“Do you want me to arrange a meeting with him?” Grey Tony offered.
A low buzz plagued my inner ear drum. They were really discussing this! It should be no surprise that the don was so easily considering handing over a prized alliance. After all, what was the point of having children and grandchildren if not to use them to strengthen his empire? But for a grandfather to consider handing over one of his precious family members without a thought to her safety and well-being….
He needs to retire.
I wished with every fiber of my being that my father was here. He would never sit idly by and listen to this talk. He always knew how to deal with his father’s stupidity.
But it was my problem now. And there didn’t seem to be another option other than killing the old man sitting across the table from me.
Show me the way! Please, Papa.
No ghostly response came to me.
“Yes, set it up,” the don grumbled. “That’s hardly a problem.”
“Signore?” Alfonso pressed. “What’s troubling you?”
My grandfather dropped the smoldering stump in the ash tray and reached for yet another. “There’s been no sign of Enzo. Where is my underboss?”
The old men shifted. They flicked cautious glances around.
Good. They were nervous. They felt death’s icy fingers clawing at their spines.
While I had a moral dilemma when it came to dealing with my grandfather, I had no such restraint plotting to take out every man sitting at this table. Tonight’s meeting only sped up the process. Things weren’t in place quite yet. But it was painfully obvious that I needed to act.
“Protect them. Always.”
Out of the void, my father’s words rang in my mind.
I sighed and folded my hands in my lap. There was the answer. Truth be told, I’d known it all along.
Instead of fighting to remove a threat from our territory to take control of the drug business ourselves, my grandfather was going to sell my cousin to a devi and allow him to have free reign to poison our streets with his overpriced, tainted merchandise.
Carlos wouldn’t stop once he was tied to the family. His organization would only grow stronger until it threatened to crush our famiglia.
Don Grimaldi put everything at risk. If he was a capo, if he weren’t my blood, I wouldn’t hesitate. So why let the fact that he was the father of my father stop me?
I’ll protect them,I promised my father’s ghost.
A shiver reverberated down my spine in response.
***
The trattoria was busy. Neighborhood families sat around the quaint, white- and red-checkered tables. An upbeat rhythm accompanied by a crooning tenor filled Luna Luce, the music a steady pulse that made the restaurant feel alive.
I nodded to Giuseppe as I made my way upstairs. It was good of him to let us use his private apartment for what we were about to do. I hated bringing the act of treason to his doorstep. But Giuseppe wasn’t blind. He knew what was at stake. We weren’t rebels. A just cause was on our side, and each Made Man had a voice in what was about to happen.
A group of handpicked individuals waited for me. The number of souls packed tightly into the shabby living room made the apartment feel like a stuffed sardine can. Or maybe it was the grim undercurrent that ran through each of us.
I closed the door. “Thank you for coming.”
Luigi smirked from where he played host near the galley kitchen. “We’re ready…boss.”
That word. It both thrilled and terrified me.
“I’ll make this quick.” I planted myself in the middle of the room, letting the combined weight of their gazes fall on me. “We are going to fight. It’s going to be ugly, but if we don’t, we could lose everything we spent generations building.”
A low rumble ran through the space. The twenty-five men shifted and muttered to one another. I let my words sink in as I looked in each and every face. These men were here because they were trustworthy soldiers. They’d been blooded members for years.
