Chapter 47: D A R I O

I took my seat next to Linus. Due to his fear of heights, he did not fight me for the window seat. Which was perfect for me, I loved watching the lights from the city. As the plane drove down the runway, picking up speed, rising in altitude, Linus grabbed the arm rests of his seat so tight, his knuckles were white.

After the pilot announced we had reached a safe point in the sky, I relaxed a little. But poor Linus stayed tense. He didn’t like to fly and we were going to be on this plane for 15 hours. Way to face your fears.

I figured conversation would help calm him down, keep his mind away from the fact we were thousands of feet in the air. I was still very curious about the day Hera’s dad died, but I didn’t know how to bring it up. I figured fuck it, I really needed to know.

“Linus?”

I asked. Linus glanced at me quickly then returned his gaze to the front of his seat. His hands still gripped his seat, like he was afraid to let go for fear of falling to the ground I guess. I continued,

“You said you saved Hera that day. Does she know that *you* saved her?”

Linus didn’t offer any explanation when he shook his head no. I asked,

“Do you know she thinks it was the Italian that saved her?”

Linus quickly glanced at me again. I saw the sadness in his eyes when he slowly nodded his head. I started to get mad. If he told Hera that he saved her, she wouldn’t be so obsessed with the fucking Italian.

But then I realized, if she wasn’t fraternizing with *Emiliano* then Ambrosio would’ve never introduced me to Hera. And that’s a thought I couldn’t bear to keep in my mind. I relaxed a little when I asked Linus,

“Why didn’t you tell her?”

Linus looked at me, still gripping his chair and said,

“Sophie wouldn’t let me tell her. I wanted to stop Hera from going crazy over Emiliano, but Sophie said that she would grow out of it and it was a phase. But Hera wouldn’t let him go.”

I asked Linus why Sophie would keep such vital information from her niece. Linus explained,

“I think Sophie refused to tell Hera about Emiliano because Hera’s father did not get along with Emiliano’s father. Ambrosio Senior would roll in his grave if he knew Hera and Emiliano were together-”

“They’re not together, they can’t be. He’s married to someone else,”

I cut Linus off. Hera is *mine*. Linus relaxed his back, but his arms remained welded to the arm rests when he smiled and asked,

“Dario, are *you* in love with Hera?”

I rolled my eyes and sighed before saying,

“I was going to ask Hera to be my girlfriend at dinner before *he* showed up and took her from me.”

Linus chuckled and asked,

“Do you truly think you can handle her?”

I furrowed my brow and asked,

“Handle her? What do you mean? She is amazing!”

Linus kept chuckling and shook his head when he said,

“You know she was supposed to take over the family?”

My eyes shot wide open when I asked,

“WHAT?”

Linus finally released his grip to lean in close to me when he disclosed,

“Ambrosio Senior told me from that day I held Hera in the hospital, that he wanted her to take his place, his heiress. I thought he would change his mind after Ambrosio Junior was born, but he didn’t. I thought for sure when Hera got sick as a young woman, he would change his mind, but he didn’t.”

My mind was racing with questions,

“What happened when Hera got sick?”

Linus shook his head and said,

“If she hasn’t told you, then she doesn’t want you to know.”

I started to panic,

“Is she ok?”

I asked. Linus nodded his head,

“Yes, she’s perfectly fine.”

A flight attendant approached us and handed us bottles of water. Linus opened his right away and drank most of the bottle. I grew impatient while I waited for him to finish drinking before I asked,

“If Hera is supposed to run the family, how come she’s not?”

Linus shook his head and leaned in close and nearly whispered,

“I have a theory that Ambrosio Junior is behind all of this.”

Linus straightened back in his seat while I thought about what he said. I asked Linus to elaborate and he replied,

“Ambrosio Junior knew Hera was supposed to take over. He showed up to the meeting after I did, very convenient. And he was so quick to take action while Hera was in her coma. He claimed Hera wasn’t going to wake up and he was the last standing Drakos, therefore deserved the crown.”

Linus continued,

“You see, every family head and their successors were at that meeting. All 12 families lost their leaders. Hera and Emiliano were the only two successors to survive. When Ambrosio Junior rallied the other 11 families, they were all trying to figure out who to put in charge of their respective crews. They were all scrambling to put their houses back together.”

Linus raised his brows and gave me a look. That would explain why Ambrosio lost his patience with Hera still being upset about the death of their father. Explained why he hired me to keep Hera in America. Explained why he freaked out when he heard Hera got away.

I was completely lost in thought when I heard Linus ask me something. He tapped me on the shoulder to bring me back out of my head. I looked at him and saw his eyes were watering. I asked him what was wrong and he asked quietly,

“Do you think we’ll have enough time to stop at the cemetery in Nea Ionia?”

A lump caught in my throat. Who did Linus want to see? I nodded my head and said,

“Yes of course. We’re meeting my crew in Ilion, super close.”

Linus smiled and I could see the happiness beam out of his eyes.