After an almost 40 minute drive, I get to my dad's hideout and park my car in front. This hideout has been here for years and although Rossi and my father led different gangs, my dad allowed him to use the hideout if he needed it but I could've sworn he had the locks changed.
I don't see any cars or trucks around to let me know if anyone's there. It's almost 6 PM and it's getting colder outside. It's foggy so it's a bit hard to assess my surroundings even as I see the street lights coming on.
The hideout is located near the warehouse that is always used for haunted houses, ironically it was where Karma last caught me kill the guy that was following me who I'm definitely sure was one of Rossi's men.
I walk towards the two double doors and walk inside to see that the front lobby of the place is in shambles. Someone is most likely going to come to clean it up before Halloween and before they start setting up the haunted house but I'm not concerned about that. It's the least of my concerns right now.
I walk a little bit further into the empty building, noticing how dark it was, I grab my phone and turn on the flashlight, looking to my left to find a staircase that leads down towards the basement.
The hideout was a smaller room located inside the basement area and as I'm inside the basement, I look at the smaller door that can be found on the right side. The basement is filled with cobwebs and dust and I'm very certain that no one has thought to come down here despite every single haunted house that's been had here.
Reaching the smaller door, there is supposed to be a large padlock on it that requires a passcode but when I get there I notice that it's been tampered with when I try to put in the code because the numbers or buttons on it are not lighting up in the way that they should.
Rossi truly went all out.
In fact, the lock has been tampered with so bad that when I try to twist the doorknob, it immediately opens without much effort causing me to become angrier at the fact that I have to get Nicholas to come down here and fix this.
Walking into the small lightly dimmed room I'm able to see all the damage that truly has been done and it reminds me of how fucking lazy I am that I didn't think about the upkeep in regards to this place.
I notice how quiet it is and I get confused considering that I expected Rossi to be waiting for me. As I'm looking around I see all the damage done when I go through the cabinets that were supposed to be full of dried foods. They were completely empty. The only thing left were the cases of Dasani water on the ground.
I hear a creaking sound coming from behind me but I don't know where it is as I begin to scan the room, putting my hand behind my back reaching for my gun that's sitting in my back pocket hidden underneath my black hoodie.
"Right over here, Son." I hear the same familiar low and raspy voice that I hadn't heard in a while
Rolling my eyes now that I'm aware of the person behind me I say, "I'm not your fucking son." I scoff at the insult, "Don't ever call me that."
Running my hands through my hair, I turn around and resist the urge to roll my eyes at the smirk that's sitting on his face at the sight of me.
He chuckles fondly and sits over at the brown desk that was sitting on the far left of the room
"You've certainly grown-up," he says clasping his hands together on the table as he stares at me
"Save all that reunion shit for someone who actually isn't considering blowing you up to smithereens," I say having had enough of him already, I grabbed a black plastic chair and sit far away from the desk, crossing my arms as I lean back into the seat.
"You fuck with the alarm system and send some cryptic messages-" I pause pointing to the walls around us that hold graffiti stains, "I'm here now so tell me what you want so I can leave."
He scowls at my cursing at him but I genuinely couldn't care less, he's wasting my time the more he decides to sit here and act like he can say these things to me knowing that he wasn't around when I needed someone most.
Clearing his throat he says, "Well I want to start off by saying that I'm sorry about your dad." he starts, "but I would also like to clarify just in case you were thinking it, it had nothing to do with me." he shakes his head
"I know that now you're running his gang as you rightfully should. The fact is that you're in charge of it a lot earlier than anybody would have anticipated." he pauses again leaning back into his chair using his right hand to rub across his chin in thought
"I know your father had plans for you. Running a gang at such a premature age was not one of them and I'm sure that you've been getting along just fine, but you're still a little kid." he says again causing me to scowl coming irritated at what he's even trying to say
"You can't sit here after being absent from my life for years and now because my father is dead you want to come and claim that now you care about me and my well-being." shaking my head I have to resist the urge to go for my gun even though I know I probably won't use it.
Probably.
"Look I know it looks bad. But now you're missing a father figure more than you ever have before and I think that I owe you one. After all, I am still your godfather." he says and I can't help but snicker to myself a little bit earning an eye roll from him. "Come on you can't tell me you're still able to focus on school while you handle something like this. You shouldn't have to."
"Yeah well although I know I shouldn't have to, that's the position that I'm in and I'm taking it in stride." I say with finality in my voice, "Why are you even saying all of this to begin with?"
"I was waiting for you to ask that." he smirks small, "Though after hearing your answers I'm not sure you're going to like what I have to say."
"I want to create a merger." he finally says
"...a merger of what?" I ask back
"I think that now, looking at the current circumstances of your situation, it would be the perfect time for our two groups to combine," he says again and I can feel the bile rising up in my throat at how disgusted I am that he's even bringing this to my attention.
"I'm disgusted that you can even say that to me." I shake my head, " You and my father were friends. So you mean to tell me that all of a sudden now that he's gone you want to take ownership of what he had? Fuck that." I spit, "Fuck that and fuck you too."
"You don't understand figlio--"
"I already told you don't call me your fucking son!" I shout standing up from my chair beginning to pace around the room
"You don't understand Jesse, I'm doing this for you. I'm doing this so you can have a regular teenage life. You deserve to have that life you shouldn't be thrown into being in charge of a gang at only 18 years old. You're not ready."
"Who told you I'm not ready? For the last couple of years of my life, you and I have not even seen each other. Now you summon me into my father's hideout and disrespect him in his own place by trying to steal his gang away from him, from his only son. His only flesh and blood left on the face of this Earth that is strong enough to take on this position." I look at him in disbelief, "That's low even for you. You of all people know how important family is."
I shake my head again in shock as I say quietly to myself almost, "My father would have never done this to you if roles were rever---"
"You don't know anything about your father the way that you think you do!" he shouts beginning to stand up from his seat
"Well I know he's not a backstabbing two-faced liar like you!"
"Try again, Figlio." he counters back, "There's a lot about your dear old dad that you don't know." He seethes
"I highly doubt that."
He looks at me and raises his eyebrows shrugging his shoulders, "Fine. You don't want my help? Don't take it." he says coming to walk towards me as I walk even closer, not at all threatened. He stands right in front of me as he looks into my eyes with a dull stare.
"But you're going to wish you did."
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YIKES.
There's a lot of new readers so I'd like to say Hi! Hope you're all enjoying the story so far. Thanks for reading.
I would generally imagine Joe Manganiello as Joseph Rossi