Page 199 of Forced Vows

"She likes you too."

"I'm glad." One day maybe Aria will be able to say the same thing.

"Miceli says that if I spend time with you, I won't be able to help but like you," Aria takes a bite of one of the Irish soda bread cookies. "My son is a wiser man than I give him credit for."

Chapter 69: MICELI

The smell of disinfectant mixes with lavender and eucalyptus.

They are trying to make it not smell like a sick man's room, but there's no way. The odor of impending death is here.

You just have to look at the shrunken figure on the bed to know that his time is close.

I wait for Sev to speak, watching as he and the Godfather measure each other with their eyes.

Finally, Don Caruso says, "So, you have come to pay your final respects. You're a good Don, Severu. You will make a fine godfather."

"So you have said. But have you said it to others?" Sev asks, his tone hard.

"I have, yes. Not only to the don's amidst the Five Families, but to all the dons of the Cosa Nostra as they have come to pay their respects. I have made it clear to each of them that you are my choice to succeed me. For what it is worth, you have my support." He waves with a feeble arm indicating his state in the bed. "For what it is worth."

"It is worth a great deal to me," Sev says, sincerity ringing in his tone. "To have a man I admire so much believe in my strength and capability to lead the Cosa Nostra into the future."

"I am glad to hear this, my son. You have been a good and loyal friend and don from the day you took over from your father. You have brought the Genovese into the present and now you must do this for the rest of the Cosa Nostra."

"There are many that will fight me on this." Sev doesn't sound like he's worried.

He's just telling the godfather that he knows how difficult the task is before him.

"None so much as my idiotic nephew."

"He conspired with his cousin to purchase land in the Five Family territories by another Cosa Nostra family." I say this with all the contempt I feel for Henry Caruso's betrayal.

The godfather seems to sink deeper into the bed. "I have heard rumors of these things. I had hoped they were not true."

"I have brought documents to show you," I say. "If you need proof, we have a lot of it."

Including a recording of Lorenzo's testimony during interrogation.

Sev says nothing.

He and the godfather lock eyes once again.

It's the godfather who looks away. "I do not need to see these evidences. A De Luca does not lie. "

"The same could be said of a Caruso if Enrico Caruso no longer walked this earth." Severu says the words firmly.

It is clear he is not asking permission, but telling the godfather of our plans.

Nevertheless, the godfather nods and puts his hand out.

Sev walks forward. The godfather raises his trembling hand a few more inches and my brother takes it, bending over and pressing his forehead to the godfather's ring.

"The death of Enrico Caruso at the hands of the De Luca family within the Genevese mafia is sanctioned by me." The Godfather begins to cough.

It is not the cough of a common cold or the flu, but the death rattle of a powerful man on the verge of his own demise.

Don Caruso looks to his lieutenant, a man nearly as old as he is. "Send the message to all of the Cosa Nostra. I have sanctioned the death of Enrico Caruso, no longer recognized by la famiglia, no longer recognized by me."

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