Mick gave him that chillingly hard stare. “That conversation is over,” he made clear.
Teddy looked at Big Daddy as if he was telepathically telling him to deal with this guy because he couldn’t.
Big Daddy got the clue and exhaled. “Millie and I went to see Frankie last night,” he said to Mick.
Mick frowned. “What the fuck for? I’m not kowtowing to that asshole. What you went to see him for?”
“For you to ask me why I went to see Monk,” said Big Daddy, “tells me all I need to know about your mind space right now. Sometimes I wonder if you can tell your head from your asshole.”
“What are you talking?” Mick asked him.
“My daughter lives in Monk Paletti’s house, in case you’ve forgotten. Remember Ashley? Your niece!”
“She has nothing to do with this.”
“Are you nuts? She has everything to do with this because you’ve decided to go to war with her husband over some so-called son we never heard of before. Frankie is my son, in case you’ve forgotten that too. He’s my son-in-law. And you didn’tbother to tell me what was happening either? Sometimes you’re a heartless sonofabitch, Mick!”
It was exactly what everybody was thinking at that table, and Mick knew it too. That was why he didn’t fire back. He had no ammunition against the truth. “I have to make tough decisions. It was a tough call, but I made it and I’d make it again today if I had to.”
“He told us the whole story,” said Amelia.
Mick looked at her. So did everybody else at that table. “What whole story?” asked Teddy.
“According to Frankie, it was Dory who started the whole thing.”
“Pop’s son started it?” Teddy asked. “How?”
“Danny Cerva, Monk’s underboss, was taking care of some Bonaducci family business in Rome. Like Mick said, they have operations there. Well Danny had this side chick in Rome and he found out that Dory was fooling around with his sidepiece when he wasn’t in town.”
“This whole war is about a woman?” asked Teddy with disbelief in his voice.
“Keep talking,” said Sal.
“According to Frankie,” said Big Daddy, taking over from Amelia, “this Dory got into a fistfight with Danny. By all indications, Dory won the fight. But given that his crazy ass is Mick’s kid, victory wasn’t enough for him. He had to annihilate his opponent because that opponent deigned to be involved with his woman period, or for some other lame excuse. So later that night Dory did a hit on Danny and his guys in Rome, while he ordered his guys in the U.S. to take out Danny’s family.”
They were all shocked. “What?” asked Nikki.
“And that’s exactly what they did because I checked it out,” said Amelia. “They killed Danny’s wife and his kids. That’s what really started this war.”
Everybody looked at Mick. Teddy was anguished. “Pop, you knew this?”
“They hit my son,” Mick said firmly.
“They hit him back, Pop, after he killed Danny’s family!”
“Fuck the reason,” Mick fired back. “They didn’t come to me and let me handle it. They tried to murder my son.” His voice rose. “Nobody touches my family on the face of this earth without retribution from me. Nobody! They hit my son then I’m hitting them back harder than they ever thought was possible! Who the fuck gives a shit about the reason? You don’t touch mine!”
It was classic Mick, Sal thought. Classic Mick! He didn’t understand why they were all so shocked.
But they were. Because it wasn’t just Classic Mick handling his business. It was Classic Mick going after Monk. Going after family.
Big Daddy didn’t know what to say to that. He stood up and went over to the window, looking out.
Amelia exhaled. “So we’re officially at war with one of our own,” she said.
“We’re at war, that’s for damn sure,” said Sal. “But to what end, though, Uncle Mick?”
They all looked at Sal. “Are we supposed to be taking out Monk’s men,” Sal asked Mick, “or are we supposed to be taking out Monk himself? Because you and me both know that’s how this shit normally works. You cut off the head of that fucker and the rest will die. If this war is about to be waged, then I need to know the end game. I need to know if taking out Frankie is part of the plan because I may not sign on to that shit.”
