Page 717 of The Tempted

“Dying? What? No,” Nikki whimpers.

“I’m sorry,” I mutter, pulling one of Victor’s silk handkerchiefs from my pocket and wiping my eyes.

“What does he have?” Anthony asks.

“Lung cancer and from the medical records the lawyer showed me it’s really bad. They gave him a year, two years ago.”

“Two years ago? You’ve known he’s been sick for two years and you kept it from us?” Adrianna accuses, rising to her feet as she glares down at me through her sobs.

“He didn’t tell me either, Adrianna. I found out the same day I found out about the transfer,” I argue.

“What about chemotherapy or radiation?” Nikki questions.

“It’s too late its stage four and your father has refused any treatment. I spoke to the family doctor and at this stage the best any doctor would recommend is making the patient comfortable. However, Victor isn’t just any patient, he’s an inmate and they don’t care if he’s in pain or if he’s losing oxygen.”

“I can’t fucking believe this!” Adrianna shouts, wiping her face angrily as she paces.

“Reese’s calm down,” Anthony soothes, rubbing her shoulders only for her to shove his hands away.

“Don’t tell me to calm down! He’s refused treatment for two years! How am I not supposed to be angry about that? For two years he’s been making plans for Rocco, playing fucking ‘chess’ so his goddamn organization remains intact instead of taking care of his health. For two years he made sure he had all his ducks lined in a row when it came to the mob but what about us? What happens to us after he’s gone? We’re the ones who will mourn him long after he’s buried and the suits that come to pay their respects will forget Victor Pastore ever existed!”

“A, that’s enough!” Anthony shouts as he stares at me.

“You mentioned Rocco,” I begin, wondering why she was talking about my nephew. What did my deceased sister’s son have to do with Victor’s organization? “Adrianna, what does Rocco have to do with your father’s business?”

Adrianna crosses her arms under her chest and turns to her husband.

“Go on and tell her,” she demands. “Stop protecting him and tell her.”

He steps closer to her and pins her with a glare.

“I quit protecting your old man a long time ago,” he hisses.

Twisting the handkerchief in my hand, I stand from the sofa and step between them.

“Both of you stop right now,” I order.

“Your dear nephew is now the boss of the Pastore organization,” Adrianna chides. “Daddy wouldn’t give it up, he couldn’t let it go so he groomed Rocco to be the boss. He couldn’t give up the mob but he gave up his life without hesitation.”

I spin around to face Anthony.

“Is it true? Victor gave the business to Rocco?”

“Yes,” he confesses, taking my hand. “Listen to me Grace, everyone’s emotions are all over the place but there’s more to it than just handing over his business to someone.” He glances over my shoulder at Adrianna. “Every mob boss from here to California will now take a page from the book Vic wrote because even in death he protected his family. Don’t think for one minute he wasn’t thinking of everyone standing in this room. He won’t be here to protect the people he loves, but he made sure someone else always would by keeping the business within the family. Handing it over to his nephew, he is keeping his enemies away. If he didn’t name a successor, then we are vulnerable and a free for all to take whatever kind of action they see fit.”

“You were singing a different tune the other day,” Adrianna accuses, her tone more subdued, the fight in her diminishing.

“I didn’t know he was dying, Reese’s. That changes everything, I understand why he made the choice he made. Think about it, since the day they locked your father up he’s always had his hand in something, think back to the visits in the jail and the respect he gets from the COs. Look what he did for Jack, how he helped to get Blackie released, he’s always had some sort of control. The only way he’d ever lose control is if he lost his life.”

My head was spinning trying to make sense of everything Anthony was saying but as much as I wanted to see the silver lining in Victor’s decision I harbored too much resentment. Anthony knew Vic’s business like the back of his hand, he understood the life and its consequences and even knowing that what he was saying was probably true I didn’t want to hear it.

I was so sick of the mob and everything it stood for.

I was always second to the mob, decisions that should’ve been between me and him never were, they were decided between him and his associates, him and his underboss, him and his lawyer.

Just once in thirty years I would like to be asked my opinion.

Just once I would like to come first.

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