“She’s told me,” I said, and then forced a smile as evil as my father’s. “It makes her very… open-minded.”
No matter what, I knew I couldn’t let on that I cared about Philippa as much as I did. It would have a double benefit if I could convince him I was just using her. Not only would he maybe think less of her as a way to get to me, but he might just agree to bring her to me.
“That’s very interesting. I’ve never experienced something of that nature before,” my father replied.
What I wanted to say was that it didn’t surprise me. No one in their right mind would fall for my father. Even my mother, who spent a significant amount more time at his side than I would have expected, did so at first because she got pregnant with me, and then stuck it out for the children my father continued to force in her as though she were an incubator and not a human. Even my maternal grandmother had the frame of mind to resist my father when Savio and Natalia were born, but unfortunately, she didn’t live long enough to protect them from Angelo Cavetti’s terrible legacy.
“Anyway,” I said. “I’m sure you didn’t come over here to make sure I was being thoroughly entertained.”
“I’d like to discuss the next step of the plan with you.” He looked towards my kitchen. “Do you have whisky in here?”
“Yes,” I said, choosing to leave out that I’d absent-mindedly bought it so that I’d have some if he ever came around. I walked around him and into the kitchen, pulling out the unopened bottle, and poured some into a couple of glasses. My father liked his neat, and though I didn’t, I drank mine the same to relate myself to him more. “So. What’s this next step?”
He sat himself down at the dining room table, looking utterly out of place in a plain, domestic household and not the dictator’s castle he kept. “Now that the Bonifacios have been dealt with, it’s time to extend our reaches to the other families. You survived the Bonifacios, which I knew you would, so now your grand return can be the crux of a new coup.”
“Grand return?” I said. “What do you mean?”
“Currently, Romeo and Lucia are planning their wedding. Lucia is… troublesome, but Romeo is convinced she’ll be agreeable by the time the wedding comes. This will be the setting for the next stage of the plan. After the wedding, Romeo and Lucia will climb in the limo that they think will be taking them to their honeymoon. Instead, you will be in that limo and will drive off with them. Take them somewhere outside the city, kill Romeo, and return with Lucia. We will then operate with the notion that Romeo had been tempted by another family to turn on us, and you received word and saved Lucia and our family. We’ll use this to seek vengeance on a different family and you’ll be welcomed back into our home, and Lucia will surely wish to spend her days with you over Romeo. You’ll take his place as the heir to the throne and together we’ll infest Chicago.”
It was difficult not to lash out at my father. His plan all along was to kill Romeo? For all I know, he’s told Romeo the same thing he told me with the Bonifacios. Romeo could be in some cement basement right now, shooting himself in the stomach to prepare for when I kill him.
It’s all just a big game to him. I’d always assumed that he had at leastsomecare or concern for the rest of his children and I was just unlucky. No. Ever since the day I was born, since the day any of us were born, Angelo Cavetti did to each of us precisely what he felt he needed to get a leg up on the Chicago Underground. Once Romeo or I finally crapped out, he’d move Marcello into place, then Savio, and probably Natalia after that point. Angelo didn’t have a plan.
He was backing us all into a rat wheel.
“You seem angry,” Angelo said. “I would have thought you’d be pleased. It’s everything you’ve ever wanted, right? Romeo out of your way. A path to the throne. Your love Lucia. I’m offering all of it to you, so long as you pull off this next part of the plan.”
“Of course,” I said through gritted teeth. “Whatever it takes.”
My father raised an eyebrow. “You have time to consider it. Romeo’s still working on Lucia and nothing will happen for some time. Enjoy a little bit of freedom, and when I’m ready to pull the trigger on the next stage, I’ll let you know.”
He didn’t wait for me to respond, or even move. Like a Czar in his palace, he stood up from the table and walked around me, showing himself out the door. As if I didn’t already know, now I was certain, I needed to take my father down. The lives of my siblings hung in the balance.
A sudden thundering of footsteps made me jump sky high, and I stood up and whipped around, pulling out my gun and pointing at the door. Did my father not like the temperature of my response to his request? He was sending back his men to kill me and he’d find another way to pull off his task?
The door slammed open, and two of my father’s men were standing in the doorway with a large, black velvet sack. If that on its own weren’t odd enough, the fact that it was writhing wildly certainly was.
“A gift from your father,” one of the men said, “to help you think things over.”
They dropped the sack in the door and left just as frantically as they’d arrived. My heart was beating a bit faster as I stepped over to the sack with my gun trained on it just in case. I was never confident that a gift from my father was truly a gift, so as I reached out to undo the twine holding the sack shut, it was with extreme caution. The string loosened and the opening of the back gave way. I pulled the edges down and what I saw made me sick to my stomach.
There in the bag, blindfolded, gagged, and hogtied, was Philippa.
“Fuck!” I hissed. I dropped my gun as I fell to my knees and immediately started to undo the restraints. I started with the cloth gag, which was tied so tight that it left a red ring around her face and made her cough as it loosened, then I untied the blindfold and restraints on her wrists and ankles. “Philippa.” She flailed out, tears in her eyes, and I grabbed onto her and dragged her close to me. That must have been why my father immediately started looking for another woman in my house. The whole time he had Philippa hogtied in his car. “Shit. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”
“Gianni?” she whimpered. Her chest was rising and falling rapidly, and it seemed like she was struggling to catch her breath.
“Yeah. Hey.” I twisted her head around so that she could see my face. “It’s me. Look at me.” Her eyes were clenched shut though tears were streaming from them continuously. “Philippa, it’s okay. Look at me.” She peeled her eyes open, and when hers met mine, she slowly started to calm down. I rubbed her head gently, trying hard myself not to crack. She had marks where all the binds had been and I was furious that my father had hurt her. “I’m right here. It’s okay.”
“I thought I was going to die,” she whined. “I thought I was never going to see you again.”
“I know. It’s okay. You’re okay.” Scooping Philippa up into my arms, I carefully carried her up the stairs and into my bedroom. I laid her down on the bed and then kissed her on the forehead. “You rest. I’ll go get you some water.” I turned to leave, but Philippa took a hold of my hand and pulled me back. I looked back at her, and there was a dark, longing gaze in her eyes. I’d seen it before, but it was hardly the time to think about sex after what she had just been through. “Stop looking at me like that. I won’t be able to control myself.”
“Why would you have to control yourself?” she asked.
I came back over to the bed and she fell onto her back, bringing me with her. “You just went through something traumatic. We don’t have to do this now. You need to rest.”
“Gianni.” Her hands slid up my face and into my hair. “For the last two hours, I’ve believed I was never going to see your face again. The only thing Ineedright now is you.”
