft laugh bubbled up in the crowd.

Joe smiled and nodded at everyone. "If today had just been about the passing of a beautiful woman, then we'd celebrate, but it's not. It's about someone in this fucking city thinking they have the right to steal our crown jewel. It's about someone thinking that they can come into my house and take from me the one thing that belonged to me alone."

The emotion that flowed freely was anger, and the priest backed up a little. Joe was known for being the most generous of bastards in the city—and yet the most deadly.

A time of retribution and retaliation was coming.

When we had the ability to pinpoint who was going to suffer for what was done to Vivian, it was going to be a bloodbath. Joe placed his hand on the casket again as the rain shifted and sprayed him. He looked fierce and ready to take on the whole damned city if necessary, but his expression only mimicked the battle cry we all felt deep inside for justice to be served swiftly.

"We will find them, baby. We'll find them, and I'll kill every last motherfucker that was involved. Before I join you in the ground, we will avenge your death."

"Yeah!" one of the syndicate brothers yelled from the back row, a few others joining in.

Joe looked up at everyone and nodded. "Yeah."

They all yelled their agreement but me. I was far too lost in my thoughts. How someone could be ballsy enough to hit Don Joseph Castaletta, a name that shook fear across the United States and half of the countries we dealt with overseas, was beyond me. It was almost unbelievable, and yet there we stood, burying our matriarch.

I glanced up to Joe's dark green eyes boring into me. A look of question stained his aging face.

A simple nod added my agreement to the Don's statement. There would be no one else at the front of the search for Vivian's killers outside of me, Joe, and Izzy, and everyone gathered to say goodbye knew it.

Chapter 2

Demetri

The rest of the funeral was a blur. The priest tried to bring in a little more about the Lord into the mix, but I had already had my fill. A hole in the ground was the only rest and reprieve I expected after the life I had chosen to live.

I walked away from the crowd and moved along the dirt-covered tombstones as the rain lightly misted from above. I tried to work through the various enemies we had made over the years, finding the list much longer than I had anticipated. But we weren't just looking for a casual enemy or a rival syndicate. Whoever took Vivian's life had to have tracked her to know exactly where she would be, and that Joe wouldn't be beside her.

The fuckers knew what they were asking for. It was a death wish of the most daring kind — to rape and kill a mobster's wife in cold blood.

Joe would grieve today with his family and his kids, but I knew damn good and well that tomorrow he would be on the war path. Nothing would stop him or the rest of the syndicate until this mystery was solved and vengeance was ours.

I turned my head at the sound of footsteps. The leaves lay scattered along the ground from the long winter, giving the scene more color than any of us wanted in the midst of our suffering.

Tugging my black leather bomber closer, I offered a sad smile as I laid eyes on Izabella. Her long dark purple coat hid the black dress she'd had me zip up that morning. Every cell in my body woke up standing in the bedroom behind her, and it was all I could do not to slide the dress off her shoulders and help her forget everything.

I opened my arms to her in a brotherly fashion and lifted my head, beckoning her to come to me.

She walked slowly, her head down, but sea-green eyes cast toward me. Her silky raven-colored hair cascaded around her shoulders and danced along the curve