𝐃𝐄𝐂𝐄𝐏𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍 - 𝐐𝐔𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐒𝐒𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐈𝐀𝐋 𝐃𝐘𝐍𝐀𝐒𝐓𝐘 𝐎𝐍𝐄 - 𝟏𝟖+

CHAPTER TWO

A N D R E A

"Che cazzo hanno questi bastardi!"

The fuck is wrong with these bastards

Papa damn near screamed, his fist landing on the table for the theatrics, I always thought he was more talk and less work. Not that he'd ever listened to me. Carlo rolled his eyes beside me and I suppressed a giggle, he'd been my best friend for as long as I remembered, and I knew I could at least count on him. I didn't know why Pablo Ricci had decided to come after all of us, I mean there were better ways to die if death was what he wanted.

"What about the Santini clan? Is Ricci going after them too?" Agosto Romano finally looked up from the papers scattered all over his desk towards his consigliere, Dante. Dante's father had died recently, and he'd inherited the title, and wormed his way into my father's good graces. I guess I was lucky he was already happily married.

"He is." Dante nodded, straightening in his seat, "Three of his clubs were raided, they took the managers, but no one in the big ranks. There's no evidence of the Santini's being dirty."

I wasn't sure why, but this didn't come as a surprise to me. From what Carlo had told me, Lorenzo Santini was no imbecile. He was a perspicacious man, who knew what he was doing, and was always maddeningly cautious even when things were perfectly fine. Maybe that's why no one had anything on him, while everything my father had was falling down.

"Santini is also balls-deep in politics, considering that he has the Bulgarians on his side, not to mention the Germans too. I don't think coercing him into a modus vivendi is in our best interests—"

"No, now would exactly be the time he'll be cooperative. Santini cares about his survival, and as long as we are what he needs for it, he'll listen." Dante cut Carlo off, looking at my father, who nodded. I never understood why Dante hated his adoptive brother, sure Carlo wasn't as sharp-witted as him, and he'd only been a part of this for barely a decade, but I didn't think he was incompetent, and since Dante had always been my father's favorite, Carlo wasn't quite favored anywhere. It probably didn't help that he was a bastard child.

I finally turned my gaze back towards my father, and the new look in them would've scared me, had I not known him since I was a child. At that moment, he had the glow of the devil, deceitfully simple and chaotic.

Papa leaned back, sipped his rum, his gaze on the umber liquid, and I knew he was planning, and it couldn't have been good. I wasn't much involved in his 'business', but even I knew my father was no match for Lorenzo. He could pretend to be a magician, but even he had to know that his amateur sorcery was no match for Lorenzo Santini.

"Apart from Alonzo, who else is an exceptionally good driver that we have?" Papa rubbed his jaw, his eyes on Dante, silently communicating, quite frankly, I didn't even know why I was here. I knew I was a good driver, apparently, it was the only skill I needed to survive, not that I could blame him, blood made me anxious, but what angered me was why he hadn't bothered to ask me, and relied on Dante. "I can't let her be a part of this, I've protected her from those vultures all my life. It will go to shit if Santini gets his hands on her."

I appreciated his protectiveness, especially after Rick, and mama, but I needed him to stop thinking of me as weak. It antagonized me and fuelled all the hate I'd suppressed for my father.

"Sir, I am afraid we don't have many people left, Alonzo is in jail, Andrea is one of the only ones who could come back safely"

Thinking it was time to break my silence, and stand up for myself, I made my point, "I can take him, not only I'm good with a car, but he also wouldn't be expecting a woman." No Capo would let his woman be unguarded, and they knew that "Isn't that what you want? For him to not suspect you?" I arched my brow, suppressing a smirk, knowing I'd won this, "After all, he'll only bargain with you if he doesn't deem you an enemy."