Chapter Seven

~ Anthony ~

I could see Vito and Fred talking through the window looking into the hangar. They seemed to be in a heated talk. I assumed it was about the little black box Fred had carried off the airplane.

They could be talking about anything I suppose.

What did mafia men talk about? It was a curious question that I really had no answer for. I knew it was something I'd need to learn about though, just like I needed to learn about everything else.

Still wanted that drink.

I leaned closer to Vinnie. "One mafia don to another, do private jets have alcohol onboard?"

Vinnie snickered. "The good ones do."

Wonder if I had a good one?

"Apparently, I own four. Do you think that means they have alcohol?"

Vinnie smiled at me. "More than likely."

"God," I groaned, "I hope so."

"Long day?" Vinnie asked.

"Oh yeah." The last twenty-four hours had been insane. I wasn't so sure I wanted to know what the next twenty-four hours would bring.

"Can I give you a little advice?"

"Sure." I turned and gave Vinnie my full attention. Considering how long this man had been in the mafia business, I'd take any advice he could give me.

"The mafia life is hard. The older generation tends to be pretty rigid in their belief system, which"—Vinnie let out a chuckle—"was probably established in the dark ages."

"Okay." I was so confused.

"Nicky told me that you are gay." When my eyes rounded, Vinnie quickly shook his hand at me. "Don't worry. He didn't tell anyone except me, but he was concerned about you."

"Concerned why?"

"Mafia isn't gay."

Uh...

"You are." I seriously doubted his marriage with Nicky was platonic.

"I am." The smile on Vinnie's face spread into a wide grin. "I refused to let myself get tied down with a bunch of decrepit old men that are living in the last century and I also refused to give Nicky up."

"Good choice."

"I lost a few family members because I refused to conform to their belief system, but not the important ones. My grandfather even gave us his blessing when we got married."

"So, what is your advice then?" I asked. He had to have some reason for bringing this up.

"While I don't think you should compromise who you are to be the head of the D'Angelo family, be careful. Not everyone is going to understand you being gay. When I spoke to my grandfather earlier, he told me that Vito's Uncle Carmine is one of those decrepit old men with the antiquated belief system. So, be careful."

I pressed my hand to my stomach when it knotted with unease. "Really?"

"Apparently, they've known each other since they were kids. My grandfather said that Carmine wasn't like that when they were kids, but I guess something happened when he was a teenager and it changed him. My grandfather never said what it was, but I gathered that it was pretty bad."

"I refuse to pretend I'm straight," I told Vinnie. "Not even for some decrepit old men."

I shuddered just thinking about it. Me and female squishy bits did not mix. I'd never even seen a woman naked in real life and I had no plans on doing so. Woman could be beautiful in their own way, but naked woman gave me the heebie-jeebies.

"Good for you." Vinnie chuckled. "Just be careful and don't flaunt it. It could get you killed."

"How did you do it?" I asked.

Vinnie shrugged his shoulders. "I think I was lucky. My grandfather knew I was gay from a young age. He just wanted me happily married to someone that loved me. He didn't care if it was a man or a woman."

Wish I had a grandfather.

"Just be careful, Tony. I'm not telling you to stop being gay because we both know it doesn't work that way, but be careful how you express it. Not everyone will accept it."

"Yeah, I'm not sure I can do that," I admitted. "I'm gay and I'm not ashamed of it. If they want me to be the freaking boss of this family, they are going to have to accept me just the way I am."

Vinnie chuckled as he patted me on the shoulder. "Good for you."

Pretty sure it was going to get me killed, but I refused to compromise my morals or myself. If they wanted me to be the head of the D'Angelo family, they were going to have to accept the fact that I was gay because I wasn't changing for anyone.

"I'm not sure how much you know about the families in New York City, but there are five families here. Four of them are the heads of their families, gay, and married to men so we all know about being gay in the mafia. If you have any questions about navigating the narrow paths of this world, give me a call. We might be able to give you some pointers."

"I will," I said, and I meant it. If Vinnie knew of others in the business that were gay and living the life they wanted, then making a connection with them would be in my best interest.

I'd still need to talk to Vito about it, but maybe I wouldn't tell him I was gay, not yet anyway. I still needed to settle in as everyone was telling me.

"Here they come," I said when Vito and Fred started walking toward the door between the office and the hangar. "Hopefully, they have found something that might help us catch whoever is doing all of this."

"I'd be willing to offer whatever help I can to find this person, or persons. Taking out the heads of families is bad enough. Taking out an entire family is reprehensible."

"Thank you."

"Spouses and children of mafia families are off limits in disputes," Vinnie explained. "Granted, not everyone follows that rule, but most do. It also means that there is a high probability if someone violates that rule, the other families would get involved. It's kind of a sacred rule that no one violates because they want their spouses and children to fall into that category as well and if they don't respect it with others then they can't expect others to respect it for them."

This was a good rule. I was certainly in favor of it.

"Since Nicky is my acknowledged and legally wedded husband, he falls under that veil. That means if anyone goes after him, I can take them out and the rest of the families won't sanction me. If you ever do get interested in someone, I'd suggest you marry them quickly so they fall under the family veil. It could save their life."

A little creepy, but nice to know any way.

That didn't mean I planned on getting married anytime soon. My dating life hadn't been horrible, but it hadn't been perfect either. Most guys my age were too busy partying and having a good time to care about real relationships, and I was only interested in a real relationship.

My Aunt Maggie, the foster mother who had taken me in when I was fourteen, had been a widow. That is why she took in foster kids, so she wouldn't be lonely. She had told me countless stories about her husband, her soul mate, and the love of her life.

That's what I wanted.

Sure, I'd gone out and done my fair share of partying when I was younger, but that had been years ago. I'd come a long way since then and I knew what I wanted out of life.

This wasn't what I imagined.

When Vito and Fred walked in, Vito gestured to the black box in Fred's hand. "Fred was able to disarm the bomb. He said an amateur made it."

"Is that a good thing or not?" I asked.

"Kind of both, actually," Vito said. "If it was a professional, there would be some sort of signature to the bomb that could lead us to whoever made it. Since it was made by a novice, there's no signature so that makes it harder to find the bomb maker."

"So, how is that good?"

"Because the bomb didn't go off."

Yeah, that was good.

"I can have Mr. D'Amato's lab guys take this apart and see if they can find anything that might lead to the maker if you want," Fred suggested.

"Mr. D'Amato?" I asked.

I hadn't heard that name.

"Jake D'Amato," Vinnie said. "He's the one that loaned me Fred."

Okay, now I had a name, but I still didn't know who this guy was.

"If anyone can find something on that bomb, Dr. Teller can."

I squinted at Vinnie. "Dr. Teller?"

Another name I didn't recognize.

"Jake owns a company that invents things like computer components and package trackers," Vinnie explained. "Dr. Teller works in his lab."

"And you think he can pull apart this bomb and tell us who made it?"

"When it comes to Dr. Teller," Fred stated, "anything is possible."

I certainly hoped so.

Vito handed over a business card. "Please have your Dr. Teller call me if he finds anything."

"I will," Fred said as he took the card and tucked it into his pocket. He held up the bomb. "And I'll make sure that this is properly disposed of after Dr. Teller goes over it."

"Thank you."

"And please thank Mr. D'Amato for his assistance and loaning you to us," I added. "I know for a fact I have no idea what to do with that thing and I doubt that anyone else here does, too."

"It's not a problem, sir," Fred replied. "I'm pretty experienced with this type of thing."

My eyebrows lifted. "Handle a lot of bombs, do you?"

Fred smirked. "More than you'd think."

I didn't want to know.

I glanced at Vito, somewhat curious and concerned about where my thought process was going. "Can I ask a really weird question?"

"Of course," Vito replied.

"Is there any way that this could be an unexploded bomb on purpose?"

I grew nervous when Vito's eyes narrowed.

"Explain your thinking," he said.

"Well, it's not really fully formed yet, but the thought process is running at full blast."

"Go on," Vito encouraged.

"Well, it just seemed a little weird to me that someone made a bomb that was good enough to take out my entire family plus thirty guards, but this one was made by an amateur. It also seemed a little too easy to find. What if it's a decoy? What if it was never meant to go off because we were supposed to find it and not find the real bomb?"

I winced when Vito, Vinnie, and Fred just stared at me. I hated it when people did that. I reached up and rubbed the side of my neck. "It was just a thought."

Vito turned and called for Siro. "Talk to management and get us a different jet. We're not taking this one home until it's been fully gone over."

"I'd be happy to let you use my jet," Vinnie offered. "I can have it here and ready to go in about an hour."

"Actually," Fred started. "I have a better idea."

We all turned to look at him.

"I'd have to talk to my boss, but I think you should use his jet, not Mr. Borelli's."

"Why?" Vito asked.

"Look, if someone really is trying to fool you, which is probably what is happening, then you need be a little more secretive with your movements. Someone is keeping tabs on you and seems to know your every movement."

Yeah, that wasn't creepy at all.

"If you use Mr. Borelli's plane, people are going to know about it before you even take to the airways."

"So, what do you suggest then?" Vito asked.

Fred grimaced before saying, "Take Mr. D'Amato's jet back to Italy. I can arrange for a vehicle to be waiting for you at the airport, one rented under Mr. D'Amato's name. Don't tell anyone what you are doing. I'd even deactivate your phones."

"That's a little extreme, don't you think?"

"I don't, actually," Fred replied to Vito's question. "If this was Mr. D'Amato, that's what I'd do and I am the head of his security force."

When we all just stared at him, Fred huffed and said, "Look, someone is trying to kill you. You all need to fly under the radar and the only way to do that is to limit the number of people that know your movements. I'd advise you not to share what you are doing with anyone other than those in this room."

"I'm pretty sure my guards would figure it out if we took Mr. D'Amato's jet back to Italy," Vito pointed out. "I don't hire stupid people."

"Honestly, I'd send them home on a commercial flight."

Vito's eyebrows shot up. "You want me to send my guards back to Italy on a commercial airplane without us?"

Yeah, that sounded sketchy to me, too.

"I'm saying that only the six people in this room, plus my boss, should know your movements until you are safely home at your estate. Whoever is doing this seems to be a few steps ahead of you so you need to do something they don't expect."

While it still sounded a little sketchy, Fred did have a point.

"Jake's legit, Vito," Vinnie said. "Between him and his husband, he's brought four of the five families in New York together. We've all signed a peace agreement because our husbands are friends and we don't want to piss them off."

Fred snorted. "They're menaces and you know it."

Vinnie chuckled. "Could be worse. You could be in charge of Kyue's security."

Fred visibly shuddered. "I'd rather flip burgers for the rest of my life."

"It would certainly be safer."

"Kyue?" Vito asked.

"Kyue Kincaid. He's married to Lucas Kincaid, a businessman. He also owns Seriphap Enterprises, although he hired someone else to run it because he's too busy creating motorcycle prototypes and then racing them."

"I've heard of Lucas Kincaid," Vito stated. "I can't think of many people who haven't. The man's worth billions."

"Means nothing to his husband," Vinnie said. "Lucas gives him shit and he just puts him on the floor."

My jaw dropped. "He abuses his husband?" How could they stand there and make light of something like that?

"Oh, no, he adores his husband," Vinnie said quickly. "He wouldn't hurt a hair on Lucas's head. He just won't take any shit from him."

"You need to understand," Fred started. "Kyue is like five foot nine inches tall. If he weighed a buck fifty, I'd be surprised, and yet, the police chief of our fair city has personally asked him not to put anyone else in the hospital."

"He's that violent?" I asked.

Fred snorted. "Only to people that piss him off."

"Kyue has never started a fight," Vinnie said. "He's morally against them. He'd rather get along with everyone or walk away before a fight starts, but if you mess with his husband, one of his friends, or don't let him walk away, he will put you on the ground or in the hospital."

I winced as my stomach curdled. "He sounds delightful."

"He's a good man to have in your corner, and luckily for me, he's taken my husband and the husband of the others under his wing. He protects them fiercer than a mama bear with a cub."

Still wasn't sure I wanted to meet this guy.