Chapter 30ANGELO

Chapter 30

ANGELO

Candi and Cookie play with Mars in the yard while I work on my phone nearby in case the young Cane Corsica mastiff needs a training moment.

So far, the dog's training holds. He is as attached to his charges as I am which makes our own bond that much stronger. We both know it's our job to watch over them.

My phone buzzes and initials flash on the screen. CA. It used to be CSB for Capo Stefano Bianchi, but after learning he's Candi's neglectful father, I renamed him Capo Asshole in my head and phone.

I tap my Bluetooth headphone to answer. "What do you want?"

"She's not safe in New York." Bianchi doesn't waste time with formalities either.

My fury is instant. "Are you threatening my woman?"

"No, of course not. She's my daughter. What do you take me for?" He has the gall to sound offended.

"I take you for the absentee sperm donor you are, stronzo . Candi doesn't consider you her father."

"That doesn't change the fact that she's my family." The fact he ignores me calling him an asshole is a surprise.

He's a proud capo, used to receiving more than his fair due respect.

"She's 24 years old and you're just acknowledging this now?" I ask with a marked lack of that commodity.

"You know what trouble it would cause me with my wife and her family if I were to admit to a daughter by another woman? It's not as if I was in a relationship with Bonbon. She was a whore, for fuck's sake."

"And you are a criminal." Too many old school mafiosos consider themselves above others because they made a vow. "You think what you do to pay for your designer suits is more upstanding than selling sex to desperate men?"

"I was not desperate," he claims, affronted. "There are things a man wants that a proper wife refuses to do for him."

Yeah, I've heard the whores are for blowjobs argument before. If Candi doesn't want to take me in her mouth, I won't go looking for it elsewhere. That's for damn sure.

"Considering the fact you got Bonbon pregnant, apparently that includes your wife letting you fuck her," I mock.

"Listen you bastard—"

"Call me that again and you'll wake up to my knife slicing your tongue out of your mouth."

"You can't threaten me!"

"I don't make threats." Threats implies I might not follow through.

"You really think Severu is going to—"

"That's Don De Luca to you."

"Just because the godfather didn't sanction you over Gino's death doesn't mean he'll tolerate your disrespect to a superior. It's his job to protect our way of life."

Sounds like someone missed one of his lessons on mafia hierarchy. "I am the godfather's top enforcer. You are a capo under one of his dons. I outrank you in the chain of command."

Doesn't mean I can order his soldiers to do something, unless it's on behalf of Severu. Like in the military, we have our own spheres of influence, but when push comes to shove? I'll shove Bianchi right off a cliff.

Bored with the conversation, I demand, "Why the hell are you calling me?"

He has to know that I'm not sending Candi out of New York for the sake of his pride and domestic harmony.

"Miceli has ordered me to sign over one of my businesses to each of my sons with a tithe from them to Kathleen for the remainder of her life."

Bianchi probably considers that punishment for not protecting his daughter rather than simply making right his neglect and lack of financial support she was due as his child.

"If you expect me to talk your don out of that plan, you're stupider than I thought." Not that I think Candi will accept the money from her brothers.

Not if it's grudgingly given. I'm going to have to have a little talk with them. I'm more than capable of providing everything Candi needs, but that doesn't mean she doesn't deserve the tithe.

"I don't expect anything from you, you son of a bitch."

That is not the insult he thinks it is and if he knew anything about me, the capo would know that. My mother is a bitch.

"We can't keep Kathleen's existence a secret anymore. Even if I could be sure the men in the alley wouldn't talk, once my sons learn about the tithe and who it's to, her life is at risk."

"Cosimo and Renato would try to harm her?" I didn't promise Candi I wouldn't kill her brothers.

They're dead men walking if they pose a threat to her.

"No! Not them, but once my wife and her family find out about Kathleen..." His voice trails off on a sigh. "Why do you think I've kept my distance her whole life? When she was eighteen, I sent a lawyer to her. I offered to pay for her to attend college out of state."

"She refused." Of course she would and this stronzo didn't realize that?

"Yes."

"You never paid her mother child support."

"She was a whore," he dismisses for the second time.

"And the fucking mother of your child. She deserved to be taken care of and so did Candi."

"Kathleen didn't want my support."

"You call offering her a bribe to leave New York and save you embarrassment support?"

"You don't?"

"I call it shitty parenting."

"Fuck off, Angelo. I didn't call you to talk about my character."

Or lack the fuck of.

"Get to the point then."

"I could ask the boys not to say anything, but after Kathleen's ill-advised announcement of my paternity in front of witnesses, their silence won't be enough."

"Enough for what exactly?" I need the threat spelled out so I can take the necessary steps to get rid of it.

"My wife is a very proud woman. She will not tolerate the existence of my bastard child in New York for her friends to gossip about."

"I will eliminate any threat to Candi's wellbeing," I promise him.

"You can't murder my wife!"

"Wrong." But Candi will be happier if a warning suffices.

I disconnect the call now that I know the extent of the threat toward mia amate .

She doesn't want me killing people on her behalf, unless it's absolutely necessary. She wasn't upset that I killed her old boss, or that Mario killed Gino Bianchi, but she didn't like the kill list I made of her past boyfriends when I thought they'd had sex with her.

Before her, I would not have considered giving a warning, but Candi brings out the better man in me.

With an exaggerated groan, mia amate drops into the chair across from me at the outdoor table. "I need a non-sexy soak in your hot tub. My sister and that dog are indefatigable."

"It's your hot tub too. The house and everything in it are as much yours as they are mine."

"Even your armory?" she teases, choosing to make light of it.

But it's not a joke. My life and everything in it is hers. "If you want in my armory, you have to let me teach you how to handle weapons safely."

"I don't really want in your armory." She smiles at me. "But it's nice to know you meant what you said."

"I always mean what I say to you."

Later that night, after making love to my beautiful, precious woman and watching her sleep for over an hour, I drag myself from our bed.

The sooner this is done, the fewer funerals the Gambino don will have to attend.

Bianchi's wife comes from an old lineage in the Gambino Family. Her father was a Gambino capo and now her brother has replaced him.

I take the launch out and head directly to Staten Island. Jumping out, I moor it right on the rocky beach of the capo's home.

"All the exterior guards are neutralized." Derian materializes out of the foggy darkness. "And the security system is feeding false information to the monitoring company."

"He uses a civilian company for the system. Can you believe that shit?" Mario shakes his head.

I don't answer. The faster I get this taken care of, the faster I get back to Candi. Jogging up to the house, I have my plan already mapped out in my head. There are only two interior guards and one is sleeping.

Fuck, if this capo hasn't grown complacent.

This level of laxity is something Severu is going to have to address as godfather. There are too many other players who would be happy to take our territory if we don't make doing so impossible.

I take care of the guard who is supposed to be monitoring the exterior security cameras first. He's watching a rerun of Seinfeld on his phone. I should do the capo a favor and kill him, but that's not what I'm here for.

I was going to drug him with a shot of K, which would leave him insensate quick enough for my purposes and with no memory of my being here. But fuck if I'm giving this piece of shit the gift of amnesia about his dereliction of duty.

Slapping the special strength scrim-backed, pressure sensitive tape my team uses over his mouth, I flip the man on his stomach before he knows what's happening. It takes a few seconds to get his wrists in the reinforced zip tie cuffs. Then, I use the tape on his ankles and knees.

"You should be fucking ashamed," I grind out tossing him up against the wall opposite his security monitors.

I tape him in place with four bands across his torso. They'll have to repaint and texture the walls in here after freeing him. That tape takes plaster with it when it's removed.

He's definitely not going anywhere.

Unwilling to waste any more time on these guys, I drug the sleeping guard, who at least has the training to have a door alarm which I have to disable. He sleeps with a gun under his pillow and knife on the bedside table too.

It's good to know Gambino soldiers aren't a bunch of fuckups.

Nevertheless, I'm not worried about being disturbed while me and the capo have a little chat.

All the guards are neutralized, and he and his wife have bedrooms on opposite sides of the house. She also takes sleeping pills. Unless we make a helluva racket, she's not waking up. Their kids are both away at college and the live-in staff have bedrooms on the basement level.

After turning on a bedside lamp that casts a low glow over the sleeping man, I shake my head. Snoring, he's got no clue Death has come calling.

Giving him the same treatment I did the first guard, I'm disgusted he doesn't wake up until I'm taping his ankles around the legs of his silk pajamas.

His night watchman's lack of attention makes sense. Sloppy leaders make for sloppy soldiers. Show me an efficient soldier with a strong awareness of his surroundings and I'll show you a CO who knows how to train his men.

The capo starts thrashing.

Giving him a not so gentle tap on the cheek to get his attention, I order, "Settle down."

His eyes zero in on my face, or rather the Death mask I wear when I'm working, and he goes completely still.

"Good. You know who I am."

He nods.

"Do you know who Kathleen Brigliano is?" I ask.

His eyes tell me yes while his head shakes no .

I backhand him. "Try again."

He nods.

"So, you know who her sperm donor is?"

He glares at me defiantly, the stubborn tilt to his jaw telling me he's not going to answer. Considering who's straddling his torso right now, that's some serious aversion to admitting Candi is Bianchi's biological child.

He wasn't exaggerating the reaction of his wife's family to the existence of his unknown daughter.

Pulling my knife, I flip it over my knuckles before gripping it and pressing it against his throat. "You, or someone in your family, might be tempted to try to get rid of her."

Try being the operative word. No one hurts what is mine.

I push the knife just enough to cause pain and cut a thin line as I move it an inch toward his Adam's apple. The capo's eyes widen in fear, his breathing labored and fast through his nose.

"What you need to understand is that who's her sperm donor isn't nearly as important as who she belongs to now."

Shock widens his eyes even further.

"I see you've figured it out. She's mine. Not my sidepiece. Not my girlfriend. Mine . And if any of you tries anything, I will kill all of you. Your brothers. Your wives. Your heirs. I will wipe your name from la famiglia ."

All the color leaches from the capo's face and I know I'm getting my point across.

"This is your only warning. You so much as say something derogatory to her and I will cut out your tongues. You touch her in any way and I will cut off your hands before shoving them up your ass. Then I will kill you and dump you in the soup so you can't even have a proper Catholic burial."

I yank the tape from his mouth.

He sucks in air for several seconds before he asks, "Does the godfather know you're threatening a capo?"

"Don De Luca has formally acknowledged my claim on Candi." Married yet, or not, she's mine in the eyes of the Cosa Nostra.

"Everyone knows you don't feel anything. Why would you take the bastard daughter of a whore under your protection?"

I hit him in the mouth with the hilt of my knife, the satisfying crunch of breaking teeth accompanying the blood spurting from his mouth. "If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. My nonna taught me that. I guess yours should have taught you too."

"She's safe from us," he lisps from between broken front teeth.

"Give me your vow."

"On my honor as a made man," he adds obediently.

This is too easy. "If your honor is as lax as your security, your desire to live had better be stronger. If you die by my hand, it won't be fast. Capisce? "

" Sì. Capisco ."

I climb off him. "I want the word to go out tomorrow. Remind your sister and the rest of your family of my nonna's maxim and the consequences if they forget it."

The capo nods fervently, sending droplets of blood and spit flying from his mouth.

"Your guards are alive. This time."

If they worked for Severu, I'd kill them for their incompetence. But can you really blame a poorly trained dog for the deficiencies of his master?

The next day, I get a call from one of Candi's biological brothers. Renato and Cosimo want to get to know the sister they never knew about.

My first instinct is to say no. More people in Candi's inner circle mean more people I have to share her attention with. I'm a jealous bastard where she's concerned, but I agree to meet them anyway.

Unfortunately, they're not much like either of their parents and their desire to know Candi seems sincere.

After warning them what will happen to them, in detail, if they hurt her in any way, I agree to ask her if she wants to meet them.

Go me, being a good boyfriend and putting her needs above my own.

The author on that fucking book about healthy relationships has a lot to answer for.