Page 10 of The Last Ones Standing, Part Two

“Alessia was my adopted sister. More goomars and hidden children.” He snorts and shrugs. “Alessia was the daughter of someone close to the family. I never got the truth from Papa. I knew she wasn’t his. I later found out she was a Del Vecchio. My father took her in as a favor to the Don once her mother died in childbirth as she did.”

My mind is spinning at this point. Don Ferrari waves a hand as if to wave it all off. I don’t know how I feel about any of this yet. I don’t even know where to begin.

“Ava went after what she wanted. The heir of Italian royalty. Your father gave her that. While Riccardo was weaving a web of deceit. Your mother had her own web going.

“A web I plan to use. Riccardo has been dancing in the middle of a war that has been brewing for decades and Don Barbieri has kept it that way for his own good.

“Don Giuseppe, Don Elmo Cipriani, Don Constantino Del Vecchio and I all know we are getting too old for this. You are the future, but first, Riccardo Esposito pays in blood. Everything he loves burns down and then you will take over the Five Families for what Barbieri has done and what the others have allowed.”

“Marone.” I pull a hand down my face.

“So you see? This has always been your destiny. You are my blood. You have earned the right to avenge your grandfather’s name. You are a gift we didn’t see coming. Ava’s ambition went beyond her expectations.”

“This is the endgame, my son,” Dad says with a proud smile.

Chapter 4

This is What You Want?

Gio

I walk into my apartment, still seething and stunned. I almost got on a plane to look my mother in the eyes when I unleash this rage.

“How much does this really change?” Jace murmurs from behind me as I pour myself a drink.

“Not now,” I bite out.

“I see you thinking.Ifyou knew all of this, you wouldn’t have done what they wanted.”

“What they wanted,” I bellow. “What about whatIwant? Can’t you see what allwe’velost? What they’ve taken fromus,and for what? All the time, all the…”

I stumble to the couch and flop down. “So many sacrifices. I had the power to give her everything she wanted from the beginning. My world has always taken from her, taken from us.”

“Now you know the power you have, take it all back.”

“Taking it back means allowing this to play out. You understand that, right? There’s no turning back from here.”

“Yeah, I get that, but we were always meant to finish this. For my papa, for Beth, we would always finish.”

My phone rings, cutting off my next thought. I pull my phone out to see it’s my mother. I bare my teeth at the phone before I answer.

“Hello,” I say through clenched teeth.

“So you know,” she says.

“I don’t understand you. We could have killed Barbieri years ago. Who would have gone up against the Di Lorenzos, Ciprianis, Ferraris, and Del Vecchios? Why make me waste my life like this?”

“You didn’t waste your life. You’ve been preparing. That’s what I needed you to do. Killing Don Barbieri wasn’t the answer, it wouldn’t have solved anything. It wouldn’t have put you in the position you’re in.

“What position am I in?” I snarl. “The position to lose all I care about?”

“No, the position to take it all over and right a ton of wrongs. You will lose nothing, I promise you this. Allow things to play their course. Marcello has never failed me.”

“Yet, I noticed he speaks of you as if you’re not alive. Why is that, Ma?”

“If he knew I was still alive, he wouldn’t have been watchingyou. This has never been about me. It’s always been about you. I knew I couldn’t keep my title and not have a target on my head.

“However, I wasn’t going to take that bullet until you took your place. I’ve always been preparing to hand it all to you.

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