Mario shook his head.“No Charli girl, he came here for a reason and it might be something more than just to shut you up.”
“Like what?”Ace growled.
Mario shrugged.“That I’m not sure of, but he knows the time is coming for my father to come and collect Charli.Ray hasn’t been around family in years but he knows the old ways.He might be here to do more than kill Charli.”
A cold feeling swept the room and everyone there felt it.
Charli snapped her head up and stared at him in horror.“You think he might be here to kill your father?”
Mario shrugged.“I don’t know but he’s standing out there waiting for something, isn’t he?He finally showed up for the first time in fourteen years and he’s staying just out of sight.There must be a reason why he is waiting.”
“But why would he have to kill your dad?”Ace asked.“That doesn’t make any sense to me.”
Mario sighed hard and explained the family dynamics to them, “My dad is the second of five sons.Michael was the firstborn, my dad Jullian was next, then Ray was the baby brother.He knows he doesn’t have a chance at leadership of the tribe as there are two more boys between him and my dad.My uncles are in place to take over if something happens to my dad.He chose to stay here to look over Charli but we all know how good a job he did on that, don’t we?He also knows that the money he kept should have been hers and what he did with that money goes against everything we believe in.And that wherever he goes after this we will try to find him.He might just decide to muddy the trail as best he can before he slinks away.”He shrugged and added, “It might gain him a day or two before the family begins to track his ass down.”
“Can’t you warn Uncle Jullian that he's here lying in wait?”Charli asked her cousin.
Mario nodded.“I can text him but right now he’s probably on a plane halfway across the ocean.”
Charli nodded her head at him.“Well, at least he’ll get the text when he lands.I’d rather have that happen than let him drive into an ambush.If Ray is waiting until Uncle Jullian gets here, I don’t want anyone to get hurt.”
Mario nodded grimly and took his cell out of his pocket, then he sent the text.He looked up at her and cleared his throat.“Bene Charli, there might be more secrets you should know about.”
Charli looked puzzled and asked, “What kind of secrets and do I really want to hear them?”
Mario shook his head.“This is old stuff.And these secrets have been pushed into the family lore but they happened and should never be forgotten.No one speaks of them but they did change the history of our family.”
Charli just rolled her eyes and said, “Mario, come on...Say what you got to say and quit dragging it out.”
Mario stared at her.“You just got more sassy by the year, haven’t you?”
Ace chuckled.“You just now noticed that, did ya?”
His brothers all chuckled.
Mario shook his head.“So the last battle, the one that killed your parents never needed to happen.Michael and his wife were ambushed on the way to settle the feud.Your dad worked hard to try and settle it for about a month at that time.Only a few of the others in the family didn’t want to settle.No, they wanted the feud to go on forever and they went rogue to try and keep it going.It was right after that shooting that the tribes signed the papers that ended the feud.The other tribe went back to Romania and we stayed here for a while then dad wanted to go back to Italy.”He paused then shook his head.“There was no reason for your parents to die.They were on their way to sign the papers to end that feud."
Charli just stared at her cousin.Then she whispered, “That information is about twenty years too late, isn’t it?How long has this been known by the Council?By your dad?”
Mario didn’t want to tell her but he thought she deserved to know.“They found this out weeks after we buried your parents.Before my father took over leadership of the tribe.”
Charli just stared at him for a long, tense moment then without a word, she turned and left the room.
The silence she left behind was broken only when they all heard the bedroom close behind her.
Ace looked over and glared at Mario.“Do you have any other dirty little secrets to share with my wife?”
Mario swallowed hard and replied, “I only found this out a lot later.I was young at the time her parents were killed, same as Charli.I just learned this last year.Many years after Michael and his wife died.”Shaking his head he admitted, “I told my father that what happened could have been avoided if Michael had gone to that meeting with support.That his brother didn’t have to die like that.My dad said it was a tragedy but the other family couldn’t take it back, that it was too late now and life moved on.But not everyone agreed with his statement.Even if we agreed, we couldn’t change the past.”
Ace growled and clenched his fists.“Your father’s greed cost Charli.If he had no compassion for her then he’s not much of a leader.”
Jack glared at Mario as he agreed, “You father might have lost a brother but Charli lost her whole world.Tell me asshole, who lost more?Your dad got everything while she had nothing left, nothing except her grandparents.Her dad’s family was just gone, you all moved away and never told her.They left her hanging for fourteen years and now they just expect her to do what?Greet your dad like someone who cares about her?Well, hell no to that.Then he wants her to follow thesupposedrules and marry someone she doesn’t love?Nah man, that’s just wrong.She’s already got a husband and a son.I don’t see her walking away from the family she’s got now.”
“We’re her family now.”Ace growled.“She’s not alone anymore and she’s under our protection.She’s Charli Bridges now and no longer Charli Benittini.”
Mario nodded.“I know.”Raising his hands, he agreed, “I told my dad the same damn thing, I even told the Council that.But they are following old gypsy laws and my dad believes she’ll just fall into line because she’s Michael’s daughter.”
Ace leaned closer to tell him, “She’s more than justMichael’s daughter.They all turned their backs on her for years and years.What does that say about your fucking family?She’s Ben’s granddaughter and has been since they turned their back on her.Now she’s a woman in her own right.Your family chose to walk away from her when her father died in an ambush we now know didn’t have to happen.Your family couldn’t...no, theywouldn’tprotect their own.They gave her away at one point and let Ben raise her, none of them get to claim her now.”
