Chapter 6

I could blowthis entire coffee shop up with the anger building up inside of me.

Never in my life have I ever even had to think about Rosie with another man and now I"m forced to see her laughing and smiling with one.

A deep growl rumbles in my chest when I watch the man reach over and grab her hand. He"s touching what belongs to me. She"s mine.

I reach out to grab the door but in that same second, my phone buzzes in my pocket. Taking a step back but making sure to keep my eyes on Rosie and the fucking mystery coffee shop man, I pull out my cell and place it to my ear.

"Gian, where are you?" Xander questions.

"I"m busy."

"Well, get unbusy right now. You need to come back to the house. Babbo"s orders."

"I can"t right now." I flex my free hand, the skin tight against my knuckles.

"Did you not hear what I said? It"s Babbo"s orders. He wants everyone here now." Xander speaks again, a sharp edge to his tone.

"For what?" I let out a hard sigh. I don"t have time for this. I need to figure out who this bastard is that"s hitting on Rosie.

"Someone tried to assassinate our father. We"re going to war."

* * *

As much as I wanted to stay back and handle that fuck in the coffee shop, the minute Xander utter the word assassinate, my priorities shifted. As much as I hated what had been done to me, no one came after the Bianucci family and lived.

By the time I made it back to the family house, everyone was already there, including my uncles and cousins.

The entire house is in a ruckus. Everyone has their own ideas about who they think could be behind the attempt on my father"s life.

My uncle thought it might be someone from the Croatian mob, a member of the Juric family, but Christine was quick to shut that down. The Juric family has been more than an ally to us. Diego thought it might be someone from the Collucio family.

Other members thought it could be part of the Di Santi family.

Basically, any family that had anything to do with us, they were a suspect.

"How is Babbo doing?" I ask cornering Vitto.

"From what Christine said, he was fine. The bullet hit inches from his heart." Vitto looks down at his bag, pulling out one of his automatic weapons.

"Shit, so it was close, wasn"t it." After all these years, our enemies were getting bolder.

"Yeah, it was. But from what I heard, the attempt on our father"s life wasn"t the only near fuck up that happened today."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" I grab his arm to keep him from continuing what he was doing.

"Romeo told Xander and I that he helped you find Rosie. Isn"t that where you were this afternoon?"

Shit, I"m going to kill Romeo. "What I do on my personal time is my own business."

"Bullshit, you and I know damn well that if Babbo gets wind of this we"ll have to peel you up off the sidewalk." He snaps at me.

"I didn"t come here to have my life choices questioned. Why don"t we just focus on figuring out who is trying to kill our father." I glare at my brother.

"No, someone needs to get through to you. You"re fucking up, Gian." Vitto glares right back.

Out of everyone, I would"ve never assumed that Vitto would be the one to call me out on my shit. After all, he was the one who knocked up the woman he was supposed to kill. When it comes to fucking up he"s got the crown. Fortunately for him, his fuck-up got him exactly what he wanted, whereas I"ve done everything I"ve ever been asked and for some reason, I"m still being punished.

Before I can say another word to Vitto, Christine and Xander walk into the room.

"The doctor is still in there with Babbo. He"s going to pull through." Christine informs me. Instead of relief on her face, she"s as deadpan as ever.

"Can he speak? Did he give any directives?" I ask.

"No, they"ve placed him in a medically induced coma. I"ll take over while he"s on the mend." Christine cuts her eyes in my direction.

"What?"

"You have a problem with that?" She asks, continuing to hold my gaze.

"I don"t give a damn what you do. I know my place." I look away from her and out the window. There was a point in my life where I fantasized about the thought of taking over the throne if something were to happen to my father, but now that I know all the shit he has to deal with on a daily basis, it"s the last thing on my mind. As much as I want to strengthen my family and our hold on the underworld, my heart isn"t in it.

I don"t want the blood and mayhem anymore.

Not when I"ve had a taste of happiness.

"Good, I wouldn"t want to have to worry about spilling any more family blood." Christine counters before she falls straight into telling us what her plans are.

She wants all the Bianucci children to reach out to the respective families for a sit-down. Ensure our allies that we are as strong as ever while secretly trying to find out who is behind the assassination attempt. I vaguely hear her giving orders but my mind is elsewhere.

Instead of thinking about my ailing father, my mind is stuck on what I saw back at that coffee shop.

Rosie was with another man. Sure, he could just be a friend or one of her new colleagues but he could also be someone trying to slide into my role.

Completely ignoring everything going on around me, I pull out my phone and send Romeo a text message even though he"s standing on the other side of the room. I don"t want anyone to know I"m talking to him.

I tell him to pull up the security footage from the coffee shop and identify the man Rosie was sitting with. I know it"s going to take some doing on his part. Romeo is a wiz when it comes to computers and information technology but I doubt he"s ever had to do so much without the approval of our family. Still, I"m sure he"ll come through. He has to.

Romeo doesn"t reply, but I hear him sigh hard before he slides his phone back into his pocket.

Just knowing that my brother is on the case helps me relax.

I may not have any true hold on Rosie but I"ll be damned if I let anyone else have her.