“You approve access to the club for these names…and you have a deal.” I pull a folded piece of paper out of the inside pocket of my jacket and hand it to him.
He doesn’t even look at it.
“Fine. Get out,” he steps backward.
I adjust my jacket and turn to exit the library.
“By sunrise for you too, Carmine.”
3
Carmine
Ahot shower isn’t enough to rid me of the ache in my head, nor my chest. It is however, enough to remove the stench of alcohol and blood from my body. Numbness has settled into my bones, and yet the first thing I do when I get out of the shower is grab another bottle of alcohol.
Water still drips down my body as I take a heavy drink and feel the burn in my stomach. It’s only after three of these drinks that I finally dry off and get dressed. Black slacks, black button up, black wingtips…all in the same dark and empty shade.
I greet the guards that the Fiorellis have sent over. A dozen and a half of them. Men and women with tall broad frames and dark expressions. It’s clear that they aren’t any happier about this than myself and my family.
Some part of me is itching to find one of them out of place. To find a pistol tucked into a waistband, a knife in a sock, a wire taped to their chest.
Nothing is found. My trigger finger itches.
They’re sent to be armed by my Uncle Gregor, who has handled the training and arming of guards general and personal for two decades.
Meanwhile, I’m left to continue cleaning up the mess left in my father’s wake. Including his literal wake.
“He chose his coffin. He’s to be buried next to mother. The estate has been handed to me. What more is there?” I ask Alessio and Tiberi as they sit with me in our fathers—now my—office. It’s been scrubbed of all evidence of blood. The window has been fixed, and it’s as if nothing has happened. Except for the area rug missing from under the desk.
“For starters, Father wanted his funeral to be a happy occasion. Food, drink, and music,” Alessio reminds me. He’s looking through the papers that I’ve already read through four times.
“I know. He also wanted to be alive right now. He doesn’t get what he wants,” I reply. My jaw and neck feel so tight that it hurts.
Tiberi sighs. “We need to do things right by him. I know it’s easier to just…put him in the ground and get it over with, but that’s not what he wanted.”
I look away from my brothers. “Fine. He wanted a party, he’ll get a party.”
“Secondly…you need to talk to Cassian,” Alessio says. “He’s going to need you now more than ever.”
I scoff. “This is his fault,” I sneer.
“It’s not and you know that,” he snaps back. “He’s a kid.”
“Yeah, and he was left in charge when he had no business being in charge,” I growl at him.
Tiberi smacks the desk. “Stop it. This will accomplish nothing. We can’t change what happened. You can be mad at Cas all you want, but we’re his brothers. Tommy fucks up all the time too. We all do, and we still fight for each other.”
“Tommy didn’t get our father killed,” I say through grit teeth. My eyes burn. That numbness is starting to wear away. Pain breaking through. The bullet hole still healing in my leg pales in comparison.
“Neither did Cassian, you stubborn fucking prick.” Alessio glares at me. “Any one of us could’ve been in that room. If Cassian had died instead of Father, would you blame our father?”
I swallow hard and look down at the desk. “Who was there for us?” I ask as I look back up. “Who was there for me?”
My brothers stare back at me. Silent.
“I’ll talk to Cassian when I feel like it.” I shove up from the desk and walk around it and them.
“Where are you going?” Tiberi asks.
