“Let me make you an offer,” I began.
“Did any of my brothers receive this offer?” the capo challenged.
I shook my head. “Those fat pigs were dead weight.”
“What an honor,” he muttered.
“Honey!” a sleepy female’s voice called down the front stairs. “Was that the security system?”
Luigi motioned with his gun for Tony to speak.
“I just stepped out front,” he called to his wife. “Sorry to wake you, cara mia.”
Her voice turned sultry. “Are you coming to bed?”
“Go to bed,” Tony snapped.
She cursed at him in Italian before her footsteps retreated.
“That was harsh,” Joey laughed.
Tony pointed a finger at him. “You don’t touch her, you hear me?”
“Enough,” I bit out. “We’re not here for her, and you know it.”
“Do I?” the capo scoffed. “Seems you’re capable of a coup. Anything else is less a sin than that.”
“We don’t touch families.” This wasn’t the Old World. The long-standing tradition with Italian mobs in America was that we kept the women and children out of the line of vengeance. They were off limits. Period.
“So, what’s it to be?” Luigi gestured at the body bag one of the guys carried. “You in? Or you want to stay out?”
Tony and I stared at one another. Here was where I tested his greed. One of the most powerful driving forces was the only thing strong enough to test his loyalty to my grandfather.
“You going to kill the don?” Tony asked.
There was no point lying to him. “If it comes to it, but I’m certain mother nature will take that off my to-do list.”
Tony nodded. “I know a nice hospice center. They wouldn’t ask any questions while we wait.”
My smile spread against the black material of my balaclava. “See, already proving how useful you are.”
With a nod from me, the men lowered their weapons.
“Here’s how it’s going to work.” I jerked my chin. Emanuele and another soldier stepped forward. “These two are your shadows. You won’t even take a shit without them in the room.”
“When will you put the old bull out to pasture?” Tony huffed.
“Friday night.” After the ball. For a myriad of reasons, there seemed a poetic justice to letting Don Grimaldi go out on a high note. I needed the next forty-some hours to finalize my ascension to power.
“I’ll see you at the party then.” Tony stuck out his hand. “A pleasure doing business with you…don.”
Chapter 42 –Rae
“Magnolia, come with me,” the housekeeper barked, pushing into the kitchen. “Now.”
Franky balanced the mattarello on its end. For a moment, it seemed like he was going to smack Sanderson over the head with the long rolling pin. My fingers were coated in sticky scrambled eggs that I’d been mixing into the well of flour. I was on the schedule to help him prep the ravioli, and we’d only just begun to make the pasta dough.
“Um, okay.” I lifted my hands. “Is there any way it can wait—”
