The commissioner had been on the take for years, those who were in the know knew that. Arturo had him in his pocket, so had grandpa. He usually covered up the family’s kills and kept the heat off our asses.
For whatever reason, they had decided that my family was no longer needed, either that, or there was something they were into that grandpa had vetoed, and this was their answer.
Dad wasn’t next in line; he wasn’t blood. Grandpa was mom’s dad, and though my father played a big part in the family, he would never have sat in the seat as head. That would’ve been my brother Vincent.
The hit had been well orchestrated from what I’d learned. They’d hit multiple places at once, in a bid to eliminate the whole family and take over our territories. These fuckers had watched The Godfather once too often it seemed.
I didn’t need a movie to direct my path, what I hadn’t learnt at my grandfather’s knee, the government had taught me. I was trained as a SEAL, I knew innumerable ways in which to kill, and I was going to use every last one of them until I eliminated all our enemies.
I’m not the hothead that my brother is, that’s why I have the lead, but the assholes might’ve stood a better chance with Vince at the helm, than they will with me.
Now I have this pain in the ass girl on my hands, who wouldn’t shut the fuck up. Yes she just watched her old man die in front of her eyes, so the fuck what? He should’ve protected her better if he was going to get mixed up in the life.
Chapter 4
We drove all the way to The Island instead of going to any one of our places in the city. It was too hot right now. And no doubt the alarm had been raised by now, on one or both of the men.
Whoever was involved, will know that we were hitting back; hopefully it would be a while before they knew that I was the one carrying out the retaliation. My family was safe for now and I mean to keep them that way. The only way for me to do that; is to kill everyone who had a hand in the plot against my blood. Personally.
I wasn’t about to trust anyone else with that task. Everyone was a fucking suspect, until I said different. The two men who were with me had been cleared, otherwise I would be travelling solo, but they too were on a short leash.
My companion was silently crying next to me, and I would’ve felt some sympathy for her, had it not been for the fact that her fuck of a dad had played a part in what had happened to my blood. In the old country she would’ve been considered the spoils. Maybe I will fuck her after all, get rid of some of this pent up anger that was riding my ass.
She’d exhausted herself by the time we pulled through the gates of home. I had beefed up security, choosing only those men that my dad believed to be safe. Whoever had sold us out, will show their hand soon no doubt. I was going to keep my eyes and ears open for when that happened.
“Come.” I had to pull her out of the car and drag her into the house behind me. I hadn’t even noticed what she’d been wearing when I took her, but now, looking at her fully for the first time, I noticed her state of undress.
She wore silk pajama shorts, a camisole and fluffy house slippers. She looked about twelve, with her wild hair and scared eyes. “Upstairs, first door on the right. Go Natalie, and don’t make me have to repeat myself again.”
She walked away slowly, her legs a little shaky. The shock was settling in and I knew she was in for a long fucking day. Too bad, so was I. If her fuck of an old man hadn’t been such a fucking crook, my family wouldn’t be in fucking pieces. I had no give in me right now and that little girl was in the line of fire.
I closed myself off in my dad’s study. There was a lot of shit that needed to be done in the next few days. With grandpa gone, dad and my brothers in hiding, there was going to be a shake up. So along with taking out the fuckers who’d done this, I have to make sure that there’s no mutiny in the works.
My dad had given me a rough account of what was up the day before the shit hit the fan. I had a list of who might need to be brought to heel, and who had been under the old man’s radar for one infraction or the other.
With an operation this big, there was a shitload of things to take care of, and not enough time. I started with the family holdings in AC. There was the casino and the hotel there. Then there were the places in Vegas, New York. We had homes and businesses on two continents that would need a careful eye.
I knew from growing up in the life, that when something like this happened, it was the prime time for the vultures to swoop in and try to take over. I wasn’t about to give them the chance.
I opened the safe and went through the papers I found there. Grandpa had a coded journal that not many people could read; I was one of only two people still alive, who would be able to, the other was my dad.