Five: Zombie

When Armand was taken to the hospital for what seemed to be a fatal drug overdose, he thought it was the end of him. His brain had not fully recovered from the previous overdose he had suffered only days earlier, and the fact that he had stopped breathing for some time was something very few people, if any, would survive.

They pumped his stomach, put him on a ventilator, heart monitor, and every medical support tool they could provide to Armand Lombardo that night, and he miraculously defied the odds and started breathing again.

Pasquale was the first person on site after the Chef answered his phone and called emergency. The boy was limp on his bed with white foam coming out of his mouth. His eyes flipped, and he could only see the white parts from his parted eyelids. He wasn’t breathing, and he looked very much dead.

The first and last thing on his mind was, where is Ariana?

The Chef said she was nowhere to be found. She was calling them for dinner and got no answer. Once she decided to peek into the bedroom, Armand’s body was all she could find.

What happened there that night? It must have something to do with Arturo’s head and limbs that were left on his porch that same night. Had she taken off again with her kidnapper?

Pasquale LaPenna was a man of honor and hard work. His job was to ensure that the Lombardo and Montenero family legacy was taken care of and maintained. So he did what was best at the time. He made sure the doctors took every measure possible to keep the only heir of the Lombardo family alive, while the missing one could wait.

Armand’s chances of surviving were very bleak. Even if he were to be able to come back from his coma, he might have permanent brain damage. There was less than a 1% chance of him fully recovering from the ordeal.

Pasquale had to come up with new plans—elaborate plans to keep the family business running, maintain power, and stay on top of the hierarchy. The family was suddenly in a very vulnerable state, with Armand lying helpless in the hospital and Ariana’s disappearance. The other families were making allies here and there and plotting against them.

He was an experienced man. He had been in the business longer than most of the other family members, and he knew exactly how to play the game.

He could see how these young generations were not equipped for the duties. It takes courage, sacrifice, and dedication to keep the family running. Armand was too young and volatile. He was reckless with his wife, and Ariana was hurt. That was all there was to it. He had known these kids since they were little, and he was sure neither of them had the bones to kill each other.

So he lets her disappear while he waits for what fate awaits Armand at the end of his unconscious state. He keeps the business running to show the other families that the Lombardo-Montenero estate is as strong as it has ever been. He shows no mercy to those who violate the rules, but he knows he can’t keep the status quo for very long if Armand eventually does not wake up from his coma.

Five months have passed, and the boy opened his eyes.

They had just opened, staring blankly into nothing. There was no other movement, no response to sound or touch, just the eyes.

The doctors said it was common for coma patients to awaken gradually; whether he would come back fully into his usual state or not was yet to be seen. He would be put under surveillance and would have to undergo many therapies in the future. At that moment, Armand Lombardo was nothing more than a zombie, a person coming back from the dead.

“Tell no one,” Pasquale instructed the entire hospital to keep the lid on the news. He demanded that no word be spoken about Armand’s condition until they could be sure that he had recovered cognitively from the coma. So when the news hit the TV stations, Armand had been awake for nearly two weeks and was able to respond to questions.

When he finally spoke, the first word that came out of his mouth was “Ariana.”

He remembered his wife. That much, Pasquale could work on. Things were not that simple, though. Ariana was a loose cannon; she never showed any interest in continuing her family’s legacy, and she had made herself disappear twice since she was married. Even if he could find her and get her back, would she be able to be relied upon to keep the business running?

Pasquale had thought about it, which is why he approached Cossimo’s cousin, Massimo, and his son, Matteo, to join him in preserving the family legacy. This, too, would create another problem once the young Don had awakened.