Page 38 of Depths of Obsession
Renzo frowns. “Why would I do that?”
“Because he stands up to you. He does what is right and you, bah, you don’t like that. You don’t follow the old ways. He recognized his debt to me and was making good. You don’t hold to the code betweenfamiglia,so you kill him.”
“Be very careful,” Renzo warns. “I’ve been lenient with you in the past but don’t assume that I am weak. I did not kill Danillo. He was in debt and drinking. He beat up his wife and then took a turn too fast, lost control and crashed.”
“He worked for me so now I am on the losing end again,” Gazzago adds with a long sigh.
“Spare me the theatrics. He did not work for you. Not yet. You are not owed because he drank too much after beating his wife and crashed his car. If you need another capo, I can suggest several men who would be better choices.”
“I am still owed for my cousin. Edoardo’s widow is beside herself as are his children. Danillo knew I was owed and was making it right. I expect the same from you. You are the head of the family, so now you pay. I will have Danillo’s daughter as my recompense, and I will marry her.”
No,I say to Renzo telepathically.
He holds up a hand to me. “Tommy, the girl has just lost her father, and her mother is in bad shape in a hospital. I will not force her to do anything at the moment.”
“You would deny me my due?” Gazzago says sounding affronted.
It’s all an act, Renzo. You cannot approve this.
He’s right, Renzo,Nico chimes in.It’s an act.
I know,Renzo agrees. To Gazzago, he replies, “I’m not denying anything. I’m saying not now. You can wait.”
“You can wait, he says to me. Danillo just went off a cliff. Maybe life is short, no? Why must I wait? Danillo wanted her to be my wife. I want that so it happens. I am not getting younger. I need heirs.”
I want to kill him. Just the thought of him putting his hands on Pippa is enough to bring out my fangs.I will see the man dead before I will let him get anywhere near Pippa.Renzo shoots me a hard look, but it won’t change anything. Pippa is mine. Perhaps it’s time to make that official.
“Tommy, you have two sons and a daughter. You aren’t in need of more heirs. You also have grandchildren. Three, if I’m not mistaken. So, no, I will not rush this. Pippa just lost her family. I will not force her to do anything in the near future. It would look bad to the old guard anyway. You know that. There must be a period of mourning before she can get married.”
Tommy sighs again. “This meeting you want with the Afghans. It’s not so easy to set up. It might take a while. Months, in fact.”
Renzo goes still. His anger oozes out of him. “You listen to me, old man. I will not put up with anymore shit from you. You push me and I will finish you and your family, so think carefully. I expect that meeting to happen ASAP. The sooner it happens the faster you will be compensated, for making the meeting happen and also for Edoardo.”
Gazzago grunts. “Fine.” Then he hangs up.
“You should have let us take care of him before,” Nico says again.
“Maybe,” Renzo agrees, “but if this deal comes off it will all be worth it.”
I don’t bother to argue with him. Nothing is worth Pippa being married to that man. Nothing.
“What’s the deal about?” Nico asks.
“Ostensibly heroin, but in reality, blood. I’ve met with them only once and one of their number approached me about setting up a trade route with us. They sell less than wholesale to us and we sell it to whoever we want at a tidy profit.”
“Where do they get it?” I ask.
“That’s why I need Gazzago. I need to have a second meeting. I have no details yet but if we can make this work, it means we have a solid blood supply without having to deal with any craziness from the US and even here. This trade route would mean we don’t have to worry, and we don’t have to kill to feed. It would mean stability and safety, not only for our family but for the vampire kings as well. It would raise Father’s standing among them.”
That thought hadn’t occurred to me. Renzo is always five steps ahead when it comes to strategy. He always won at chess when we were young. Raising Father’s standing among the other vampire kings is not a bad thing at all. It could help in all kinds of ways. I’ve been wanting to expand and having him have a better reach would help.
But I won’t sacrifice Pippa to do it.
Mia returns with news from her phone call. “I just told Pippa and now I will tell you. Connie is out of surgery. Everything looks good. They expect a full recovery, but it will take a while. She’s not young and that monster beat her pretty badly. They’re not sure what he raped her with but it wasn’t just his dick so there was a lot of damage. She will remain there for a few weeks and then we need to figure out where to put her. I know she won’t want to go back to the place in Genoa.”
“We’ll deal with it, when it’s closer to her getting out,” Renzo offered. “In the meantime,” he turns to me, “you wanted to talk about your clubs.”
There was a slight sneer when Renzo said it, and it did not go unnoticed. Nico frowned and even Mia shot him a look. I have long ago given up on getting Renzo on board with my running the clubs. This situation was not going to help matters. Part of me thought it would be better to just kick them out and not bring it up at all. Then I could go be with Pippa.
