Page 78 of The Beast Who Begged Me

I stand over Gallo and look down at him. “Gallo.” He jumps like I caught him sleeping. “When Big Gee put it around to take out Seb. Who got him?”

“Pardini was involved. He wouldn’t shut up about it. But I heard Big Gee was the one who…”

I wish I’d stamped that motherfucker Pardini’s head in a few more times. As for Big Gee, when I get to him, I’ll make him suffer. “And after—was there a body? A viewing? Anything?”

“Pardini had the…the proof. The mark cut off his hand.”

And I have it now. Still. I took it with me from the Morelli mansion and put it back in the deep freeze again.

“You never heard where they put the rest of him?”

Gallo shakes his head. “Sorry, man. If I knew, I’d tell you.”

Headlights sweep across the high windows above. I go out to meet Vito’s car, and open the door for Caligula.

“Rosa and Sammy okay?” I ask Vito. He holds up his phone to show me the house cameras. There are two Clemenzas camped out on the stoop, men that Ferraro vouched for. And Rosa and Sammy are locked up tight in the house. Rosa is having chamomile tea at the kitchen table before bed. When I flick into Sammy’s art room, I see Ricky Benedetti is there too, and I shut the app fast when I see what he and Sammy are up to.

I can’t be everywhere at once, so they’re as safe as they can be right now. That’s what I keep telling myself, although it doesn’t help much.

Caligula catches my hand and inspects the bandage. “You’re alright?” he asks quietly, and I nod, squeezing his fingers before I take him inside. Vito follows us in and stands near the door.

Gallo turns his hooded head at the sound of our footsteps. Caligula stops in front of him.

“Victor Gallo,” he says. “I’m told you want to abandon your oaths to the Giulianos.”

“It ain’t like that,” he says uneasily. “I’m not disloyal. I just⁠—”

“Do you know who you’d be working for?” Caligula says.

“The Clemenzas.” Gallo turns a little farther, trying to place him by his voice. “Are you—are you Don Clemenza?”

Caligula looks at Ferraro. “Take that thing off him, Strike. I want to see his face.”

Ferraro pulls the hood off, and Gallo drags in air, loud and greedy. The old man waves the other Clemenzas back so they can’t hear our conversation. I stay behind Caligula, watching Gallo closely.

“So tell Don Clemenza why you were biding your time with Frank Russo,” I say to Gallo, “if your heart belonged to Seb Conti.”

A grin starts up on Gallo’s face at my phrasing, but dies before it fills out. “Shit, man. I’m just trying to stay alive. But I did mean it: Conti was better suited to leading this Family. If he’s really dead, and you don’t want the job, then what the hell is left for the rest of us? It’s Big Gee or nothing. And I did make vows.” He sneaks a look at Caligula.

“You say that and then expect me to believe you’d work for me?” Caligula says. “You sound like you’re just trying to save your own skin.”

“Look, about a quarter of the family broke away from Big Gee as soon as shit went down,” Gallo says. “But they were the guys who had backup. They’re still out there, making war. But some of us were stuck working in crews that were loyal to Big Gee, like me. If I’d opened my mouth, said anything outta line, I would’ve been put down.”

“So you’re telling me some Giulianos are just waiting for an alternative?”

“I guess that’s about the size of it.”

I’ve been watching Gallo the whole time, weighing the words against the body language. And the thing is, I don’t think he’s lying. A liar would tell us what he thinks we want to hear. He’d have talked up Seb Conti, made excuses for sticking with his crew.

Nothing this guy says sounds heroic. He just wants to stay alive, like he said. And that rings true, too. I was loyal to the Giulianos, but it wasn’t because I was a true believer. I needed the money, the contacts, so I could take my vengeance. Loyalty was a uniform.

And uniforms can be replaced. Replaced with something much deeper: identity.

I hope Caligula sees it the same way. But if he tells me to kill the guy instead, I’ll do it.

“Orsini, I showed you what I was willing to do back at that body shop,” Gallo says, appealing to me. “I’m fucking thrilled that Frank Russo is dead, and I’d kill him again if I had the chance. That guy was a sadistic motherfucker. But if me blowing his face off doesn’t convince you, nothing will.”

“Once a Gee, always a Gee,” Ferraro mutters.