“Because of what Jimmy told me.”
Reno frowned. “Jimmy, you knew they made him boss and you didn’t tell me?”
“I didn’t know any of that,” said Jimmy. “He asked me general questions. I knew something was up by the tenor of the questions, and that’s why I told you to call him. But I had no idea he was being considered as the boss of an established mob. I had no idea.”
“Go on, Dom,” said Tommy. He, like everybody in that room, needed answers.
“Jimmy said if I wanna know if a group deserved my membership I needed to follow the money. Find out where they were getting it from and what they were doing with it. And that’s why I ordered an audit.”
“What did you discover?” asked Tommy.
“Lolo was making side deals with some unsavory characters, and he was amassing a fortune. By the time of my kidnapping, I had already uncovered where he embezzled from the syndicate and put millions of dollars in his personal coffers in overseas bank accounts. When Lolo found out that I had guys snooping around, he and his underboss paid hired hands and I was snatched.”
“But why didn’t he just kill you?” asked Sal. “Why would he kidnap you and claim Rats did it?”
“Because he had to take that spotlight away from his ass and put it squarely on somebody’s else’s or you and Pops and Uncle Tommy and Uncle Mick, too, would have eventually start suspecting him. After you bought into the idea that Scorvino was behind my kidnapping and you start killing up his crew, then he’d kill me and dump me in the river. If I was ever found, everybody would blame Scorvino anyway. His hands would be clean. He’d get his mob back. And Scorvino, his main rival, will be wiped out. That was his plan.”
“That motherfucker,” said Reno.
But Trina was just concerned. She looked at her son. “Are you’re certain you want to go down that road, Dommi? Did you just listen to yourself? It’s a road paved with blood and you know it.”
But Dom seemed unmoved by her passionate plea. “It’s paved with blood,” he said, “and it’s in my blood. I need that excitement. I need that adrenalin rush.” He nodded his head. “I’ve tried everything else. This is the only thing that keeps me going. I was working for Uncle Sal, but he was too protective of me. I was working for Uncle Mick, but shit he had Nikki over me. A girl over me! I’ve been mob-adjacent my whole life, and she shows up and because Uncle Mick likes her big-ass and big-ass titties, or whatever it is he just loves about Nikki, he put her over me. Cousin Teddy might have been able to handle that shit, but I couldn’t. But the Arvanatti crime family was the only organization that was willing to give me complete control. And that’s what I am. A complete control guy. Nobody’s running me anymore. So yeah, Ma. I’m certain. This is what I want.”
“That Arvanatti family are running drugs,” Reno said. “You gonna keep that up?”
Dommi looked his father dead in his eyes. “I’m gonna say it like Uncle Mick says it: That’s my business.”
Reno jumped up from his chair, lunged at his son, and punched him so hard that Dommi fell on his ass. He proved that Dommi might have changed overnight and now looked like a boss to be reckoned with, but he was no Mick Sinatra.
He stood over his son. “Is it still your business, motherfucker?” he yelled at him. “Is it still your business?!”
Tommy and Jimmy were looking at Trina to see what she was going to do about it. Would she scold Reno for going too hard at Dom? Or would she agree with Reno?
She agreed with Reno. “Get your ass up,” she said to Dommi. “Talking about Mick Sinatra. Your ass ain’t no Mick Sinatra. Ain’t no Teddy Sinatra either. Teddy would have gotten back up as soon as he got hit and then he would have told Mick a thing or two.” She looked hard at Dommi who, it seemed to her, wanted to cry. “What are you gonna do?”
Dommi was pissed, but he slowly got back up. But he did not tell Reno a thing or two. He knew what his father was capable of. He wanted to live.
“See what I mean?” said Trina. “You can handle the bad guys. You proved that at that funeral by taking out six men single-handedly. I’ve seen what you can do, Dommi. But how are you gonna handle the people in your corner like your men outside this door? How are you gonna handle them if you can’t even stand up to your own father? They’ll size you up and cut you down to size, boy, if you aren’t careful.”
Everybody stared at Dom because they knew Trina was telling him the truth. He was going to lose respect for his men if he didn’t toughen up even more than he thought he already was.
But Dommi was no patsy. And he knew it. “I know how to handle my men, Ma. Am I gonna get in Daddy’s face? No. Not if I wanna live.”
They all laughed. “I know that’s right,” said Reno.
A hard look came over Dommi’s face. “But they ain’t my daddy. I can handle them.”
“You’d better,” said Reno. “Me and your mama don’t like this shit, Dommi, I’m just gonna say it. But if you gonna be in it, you’d better be all the way up in that shit or it’ll blow up in your face.”
“Now that’s the truth,” said Sal.
“But no son of mine is gonna be selling no drugs. That’s also the truth,” said Reno.
Dommi didn’t respond. Jimmy, Sal, and Tommy knew why. Dommi was going to do what Dommi was going to do. He’d always been that way.
And he’d always been slick with it too. “Yes sir,” he said to his father as if he made a good point.
For the sake of Trina, Reno stayed quiet. But he knew his son was full of shit.
