Page 97 of Destino

“I want to forgive him, to right this. I don’t know how.” Giovanni said.

Flavio smirked. “It’ll come.”

“Send for him.” Giovanni said. “Make sure the women are gone before he enters.” He removed his gun and put it on the table. Flavio stared at the weapon for a moment, and then lifted his dark gaze to him.

“A cool head, Gio. Remember.”

“I will try.”

He watched the old man leave. Waited until he returned with both Lorenzo and Dominic. Tomosino’s boys, as the three of them were often referred as. His father had a hand in the men they all had become. And it was true he could see the best and worst of his father in him and Lorenzo. Today he’d have to rise above his pride for the greater good. One look at his lying cousin and that became an insufferable task.

“I’ll ask it one time.” Giovanni began. “Careful of your answer. Why did you kill Giuseppe Calderone?”

Lorenzo heard the door open behind him. He didn’t have to turn to know that Nico and the boys had arrived. Things would get ugly before it settled. He eased his hands into his pockets and gave a one shoulder shrug. “I did it for the family.”

Giovanni smirked. “Is that so?”

“You were right to closeIsabella’s. We didn’t know that the Albanians had young girls, or if it was Francesco who soiled our business. The family and our honor were jeopardized because of it. You were right cousin and I was wrong. But there’s something you don’t know.” Lorenzo swallowed. He thought of Fabiana’s words to him. Last night he confessed. He told her of how his jealousy got him to drinking in Genoa one night, the night he stumbled into Giuseppe’s club and bitterly told his tale of being rejected by the Don. When he learned that Don Tomosino had no intention of letting Giovanni go, but would bring him back and make him next in the line to lead Battaglia. That night he and Giuseppe commiserated over how they loathed their fathers. And whether it was a joke or boastful bragging, they suggested taking a shot at each other’s Don to free them. Lorenzo didn’t mean it. But Giuseppe hired some Russians to do the job. The bastard set it into motion, and Lorenzo could do nothing to stop it. He confessed this shame to Fabiana and she held him, took his burden and swore to help him through it. Now he had to remember her advice. To not falter, not waver from his truth, but to do anything to keep the nasty details from his cousin.

“Continue.” Giovanni said. “What is it I don’t know?”

“The real threat that I’ve kept from you is the Nigerians. They’ve started moving drugs along the Amalfi, and Giuseppe helped them. He tricked me.”

Giovanni tapped his fingers on the arm of the chair.

“I was trying to gain some advantage in Genoa. I had agreed to let Giuseppe import through my line of the coast.”

The Amalfi was hard to move in and out of without being stopped by patrols. Giovanni never had this problem because of the people on his payroll. This gave Lorenzo the freedom to take liberties that he shouldn’t have. A coil of rage tightened his lungs, and Giovanni breathed slow and easy to remain calm and hear the tale. He nodded to Nico, and his enforcer stepped directly behind Lorenzo.

His cousin wiped his jaw, his gaze unsteady as it switched from Giovanni to Flavio, then to Dominic. “Rare antiquities that were being put in the market. Giuseppe wanted to deal with the Nigerians to handle it. Players we don’t know. I believed him, at first. Then I checked a shipment myself. A small bust broke and inside was drugs. When I confronted the worm, he admitted to bringing in drugs. I was outraged. We argued, he insulted Papa, you, and our family. So I killed him.”

“Albanians, Russians, Nigerians, what the fuck is this Gio, the UN of thieves? Why are all these outsiders circling? And why, Lorenzo, did you not think to tell any of this?” Flavio asked.

“I had it under control.”

“You figured.” Giovanni nodded. “You decided for all of us.”

“I made a mistake. I tried to rectify it, Giovanni.”

He rose from his chair. He stood before the gun and Lorenzo. Every man in the room tensed. Lorenzo’s voice broke the stand-off. “I am guilty, but is it worth my life Giovanni? What do you need from me, cousin, for me to gain your forgiveness?”

“It is not worth your life.” Giovanni half smiled. “I couldn’t do that to Catalina. But you have lost all privileges. Including the house in Bellagio. Dominic is now my left hand.”

“Giovanni!” Lorenzo barked. “That is not just!”

His lips curled into an angry snarl. “It is the only justice today for what you have done!” he yelled.

“And? That’s it? I’m an errand boy?”

“You’re alive. Show some gratitude.” Flavio warned.

Lorenzo turned to respond, but Nico delivered a hard punch to his spine. Unexpectedly, Lorenzo's knees buckled, and he dropped on all fours. Renaldo grabbed Lorenzo’s hair and yanked it up as Nico stepped in front of him and started to pound his fists into his face until blood spewed from his nostrils and mouth. Semi-conscious Lorenzo fell over to the floor, and all four men began to kick him in the chest, back, even to the face. Giovanni glanced up to Dominic who had fear in his eyes. He nodded that the beating could cease. Dominic yelled for the men to stop and shoved them several feet away from Lorenzo. He went to his knees, checking on him. Giovanni walked back to his desk and sat behind him.

“Clean him up. Don’t let Catalina see him that way.”

They carried him out. As angry as he was with him, he loved him still. Killing him at the end of this would be the hardest thing he would have to do. Yet the lessons learned from his father and his uncles made him a man capable of it. Lorenzo knew this. They were all on borrowed time.

Chapter Twelve

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