Page 9 of Gluttony

“I’d appreciate that, man,” he said. “Can I talk to my sister again?”

“Sure, I’ll give you both some privacy,” Victor offered.

“Thank you, Victor.” He waited for Trisha to get back on the line. Bruno hated what he was going to have to ask her next, but he felt as though he needed her blessing.

“Hey,” she breathed.

“I need to know that you are on board for what’s going to happen with our father. I know that in a perfect world, we might be able to convince him to accept the alliance, but I don’t think that is going to happen. He’s stubborn and neither of us is safe if he’s alive.” Silence filled the other end of the line, and he worried that he had upset his sister. That was the last thing he wanted to do. “You still with me?” he asked.

“I am,” she whispered. “I’ve never had to make the decision of whether someone lived or died—especially not someone like our own father. But you’re right. If we let him live, we’ll never be safe. I can’t live that way anymore, Bruno. You have my blessing to do whatever you need to do. But there is one condition—you come home safely to me. I need my brother.” He choked up at her saying that and the tears he was sure she was wiping away on the other end of the call.

“I’ll do my best, sis,” he promised.

“Good luck,” she whispered, ending the call. He sat down and started going through his contacts. With any luck, he’d be able to get most of the upper-ups of the Gluttony family together without his father being tipped off. He’d meet with them in the city to be closer to Gino. Whether they decided to back him or not, he was going into that building to get his guy back. He couldn’t live with himself if he didn’t. The promise that he just made to his sister might not be kept, but he had to try to bring Gino home.

* * *

Bruno knew that getting everyone from the syndicate together might prove to be disastrous. Hell, most of them hated him and his family for what his father did to their families—but that wasn’t him. He just had to prove that he was worthy of their help and trust—a tall order, but one he was willing to make happen.

He had taken Victor’s advice and called Damion for help, and his brother-in-law was right, he gladly gave it. Damion had called the rest of the families together at a little local restaurant that had great security. He promised that they would help get Gino back, and that had Bruno breathing a sigh of relief for the first time in almost two days.

He walked into the back of the restaurant, feeling completely alone and outnumbered. Usually, he had Gino with him for meetings such as this one, but without his guy by his side, Bruno was feeling vulnerable. The rest of the heads of household were sitting around a huge rectangular table that had one empty seat at the head of the table.

“Hi, Bruno,” Damion said, “have a seat.” He nodded to the empty chair and Bruno did as ordered.

“Thanks for meeting with me,” Bruno breathed, sitting down in the offered seat. “I really appreciate you arranging this, Damian.” Damion smiled back at him, and Bruno looked around the table to find many more unfriendly faces staring back at him.

“We heard about the hit on you and your boyfriend,” Rock Greed said. He and his son, Jett were co-heads of household for their family. Jett sat next to his husband, Finn Envy, and he had heard through the grapevine that their wife, Ella, was due to have a baby any day now.

“My brother-in-law has been laying low in the Catskills. That’s where his father’s men found Gino. They took him to try to get to Bruno and I’m worried that old man Gluttony won’t stop there. He’ll come after Trisha next. He won’t want to leave anyone alive who could possibly overthrow him. My family is in danger too,” Victor Sloth said.

“He’s right,” Bruno agreed. “He won’t stop once he has me. But I can’t let Gino take the punishment that my father has planned for me. He isn’t the one my father wants, and I’m going in to get him, one way or another.”

“Hold up here,” Finn Envy said. “We haven’t said no to helping you, so don’t go all John Wayne on us and stage a heroic rescue or anything stupid like that. It will end up getting you both killed.” He understood that, but he had to try.

Carter Lust’s face appeared on a computer screen. “Um, sorry I couldn’t be there in person, but my wife just had a baby, and I couldn’t make it back to the States from France. My two cents though—we help him get Gino back. You all know good and well that if it was one of our spouses, we’d burn the world down trying to save them.”

“Yeah, but are you forgetting that the Gluttony Syndicate doesn’t always play fair?” Bowie Wrath asked.

“Of course not,” Carter said, “old man Gluttony had my family killed, but your father was in on it too. All our fathers have done things that we wouldn’t do. That’s what this alliance is all about. We want to do things differently and without the Gluttony Syndicate, we’re not really a true alliance. We need all seven families involved. All seven families need to get along for there to be peace in the future. If we can get rid of Bruno’s father, we’ll have that peace finally.”

“The question is, are you ready to take your father down, Bruno?” Damion asked. He had made peace with that outcome long ago. He knew that in order for the Gluttony Syndicate to join the alliance, his father would have to leave the family and there was only one way that Bruno saw that happening. His father would have to be dead for him to take over and he was just fine with that.

“I know what has to happen to get Gino back. If I go into that building, it’s going to either kill or be killed. Since I don’t plan on either of us dying, I’m going to have to do the killing. I would appreciate any help you all are willing to give, but I don’t expect it. I know that I will have to earn a seat at this table and my family’s place in your alliance, but I plan on doing just that. I don’t want to run the family the way that my father has. It’s time for a change and I’m ready to make sure that it happens.”

“That’s good enough for me,” Finn Envy spoke up. “I’ll go in and help you.”

His husband, Jett Greed shot him a look. “What happens if you don’t come out of there alive?” he asked. “We’re about to have another baby.”

“I’m aware, babe, but you and I knew that this might happen someday. If we don’t stand up for what’s right, how can we call ourselves good people, let alone good fathers? You know the plan—if anything happens to either of us, the other will take care of Ella and our family. I have to do this though. I need to help Bruno get Gino back and bring down his father. It’s the only way for peace.” Jett nodded and Bruno thanked them both.

“I’m in too,” Damion said. “I will help you get Gino back. The rest of you need to do some recon of your own houses. Word of this can’t get back to Gluttony or his men. I’ll also ask you each to stand by and have your men ready in case we need backup.”

“Will do,” Rock Greed answered for the rest of them. He was kind of a spokesperson when it came to the families. He had been part of the old syndicate and decided to bring the Greed family into the alliance with his son. Not all the men had been that lucky. Most of them had lost their fathers, many were killed by Bruno’s father.

“Thank you—everyone,” Bruno said. “How fast can everyone be ready? If they have kept Gino alive this long, he won’t be able to hold out another day.” The thought of Gino dying before he could get to him scared the hell out of Bruno.

“We can be ready tonight,” Damion said. “We can meet at my place at seven. Does that work?”

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