AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“What can I do for you, son?” his father asked.
“I asked to meet with you to talk about Louie,” Bruno said. This would be so much easier if his father would dismiss his goons, but he knew that wasn’t going to happen. With the other families making alliances, he feared for his life. He kept his hulkish muscles around to make sure that no one came for him, and that made taking his dear old dad out even more impossible.
“What about Louie?” his father asked. “I’ve been trying to call that son-of-a-bitch all day now and he’s not answering. Have you heard something?” He’d not only heard something, but he also knew why Louie wasn’t returning any of his father’s calls.
“He’s dead,” Bruno said, letting the cat right out of the bag.
“Fuck,” Gino whispered under his breath. He shot Bruno a look, but he didn’t take his eyes off his father. He knew better than to let his guard down after making such a statement.
“Dead,” his father repeated as if he was trying to get his brain to accept the word.
“Yes,” Bruno said. “I shot him.”
“Jesus,” Gino breathed.
“Why would you shoot one of my best men?” his father asked, banging his fists into his desktop.
“Because he was watching me outside of my kitchen window. I looked up from getting a drink of water in the middle of the night, and he was standing there. I reacted without thinking, pulled my piece from my shoulder holster, and shot him in the head. He’s dead” Bruno repeated.
“Why wasn’t I immediately informed?” his father asked.
“Because I asked everyone to keep it quiet until I could come in to talk to you personally. I know that Louie is one of your guys and that you trust him with delicate matters.” Bruno knew better than to come right out and accuse his father of having his henchman stalk him at his house. Plus, he’d never admit it anyway, so why waste his breath? “I thought that you should hear the news from me, not one of the cleaners.”
Usually, when there was a messy murder that needed to be swept under the rug quickly, his father sent out a cleaning crew of men who knew how to get rid of a body quickly and neatly. They left behind no trace or shred of evidence that could be linked back to the Gluttony family. Bruno had called in the same crew to take care of Louie’s body after he shot him. Most of the men weren’t loyal to his father, but more to the Gluttony name. They didn’t squeal on him and that meant something.
“I’m not happy about this, Bruno,” his father spat. Of course, he wasn’t. Not only had he lost one of his best men, but Bruno had caught him red-handed, sending out a spy to keep tabs on him.
“I understand,” Bruno said, not offering much of an apology. “In the future, please let me know if one of your men will be stopping by my home, and I’ll try not to shoot them.” He looked between both of his father’s bodyguards knowing that his smile was mean. “I don’t mind the company, but I also hate surprises. You know that about me, Father.”
“Are you accusing me of sending Louie over to your home without telling you?” his father asked. He needed to tread carefully if he planned on getting both himself and Gino out of the building alive.
“No,” Bruno breathed. “I’m just saying, it was a bit suspicious that one of your top men was standing in my garden, watching me in my kitchen window. But I’d never accuse you of anything, Father,” he lied. His father sighed as if giving up some of his fight and he backed down a bit.
“Yes, that is a bit suspicious. I’ll look into why he was at your home and report back to you,” his father assured. He was lying, but Bruno let that go too.
“I’d appreciate that, Father,” Bruno said. “I’m sorry for your loss.” His matter-of-fact turn would have told his father that he didn’t mean it, but that was because he didn’t. Men like Louie and his father were old school. They wanted to go back to the old ways and that was what Bruno was fighting with the rest of the Syndicate families to put an end to. The younger generation was tired of their fathers’ bullshit practices and love of the old ways. They were done holding grudges and starting wars over every little thing. They wanted peace, and the only person standing in their way of obtaining that was his father.
Gino
Gino could haul ass out of the Gluttony Syndicate building fast enough. He wanted to get out of there and ream Bruno out for taking a chance like that, but he also knew that wouldn’t matter. His guy was stubborn as hell and there would be no stopping him from taking down his father. He knew that Bruno had been secretly working at that for months now, but it was going to be nearly impossible to do and probably cost him his life. That was why Gino was planning on telling him tonight that he was joining the cause. If his guy was going to go down for the cause he believed in, Gino was going to stand by his side and fight like hell for him. It was the very least he could do for Bruno since he always had Gino’s back.
They jumped into Bruno’s car and Gino felt as though he could finally breathe again. “You good?” Bruno asked. He turned on his car and headed out of the parking lot. Gino wasn’t sure how to answer him. He wanted to tell him that he wasn’t good at all, but he didn’t want to sound like a giant baby about what had just gone down.
“What the hell was that?” Gino asked.
“You answer my question first,” Bruno insisted.
“Fine, I’m not good,” Gino said. “I can’t believe you just told your father that you killed one of his top men. You acted as though it wasn’t a big deal, but—”
“It was,” Bruno finished for him. “I was sure that we weren’t going to walk out of there, but sometimes, my father can surprise me. I thought he was going to have to call out the cleaning crew again, but this time, for us.”
“Then why did you do it?” Gino asked. “I mean, you could have said that you found him dead somewhere or that someone had dumped him into your yard. He would have probably believed you.”
“Unless Louie was wearing a wire and my father’s men could hear exactly what happened. They would have heard me standing over his body, calling the cleaners to come in to take care of things for me. I didn’t want to take the chance that he either knew the truth or would find out the truth, and I lied to him. That would have definitely not ended well for us then.”
“What do we do now?” Gino asked. “You know that your father isn’t going to allow you to murder one of his top men and then just walk out of there like it never happened right?”
Bruno looked back at the entrance of the building. “I figured,” he admitted. “They are going to tail us and watch where we’re going. I’m betting that taking you back to my place won’t end well for either of us. How about we take a little road trip?” he asked.
