AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Yeah. I understand him. And I see how small and insignificant the Bernardi Family really is in this town. Because what Sandro says is true: when he wants something done, it gets done.
If my father wants to believe he controls a patch of the LA port, Sandro doesn’t care, becauseheknows how to take care of business, just like that night Julian kicked me off a goddamn shipping container. The Bernardis fought a battle, but the Castellanis won the war.
Their imports still come in. Their exports still go out.
Because the Bernardis are too busy tearing each other apart. Torturing and killing each other. Ordering hits on wives and fiancées—oninnocents.
The Bernardis are a disgrace, and I’ve known it for a long time. So I don’t bother replying to Sandro. What is there to say? And as we drive back to Redwood Manor, the city lights gleaming around us, I let my thoughts turn back to Julian instead.
But as we pull up at the gates of Redwood Manor, there’s something going on. The Castellani guards are standing around a car with guns drawn, and a few start to crowd up, keeping Sandro at a distance. “Hold there, Boss!” one of them shouts.
Sandro jumps out of the car at once. And I join him, because I recognize the car that the Castellanis have surrounded.
It’s Gino’s.
I run over to where Gino is being held down on the hood by two of the Castellani guards. “Hey, hey,” I say, holding up my hands when one of them turns his gun on me immediately. “That’s my brother.”
“Leo!” he gasps. “Tell ’em to let us in!”
Us? I backtrack a little, look into the window that one of the other guards has his gun pointed at. Inside, a gray-faced Monkeys Scignatti stares back at me.
“Leo,” he pants out. “Your father…”
“Get that fucking medic down here,” I bark at the guard. “The one who’s sitting up with Julian.”
“Do as he says,” Sandro prompts, when the guard looks at him. Meanwhile, I pull open the door and climb in.
“Monkeys, what the hell—“
“Leo,” he gasps, grabbing my hand with his. A red warmth smears over my palm as he holds it. “God, Leo—your father. He’s dead.”
I just stare at him. At the blood on his hand.
“Your father,” he repeats. “He’s dead, Leo. I’m so sorry.”
Iwantedthe old man dead. Was even prepared to kill him myself. But hearing it…
It’s still a shock.
“Who?” I croak out. “Who killed him?”
Monkeys looks away from me, as though he can't find the words. He takes a deep breath before he speaks again. “It was your brother. Aldo Junior.”
CHAPTER57
JULIAN
SEVERAL WEEKS LATER
It’s beensome time since I’ve felt fine again, but both Leo and Sandro still refuse to let me go back out to work.
I managed to persuade Sandro to let me hire some new staff, so life is much more comfortable now. I sit at the piano in the grand salon, playing as I watch our new butler restock the dry bar for tonight.
Another meeting. And an important one tonight.
“Darian,” I call over the music. He prefers to use his first name, rather than his last, and as that surname is a complicated double-barreled one that I can never remember, I’ve allowed him to do so.
Darian turns to face me, practically clicking his heels together as he thrusts his arms behind his back and stands tall. “Yes, sir?”
