Page 5 of Crazed

"What are you talking about?" Dante asks.

Papà's nostrils flare. His dark eyes drill into Gianni. He snarls, "Who gave you permission to take out two detectives and an FBI agent?"

My stomach sinks. A little over a month ago, the authorities interrogated Cara and tried to turn her against our family. Gianni didn't hesitate to have us pick them up, claiming they crossed the line by harassing his wife. But we couldn't bring them to the dungeon below our house. We needed another place to torture them.

Papà didn't tell us not to do it, but we never actually asked permission. Something of this nature would have required his approval. We've all been at odds with him on too many topics lately. So, my brothers and I kept it from him. We called the O'Connors to utilize Tully's newest torture chamber to help us execute the three men.

It figures Tully and Papà would find out what we did. It's not the first time my brothers and I acted without Papà's permission or the first time we got caught. Yet each incident seems to send my father into a bigger tizzy.

Gianni doesn't flinch. He mimics Papà's leer and asserts, "They crossed the line by harassing my wife. I don't need permission."

Papà's face turns maroon. He angrily hurls, "Is that so?"

Tully sarcastically laughs. "When you utilize my property and kill the authorities on it, you need mine."

"All the evidence is gone. Aidan and Brody took care of it. Those three bastards are dead. They won't harass my wife, or anyone else's, again," Gianni proclaims.

Tully steps closer. He pulls a cigar out of his pocket then cuts the end with his knife.

"Not in the gym," I bellow. The last thing I want is to smell leftover cigar smoke while I work out.

Tully turns toward me. He lights it up, puffing on it, so a thick cloud of smoke fills the air. Defiance is all over his expression, and I hold myself back from smacking it off.

"Goddamnit, Tully," Dante mutters.

"Really? You had to in our gym?" Tristano mutters.

Tully blows more smoke, and he motions between my brothers and his sons. "You all owe me."

"Excuse me?" I blurt out. I'll be damned if I have to bend over for Tully.

He nods then inhales another puff, studying all of us. "Next time you decide to bring any authority figure, much less a Fed, on my property, you better make sure I'm fully aware. Then you better have my permission. In the meantime, you all owe me a favor."

"We didyoua favor," I claim. When Gianni told Tristano and me to pick up the detectives, we didn't argue. If anyone held Katiya in custody, questioning her and not giving her a phone call or access to her attorney, I'd want them dead, too.

"You didmea favor?" Tully questions.

"How did I raise such stupid men?" Papà seethes.

"Mine apparently aren't that bright, either," Tully replies, then scowls at Aidan.

He clenches his jaw, staring at Tully.

"Why am I here? I didn't do anything," Devin claims.

"Me, either," Tynan agrees.

"Shut up, you two," Brody orders.

"You're here so you can learn. And here's the lesson," Tully states, walking to the bathroom, stubbing out his cigar, then returning to us. He motions between Papà and him. "You all seem to have forgotten that we call the shots. None of you do. Yet you disregard us when there are decisions to make that have consequences beyond the scope of your engagement."

"This ends. Now," Papà sneers.

I glance at my brothers and the O'Connors. All of us have the same hardened expressions. If the O'Connors feel half as frustrated with Tully as we have with Papà lately, then I can only assume what they've done behind Tully's back.

"Werun our families. That meanswemake the decisions. You run things past us first. No exceptions ever," Tully asserts.

Papà's glare throws more daggers at my brothers and me.

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