Page 107 of Single Malt Drama

I held a hand up to Gabe, and turned to Stuart. “Are you the one who sent the contract to Pietro Lazio?”

His eyes widened. “No. Your mother found it and accused me of withholding information. She had my pay cut in half until I proved myself.”

“By telling her where Nico and I were hiding.”

Stuart slumped in the chair. “Yes.”

“Ma lied. She stood there with tears in her eyes and fucking lied.” Gabe rubbed the back of his neck.

The reality of the situation was too much for me to wrap my brain around. “She put Nico and me in danger.”

The side of my head throbbed, and I couldn’t remember the last time I’d seen food. However, I had a missing wife, a terminally ill father waiting for me, and a shitload of mob politics to navigate in the next twenty-four hours. I didn’t have time for this.

Gabe met my gaze. “Are we done here?”

“More than done.” I turned for the door.

Stuart sat upright so fast the chair nearly toppled. “Wait! What are you going to do with me?”

“A punishment fitting the crime.” I winked at Gabe before smoothing my expression and turning back to Stuart. “You’re being reassigned. Starting immediately, you’ll be my mother’s personal bodyguard.”

The color leeched from his face. “No! You can’t! Please!”

I walked outside without a backward glance.

“Geez, from his reaction you’d think we’d ordered his death.” Laughing, Gabe followed me around the side of the villa.

“Guarding Ma is worse than death.” I stopped at the wrought iron fence surrounding the pool. “See to it she doesn’t cause any more trouble.”

“I’ve already got her on lockdown, but I’ll limit who goes in and out of her rooms.” He nodded to the pool deck. “Let’s go deal with our other parent.”

I took a seat between my brothers and father and stuttered when they all looked at me as if waiting for me to speak. “Pops…you…uh…wanted to talk to us?”

Papa Joe Marchionni had once been a formidable man—a shark in an Armani suit who could charm the underpants off everyone from nuns to starlets. I had a hard time reconciling the guy who raised me with the hunched back man with an oxygen tube in his nose and a blanket across his lap.

And then he grinned, and I saw the predator staring out from beneath his bushy brows. “If you’re going to run this family, you need to learn to speak your mind, even when it’s empty. Capisci?”

Capisco. I tried again. “What did you want to speak to us about?”

As if to prove his point, he wasted no time with small talk. “Your investiture ceremony is tomorrow morning.”

My pulse raced. I’d see Nico in a matter of hours.

“Family members are expected to attend. Is it wise for all of us to go?” Gabe asked.

“No, it’s not. I’m going alone. I’ll be fine with security.” Damn it. Security brought up an entirely different problem, I’d need a new bodyguard, fast. “Ma’s been causing more problems that we originally thought.”

“After forty years of marriage, nothing that woman does surprises me. We have more important things to discuss than your mother’s meddling.”

I completely disagreed, but chose to pick my battles.

“You will absolutely not show up for the ceremony alone. I’m not sure I can make the trip, and your mother is under house arrest. She won’t be attending.” My father deadpanned. “Two of you should accompany him, but not Gabe.”

“Why not?” Gabe folded his arms. “It will raise questions if I’m not there.”

Pops lifted his chin and dropped a bomb. “I broke the Omertá when I released the information about Carter.”

Nico had warned me this would happen, but she’d also seen it as an opportunity to flush out our enemies. Right then, I had no freaking clue how to flush anything, let alone people who would be calling for my father’s death because he’d blabbed about his illegal activities.

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