Page 157 of Broken Mafia Prince
I stay silent, waiting for him to get it all out.
“I had faith in you,” he continues, voice cold as ice. “I trusted you to have this under control, to help me wipe those fuckers off once and for all, but once again, you’ve proved to me what a disappointment you are.”
“I don’t want this bloodshed. I’ve never wanted this for us.”
“Bloodshed is the only way, and you know it,” he spits. “Don’t tell me that my son, my flesh and blood, is too much of a pussy to spill blood for his own family.”
I open my mouth to respond, but he continues. “Or is it the Montanari girl whispering in your ear, telling you that sparing her family is the only way to get her in your bed?”
My hands curl into fists at my side. “This war isn’t necessary. Our men losing their lives over and over again isn’t necessary. I’m just trying to put an end to this and save us all before you bring everything crashing down in your thirst for destruction.”
“Nobody asked you to save them! Stop acting like we both don’t know what this is about,” he smirks. “I’ve seen greater men fall to their knees because of a woman, but I didn’t think you’d be stupid enough to be one of them. Didn’t I teach you better?”
I scoff. “Teach me? If you mean treating me and my mother like we were no better than rabid dogs, then I hate to inform you, but that’s not the definition of teaching.”
“Did you want me to coddle you? Play chess with you like yourputtanaof a mother, and let you bury your head in your stupid storybooks?” He snarls. “You think that if I’d indulged you, you’d have grown up to be half the man you are today? I made you, Raffaele. I put you together, brick by brick. And just when I thought I’d finally see the fruit of my labor, you humiliate me like this. How long have you been plotting to disgrace me?”
“It had nothing to do with you,” I snap. “Everything isn’t about you. I did what I did because if I hadn’t, I’d have lost everything I loved.”
He reels back. “Loved? Don’t tell me you mean the Montanari bitch. If you were so eager to get your dick wet, there’s a million women who’d have willingly bent over and offered up all their holes; you didn’t have to surrender your integrity at the feet of that one. Hasn’t she sold her pussy to half the men in the mafia to help her father further his war?”
As soon as Tommaso told me my father wanted to see me, I knew that he’d try to aggravate me into doing something stupid. I told myself that I won’t rise to the bait, no matter what he says. I prepared myself to keep cool and let all his words slide off me.
That’s easier said than done.
In the blink of an eye, I have my father pinned to the wall, lips peeled back in a snarl as I stare him down. I can feel the blood pounding in my head, rising to the surface of my skin and demanding violence. My fists start to rise, and I can already taste the satisfaction that will come from smashing them into his face.
It’s the glint in his eyes that stops me.
I realize in that moment that this is a test, and he wants me to fail. He wants me to hit him, so it’ll be the proof that I’m just as bloodthirsty as he is. I release my grip on him and step away.
“Watch your fucking mouth,” I say. “The next time you talk about Giulia like that, I won’t be this forgiving.”
He smooths his hand over the front of his shirt. “You can either fall in line or you can leave, but there’s no place in this family for a son who questions me as a traitor. You have to make your choice now, but before you do, take note that I won’t hesitate to end you if you ever get in my way again.”
I search his eyes and see the seriousness in them. There’s never been any love lost between us, and I know that for him, his hatred of the Montanaris weighs more than anything else, even his own son. I do not doubt that he’ll follow through with his promise.
“I hope you make the right choice, son,” he says after a moment of silence. “Now get the fuck out of my face.”
I turn on my heel and stalk out of the room, more conflicted than ever. The conversation with my father just proves that I need to make up my mind and fast. I tug at my collar, trying to chase the feeling of being suffocated, but it persists. The walls are quickly closing in, and something has to give.
I’m caught between a rock and a hard place, and I no longer have the leisure of time.
I now have to make a choice. My family or the woman I love? Everything I’ve ever known and I’m familiar with or something new that has a possibility of falling apart? A headache is pulsing at the side of my skull, and all I want to do at that moment is crawl into my bed with Giulia’s soft body in my arms and her sweet scent filling my lungs.
52
GIULIA
“Will this war ever come to an end?” I say as soon as my cousin picks up the phone.
“Not even a hey or hello,” she sighs. “What has Enrico done this time around?”
The real question should be what has he not done. It’s been five days since the incident at the docks. We’ve had to lay low while the FBI investigates the shootings that happened. Two of the agents have been coming in and out of the house, and while I was at the mall the other day, I spied their car just coincidentally strolling past.
I don’t know if they thought they were being so slick, but they weren’t fooling anybody, least of all me.
We’ve all been questioned repeatedly and have had to lie low. Unfortunately, Papa’s patience was already thin to begin with, and staying in and doing nothing after the arrival of the biggest shipment of our lives is eating at him. I know any moment, he’ll do something stupid, like resume offloading of the shipment.
