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“But he did. Right frame of mind or not, he needs to pay for his mistake. Unless you’d like to?” He raises a brow. “Make the prince pay for the king’s wrongs?”
“I don’t want you dead or to go to war with your family.”
“Bullshit. My father killed your brother.”
“Because my brother was stupid enough to kidnap your father’s fiancée.” I interlock my fingers together and rest them on my forehead. “My uncle Sonny has called my legitimacy to become boss into question within the family. He and Vinny were close. He’s made it clear to the family that I am a traitor for not wanting to ruthlessly murder your family.” I lower my hand to jerk a finger toward my father while staring at Benny in confliction. “As soon as he dies, everything will change. Whether that’s good or bad depends on who takes over. Sonny wants to be king and wants you dead. He’s the one who sent men to follow you to the club the night your car was shot up.”
Benny smiles while inching toward my father.“Let him try.”
The tension in my body grows when he reaches forward and snatches his breathing mask off his face.
“Rot in hell,” Benny says, pulling the mask back and quickly spitting in my father’s mouth.
He backs up, and I immediately punch him in the face. As bad as I want to blow his brains out, I can’t do that in the hospital.
The motherfucker laughs and rubs where I hit him.“If your dad makes it out of the hospital alive, my wrath will be ten times worse than that.” He leaves the room.
I believe Benny.
Which is why my wrath needs to exceed his.
Exceed Sonny’s.
I want to strangle my father for what he did, but I still have a loyalty to him.
It’s time I find out if anyone has any fucking loyalty to me.
“Here we fucking go,” I grumble toward my father.
26
ONE MONTH LATER
“Vincent Lombardi, the notorious Mafia boss of the Lombardi crime family, was pronounced dead this morning.”
With the flick of my thumb, I change the TV channel.
“The streets of New York City are safer now that Vincent Lombardi, feared crime boss?—”
Next channel.
“If you or a loved one has been affected by?—”
I turn off the TV.
Unsurprisingly, my father never recovered from his stroke. He was put in hospice in his home after leaving the hospital and died without anyone by his side. You wouldn’t have believed that from his funeral though. Everyone in the Lombardi organization showed and faked cordialness, but the unspoken tension was like a tightly wound coil that would unravel soon. Men who were loyal to my father for years are now against me. Every inch of them reeked with betrayal as they stood next to Sonny.
Sonny enters my father’s office while I’m clearing it out, and I refuse to acknowledge his presence. Nuncio stands behind him,looking torn between guilt and smugness. I’d bet my share of the casino that Sonny promised him something in exchange for turning against me. Probably moving up in rank.
“Look, Antonio,” Sonny says, clasping his hands together. “We can do this the hard way or the easy way.”
I play with a bookend in my hand, moving it from one to the other, and click my tongue against the roof of my mouth. “You should know I don’t deal well with threats,Uncle, nor do I enjoy doing shit the easy way.”
He stands taller but can’t quite hide the hunch in his back. “Agree to me stepping up as boss. Tell our men today.”
I sharply laugh. “Fuck off.”
“You can be my capo.”
