Chapter 20

The anger is back.

"Motherfucker!" I grab the edge of the table I"m sitting at and flip it over before I get up from my seat and stalk back and forth in the small room.

I thought I was at the end. That I could see the light at the end of the tunnel. I was so fucking wrong.

Romeo came through with his end of the deal. He found out the information that I was looking for. Not only was Jasper a scumbag, but he was also a scumbag with the last name Di Santi. On top of that, no one had seen Rosie in over twenty-four hours. My woman was missing, and I was stuck in a fancy, elaborate sitting room waiting for my father to make an appearance. I need to get out of here. I have to go find my woman.

"Gian, you know that the more you do this, the longer he"s going to take to come in here. You have to chill out," Vitto says from where he"s sitting. Cool as a fucking cucumber.

"Chill out? Are you out of your fucking mind? Did you not hear Romeo? Rosie is missing."

"I get it, hell, brother, we all do, but you can"t leave. You know we"ll all help you find her," Vitto replies, and it only makes me see red.

"When are you going to help? When I"m forced to marry someone else to create a better alliance with the family? Or maybe when they slice my woman"s throat? When are you actually going to step up and fucking help me because from what I can see, no one has helped me yet besides telling me to calm the fuck down."

"When are you actually going to take some responsibility for what happened?" Xander gets up from his seat, crosses his arms, and glares at me.

I love my little brother, but sometimes I just want to punch a hole through his fucking chest.

"What the hell are you talking about? There"s nothing more I can take responsibility for? I did everything I could," I snarl in his direction.

"Did you, though?" Xander tilts his head as if he were talking to a small child instead of a grown adult.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

Diego gets up out of his seat and answers the question for him, "It means, you didn"t necessarily have to do it this way. You"re the one who gave up Rosie, not anyone else."

What the fuck? I"m almost speechless that anyone would actually say something so ridiculous to me.

"That"s bullshit, and you know it. You all know how Babbo is. He"d have killed her before he let me stay with her."

"Are you sure?" Xander asks, "He didn"t want me with Mel, but I went against his word and all his threats and stayed with her anyway. I found a way to keep her. He didn"t want Vitto with Stella, but he went against his word and found a way to keep her. You"re the one who decided to kowtow and do what Babbo wanted. Now you"re dealing with those repercussions. Either you"re going to be the good boy and do what Babbo wants, or you"re going to be your own man and do what you want."

I have no response, no excuse for what my brother is accusing me of. He"s right on all counts; I know he is. But I can"t admit that, so I do what I know I can do. I pull my fist back and drive it into Xander"s face. Within seconds, it"s a full-on brawl. My brothers are trying to pull me off Xander, some of them getting their own shots in, all while completely destroying the room we are supposed to be waiting in.

The door opens, and Christine claps her hands loudly to get our attention like a preschool teacher.

"Are you all out of your fucking minds? What the hell is going on in here? I swear to God, you"re all fucking animals." She sucks her teeth and opens the door wider before reaching out and helping our father into the room. He"s still big, still our father, but his presence is somehow less massive. It"s clear that he"s been through something, that his health is failing. He"s weak.

"I should"ve known the bunch of you wouldn"t be able to do something as simple as sit and wait without turning this into a shitshow." Babbo shakes his head before Christine bends to right a chair for him to sit in.

"I have to get out of here." I fix my clothes and stare down at my father, hoping that he sees what I need him to see in my eyes. The desperation.

"You need to stay and figure out what the hell is going on with your family. Nothing is more important than that." He keeps my gaze, letting me know he"s not going to back down no matter what I say to him.

"How much more can I give my fucking family, Babbo? I"ve already given all I have." I snap at him.

A sharp coldness drifts into my father"s eyes as he stares back at me. "You"re still breathing, are you not?"

The implication is simple; as long as I have breath in my lungs, I can give more.

I shake my head and look away from the man that I once thought was the end-all, be-all in my world. My father had always been a god to me, always been the one person I emulated. But now, it seems like he didn"t care for me at all. He didn"t care how much this is hurting me or that I"m near my breaking point. All that matters to him is that his name strikes fear into our allies" hearts.

"I was shot," my father starts speaking, looking around the room to the rest of his family. "Rendered useless, and all the lot of you had to do was make sure everything ran smoothly. I wake up from my sleep to find out that you"ve all made a mockery of who we are!" He yelled the final statement, making us all seem like errant children instead of adults.

"How in the fuck could you have screwed this up so bad? You"ve done nothing to figure out why or exactly who is gunning for us, and from what I"ve been told, made a mess of our allies by either accusing the wrong family or trying to take over another."

That last statement is a dig at me. Now he"s going to make it seem like I"d made a mistake by protecting myself against the Caprini family.

"I made no mistake," I speak out of turn, which I know better than to do. At this point, I really couldn"t care less if Babbo thinks I"m disrespecting him. I"m close to giving up on him completely as it is.

"Are you sure? From where I"m sitting, you"ve done more harm than good. You think those loyal to the Caprini family are just going to fall in line behind you simply because you"re married to a woman with that last name? You think they give a shit about your so-called hold on their throne? You"ll be dead before the week"s out if they have anything to do with it. Now I have to go behind you and try to clean up your fucking mess. Do you know what I"m going to have to give up in order to make sure that we"re safe again? Hell, I might have to give them your other woman just to appease some of them. You"ve screwed all of us!" My father yells at me, and I lurch forward, ready to get in his face.

Diego is there to hold me back. "Babbo, it wasn"t that simple. We did everything we could to figure out who was behind this, but the web was so dense it took longer than it should have. Still, we figured it out, and now, with Giancarlo as the rightful heir of the Caprini household, we can start by getting things back on track."

"I"m going to give you one fucking warning, Diego. This doesn"t concern you. When I want to talk about someone getting fucked up their ass, then I"ll ask your opinion." My father stands from his seat and takes a few steps in my brother"s direction. I"m surprised to see Diego doesn"t back down.

I"d never believed my little brother was a punk, but he wasn"t confrontational either. He usually stayed in the shadows and waited for whatever directive was given from either Christine or our father.

"I"m a part of this family too. My word is no different from what everyone else says. I"m no different—" Diego"s words are cut off as my father, quicker than I thought possible, pulls his hand up and slices Diego"s face. I never saw the small box cutter in my father"s hand.

Diego roars and falls to the floor before any of us know what happened.

"You"re different now, aren"t you?" My father taunts him. Instantly, the group of us rush to Diego"s side. When I lift his head, I see a clean, nearly surgical cut going down from the corner of Diego"s eye down to the edge of his top lip. He"ll need surgery for sure, and Babbo is right; he"ll look different from now on.

Diego groans again, and his face goes pale as the blood leaks from his body.

"Shall I give you more to fucking cry about?" My father takes another step forward as if he were about to hit my brother again.

Christine, Vitto, and myself all step in front of Diego to stop Babbo from getting any closer. A protective shield if I"ve ever seen one.

"What the fuck do you think you"re doing? Move out of my way." My father tries to push his way past us, but Christine puts her hand up to stop him.

"You"re not going to strike him again."

My father"s eyes narrow at my sister, and I see his hand twitch as if he were going to strike out again. To my surprise, his hand isn"t the only one that twitches. My sister lifts her shirt to show a small six-shooter tucked into her pants. Vitto already has his gun in his hand. I don"t have a weapon, but I"ve got the same thoughts in my head. I"ll take my father down to protect Diego. I"m just shocked everyone else is willing to do the same.

My father blinks a few times, clearly disoriented at the change of events. He chuckles once before he breaks out into a deep guttural laugh, but he takes a few steps back. "So this is how it"s going to be, is it? You think you can push me out of my rightful place because you don"t like how I discipline my child."

"He"s not a fucking child, Babbo. None of us are. It"s your connections, your allies that have caused this problem for us. You"re not the one cleaning up our mess. We"re the ones cleaning up yours," Christine bites out in my father"s direction, the rest of us standing behind her, backing her up.

"How long have you all wanted this? How long have you wanted me gone?"

"No one is saying we want you gone. All we"re saying right now is maybe it"s best if you let us handle things right now. Just until you get back on your feet." Christine"s tense form relaxes, but my father doesn"t move his eyes from the gun at her waist. He"s probably wondering if she"ll go through with her threat. I don"t have to wonder. If my sister decided to threaten my father, she"s willing to go through with it without a doubt.

Almost as if a physical page of a book was turned, I feel a shift in the air. If my father isn"t careful, there"s going to be a fucking mutiny. We"ll all go against him to make sure that things are going right.

"Fine, I"ll do it your way. I guess I shouldn"t be surprised it"s come to this. I"ve taught you all well. This was the only possible outcome." I quickly dart my eyes over to Romeo, who has a confused look on his face. I"m not completely sure what my father is talking about right now, but he"s making it seem like this is what he wanted, as if he knew we"d all stand against him one day and he was only waiting for it to happen.

I guess it makes sense. After all, repressed people can only stay in line so long, and then there"s rebellion. From the looks of things, we are all deep into our rebellion phase.

"We"re going to get things in order with the allies, and we"ll be stronger than we ever were. With Giancarlo leading the Caprini family and the rest of the families not wanting to take on all of us, it should be an easy win." Vitto interjects.

"Nothing about this is going to be easy. I hope you realize what this is going to start. I hope you know what this is going to mean for all of us."

I take a step forward, the pride of my siblings already washing through me. "I know exactly what this means. We"re going to rule it all."

Babbo snaps his eyes in my direction, something like hatred brewing in those dark orbs before his face breaks into a sly smile, and he nods his head.

My suspicions are right. This is exactly what he wants. Before my father"s time is done, the Bianucci family will be supreme to them all.