Page 17 of Dreadful
He lovedtheFamily.
Before he died, he was the Boss, the leader of the Vincelli-Luciano crime family in the Boston outfit. As a child, all I wanted was to work in his shop and walk in his footsteps when he stepped down. But in his eyes, I was too much like my mother to fill his shoes, too emotional to be logical, and not man enough to lead the family. Soft. Weak.
I might’ve gone my whole life believing him if my uncle had never kidnapped me and shown my father’s true colors. Claudio stole me right under the boss’s nose using people my father thought he could trust.
After I escaped, my father claimed the whole thing was a test that I’d failed. According to him, getting bested by an adult was something a ten-year-old should be ashamed of.
Even back then, I knew he was full of shit, but I realized too late that my kidnapping was the beginning of a long series of calculated steps my uncle made to steal my father’s throne.
Mythrone. Not that I give a damn about that. I have more important goals.
Kidnapping me wasn’t meant to prove how strong I was—or wasn’t—to my father. It was meant to prove toeveryonehow much weaker he was than his younger half brother and how much more power, money, and influence the underboss had over the boss and his heir.
Soon, I’ll change that perception. I’ve been waiting for all the pieces to fall into place so I could make my move. Today I’m taking the first of my own calculated steps so I can give Claudio everything he deserves, a thousandfold.
I try to ignore the twinge in my ankle as I head to the back door. Without the public’s prying eyes, pain comes with a vengeance, knifing up my shin like a bitch. Once I’m at the exit that’s designed to look like an office door, I maneuver the boxes in my hold. They block the door’s mirror, helping me avoid the ghost I know I’ll see in the reflection.
Once the boxes are balanced, I unlock the door to reveal the antique-style elevator I installed. All the leases for the residences in this building have run their course. Should I ever rent it out again, there’s another modern elevator on the other side of this wall for residents to use. It would carry them from the parking spaces in the alleyway up to their apartments, but not the basement or the barbershop. That’s where this one comes in, for just me and my purposes.
Inside it, my dark purpleheart cane still rests in the corner where I left it, and I take it in hand. Balancing everything on one side, I close the wooden door before sliding closed the elevator’s copper scissor gate. The diamond openings allow me to see through the barbershop door’s one-way mirror. Everything is as it should be, no haunting in sight, and I know my plans are on the right track. I nod to myself and press the button to take me down to the basement, where it stops in front of the old meat aging room.
The business floors in this building haven’t been a butcher shop since my father took over years ago. The walk-in fridge and the tools left behind were perfect for the Family’s purposes, so he kept the setup. What we do here is one of the reasons why I still haven’t rented out the apartments upstairs, and the main reason I likely never will.
While my father focused on the shop, street deals, and shakedowns, I focused on stocks and real estate. I was just seventeen when I bought out the owners of this building and leased it to my father and the residents above the barbershop. It pissed him off that he essentially worked for me. I only added insult to injury when I took the top-floor apartment just so the bastard could feel me always watching him.
No one knows the extent of my wealth. It fit both our agendas to keep it quiet from the Family, but I thoroughly enjoyed rubbing it in his face whenever I could. At least I did up until six months ago when he died from a “heart attack” in his sleep.
MyzioClaudio was the underboss at the time and immediately tried to have me killed. When my mother found out his plans, she offered herself up as the bargaining chip for a truce. Claudio’s first wife, myziaAntonella, died of a stroke over a decade ago, and my uncle had no problem marrying his half brother’s widow before he was cold in the ground. Despite my father having truly loved my mother at one point in their lives, it didn’t seem to bother her that she married his half brother, either.
Claudio thinks he made an enemy out of me when he stole my rightful place in the Family. But all my enemies were made long ago by a heartbroken boy and the dead girl who saved him. After my father died, I thought I had my chance at revenge. Unfortunately, lack of evidence and my mother’s marriage to Claudio both made it impossible for me to fight back without a bloody coup.
My father appointed me as an enforcer to mete out his punishments. But with Claudio in charge, I’ve been demoted to a soldier. He’s enjoyed ordering me around like one of his Italian mastiffs ever since. My plan was at a stalemate until this past month whenunidiotagave me the opening I needed.
I’ve been waiting for the perfect time to strike. But I also have a real estate empire that I have to run right under Claudio’s nose. If the man finds out I’m buying up Boston, one property at a time, I’ll be swimming in the Charles River with cement shoes.
I asked Orazio to take over the barbershop while I pursued my own endeavors and continued my father’s less legal ones. As children of malavitosi, Raze and I grew up together, and he’s a better brother to me than my father and uncle ever were to each other. I trust him with my life, so I knew I could trust him with my father’s pride and joy. He’s my first and only pick as my second-in-command when the time comes.
Raze usually does a job without complaint, but this time he required a sweet consolation prize. He’s rightfully annoyed that he had to do my dirty work while I attended a wedding in Vegas. I left early to handle business here, but he’s been watching over the pig in our meat locker for too long. Cannoli will go a long way to put him in a better mood.
Inside the refrigerator, whirring fans slap gusts of freezing air into my face, and chains clink gently from the ceiling. Raze sits on the far side, leaning back in his chair, his feet resting on an unused, low-hanging meat hook.
He’s one of my cousins on the Luciano side of my family, but with our similar features, he looks more like my brother than his own. His light eyes are where we differ most, and right now they’re nearly glazed over with boredom as he lazily scrolls through his phone. Our prey is already chained up and unconscious, just as I asked.
The door squeaks shut, and I lock it behind me. If we ever sell the place, the new owners are going to have a field day trying to answer why there are so many damn locks, let alone ones on the outsideandinside of a meat locker.
Raze looks up, and excitement lights his eyes. “Fuck yes. Give ’em here.”
“Don’t say I never gave you anything,scansafatiche.”
I toss him both boxes, and he scrambles upright in his seat to keep them from falling off his lap.
“Cazzo!” He snatches open the top of one box and groans. “Come on, Sever, you can’t treat the goods so disrespectfully. Now all the cupcake frosting is ruined.”
I roll my eyes. “What’re you going to do with a dozen cupcakes anyway? Oh, and save the cookie. That one’s mine.”
He examines the boxes with a pout. “I was going to stop by Roman and T’s shop for more ink after this. They’re booked, so I wanted to convince them to squeeze me in with these. But now they’re ruined.”
My mind flickers back to Tallie’s tulip tattoos on her forearm. I blink the thought away to stay in the present. “Your teeth are going to fall out, you know.”
