“Why would you tell Roz something like this in front of all of us anyway?” asked a flustered Big Daddy. He was a man that believed fervently that everything should be done decently and in order. Mick, he felt, was out of order. “This was something you should have told her privately, before anybody else, and you should have told her when you first found out.”
“I was still checking it out for myself, Charles. I wasn’t going to tell her or anybody else anything until I had a chance to see test results.”
“The boy is in his twenties and you never bothered to take a DNA test?” asked Big Daddy.
“A DNA test was taken when he was first born. It supposedly showed that Ron Toscano was his father. When I got to Rome, I clandestinely got my son’s DNA and had it tested. Idid that when I got to Rome. I got the results back a few days later, but I already knew.”
“I thought you said you didn’t know.”
“I knew it was a possibility for years,” Mick admitted. “But I . . .”
“But you what?” asked Roz. She was still staring at him as if she didn’t know this person anymore.
“I didn’t pursue it,” Mick said.
That sounded weird to everybody in that office. “Why the fuck not, Uncle Mick?” asked Reno. The idea that he would have a son in this world and decided to ignore that child was mindboggling to him.
But he wasn’t Mick. “That’s my business,” Mick said.
“Was he the reason why you had so many men in Rome?” asked Teddy.
Mick nodded. “I had men in Rome, but most of them weren’t stationed there. They flew over with me.”
“So they wereourmen?” asked Teddy.
“Yes.”
“And eighteen ofourmen are dead or dying?”
Another hesitation.“Yes.”
“Because you unilaterally decided to go to war with Frankie Paletti?”
“Wrong question,” Sal said to Teddy. He knew the dress-down was coming.
And Mick didn’t hesitate. He frowned at Teddy. “What the fuck do you mean I unilaterally did it as if I need permission? Who the fuck was I getting permission from?You?Nikki? You better get the fuck out of my face!”
But Nikki didn’t flinch. This was past feelings now. “Is your son the reason we’re in a war with Frankie?” she asked Mick point blank. “Answerthatquestion!”
The Gabrinis began glancing at each other. Nobody had ever seen mild-mannered Nikki so animated. And at Mick of all people. They expected another dressing down. But they also knew Mick favored Nikki in inexplicable ways and always seemed to cut her some slack.
And they were right. Mick answered her question with no prevaricating. “Yes.”
“Why?”
“He was badly injured. He’d been shot just before I arrived in Rome. He’s still recovering even as we speak. That was my doctor on the phone. She’s overseeing his recovery.”
“How is he?” asked Big Daddy.
“He’s doing well. He was shot several times. But he’s expected to fully recover. He’s on the mend.”
“What happened?” Sal asked.
“He got into it with Danny Cerva. Danny, along with some of his men, was killed. So Monk ordered a hit on my son and his crew. He took out most of my son’s crew. When I hit town and my guys hit the streets, we took on casualties too. Monk’s men were better prepared than my guys were. So I hit the streets. And I tracked down every single one of his men and took them out. Every one of them. I took a bullet in my knee during that track down.”
They were shocked. “You were shot too, Pop?” asked Teddy.
“I’m okay, but yes.”
