Page 62 of Forbidden Surrogate

“Five minutes,” Peter mutters. “I doubt we’ll need him.”

Gino opens the door right before I’m about to lose my patience and grab Peter’s gun out of his hands. That would be some next level crazy shit that I don’t need to get into right now.

He wedges his body in the door frame so we can’t see around him.

“Who you got in there, kid?” Peter asks. “Because we need the pregnant lady.”

“Can’t do that.”

“Why not?”

A tall, cutting figure appears behind my brother.Are you fucking serious?It’s Benny Gravina. I only know him because it’s my job to know him, but I don’t have a goddamn clue how my brothers met this man. His father has been making a power play for Carmine’s position in the Pittsburgh mob since his death and it wouldn’t surprise me if he had something to do with the nightclub bombing.

And he’s here.

“I’m here to buy the merchandise they promised me. I’m not leaving this city without a pregnant black woman.”

Peter and I exchange glances. It’s far more likely that he’ll be leaving this city in spirit, but physically remain here chopped up into little bits until he disintegrates. Lake Erie isn’t a bad place to get tossed into after you get chopped up. I know it’s morbid to think about, but one look at Benny Gravina, and all I want to do is chop him up.

He bears an eerie resemblance to Carmine, although they’re not related, but that height must have come from his Gravina side, right? He towers over Renzo and Gino. If I’d come here alone, I might not be as certain about my ability to overpower this man.

I speak authoritatively over Renzo who continues to separate us in the doorway, most likely just barely avoiding a flat out brawl between me and this man. I hope Peter knows the right time to use his firearm and doesn’t pussy around here.

“My twin brothers had no authority to promise you custody of any woman. For the sake of the truce between our families, you might want to head back to Pittsburgh.”

“Who the fuck are you?”

If Benny Gravina’s mob family had any type of discipline, he wouldn’t have come all the way here without the ability to recognize any member of the Taviani or Corsini family who might pose a threat to him. Even the Amato family, the Caravellos, and the Pirrones who hold more minor positions within the organization are worth knowing by face.

Do these men not care about their lives?

“My name is Luigi. This is my cousin, Peter.”

Peter and Benny lock eyes for a moment. I don’t know if they’ve ever met, but Benny looks just as confused as before, so I can’t tell.

“Nice to meet you,” he says. “It seems you’ve heard of me.”

I shove past my younger brother, Renzo, with Peter at my right hand This pompous asshole needs to stop holding court immediately so my brothers can prove Delphine hasn’t fallen into any trouble.

“Hey, hey!” Benny protests. “I didn’t agree to this many people getting involved in the deal.”

“Deal’s off, buddy,” Peter says before pulling his pistol out and pointing it at Benny. “Sit the fuck down.”

Finally. Something useful – a gun.

Benny knows the drill and he sticks his hands up. Gino and Renzo do too, probably because they know that while Peter might not have my temper, he’s the type to calmly kill one of them to demonstrate his point and he wouldn’t care which one. We might be better leaders, but the Corsini family has always had a cold, long-term way of thinking.

They all make excellent advisors,my father said once.

If I ever ascend to the questionable goal of leading this family, I’ll eventually have either Peter or Mikey as my underboss and either seems like they would be an excellent choice.

“Take us to Delphine, or I pick a number at random and shoot one of you,” Peter says. “The other two will have to watch and clean up the other’s guts. Odds are pretty shit if you’re one of the twins. But things don’t look good for you either, Benny.”

They’re all so young and new to this, making them appropriately white-faced when confronted with Peter’s sinister threats. Once there’s enough silence for me to hear my thoughts, I hear the distinct sound of fists pounding on the floor above us.

Chapter Thirty-Four

Delphine

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