“What do you mean?” I ask.
“I mean D’Amato doesn’t get to throw his weight around anymore, say who’s protected and who ain’t. You’ll finally get your revenge on the Clemenzas. The Bratva want the same thing you do, so as a gesture of good faith to cement the alliance, I agreed to King’s terms.”
“What terms?” Seb demands.
“Orsini hands over the Clemenza kid to the Bratva, and in return we’ll have all the guns and all the men we ask for. There’s a war coming, gentlemen. Time to have some fun.”
The room erupts. Cheers, fists hitting tables, the sound of men who think they’ve just been handed a winning hand.
“No,” I say into the joyful howls. “No,” I say again when they fall quiet, staring at me. “The Clemenza belongs to me.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” Big Gee chuckles. “You should be fucking celebrating, Orsini.”
“I paid ten million dollars for the Clemenza. He belongs to me.”
Big Gee waves an irritated hand. “King thought of that already. Said he’d return the money. He just wants the kid. It’s personal. Lou Clemenza was always a pain in their ass. You want him dead. He’ll be dead. What does it matter who kills him?”
“It matters to me,” I snap.
But Big Gee’s patience has run out. “You hand over the Clemenza, or I’ll hand you over to the Bratva in his place,” he tells me. “King was even willing to overlook the fact that you killed his best earner, along with giving back the ten mill. You can’t say fairer than that, and you fucking won’t. You’ll give him the kid, and the alliance moves forward.”
This is my Don. This is the man I swore loyalty to, the embodiment of the Family I’ve bled for, whose mark I carry on my skin. But all my service, every enemy I put down, every fucking scar I’ve taken—he’s willing to trade all of it away in a back-room deal with the goddamn Russians. And there’s nothing I can do about it.
Not if I want to keep breathing.
There’s silence again for a few seconds before Sebastiano Conti gets to his feet. “You can’t do that,” he says calmly. “That’s not how we do things.”
“I can do whatever the fuck I like,” Big Gee snaps, also getting to his feet, his bodyguards crowding in behind him. “As for you, Conti, get the fuck out of here. You come back when you’ve found your manners again.”
Seb stares at him for a few moments before turning on his heel and stalking out of the room. I hear the door slam behind him.
I wish I could go with him, but I can’t seem to make my legs work right now.
“I’m glad to see you’ve come to your senses,” Big Gee says to me, misreading my frozen state for agreement. “All I ask for is loyalty. If my own brother can’t give it to me, maybe I need to look for some new hires.”
I look around and realize that I’m alone, despite the fact that the room is crowded. The rest of the men are chuckling and nodding about their Underboss getting sent away like a naughty kid.
“When?” I get out through stiff lips. “When do I have to…”
“I’m a generous guy,” Big Gee says. “End of the week. Let’s say you take him back to the Obelisk on Sunday morning. That way you can get a few licks of your own in before you hand him over. Any way you wanna do that, am I right?” He grins around the room, and they laugh like they’re at a comedy club.
“In my experience, the Giulianos don’t stay cool for long,” Nick Fontana told me. And I refused to listen.
I rise with the other men and file out.
It’s Monday afternoon now. So I have five days. Five days to figure out what I’m going to do.
I can’t hand Caligula over. I knew that the second Big Gee said the words, knew it in my body before my brain had any say. But I can’t protect him, either. Not from the Giulianos and the Bratva combined. And not without burning down everything I’ve ever been.
After the basement, he kept asking me—when was I going to kill him? Kept pushing, wanting to know the schedule.
Well. Now I have one.
But if Caligula Clemenza has to die, it’ll be by my hand. Not King’s. Not the Bratva’s. And not whoever’s been hunting him. Mine. Because I’m the only person with a justified reason to do it.
And I’m the only person in this city who will make it quick and easy, hold him while it happens, and never forget the color of his eyes.
That’s the only mercy I can give him now.