AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I don’t take well to threats, Sonny.”
“I don’t take well to men in bed with our enemy.”
“News flash: I couldn’t give two fucks what you take well with unless it’s staying the fuck out of my business.” I punch him in the face, shake out my fist, and leave.
“It’ll happen again,” Dr. Dante Wright says, stepping away from my father. “His health is declining significantly.” His passive tone lacks empathy. “And his line of work only makes it worse.”
My father suffered a mini stroke. Luckily, it was at a family dinner, so Amara, my mother, and I are the only people who witnessed it. I intend to keep it a secret from everyone else.
Like him, the aftermath of Vinny’s death has taken a toll on me. My burden is different. My father has become withdrawn, resulting in me picking up his responsibilities, along with mine.That limits my time with my daughter, my sleep, my fucking sanity—the little amount I have to begin with.
I nod toward Dante. “Thank you.”
“Thank you,son.” My father attempts to rise from the couch in Dante’s office. His face is pale and saggy.
Dante stands tall in the doorway, not providing any bedside manners or assisting to help him to his feet. He also refuses to meet my father’s eyes.
Our father’s eyes.
Dante is my father’s secret child. Some know his name but never anything more. And Dante wants to keep it that way.
Lithica, Dante’s mother, decided she wanted nothing to do with my father after my mother snuck into her house and attempted to slit her throat. Lithica remarried, and that man raised Dante as if he were his.
Every so often, against the will of Dante, my father would visit him during his early years. As Dante grew older, he refused to see my father until he got sick. Dante only agreed to become his doctor after I cashed in a favor with him.
My father grunts as I assist him to his feet.
Dante stares at us in atime to leaveexpression. When my father moves too slowly, he opens the door.
I shake Dante’s hand after my father walks past him. “Thanks.”
He glares at me. “Get out, Antonio.”
Hisget outhas two meanings.
He wants my father to get out of his office.
He also wants me to get out of this life.
My father’s hand trembles on his cane, and I steady him on the walk to my car. He groans when I help him into the passenger seat.
“People are turning on me,” he says as I drive. “I’m making a statement tonight to tell them you’re stepping up as boss.”
I slam on the brakes, causing the truck behind me to blare its horn and swerve to the right. My nostrils flare as I parallel park in front of a row of business buildings.
“Sonny is planning something. I’m sure of it.” He presses his knuckles against his lip to mask his anguish or anger … I’m not quite sure … and then pulls them away. “He wants to be boss. You can’t let that happen. Do you understand?”
My father knows he’s a boss on the brink of losing his empire. Sonny wants my father to promote him. Now that he knows that won’t happen, I’m positive he’s plotting behind our backs. He wants to turn my father’s men against him.
Or me.
“There are two things I want to happen before I die.” My father holds up two fingers. “You take over the family.” He drops one finger. “Cristian Marchetti to suffer and lose his son, as I did mine.” He lowers the other one.
I turn quiet.
“You don’t want those things as well?”
“I’d rather kill Sonny.”
