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Perhaps I should have felt intimidated at our first meeting, but I wasn’t. This meeting between us was one I knew would happen eventually, as soon as I’d worked out his position in the community and he’d realised who I was.
His eyes finally moved from the solid silver cigar cutter in his left hand and he placed it carefully down onto his large desk. His face lifted and his eyes locked onto mine and I felt the power that travelled between our matching eyes. Although he was a master of disguise, his eyes showed a passing shock when he silently acknowledged that there was no disputing that we shared the same blood. We were similar in height, with broad shoulders, dark hair and eyes. Only the years between us that had given him a distinguished salt and pepper effect in his hair, his weathered skin and that he was clean shaven, where I preferred to keep neat stubble, made us different.
‘Nonno.’ My voice sounded deep and strong as I greeted him as only a grandson could and watched him flare his nostrils as he inhaled a deep, chest-filling breath.
I was a proven killing machine of a bastard, but I was also his bastard by blood.
We were bound by blood and my time was coming.
I’d proven my worth, until my strength could be felt in every corner of their empire. Salvatore De Luca Snr was an intelligent man. He understood that he either opened his arms wide to accept me into his family and let me use my fraternal name, as was my given birth right, or he’d have to put a shiny silver bullet into my temple himself, before I conspired against him and took the De Lucas down.
My grandfather had a choice. He either wanted me by his side, or he was against me, and as his long silver eyelashes flicked over his dark eyes, I saw no hesitancy for what he and I knew was inevitable.
I didn’t want their love; I had no need of love.
I didn’t need their acceptance, all I needed was Giordano’s eldest daughters, until I no longer even needed that.
But I wanted their admission.
Their admission that although they’d known all about me, their refusal to acknowledge who I was had left this illegitimate bastard to grow up in a hovel, while they’d basked in luxury. While their lazy, fat asses had grown complacent, I’d grown strong and determined.
I was young in years, but old in experience and knowledge, and I’d worked relentlessly to be in the position I was in. I’d taken every single life they’d ordered me to, without question, until the warmth of blood gushing out from a severed jugular as the condemned left this world, felt as natural as running water over my skin. I’d moved their drugs, driving under heavy gunfire as the Sicilians tried to take back what they felt was theirs. I’d tortured a few dirty politicians to get my grandfather a stronger foothold and to gain intelligence of when and where the Carabinieri would strike. Under orders, I’d moved weapons and money to safe houses and even guarded my stepmother and younger siblings, without speaking one syllable of who I was to them. I’d taken a bullet in the shoulder blade for my paternal family, and it needed to be recognised.
He stood suddenly, sending his chair backwards. His frame widened as he righted his shoulders, looking more like a man in his fifties than one who was just about to celebrate his seventieth year.
‘Salvatore, my boy…’
‘I am no one’s boy, Nonno.’
His lips thinned as he thought over my comment and he nodded once at my rebuff, before he began to move his tall, statuesque frame around the desk, until he was stood in front of me. The tension between us crackled in the air. Finally, the corners of his mouth lifted as he grabbed my right hand and placed his other hand on my elbow in greeting. Reciprocating the gesture, I gripped his elbow tightly in a show of strength.
‘But are you my man, Salvatore De Luca?’ His head tipped a little to the side as he asked his question.
‘I am.’ At his use of my full name, I answered the question and was directly pulled into his stiff embrace. As his strong arms enveloped me, I couldn’t help the smile that developed over my face as fleetingly, I relinquished my anger and drive for vengeance and accepted his recognition.
‘What brings you here this day, Salvatore?’ he asked as his hold on me relaxed.
I stepped away from him and without being asked I sat down on the nearest comfortable chair, pulled up the leg of my trousers and crossed my right leg over until my ankle bone rested on the opposite knee. Then, I sank back into the comfort of the expensive leather, before staring at him directly.
‘I have information that I think you might be interested in.’
A look of disbelief settled over his features.
‘Nonno, how long have you been the under boss?’ I pushed forwards with the conversation I wanted to have, even though I knew how precarious the ground was underneath my feet.
I watched his nostrils flare again as I hit a nerve, before he took a step back and rested his ass on the edge of his desk. His eyes bored into my own in question.
‘I think you already know the answer to your question.’ He crossed his arms over his chest as his eyes held mine.
‘I know it,’ I agreed. ‘I also know that when the previous Boss died, his son took over after buying the vote at the September meeting, leapfrogging his way over you and there he has stayed, for over ten years like his father before him… which again is unheard of in ourdemocracy.’ I over pronounced the last word of the sentence and effectively tinged it with the sarcasm I felt it needed.
Silent seconds passed between us. When my grandfather stood again, I knew I had his undivided attention.
‘You have proof of this?’
‘Not as such,’ I relinquished, as I tipped my head to one side.
‘Then this is a superfluous conversation.’ His doubt of me crept into his tone as he stood up once again and shouted. ‘Ricco.’
