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“Because it’s not the past to me,” Julian says. He speaks softly, but there’s an edge to his voice.
“You expect me to answer your questions? To trust you? Then prove your loyalty to me,” Dad begins, voice low and authoritative, but he only glances at Julian before looking away again.
He’s afraid. Not of Julian—well, not more than most people are afraid of Julian—but of his request for information.
Why?
“I will give you a job,” he goes on. “A job more in line with your skills, as you say. You will carry out this job with Leo, and you will show obedience and loyalty at all times, and treat Leo’s word as though it is my own. If you do it—then, maybe, I’ll answer your questions.”
Julian gives his now-familiar cold smile. “Alright,” he says. “But who is the target?”
Dad’s face is solemn. “It’s a high-profile target. I want to send a message. You should feel free to exercise your artistry.” He pauses for a moment before continuing, “The target is Roxanne Rochford.”
I shoot to my feet, the table rocking. “What the fuck?”
Dad doesn’t even look at me. He looks at Julian, who is looking at me.
“Gino’s girl?” I snap. “No fucking way.”
“Sit down, Leo,” Dad says impatiently. “I gave Gino a chance to turn it around. He didn’t. She’s made trouble for the Family since day one.”
Julian is still contemplating me, his mouth ticking up at one corner. “Not only your Family, Don Bernardi,” he says, looking away from me at last. “She’s the redhead, right? Smells like strawberries and face powder?”
I’m still standing there like a dickhead, no one paying me any mind. “Dad,” I try again, but he flaps an irritated hand at me.
“Take your seat, boy. I made my decision. That’s the end of it.”
Julian looks back to me. “Did you not hear Don Bernardi, Leo?” he asks in a seductive tone. “He made his decision. And I’ll be very glad to carry out his wishes—following your lead, of course.”
I stare at him, speechless, and fall rather than sit back in my chair.
“That’s a man who understands how Family works,” my father says approvingly. “Alright, Julian. We have a deal. You make an example of that bitch, and then we’ll talk about your mother.”
“I won’t do it,” I growl.
“Of course you will, Leo,” Julian says lightly, holding up his glass to me in a toast. “You want your father to be proud of you, don’t you?”
CHAPTER25
JULIAN
“I didn’t realizethis would be such aproblem,” I moan, as Jack takes a breath. Sandro, Jack and I are sitting in Sandro’s study, and I’ve updated them on what’s going on with the Bernardi operation. Jack reamed me out about the hit on Roxanne Rochford as though I ordered it myself. “She’s completely replaceable,” I point out. “In movies, in life, and certainly as Gino Bernardi’s fiancée.”
I should have kept my mouth shut. I’ve only provoked a new flood of angry words from Jack. “She may seem replaceable toyou, Julian, but that doesn’t mean you can just go around killing people who become inconvenient!”
“Why not?”
“Whynot?”
“Ciro had no compunctions about this kind of thing. In fact, he sent several Castellanis after that friend of hers—what was her name?” I raise my eyebrow at Jack. “Miller Beaumont’s sister. You were one of the men he sent, Jack.”
“Not with my knowledge,” he spits. “And I’ll be damned if I let you murder Roxy, Julian. It’s not happening.”
“It’s not murder,” I protest. “It’s business.”
“It’snotbusiness,” Jack says in a dangerous voice. “It’s personal. If Aldo Bernardi wants her dead so bad, he can send one of his own to do the deed.Wewill not be party to it.”
I look to Sandro, who stands there in the bay windows with his arms crossed. “How about we take a vote on it?” I try.
