1
Massimo
My father’s voice rings in my head over and over again causing panic to spread into my gut with no way to turn it off.“It was always the fucking Cassones.”The words sink in, chilling me to the bone initially, but deep breaths and rational conclusion doesn’t take long to sort it in my mind.Dad’s fucking wrong, just like he’s been about everything else of late.He simply can’t see through the lifetime of rivalry and hate for the Cassone family.
In the middle of dealing with Mother being kidnapped, his wife and fucking love of his life, all he can think about is seeking vengeance for an age-old feud that should have been buried long before he and his brothers were even born.
The head of the Rosellis is never going to get over the rivalry with the Cassones.No matter how many times I have to tell him it wasn’t old man Cassone who put that hit out on our trucks and hijacked them.He’s always going to want to blame Sophia’s family for all the chaos in our lives because he doesn’t want to see the truth even though I’ve told him a million fucking times.
The thought of someone taking my mother, her being held captive in a sick game of revenge that should have never started, fuels my anger.How many times did we warn Dad about impending danger.How many times did he just guffaw it off and act like we were overreacting and needed him to guide us, keep us from doing something reactive, when we should have been out there protecting our territory and keeping our women safe.
Instead, all he can do is blame the Cassones instead of accepting the truth.His allies became his enemies, saw his weakness and took a shot.One that cost more than money, it made us look bad with other families, allowed Amorte to think we were weak enough to kowtow to his fucking demands.All the while Dad just proved them right on that point too.He should have shut Amorte down the minute he demanded a thing.
My father has lost the fucking edge it takes to run the family.I’ve known it for a while and should have intervened, and as eldest son, and next in line as don, I should have challenged him more.Now, we’re all going to pay the price, we’re going to live and breathe in fear not knowing if we’re going to find our mother before they start demanding more and sending pieces of our beautiful mother back to us one at a time until we cave or we find and kill the fuckers first.
I make a solemn vow that it’s going to be the latter.The fucking Gallinis, they are as good as dead.I will see Barcelo gurgle his last breath of air with my hand around his throat.
Dad sits sullen, waiting for me to say something, anything after his accusation, but I swear if I say one fucking word I’m going to blow.I would have known if it were the Cassones.Too many boots on the ground, they can’t all be wrong.Leandro, our men, good family men who have been with us for a long fucking time, along with men who I had flown over from Italy to infiltrate the Gallini family so that I could get more information, they all say the same fucking thing, yet my father just can’t see beyond his hatred of Sophia’s family.It’s gone on for far too long.
It’s clear Dad is far too entrenched in this age-old adversary to let it go.He just can’t see how wrong he is, and his accusations are simply going to waste fucking time that we don’t have if we’re going to get my mother out alive.
My blood boils having to go through the same conversation time and time again.What will it take to make him see this.I inhale a deep calming breath as Leandro shifts in his chair.“It’s not the Cassones.It was never the Cassones.Barcelo wanted you to believe it was.He wanted you to go after old man Cassone, just like you’re doing now.A diversion that allowed him time to garner support from the Amortes, bring as many of our soldiers as he could to his side, and now he has Mom, probably because your informants, the ones you paid to spy on me and Leandro, were working for them all the time, right under our noses.”
He growls ferociously.“Why the fuck would he do that, Massimo?You blamed him for the hijacking too.It makes no sense.He’s engaged to Anna.Old man Cassone is set to hand over everything to Barcelo the minute they say I do.Why would Barcelo screw that up?What possible reason does he have for taking your mother?You want me to pin everything on old man Amorte, an ally we’ve had for years and not our enemies?”
My eyebrow arches trying to remain calm, levelheaded, the ice-cold persona I’ve used a million times with enemies, but never with my dad.“I didn’t understand how all the pieces fit together at first either but think back to what I told you, Dad.Someone tries to take Sophia out.Yeah, she was given a date rape drug, but it was so strong that if she had taken the entire thing it would have allowed her captors to get her out of the country before she ever woke up, or it would have killed her.Honestly after everything I’ve learned now, they probably wanted the latter.My sources are good, Dad.My intel, it’s thorough.We took our time, dug deep, got all the details, and I’m going to nail those fucking Gallinis to the wall.”
His hand tightens around the new drink he’s poured.We’ll see how long he lasts before that one goes flying into the fireplace too because I’m not fucking keeping my mouth shut tonight.Instead, he takes a long draw from his drink.“Proof Massimo, I need solid evidence before starting a war with an ally, just the accusation alone will start a war.We have enough conflict because of you to last us a lifetime.”
He’s not wrong about the conflict, although I’m not taking the blame for a war I didn’t start.But I’m the dark-souled devil who’s going to finish it.It takes effort to keep my voice calm because I am anything but fucking calm right now.“We have the proof, Dad.Vincenzo DeLuca, he fucking talked to Barcelo.Barcelo himself was the one who made him the deal.Tried to sell DeLuca our fucking product at a fraction of what it was worth.”
He shakes his head vehemently as his face turns red.“Who made the deal?”
Dad still doesn’t believe what’s staring him right in the fucking face.“Vincenzo’s little brother made the deal.He’s wet behind the ears, didn’t check it out and make sure it was legit, and Vincenzo’s dealing with that but the fucking deal was made.The Gallinis are the ones who hit our trucks whether you want to believe it or not.They’re greedy bastards who’ve been moving in for a while.They don’t just want the Cassone territory.They want the Roselli territory too.But they didn’t want to go up against the Rosellis, so Barcelo comes up with the plan to send the Cassone soldiers, who have recently become loyal to him, to hijack the Roselli trucks.”
Now, finally, maybe I have my dad’s attention because he may not like being wrong, but he dislikes that someone tried to make a fool of him a hell of a lot more.He brings the glass of scotch to his mouth.The one time I’ve seen him upset and not belting it back.He’s sipping it nice and slow, letting it heat his veins as the strategic mind that’s brought the Rosellis so far in life finally realizes this is more complex than a simple territory move.It’s a fucking attempt at an absolute takeover of the entire Roselli empire he’s spent blood, sweat, and tears to build.
My father’s already dark eyes turn pitch black with rage.It always takes him a while, but Leandro’s right, he usually does always come around.But it’s taking longer and longer these days, and we need to be moving quicker not slower with these bloodsuckers running around trying to take what we’ve worked so hard to achieve.
I shift in my seat, take a sip of my own scotch, and watch as my father leans over to light a cigar.Most would scream for him to do something, to do it fast after the fuckers took my mom, and while I don’t want to waste one fucking moment, I also know that my father can be one of the most strategic minds around when he’s got his mind in the game.I give him the space to think, knowing the love of his life is missing and it’s not going to take him long now that I’ve managed to convince him that he’s wrong.
He takes two puffs of his cigar and turns to me and Leandro, blowing the last of the rings into the dimly lit room, the only one in the entire house my mother will allow him his guilty pleasure before he gives the order that will send the entire mafia world into shock.
“Barcelo Gallini will rue the day he hit our trucks, tried to take over our territory and took my wife.For this, he will suffer a slow and painful death, Massimo.Do you understand what I’m saying to you, son?No one touches him, the order on the street is to keep him alive and bring that fucker to me.”
I nod.Finally, an order I can deal with that should have come the minute I walked in the door.No matter that I’d like to get my hands on the bastard myself and so will my younger brothers.Father is still the don, and this is his wife the Gallinis have taken.He inhales again and slowly blows a ring of smoke over his head and turns to me with a chilling smile.“In the words of the famiglia, never go against the family.”His eyes meet mine.“They are circling, making deals in back alleys.I should have listened to you, my son.Massimo, when this is over, it’s time for you to step into my shoes, son.It’s past time.But now, you’ll do as I ask this last time.”
That’s exactly what should occur, but I didn’t expect it to happen without a family sit down between me, him and my brothers and some of the elders in Italy.Much better that it comes about this way though because I don’t know how much more of the family I can stomach.
My father’s voice booms.“Set up a meeting with Vincenzo DeLuca and Carlos and Salvatore Larussio.It’s high time we forged some fucking solid alliances of our own.While the Gallini and Amortes want to scrap over a little piece of territory we’ll forge an alliance with men across the fucking states.”
My chest tightens with pride.The respect I have for this man just went up tenfold.We need the resources their families can provide.How long have I been fucking telling him that, how long have we all been saying that it will help us all.I don’t want to lose half our men going in without enough support and this will ensure that we don’t.“I’ll set it up right now.We need to be ready to move though.I’ve already called for our men on the street to find her, we know where some of their warehouses are, and Sophia may be able to find out where the other Cassone spots are.”
I send a message to Sophia, but she doesn’t reply.My chest tightens with worry, since the moment I gave her the phone she’s always responded right away.It was part of the fucking rules.She wouldn’t break them without a very good reason.I send a message to the guard stationed in the house and relief floods every part of my soul causing me to smile for the very first time tonight when I get his reply.A very drunk wife.That I can fucking deal with.I turn to my dad.“Sophia’s not answering.I’ll get the information a different way.”
His eyebrow raises in question.“Through her sister, Anna?”
“I’ll know shortly.”I stride out of the great room of Dad’s house, sending texts to Vincenzo DeLuca, Carlos Larrusio, and Salvatore Larussio, encrypting the message, but they’ll fucking know what it means, and they’ll all answer my call at the designated time.I turn to Leandro.“We have soldiers scouring every inch of the city, and we’ll meet with the families in a couple hours.I’ll let you deal with the operational side.In the meantime, I need to go and deal with an errant wife.”
