Chapter 7 Cesare
Seventh Sense, which I had no idea what it fucking meant, came into view. I pulled over and parked, deciding to go by myself for the night. I needed to get away from Rafael anyway. He was driving me fucking insane.
As I stepped into the pizza parlor, Blake was already there, tucked into a far corner from the windows. A grudging respect filled my chest. He was learning how to be a Vitale. Always be aware of your surroundings.
I slid into the booth and adjusted my jacket. When my eyes landed on him, there was a grin on his face. He smelled like he’d just rolled inside of a weed plant and then sprayed cologne over it, a lie no one would be able to tell.
“Dad,” he said.
“Everyone else just calls me Cesare. I don’t know why you insist on calling me that.”
“Umm, probably because you jizzed in my mom.”
I choked on the mouthful of water I’d sipped. Blake, damn him, looked proud of himself. My youngest child. And shit, if he didn’t remind me of myself, his mother, and fuck, even Benito and Giancarlo. It was like he had always been here with us.
“Don’t die, old man,” he said. “I ordered a pizza for us. The classic.”
I nodded. “I like the classic.”
“I know,” he said. Blake was quiet for a minute. “How you been?”
Staring at him, I raised a brow. Nobody ever asked how I was. What was he after? What was the point? What did he have up his sleeve?
“God,” Blake groaned. “I’m not trying to ask you for anything!”
I blinked. “Oh. I’m all right,” I said slowly. “Why did you want to meet up?”
Our pizza came, and Blake snatched a huge slice. I took napkins and grabbed the crust carefully so the grease wouldn’t get all over the place. I hated when it smeared everywhere, which was why I rarely ate it. Blake, however, liked pizza, so here we were.
Blake toyed with his food for a minute. “You should leave Benito where he is.”
My food stuck in my throat. For a moment, I stared at my son as if he had lost his mind. My other children would never have said anything like that to me. But here he was, saying it like we were old friends and I couldn’t take him apart.
“You should mind your business,” I said pointedly.
Blake stilled. “I can’t,” he said. “I’m not saying it to start shit, but… the family is good. Everyone is getting along. Why ruin that?”
My jaw clenched. “Why?” I asked. “They’re getting along by taking what I built.
What I put in place for them. Benito was always meant to run it, but not until I was senile or dead in the ground.
” I quieted as eyes glanced in our direction.
I lowered my voice. “My children do not get to build their lives on the ashes of the work I put in. You want things to be peaceful? Tell Benito to step down. Tell him you want things to stay quiet. Otherwise?” I lifted a shoulder and let it drop. “Things are going to get… messy.”
Blake stared for a long time before he whistled. “You wanna hit my blunt?”
I blinked at my son. “No. No, I do not want to hit your blunt.”
“You sure? That was next-level villain speech. I mean, try some new things. Drugs, alcohol, I don’t know, pussy.”
I jolted. “Blake!”
He snorted. “No, for real though. Think about it. You have a whole family sitting around worried about what you’re planning.
It’s not just your sons anymore.” Blake’s face went serious.
“I have my mother here. In-laws. There are children involved,” he said.
“I don’t think you’re all bad. Maybe I don’t think anyone is anymore.
If you end up hurting those kids though?
I’ll stop texting and start taking sides. Night, Dad.”
I watched as he stood up, gave a little salute, and licked his fingers clean as he strolled out of the pizza parlor.
For a while, I sat there, staring at the half-eaten pizza.
My hands clenched into fists, and I shook my head.
What the hell did he know? He was a boy, and he had just become part of this world.
Besides, eventually, he would be on Benito’s side.
The sooner we both accepted that, the better. It was the reality of my relationships.
I paid for dinner and stood up. Leaving the rest behind, I slipped out of the pizza parlor and into my car. For a long while I sat behind the wheel, my hands tightening around it tightly until the leather creaked ominously.
Starting up the car, I pulled out into traffic and headed back toward my place. Reaching out, I scrolled through my phone. The call rang out a few times before a deep voice picked up.
“Hey,” Rocky asked.
“Where are we at?”
Rocky was quiet for a moment. “Something happen?”
I narrowed my eyes. “How about you answer my fucking question instead of asking me another one?”
He whistled. “Goddamn, Cesare. Okay, okay. We’ve been working already on discrediting Benito in the public eye. Small things here and there. Nothing too major until you give the word.”
My jaw tightened. “Time to stop playing nice. I want you to put pressure on him. Every controversy, every lie, every bit of evidence, real or fake, that even hints at embezzlement, fraud, anything. It doesn’t have to be true. Just make it feel real. People love to watch the rich and powerful fall.”
“That they do,” Rocky agreed. “All right, we’ll get started. Keep your eyes up and watch your back. You know as soon as this starts going down, Benito’s going to be looking at you. You two are already fighting.”
“Yean, I know,” I said as I wiped my hand down my face. “He’s not giving me much of a choice though, is he?”
“You haven’t tried to talk to him again?”
I cringed. “Talking to Benito is like talking to—”
“You?” Rocky interrupted.
“Keep it up. You’re a real funny guy tonight.
” I stuck a smoke between my teeth and lit it before I peeled off the next green light.
“Benito and I are already past talking. If he wanted to reach an agreement, we would be sitting at the table and figuring this shit out. I just know it’s that poisonous little viper of a husband of his spewing shit into his ear. ”
Harlow Hayashi, now Vitale unfortunately, was the worst thing that had ever happened to Benito.
From the time he was young, he’d been a good soldier.
He took his orders because he knew what it took to run an organization, what it meant to sacrifice and bleed.
The moment that little bitch had been wheeled into his life?
It had been nonstop back talk and struggles. I was sick of it.
“Do it,” I said finally. “Benito has had more than enough chances to get his shit together. He wants to keep playing games? Let’s see who plays them better.”
“I’ll get on it,” Rocky said. “Give me a few days to let the rumors spread. I’ll get back to you when I have an update.”
“Don’t disappoint me.”
I hung up and tossed the cigarette out of the open window. Shoving my fingers through my hair, I saw Blake’s face in that pizza joint, the look on his face as he told me not to remove Benito from his throne. My hands tightened around the steering wheel.
He’ll get over it. They all will. A man has to do what a man has to do.