Page 14 of Angelo

Alessandro's eyebrows perked up. "Sosoon?"

Elyse gave a hesitant nod and continued, "I narrowed down some options yesterday. In terms of venues and such. But I'm still undecided on the guest list. One hundred feels like a good number, though."

Form the get-go, Alessandro hadn't wanted anything to do with his father's funeral, so it'd been impossible to get any input. She'd selected this number intentionally. One hundred or more would mean that her husband preferred a larger, grander venue. One hundred or less suggested that a smaller venue would suffice. After what Alessandro shared with her about Renata's death and the despicable way Vincenzo handled it, Elyse doubted that her husband wished to give his father any semblance of a dignified service.

She hoped, in this instance, the number might elicit some sort of emotional response. Enough of an opinion to gauge how much pomp and circumstance her husband was willing to tolerate. Elyse wanted to make sure that Alessandro was comfortable with her decisions even if he wanted nothing to do with them.

Disgruntlement emerged on Alessandro's handsome face. "One hundred seems excessive. The smaller?The better."

It seemed her instincts had been on point. Elyse took care to maintain an inscrutable expression as she pressed on, "I've also been looking at some gravesites in Palermo. And Giarratana."

Vincenzo lived out most of his adult life in Palermo, but Giarratana was the town where he had been born. It was located about four hours away in the southern Sicilian province of Ragusa.

Her husband muttered, "I thought we agreed to let him sink to the bottom of the Tyrrhenian?"

With a cough, she stayed the course and tried to get a straight answer out of him. "I'm leaning toward Giarratana. What do you think?"

His mouth flattened. "Get him a plot in Palermo."

Alessandro didn't explain his reasoning, he never did these days, and it left Elyse feeling frustrated. If keeping everything low-key was his priority, then hosting a funeral service in Giarratana would certainly be less conspicuous than Palermo. The town was quite rural, and it was sparsely populated compared to the city. But Elyse didn't want to argue with him. Vincenzo was his father, after all, and she respected Alessandro's wishes. "I'll do that."

"Grazie."

"You're welcome," she replied. "Anyway, I guess I should trim the guest list if one hundred is too much."

At this, Alessandro finally showed some interest in their discussion. He inquired, "Who is on the list so far?"

"Family from your father's side, a few from your mother's side, key members from our clan, and some representatives from allied clans."

With so many importantmafiosiin attendance, security concerns stood at the forefront of her mind. Elyse didn't know whether it'd be smarter to invite the Berlusconis, so she could keep a watchful eye on their every move, or bar Domenico and Cara from attendance altogether. After the shit they pulled in the past, who knew how much blood they intended to spill this time?

She turned to Alessandro for guidance, "Should I invite... Cara?"

He seemed to catch her drift. "Worried about Domenico?"

"Of course."

"My men have him under close surveillance. So far, it seems he does not have plans to fuck with us."

"The funeral would be a prime opportunity to take everyone out at once, though."

"Then, maybe, he needs to die before the funeral." Brown and blue-gray eyes darted away for a moment, glancing at a lighter that sat on top of a dresser. Alessandro then turned back to Elyse, adding, "I can make it look like an accident."

She laughed nervously. Her husband was probably plotting to set Domenico on fire at the moment. Elyse couldn't tell if he was being serious or not. Murdering Domenico in cold blood would throw a wrench into all of their carefully laid plans. "Does this mean the Berlusconis aren't invited?"

"No, we should invite them."

Elyse clenched her jaw to keep it from dropping. Was this the best course of action? Her apprehension thickened into full-blown anxiety. "You sure?"

"Sì," Alessandro confirmed. "If Domenico chooses to be disrespectful at my father's funeral, no one will flinch if I blow his brains out."

"Don't get too trigger-happy," Elyse warned. "You might start a war that we're not ready to win."

"I will let him live," promised Alessandro, "as long as he does not piss me off."

Sighing, she pretended not to hear him since he was clearlynotlistening at all. "Would you like to review the revised guest list before I send out the invites?"

"No need," he replied, "I can trust you,no?"

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