“Something indeed is going on, and whatever it is to involve Barabbas Antonella is something colossally big,” Dante stated.
“So, what do we do?” Gio asked.
I wanted the Manellos for my own personal vendetta. The Antonellas were something else. In the days of Raphael, he would have just let sleeping dogs lie.
Me though? What should I do?
I knew what sightings of both crime families meant. My gut instinct told me it could mean they were here for something.
“What do you want to do?”
Both men looked shocked to shit at my question. Not surprising because I gave them orders. The Four as a unit, however, were designed for this shit, and these were my streets. I at least needed to know what was going on.
“Well, I’m not going to be a schmuck and say leave it alone.” Dante took out his gun and ran his fingers along the barrel. “Definitely not for the fucking Antonellas.”
I knew Dante had something going on with the Antonellas, but he never said. People thought I was bad when I didn’t want to talk. He was worse than me. He was the most vocal among us. Gio next. Dante talked about everything, but it was the things he didn’t say that spoke the loudest.
I also knew it wasn’t them who drew him to my merry band of men. His hang-up on them was something else entirely.
“And if Dante’s not leaving it alone, then he needs me to watch his back.” Gio chuckled.
“Something’s here that they want,” I offered.
“Something’s here, for sure. We just have to find out what that is.” Gio quirked a brow.
I released a slow sigh. While I was definitely curious to know what these people wanted, I didn’t want to dig around too deep.
“Usually, if you see any Antonella, someone huge is about to get assassinated or something valuable’s about to get taken.” Dante nodded.
“Let’s just find out what’s going on, but don’t do anything rash,” I cautioned.
“Rash, boss? The last time anyone saw Barabbas Antonella was a good eight or nine years ago. We’d just made rank in Raphael’s crew. What if this blows up into something else?”
“Then we cross that bridge when we get to it.”
This was the line I had to draw. To know when to start a war and when to just get the intel I needed and back the fuck off. The setup we had lasted forever because of that code.
The last thing I wanted to do was anything that could mess that up.
I was after Goliath. Anything or anyone that could lead me to him.
That was it.
Nothing more, and definitely not a repeat of the past.
I knew firsthand what messing things up would lead to. These people weren’t the compassionate type.
I knew that firsthand too. When shit went down, the Manellos didn’t hesitate to call me out.
Marissa had paid the price with her life, and Ava could have too.
No one else would be dying on my watch.
Chapter 10
Ava
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