Page 6 of Together Again with the Don

When I walkedinto the Lucchese house and greeted the doorman with a wide, chipper smile, he gave me his usual smile and greeting. As I strode through the house, I half-expected someone to jump out and throw me into a dark room. Someone had to know about the conversation I’d had with the Bonanno brothers, but nobody greeted me as I came into the house, and nobody acted like they knew anything.

I forced myself to take a deep breath as I strode into the kitchen and got to work on ripping the cabinets away from the wall. Only the Bonanno brothers and I knew what I had to do. Nobody else would be privy to the information, and I needed to stop scaring myself. I’d go about my business as usual and give them all the information I found. I didn’t have to try too hard, I'd decided; I’d snoop a handful of times and give them what I found. It would be enough to keep them off my brother’s back, but not enough to get me into trouble. Their jobs in organized crime had nothing to do with me, and I wouldn’t get myself involved more than necessary. I would do the bare minimum. Carlo didn’t deserve anything more than that.

I went through the kitchen, unscrewing the hardware from each of the cabinet faces and setting them aside to be stored until the end of the project. The rest of the cabinetry, clearly worn and stained with old water spots, had to go. I tore them away from the wall and started a large dump pile on the other side of the room. The plumber had all the water to the kitchen shut off as he re-ran the water lines to accommodate the kitchen’s new, open-concept look. It still shocked me to see how much money these people spent on redoing this entire house at once, but if Virgil Lucchese was as involved in the mafia as the Bonanno brothers claimed, it made sense how he’d have the money.

I looked around the room, shocked by the silence of the usually bustling house. It’d be the perfect time to look around without being spotted…

I didn’t allow myself to second-guess my decision as I approached the one room I wouldn’t be touching during this renovation, the second-floor office. I strode up the stairs, trying to look busy as I examined the material of the stairwell, knowing it was another thing I’d be responsible for renovating. Why the hell was I doing this?

I forced myself forward, taking a left at the top of the stairs and making my way down the hall until I found the office's closed door. With a deep breath, I knocked once and waited. Nobody moved inside, but I waited a few more seconds before wrapping my hand around the knob and twisting. The smell of paper and something herbal and musty came from the room as the door swung open, and I could tell that this room was the most lived-in.

I didn’t let my mind linger on the scent as I rushed inside and took in the stacks of paperwork on the desk. A clear filing cabinet with more files sat behind it, and I looked between the options. I had to decide where to start first. The issue at hand was a priority in both families’ lives right now, so it wouldn’t make sense for anything relevant to be tucked away. So I started at the desk, sifting through hundreds of documents that made little sense to me.

Only one file caught my attention, and I glanced through the papers inside—thephotosinside. I pulled my phone from my pocket and began snapping photos of the pictures of Tommy and Carlo, all taken when they’d been paying no attention. Behind the photos were a few documents, and I didn’t give myself time to read through them as I snapped picture after picture until I reached the end of the file.

The front door slammed closed, echoing through the entire house. It was a mercy I’d taken all the furniture and rugs into a side room to be stored, as the echo of the hardwood floors gave me plenty of time to close the file and rush from the room. I didn’t have enough time to make it down the steps, so I did the next best thing. I went to the other end of the hallway and pulled the tape measure from my toolbelt.

It was just in time. Virgil Lucchese came into view, and I looked over a shoulder, giving him a respectful nod as I continued measuring…what was I even measuring? Fortunately, he didn’t notice how I lingered as he turned toward his office and pushed through the door, slamming it closed behind him.

5

CARLO

Frankie and I sat in our usual spots, him behind the desk and me leaning into the side of it, reviewing documents and reports at the same time. Tommy rested in his room, uninterested in all of this mob business, and Louis was likely off spying on our enemies…or out drinking at the local pub we all frequented on occasion, Louis far more than the rest of us.

“I don’t like the look of this,” Frankie said, slamming a palm on one of the most recent reports. “It’s not just the Luccheses posing a risk with the human trafficking bullshit. The Gambinos are working with them, surrounding our whole fucking territory with this shit.”

Though all five families worked together to keep our foothold on crime in New York City, we didn’t do it the same way, and the Gambinos and Luccheses have been a persistent pain in our asses from the day we took over from our dad. “The feds are too close,” I agreed.

“I can go and take a few of their guys off the street. Make ‘em talk,” Frankie proposed. “I’ll send pieces back to the fuckers running the show. Maybe that will keep them away from our turf.”

I exhaled deeply and shook my head. I was the face of ourborgata, and it was that way because of Frankie’s quick temper. I could keep my cool until we had to fight, and this wasn’t a fight we could win. Not where we stood right now. The Gambino and Luccheseborgatewere strong enough to stand against us, and if we outright attacked them, they wouldn’t pull their punches. “That’ll stir up too much shit for us to handle right now.”

Frankie’s face tightened. “Virgil’s been stirring it for as long as I can remember. We should give him a taste of his own medicine.”

He was ultimately the boss. He could make this call with or without me, so it was my job to make him see common sense. “What do we do when they retaliate? They might not know where we live, but they know most of our assets and employees. They’ll fight back dirty, and we’ll lose it all. We have to play this smart.”

I could see the gears turning behind his eyes. He knew I was right, even if he didn’t want to admit it. I knew that Frankie yearned to dig his knife into some of the goons working for Lucchese and hear their screams. I could see the plea for pain behind his eyes, but it didn’t rattle me. Our father’s years of torture and pain manifested differently in all of us. Frankie wanted to hurt others to get rid of his pain, Tommy wanted to run, Louis became overcautious and paranoid, and I…well, I became the glue to hold us together.

Frankie closed his eyes briefly before taking a deep breath and nodding. I continued, “We need to talk about the second most pressing issue. The trafficking is too close to our turf. The law has no problem turning a blind eye to drugs and extortion, but trafficking is drawing too much attention. If the feds think taking us down will help their case with the Luccheses, they’ll do it. And the Gambinos killed one of them a few weeks ago. It’s going to start a war.”

“The Genoveses would end the war before it even starts. They don’t buy people either,” Frankie proposed, clicking his pen. “If the Colombo family isn’t implicated, they won’t get involved. We can’t count on them unless we fabricate something to get them interested, but then we’ll risk losing their support by forcing their hand.”

“Weneedthe Colombos,” I retorted. “They have the weapons.” We had weapons, but the Colombo family did the majority of the weapon dealing. If they were brought into this, they would have all the firepower we’d need.

Frankie leaned back and sighed. “There’s not an easy way out of the situation Virgil’s put us in. I don’t give a shit if they trade people without implicating us, but they put us in the crosshairs, and I’m sure it was intentional. I still think torturing the fucker will get us what we need.”

“If it gets bad enough, they’ll call an emergency Commission meeting, and it’ll be taken care of,” I reminded him.Always the glue. Always the level head. “We can’t be irrational yet.”

Depending on any of the other five families was the most difficult part of the job. We were all in charge of keeping our borgate in line. Of all the rules, only one was essential. Don’t kill a cop. But Virgil Lucchese knew what he was doing when he had one of his men shoot a federal agent on the boundary between our territories. He was using his resources to get us killed; if we didn’t take care of the situation, he’d succeed this time.

I could see Frankie’s eyes blazing with anger again, the thought of torturing Virgil running rampant in his mind. Bella was the only one who could calm him in this situation, but I had no idea where to find her. “I’ll contact the Genovese boss and see if we can get this under wraps,” I said. “Shutting down the trafficking might be the only way, and Virgil won’t like it.”

“He already wants us dead. What else can he do?” Frankie said, huffing a breath and pushing another report toward me. “We know where to find a few of their safehouses where they keep the people before selling them. We can storm it and sack the place to send a message.”Always hot-headed.

“If it comes to retribution, I agree we should attack. For now, I’ll take care of the communications with the other bosses to try to resolve this.”

Frankie began saying something else, but the door to the office slammed open and I whipped toward it. I hadn’t expected to see Sierra striding inside, smiling gently at Frankie and completely ignoring me. I gaped as she strolled inside as if she owned the place. She carried a handful of documents and plopped them on the desk in front of Frankie before stepping back and wrapping her arms around herself.

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