"Forgive me," he begs. "Please. I'm begging you. I have a wife and two boys. I just wanted to do right by them."
"By betraying me?" I roar, getting right in his face. "We could have got your boy out of trouble. We could have used our connections to help you. Instead of coming to me in your time of need, which you didn't mind doing before when you were having troubles, you betrayed me."
Jerry blubbers, and I take out my gun and shoot him in the kneecap.
He shrieks over and over again, screaming in pain.
"He's giving me a headache, Donald," I say, handing Donald my gun.
Donald puts the gun to Jerry's head and pulls the trigger. "What do you want me to do with the body?"
"Sink it in the Hudson," I say. "Make sure it doesn't resurface."
Donald hands me my gun back, and I holster it. "Reach out to our connections in the police department and figure out how much information Jerry has given them and over how long. We may need to mix things up a little for a while until the heat dies down. Send Jerry's wife and kids out of town. Permanently. Somewhere nice where they can start over without him."
"You're too good, boss." Donald snaps his fingers, and two of our men come to free Jerry from his binds.
"I know, one day, it's going to land me in trouble."
I walk out of the warehouse and go straight to my car. I get in and slide the gun into the glove box. I start my car and drive back to our family mansion. I need to prepare for Aria's arrival if I'm going to be her bodyguard. Trust Marco to come up with a hare-brained idea like that. He just likes to watch me suffer.
I get back to the mansion and motion for two of my top guards to follow me. "I want six men patrolling the garden outside Aria's room at all times. Two men in the hallway. One is to wake me if she leaves her room if I'm not with her. Do you understand?"
The men nod and hurry off.
"Brother," Marco says as he walks in, his arm around the same call girl from the casino. "This is Lily."
"Hi," she says shyly. "Your brother offered to show me around."
"I'm sure that's not all he offered you," I say quietly, shaking my head. "Aria is on her way."
"This won't take long," Marco says. "Come, Lily. The most important part to show you is my office."
Jesus. He doesn't even take her to the bedroom.
I go out front and light a cigar, inhaling deeply. Soon, I can hear the banging on the table echoing throughout the house, Marco's grunts and Lily's little supposed yelps of pleasure.
It's disgusting. His wife-to-be is arriving in less than an hour, and he's fucking some call girl in his office. He had better change his ways once he's married, or our father will have it out with him. My father has been loyal to my mother for over fifty years. He thinks marriage is sacred. He would not approve of Marco doing this.
I smoke my cigar to its end before I find a maid. I end up finding Claira.
"Aria is going to be staying on my side of the mansion until the wedding," I say. "Can you arrange the guest room for her quickly? She'll be here within the hour."
"Yes, sir," she says, hurrying off.
I look around as the rest of the staff put out fresh flowers while dusting and mopping the floors. The mansion is going to look very welcoming for her.
I've heard how beautiful she is. I can't believe I've lost out on marrying such a beauty over a poker game. But to be honest, Marco was never going to let me have her. He is jealous and spiteful, even if he does claim to love me as his baby brother.
I go over to his study, the noise of them fucking growing.
I bang on the door, "Oi! Hurry it up. She's going to be here soon."
"Fuck off," Marco roars and Lily's yelps get louder and more frequent.
After a minute, I hear Marco grunt, and I pull a face. Disgusting.
He opens the door after another minute, doing up his pants. "Pay Lily and send her on her way. I need to shower."