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I blow some air out of my cheeks. “Mama isn’t in the bad place. Good and bad are complicated. You can do bad things for good reasons.”
He looks confused. “Who decides what’s good and bad?”
I shrug at Luca, he shakes his head widening his eyes. How the fuck are we meant to bring them up? We're barely bringing ourselves up. “I do. Luca does. You do. We each decide for ourselves.”
Luca nods, giving Benny a rough squeeze. “It’s going to be alright, watch.”
I'll make sure it is. I'll make sure we don't lose anyone else. I'll make sure my siblings grow up happy and safe. I need to.
We stay there for a long time holding them both while they cry until they both fall asleep and we put them back in their beds. Luca leaves and heads straight for the kitchen. I follow after him, he opens up the liquor cabinet and takes out a bottle of whiskey before walking to the dining table and sitting opposite me.
He takes a few gulps and starts to peel off the table, his eyes blank.
“We should be in there.” He says, jerking his head towards our father's office.
“Are you ready for that?” I know I'm ready. I made my decision a long time ago. It's time for me to step up. I want to see the Bratva bleed. I want to be the one who makes them bleed.
He flicks his stare up to me, his eyes flaring. “They need to pay, every single one of them.”
“Let's go make them all pay.”
14
Enzo
Present-day
Manhattan, New York
After I drop Casimira home I stop into my father's penthouse to give him the rundown of last night. He may be a recluse but he insists on being in the loop on everything and if I don't, he’ll only do something to upset Fran to get back at me. Everything is a game with him.
Francesca is delicate. She still craves our father’s love and approval. She hasn’t quite yet grasped he’s not capable of it. He knows he can manipulate her, she’s the last of us he still holds sway with. Benny never even got to know him. After he moved out, Benny never mentioned him again. Fran would ask to see him, so I would take her. I would always ask Benny if he wanted to come and his answer was always no. They only really saw each other after Benny was initiated and even now, he barely looks at him. I suppose I've been Benny's dad, for all intents and purposes anyway.
The elevator doors open and I walk out into the apartment. The sunrise lights the room in orange and yellow hues, its floor-to-ceiling windows showing the view of Central Park. My fathers stood over some papers at the dining table, his glasses on the edge of his nose. He still stands at a tall 6”5 although his hair has gone nearly completely silver and the skin on his strong jaw has started to sag. He’s sixty-eight and he always looked young for his age but these past couple of years he has aged drastically.
He finally acknowledges me, his eyes skimming over my dishevelled clothes and the bruises starting to form on my face. “You look like shit, Enzo.” His dark eyes turning back to his papers
“Yeah, that tends to happen after a fight.” I pull up a chair at the table, wincing at the movement from my ribs.
“How many did you manage to take out?”
“Good amount.” I shrug. “That fucker Andrei Volkov among them.”
“That would explain the state of your face.” He flicks eyes of mild disdain over me. “We should make the Murphys aware of this, it could be retaliation for the alliance.” No shit.
“Ivan most likely feels put out.”
He grimaces. “Yes, well, he should have thought about that before.” The edge to his voice is sharp at the thought of my mother’s death. He rarely ever speaks of her anymore, in fact, nobody’s allowed to mention her directly in front of him. He was never a father, but when my mother died he started to resent us all more. I think he only had kids so he would have someone to pass the family legacy down to, so he would have an heir to the empire and partially because my mother kept wanting more and more.
“I'll organise a meeting with Sean.”
He nods, giving me another once-over. “Yes, we need to set a date for the wedding also, the sooner the better.”
“Last I heard they wanted an August wedding,” I say with mild amusement.
He fixes his eyes on me and I glare right back. “Don’t disappoint me, Enzo.”
“I never do,” I say bitterly.
