9 Aftermath

Harry was pacing in the living room, as suggested by Nev he had spent some time in the basement gym working out to relieve some of the tension, it had helped but he was panicking still with worry about everyone. The twins had returned but with no real news, then grabbed a car and said they were driving to London for a job from John. About two hours ago, five of the guys had returned in the Caddie, and Paul pulled him aside and explained that Cassie's parents were both dead but that Daphne had stayed behind with John and Luca to help out and to comfort Luca.

His mind was bought back to the present as Neville walked in and sighed as he plopped down on the couch, "She just passed out from exhaustion, I think she knows Harry."

Harry nodded, he was sure she had figured it out, why else would John and Luca have stayed behind. "Yeah, poor girl. I hope this doesn't change her too much. She was always such a sweet and happy girl, always so care free, like her mother." He sat down in the chair facing Nev.

"Why would they go after her family like that Harry? Who do you think would do that?"

"Nev, do you know what her father is?" Harry looked up at his friend.

"Yeah, I think I heard him mentioned right, lawyer or something right?"

"Not just a lawyer, Nev, the head lawyer for the London branch of Don Moretti's organization. He was essentially a made man. Being that he was married to the little sister of John Bishop's most trusted friend and second in command adds even more implication to this mess. If someone hit him, this could be war."

"Harry, were they married as a way to bring the family together or something?"

Harry actually laughed, "No, but it kind of did that any ways. Don Moretti was the one that backed John to create this group here, and then actually recognized it as a separate family. That is unheard of, especially since John is not Italian. About twenty years ago, the Don went back to Italy, and left his brother in charge temporary until his oldest son, Alessio, finished at the University of Warwick. As you know, Alessio is now in charge of the British family, as his uncle gladly stepped down once Al finished his schooling. Anyways, the two families have always been close, and one day, Al, who was still at Warwick, brings over a college friend to a bar-b-q John were having. Eventually John introduced Al's best friend to Luca's sister and next thing they know they are dating. Quickly after that, or so the stories goes, the two were married and not two years after the famous bar-b-q, Cassandra was born. They were very much in love, Nev, they wouldn't force anyone together like that in the muggle world."

"Anyways, Rob was an extremely sharp lawyer and started under Alessio the day he took over. He was always his outside adviser, as Al's uncle always was his consigliore, and the two created a great team helping Al run the British end of the family. While His uncle was like a blunt hammer, always talking of revenge and honor, Ron was more subtle, like a dagger in the dark, and always looked at the big picture of things, a master at anticipating the next dozen moves. Al's uncle, Edoardo, and Rob always bickered, but were actually close friends, and always would admit it when the other was right. Like I said, they worked real well together, all three of them. It is a shame, I am afraid Alessio will be lost without his oldest friend."

"Gods, this is trouble, things may get real nasty here for a while. You know we are unofficially under the control of Moretti right?"

Neville nodded, "Yeah, I got that much, but isn't it more of an honor obligation, not really official?"

Harry nodded now, "Yeah, luckily, the Moretti's are basically like the bank in the underworld, safe guarding everyone's money, you know thru laundering and such, so they never really need to worry about us too much since they are never really competing with the other families. Basically, we are the police and they are the bank, so that is why we are also so close, on the business end, we need them, they need us."

Neville sighed, "What about Cassie? What will happen now?"

"I have a feeling that we need to keep her here. Not only the fact that Luca is her only family now, but someone just tried to kill her, and until we know why, she needs protection. For that, the only place safer that this place would be Alessio's place in London. Ever been there?" Neville shook his head, "It is the top three floors of a tower in downtown London, with a great view of the River Thames. Also there is the penthouse above that, where Al lives with his wife and children. The bottom the floors are mainly for business, with the top floor is the living area for his men. It is quite the set up. Two private elevators, that are guarded 24 hours in the lobby and up top, are the only way up, besides the helicopter pad in the patio of the penthouse. Oh, and don't forget the private parking garage under the tower, it has enough room for about fifty cars, once again, guarded 24 hours a day. The entire place has the best security that money can buy. Anyways, like I said, Alessio and Rob were best friends, and I am sure she would be welcome there, most likely they would move her up in the penthouse without a second though."

Suddenly, they heard a car pull thru the side gate and stop. Not two seconds later, Daphne came running in, a look of panic on her face. The second she saw Harry, tears broke free and she bolted at him. She embraced him like never before and started sobbing.

"It was awful Harry, what those sickos did, just awful. Poor Cassie and Luca, I can't imagine."

Shortly after, John walked in, half supporting his friend. Luca looked the worst Harry had ever seen him. He was deathly pale, and his eyes were starring ahead, unseeing and almost looking dead. Daphne could see that Harry wanted to go to him, so she released him and gave him a gentle push towards him.

Harry walked up to the big man and looked up at him, "Luca, I am so sorry, if there is anything I can do…"

Luca started sniffling and suddenly pulled Harry into a hug, "Thanks little buddy, that means the world to me. I need to go up and tell Cassie, poor soul. If anything, can you help her, she really doesn't know any one here but us three, and me and John are just a couple of old men. She will need a friend, and you two were always close when you were younger."

Harry returned the hug and nodded, "Of course Luca, we are family, we will get thru this together."

Luca patted him on the back and released him. He took a deep breath and turned to the stairs to go tell his niece that her parents are dead.

Harry pulled Daphne close again and walked her over to a couch, where he sat down, then pulled her into his lap. John walked over to the liquor cabinet and grabbed a bottle and four glasses, then sat across from them and motioned to a seat next to him for Neville to take.

One they were all sitting, John poured a hefty amount of whiskey into each glass and passed them out. "I think we all need a drink for what I am about to tell you three." He paused to take a drink to steady his nerves, something that announced to the other occupants of the room that this was beyond serious.

"Cassie and her family were not the only ones hit today. Shortly after, Alessio and his family were hit at their Sunday breakfast. It is foolish, but they always go to the same place every Sunday, and have a family breakfast. They got him, his wife and all three of his girls. They also killed his uncle and several of the most important men in his operation that were there."

He paused and downed rest of his drink.

"There were several other raids on his organization. I do not know the totals, but I fear the worse. At this point, the most powerful family in all of England is all but dead and whipped out." He pulled out the letter that Joe had found, "This is all they left, not much, but it mentioned some Dark Lord, and that a new group is taking over the British underworld. They claim this is their only warning, if they ask us to do something and refuse, they will wipe us out too."

The following week was one of the funerals, Harry personally attended so many, he lost track and they all started to blend together. However, there were two that stood out.


Three days after the attacks, Cassies's parents were laid to rest in a small cemetery. Many of his college friends and surviving members were there. Just before the ceremony started, the old Don Moretti showed up. Last time Harry had seen the Don, while the old man had been about sixty, he didn't look a day above forty. Now, almost eleven years later, he was showing his age.

As the door to the limo opened, Harry and John both excused themselves and headed over to the Don. When Harry noticed the Don having trouble, He knelt down and offered his arm silently. The old man starred for a second before recognition came to him.

"Harry my boy, it has been too long." The mafia boss said in a chocked voice, heavy in his accent. He accepted the arm and Harry assisted the Dom up out of the car. As they headed slowly to the grave site, the Don leaned on Harry as he slowly walked him to the group, John close behind to the Dons other side. "I need a young man's strength, would you be so kind to assist me to the grave so I can pay my respect to the man that I loved as a son and the woman that I had come to love as a daughter. How is poor Luca and Cassandra? I have shed many tears for their lose."

"Sir, to be blunt, they are both a mess at the moment. It will mean a lot to see you; they both have all the respect for you. Luca, well, if it wasn't for John and Daphne, I really do not know where he would be. I have a feeling that he would be in a bottle, or destroying all of England on his own, leaving nothing but a path of destruction and death in his wake. But we are all there for him, and he is leaning pretty hard on us, but we will get him through this."

"It had always amazed me how a man so feared had such a heart. The love he had for his sister was like something that I have rarely seen. But as you say, he will get through this with the help of you and his other family. How is the girl?"

"I think Cassie is strong like her uncle in many ways, but she is still taking it very hard. She too has really taken to Daphne, they spend hours on end talking and crying. If anyone can get her thru this, it will be Daph and Luca, and they will manage it."

"Daphne? Is this the Doc John talks about so much?" The old man looked over at John who nodded.

"Yes Sir. She has finally come on full time with us here when we got Harry back. The two have really taken to each other, a really good couple if you ask me."

The Don smiled a bit, "That is good to hear, A little bit of love is what we need now more than ever. And John, never call me sir again, you are also like a son, if you must call me anything, make it father. I have lost two sons of my three, and you need to know that you are my most trusted now in this country, you are my eyes and ears. Ok, no more business now, in three days' time, I will be at the tower to discuss the future. My youngest son will be there too. Harry, you will be there also. The four of us will need to settle maters."

At this, he seemed to strengthen a bit and released Harry's arm and walked over to Cassie and embraced her in a hug. Harry saw him whisper into her ear and watched as Cassie started to ball in earnest now. He leaned back and looked into her face; she nodded slowly and smiled slightly thru her tears. The Don lightly patted her shoulder and turned to her uncle.

Suddenly, Luca made eye contact with the Don and dropped to his knees crying silently. The old man placed a hand on the top of Luca's head and leaned in to now start to whisper to him. Cassie wrapped her arm around her uncle and Luca too nodded then took a deep breath and stood.

As Luca rose, he nodded to John too. John placed his hand on Harrys shoulder and led him to the three people. As it stood, Luca was in the center, on his right was his niece leaning into him, then The Don. On Luca's other side was John then Harry. Behind them, the other mourner filed in and stood behind the five up front as the minister began the funeral.


A/N Ok, first thing first, sorry it has taken so long to update, in short, I had a very crazy month of July. Let's just say I got screwed over by my company, forced to quit, started job hunting and finally started a new job last week. Needless to say, I have not had much time to write and my mind has been on other things. Second, I have now reached the end of what I had written before that all went down and as it is, had to combined the last two chapters into this one, they were just too short, I couldn't do that to you.

Now, also, I must warn you, as you can see, this is the turning point in the story. This meeting with the Don in his dead son's compound is going to set up the story and transition it from the set up and healing section to the revenge and eventually war section. That being said, I will not put it up till I am happy with it, as I feel if I do it wrong it could ruin the story. I will probably need to write the next several chapters too, just to make sure things fit and feel right. So expect a delay, I hope for two weeks, but it may be more. Often, something will come to me and I will crank out 6 to 8 thousand words in a setting, and if that happens, it might be up next week, but don't hold your breath. Like I said, I will post it, but not until I am happy with it.

Thanks, I hope you all like,
All the best
Tugs