“Is this another debt I’ll owe?” He didn’t care if it was—he’d do anything to get Trey back. Anything. But he shouldn’t have asked; the words had come out anyway.
Uncle Ben’s only reaction was a narrowing of his eyes. “You insult us, nephew.”
“Sorry. I just…sorry. Thank you. I’m grateful.”
Uncle Ben regarded him stiffly for a moment, then nodded. “It’s true that your affairs and ours are recently intersecting more than they have in the past. Your life is complicated these days, it seems.”
Carlo snorted bitterly. “Yeah.”
“Auberon left a vacancy in our world that has made things interesting for business. No matter for you—that became a family matter when I made it family. But this is family from the start, Junior. This isn’t business, unless you make it so. I think what you might owe will depend on what part you play next.”
To Carlo, it seemed like his uncle was talking in riddles, and he didn’t have time or patience for it. “What do you mean?”
“Do you have a request for how this problem is resolved?”
“What? I want Trey home. Obviously.”
“And the woman who took him? And the man she was with?”
He was starting to understand, he thought. “Are you asking me if I want them dead?”
Uncle Ben shook his head. “No. That’s been decided. If we get them before our friends in the bad suits do—and we will—then their fate is sealed. I’m asking if you want a hand in it. You make that choice, nephew, and you cross a line. I want you to see the line, see it clearly.”
“Think about it first, Junior.” Uncle Lorrie had been standing quietly. “We’re offering you the respect of the choice. But if you choose it, there’s no going back.”
And again with the riddles. Or maybe Carlo was simply too distracted and worried to think clearly. “I don’t understand. I’m sorry, but I just don’t.”
“A kill makes you one of us. It weaves your life with ours—your interests with ours. If we bring you into that, then we will come to you when we need you. And not just once. This is the way on, as you and your brothers and sisters say, the other side of the pews.”
“Can we even talk about this here?” Carlo looked around; they were in a public waiting room—empty of anyone not there for Joey, but public nonetheless.
“We swept the room after the cops left, Junior. We can speak freely for now.” Uncle Lorrie looked over toward the rest of the family. “Quietly, but freely.”
Carlo thought. The Uncles were telling him that if he participated in dealing with Jenny and whoever had been with her, he would be coming into their fold. He very much did not want that. But he knew for a certainty that he wanted her dead. It wasn’t even vengeance he was after. As furious and full of hate as he was, she was too unstable for him to feel a need for revenge. But he needed security for Trey, and he wouldn’t have it if she lived.
But could he just farm that job out? This was all his responsibility—he had married her, had a child with her, underestimated her, left Sabina and Trey alone with his fuckup baby brother as ‘protection.’
“It should be me. It’s my responsibility, isn’t it? But why would it make me one of you? I mean no disrespect, but I don’t see my future in your business.”
Uncle Ben put his hand on Carlo’s arm. “Then let us handle the situation. Because there’s no avoiding the entanglement if you’re involved in that way. And I know you see why—if you looked, you’d see.”
But he didn’t see. He was too fucking tired to see. Trey was gone. Trey was fucking gone, and he was sitting here having a surreal conversation with his Uncles, apparently preparing to sign on for a life of crime.
Uncle Ben sighed. Uncle Lorrie leaned over and answered his unasked question. “You commit murder, on our watch, with our help, that’s us…entangled. You don’t get loose from that. So think and make your choice. But if things go right, you don’t have a lot of time to make the choice. When we find Trey, you gotta know.”
Carlo sat back, his head pounding. “I need to think.”
“Yes, you do.” The Uncles stood and left the waiting room, going to stand in the hallway with their bodyguard.
Bina came over immediately and stood before him. “Would you prefer company or to be alone?”