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I’m as numb as the drink made me earlier. I hang my head, but she lifts it back up.
“You cannot blame yourself for her death. Now, get up and clean up. Your father wants to see you first thing. He wants a report. I assume you know what that means.”
I nod. Sure, I know what that means. He wants to talk about our Bratva friends.
* * *
I walk into Pa’s office at Giordanos Inc.
He’s sitting behind his desk doing paperwork.
I already know he’s not going to be happy when I tell him I’m still in two minds about the alliance.
He frowns when he sees me. “Vinny, you look like shit. You come see your old man looking like that? Unshaved with red eyes?” He’s being serious.
I could have shaved, but there’s nothing much I can do about the red eyes.
“I’m sorry, it’s been a long night.”
“I don’t know if I want to know what that means,” he answers, giving me that look I used to get when he knew I was getting up to no good with a woman, or at The Dark Odyssey.
He’d probably be surprised to know I did neither last night.
I take a seat in front of him.
“So, what’s the status with your decision for the Russians? Everything looks all good to me. I’d say yes to them… what say ye?”
I tense and stare at him. My stare makes him temple his fingers at first then ball his fist and bar his teeth the way I do when I’m mad.
“Vincent,” he prods.
“Pa… I’m not too keen on them,” I answer simply, deciding to opt for the truth.
“Why? Why the fuck not?”
“I don’t know. Something… feels off.”
“What feels off, boy?”
“Them,” I say, leaning forward. His frown deepens.
“Working with the Bratva is going to be good for us. Alliances between groups like us are a powerful form of collaboration. These arepowerfulmen, Vincent. I dare say that some of the problems we’ve had in the past would never have happened with such an alliance.”
He’s not wrong about that. In Chicago, we have an alliance with a lot of the other crime families, but this would be on another level. The Ivanezh Brotherhood are worldwide, strong in Moscow, and I know we should be grateful that they want to do business with us.
I just can’t do business with men I don’t trust.
“Pa, I agree. I absolutely agree. No one would fuck with us if we had men like that on our side.”
“So, what is the fucking problem, boy?”
“I told you, something feels off. I don’t know what it is. I said I’d get back to them in three weeks. Pa, there’s no harm in them waiting.”
“Vinny, it suggests distrust. It shows we have something to distrust them over, and there’s nothing.”
“Pa, the fact that none of the families in our existing alliance have ever worked with the Bratva is enough to make me want to take the time to think about it.”
That silences him. He can’t refute it. It’s a fact, one I think we should consider.
