Total pages in book: 83
Estimated words: 82524 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 413(@200wpm)___ 330(@250wpm)___ 275(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 82524 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 413(@200wpm)___ 330(@250wpm)___ 275(@300wpm)
My father, dead now, for much too long.
I’m breathing hard when I’m done bashing the office. The desk holds nothing interesting except for a worn picture at the bottom of the last drawer. It shows Ignazio with my father, the two of them looking no older than I am now.
I rip it to shreds.
“Looks like you had some fun in here.” Kellan enters, looking around with a smirk. “Want to piss on his bed?”
“I want him found. That’s what I want.”
His smile disappears. “Place is empty. We’re ransacking it now.”
“Look for hiding places. Anywhere he might stash himself or something important.”
“Understood.” Kellan doesn’t move. He stares at the office. He’s eight years my junior, but I’m sure he remembers this place too. “I talked to Paul a few weeks back. Can you believe it?”
“You two always got along.”
“He’s doing good. Married now. Not in the life, you know? We always thought the cousins would end up like us.”
“You know what’s going to happen to him.”
Kellan looks down at his hands. At the tattoos on his fingers. “There’s no mercy for a traitor.”
“Or for the son of one.”
“Paul’s got kids. Two of them.”
“We’ll make sure they’re taken care of. The wife as well. They won’t be hurt, you know that.”
Kellan nods, face set. He’s a man of violence. Always has been. I tried to tame my second-youngest brother but he never wanted a desk. Silas took to talking and politics. Cassian lost himself in blood and hiding. But Kellan likes being on the street, likes being seen, likes smashing and breaking until there’s nothing left to break.
That’s probably why he and Devlin get along so well. My littlest brother is an agent of pure chaos. Probably because he was raised in this shit.
“I wish I knew why.” Kellan drifts to Ignazio’s files. I spared them from the worst of my rage. “What was he fucking thinking? Going after you like that?”
“He probably wanted them to kill me. And barring that, they were under instructions to grab my daughter, to use her against me.”
“She’s a fucking child.” Kellan’s jaw tightens. “That sick bastard. But I still don’t get why.”
“Retirement.”
He stops fiddling with a drawer. “What?”
“Ignazio and the rest of the old guard were all going to be retired.”
“You don’t fucking retire from the family. That’s just… that doesn’t happen.”
“It was going to happen.” I stalk to the window, staring out at the trees across the street. “The world’s changing and Ignazio can’t keep up. He’s been making small mistakes for years. My plan was to force out him and the other leftovers from Dad’s time.”
“Jesus Christ.” Kellan slams a fist down onto the cabinet with a boom. “Why the fuck didn’t you tell me?”
“You didn’t need to know.”
“I could have been ready for it at least. You’re talking about tossing a bunch of battle-hardened gangsters onto their fucking asses. You didn’t think that would be an issue?”
“I’m talking about retiring a bunch of old men. They don’t even want this anymore, Kellan.”
“Guess someone should’ve mentioned that to Ignazio, because it sure as fuck seems like he still cares.”
I scrub a hand through my hair in frustration. I knew they’d be upset, but no part of me imagined Ignazio would fight this hard to stay inside the family. It’s one thing for him to make a scene, but he’s going all the way, like he thinks he can overthrow me.
God, that’s his plan, isn’t it?
“You need to prepare our people for full-on civil war.” I turn to my brother, letting him see my face so he knows I’m not kidding. “I have no idea how many men they’ll have on their side, but it could be substantial.”
“Come on, we all know you’re in charge. You’ve been the best thing that ever happened to the Corvino family.”
“And yet Ignazio already turned some against me. There will be more, Kellan. We have to be ready.”
He curses and wrenches open a locked drawer. It’s amazing how strong he can be sometimes. “We’d better take all this shit. Who knows what secrets that old bastard has been hiding.”
“I’ll have Theodora go through it all.”
Kellan’s grin returns, just like that. “She’s a bit expensive, don’t you think? Maybe we can get someone cheaper.”
“You never cut corners when it comes to a lawyer.”
“Spoken like a true Don.”
I leave him in the office. The rest of Ignazio’s house is a wreck. Soldiers smash holes in the walls, rip cabinets down, break down doors. It’s like they’re doing a full demolition for a total renovation.
Except the renovation will be through fire.
I help finish the destruction. It’s cathartic, wrecking this place I once knew so well. Another piece of my childhood ruined. When it’s done and all the important documents are safely stored in a van, I pour gasoline on a pile of wooden furniture and drop a match.