Total pages in book: 157
Estimated words: 154525 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 773(@200wpm)___ 618(@250wpm)___ 515(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 154525 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 773(@200wpm)___ 618(@250wpm)___ 515(@300wpm)
“Do the rest of us need to worry about being the next person you decide needs to go?” asked the one man, taller than the other.
Nico hadn’t spent much time in Vegas, or even with the Maine side of the family’s faction. Most of his knowledge and experience came from at home, with Big Mike, dealing with Anthony over the years, and most importantly, Chicago. Even the capo settled in California—Christiano—had been a cousin of his father’s first wife, but the man kept a healthy distance from Giorgio whenever he could. Like anyone else with a brain and self-preservation.
“I’ll answer that question,” Salvatore replied, “but there’s a deal you have to accept for me to do it. And everyone I intend to have sit at this table will make the same deal, so then it’s fair across the board. Are we clear?”
Confirmations passed. Nods came, too.
“I’ll answer, and you can take my word for what it’s always meant when I gave it. I got rid of a problem, one we all knew we had, but no one wanted to handle for reasons we all were intimately acquainted with. So, to answer, unless you are a problem that comes to my attention, then no, you needn’t worry about if I’m targeting you.”
“What’s the deal?” Carmine asked from the other end of the table.
A smile edged at Salvatore’s mouth, dangerous and cold. “Funny you would ask.”
“Why’s that, Sal?”
“Because it will not apply to you.”
Carmine’s gaze narrowed. A hand, from his partner, found his shoulder.
“For everyone else who would like to take the deal I’m about to offer, barring one other man in this room who may wish to take an alternate route which I have already given him and I do keep my word, here it is. I did the thing none of you would—maybe you couldn’t—and so, I will call the shots from here on out. You pick up your marble, you put it in its home at the middle of the table, and you leave. That is your vote. Your say so. Anytime we come back to this table, for whatever reason, those marbles will be waiting. Every time, you will get your vote.”
“And if we don’t vote?” Big Mike asked to Salvatore’s left.
He glanced at the man. “Well, that sounds a lot like a problem, doesn’t it?”
Nico tracked the way Big Mike folded his arms over his chest and eyeballed the rest of the people at the table to take in their reaction to the unspoken threat when he had already spelled out what he would do to a problem.
“Christiano,” Salvatore said then.
The capo a seat down from Big Mike lifted his head. “Yes, boss?”
“Have you considered the offer I made you?”
“I have.”
Nico had no clue what offer the two spoke of, but he figured it didn’t matter. He could fill in the blanks, if needed.
“And?” Salvatore pressed.
“I’m tired, Sal,” Christiano murmured.
“I bet. Killing one’s wife, and keeping oneself out of prison, is tiring work.”
Nico kept his face passive but realized in that moment he had missed something important within the ranks of the family. Then again, he did have a lot going on, and he hadn’t been home to pick up on those details being away from Giorgio.
“Killing my wife was a necessary evil,” Christiano replied.
“Do you expect me to ask why?” Salvatore shook his head. “Giorgio thought it necessary, too, but of course, he’d been trying to hide a bigger sin.”
Christiano’s face hardened. “His first wife was my cousin, too.”
“And your wife was someone’s daughter, friend...sister.”
“Oh, no. That was my first wife. She’s dead, too, remember?”
“Who picked the second one?” Salvatore asked. “I can’t remember.”
“Giorgio.”
“Right. Was it unavoidable, at least?”
“Couldn’t have stopped myself if I tried,” Christiano muttered thickly.
“Well,” Salvatore said, then, sighing, “I suppose it doesn’t matter what the rest of the people at this table think I should do with you, or what I want to do with you, if you choose to take the deal I offered you months ago. I never take something back once I put it out there, after all.”
“I’d like to be free,” Christiano told no one in particular.
“A made man is never free...just gone. In one way or another.”
“Is that what you want me to be—gone?”
“You and others,” Salvatore replied, eyeing Carmine again. “Give me the word, Christiano, and I will make your freedom happen. Take the money, I don’t need it. Let the narcos have the territory, it doesn’t matter. None of these men were doing business with you, so it doesn’t affect them in the end.”
Salvatore pointed at the man’s marble. “Put it where it goes if that’s your agreement and then take your leave. As everyone else should do as well once they’ve decided the offer on the table for them is one they’d like to see through with me.”