Page 40 of Blood and Penance
“You good?” Lorenzo asks when he looks over at me.
“As good as I could be. Are you?”
Everyone knows I don’t get along with our father, but Lorenzo has always had a love hate relationship with him. I need to know if he’s willing to do whatever needs to be done to save my son.
His deep, dark chuckle resonates inside the vehicle. “Of course. I’ve been planning to take over for the last year,” he says, surprising me. “But I had to put my plans on hold because of Mama. It’s time for a new generation to lead the Puglisi’s. His ways are too outdated for our family to flourish. Just look at what he’s done to you and Phoenix.”
“You were going to kill him?” I ask in disbelief.
“Yes. How else would I be able to take over, Gianni? He wasn’t going to hand it over to me because he's still determined to force you to do it. So, it’s the only way. I hope you don’t try to stop me.”
“Stop you? Why would I?" I ask. "As long as my son is safe, I don’t care what you do, Lorenzo. But what about Sergio?”
“What about him?”
He chuckles again, like he knows something I don’t. For as long as I can remember, being Don has always been Sergio’s goal. He doesn’t care who he hurts to get there, just look at the shitstorm he’s caused.
“Sergio won’t interfere,” he says with a little more confidence than I think he should have.
“How can you be so sure?”
“While he wants the throne, he knows once father is gone, he’ll have no choice but to fall in line because his only protection from me will be death. He has none of the men’s loyalty nor the other Families, but I do. The only question I have is will you be a problem for me?”
The throne is my birthright as the eldest, which is why he’s asking. And if I decide it's mine, Lorenzo will lose the backing of the other Families, but I never wanted it.
“The only thing I’ve ever wanted was my family, Lorenzo. You know this.”
He nods, then faces forward. “Good. Just making sure.”
His phone rings, and he pulls it from inside his blazer. When he answers, rage blankets his face before he ends the call.
“What’s wrong?”
“D’Amico hit the hospital. There was a shootout.”
An icy wave of terror washes over me, leaving me breathless and paralyzed with fear.
“And Phoenix?”
When Lorenzo blows out a breath and I already knew his answer. “She's gone. Sergio is hurt, and a bunch of our men are dead."
"Seraphina?"
"Still in surgery. Once they got Phoenix, they left. Now, we can get Giancarlo or go after Phoenix.”
“Ten minutes out, boss,” Lorenzo’s driver calls out from the front seat.
“Alright, Aldo,” Lorenzo says then he turns his gaze back to me. “Your choice. I’m with you either way.”
I don’t even have to think about it. I know what Phoenix would do in my shoes—her choice as well as mine is clear. “We go after my son, then her.”
“You sure?”
“That’s what she would want. We need to save my son.”
“Okay. So, how do you want to handle this?”
I shrug. “It doesn’t matter to me, Lorenzo. I just want my son.”
