Chapter 35 Rafael #2
I moved, and the echo of a safety being thumbed off gave me pause. I glanced up and not one but four guns were aimed my way. One on Cesare.
"Rafael, how did you get here?" Benito asked.
I licked my lips. "I drove in a car." Okay, not the best time to be sarcastic. "I tracked Cesare."
"You did what?" Cesare asked.
"Damn, that’s psychotic," Gin voiced.
I sat back on my knees. "No, what's psychotic is that you're about to kill your dad, and for what?"
"This has nothing to do with you," Benito growled.
"Fuck you, it has everything to do with me. You dragged me into this."
"I warned you—"
I rolled my eyes and pushed off the ground. "Yeah, you’ll kill my whole bloodline or whatever. You'd have to kill yourself too."
"What the fuck is he talking about?" Paolo asked.
"Rafael, leave," Cesare said. He cleared his throat. "He has nothing—"
"You, shut the fuck up. You are probably going to let them kill you because you're too fucking proud." Agitation simmered into rage, and I was done. I wasn't losing him because he was too fucking stupid to talk to his kids.
"Damn." Gin chuckled.
"You all have something happening outside of this stupid goddamn war.
" I pointed at Benito. "You're too stubborn to talk to Cesare because you are just like him.
" I glared down at Cesare. "Rocky and I both have been begging you to just fucking talk to them.
" I wanted to pull my hair out. "This could all be avoided with a simple conversation.”
"It's beyond that point," Paolo argued.
"No, it's not. Cesare didn't have anything to do with the twins nearly being kidnapped. Or the fact that Enzo and Emika were in a car accident."
Benito’s shoulders stiffened. "How do you—"
"It took me all of a few hours to find this shit out. You all think you're so fucking secure, but you're not." I blew out a breath. "Cesare would die for those kids. Fuck, he's willing to die now at your hands. He loves all of you."
"He got a shit way of showing that," Gin grunted.
"Do you know anything about how Cesare was raised?"
"Rafael." My name from his mouth was like a crack from a whip.
I flinched, and as much as I wanted to keep a secret, these idiots were at each other's throats when there had to be someone else aiming to kill them.
"What does that mean?" Blake asked. He lowered his gun, but it was still in his hand.
"Rafael, you speak one more word—" Cesare growled.
"Gag him," Benito ordered.
"Not it!" Gin shouted while touching his nose.
Blake was quick to follow suit. Enzo and Paolo glared at their brothers as they hopped into the grave with Cesare. They tackled him down, and fists collided with body parts as they fought each other.
"Don't hurt him,” I snapped. “Did you shoot him?”
"No, Gin was being an idiot. Now finish what you were saying," Benito said, waving the gun toward me. "And don't think I forgot what you said; you'll be explaining how we are or aren't related."
I swallowed thickly. “I know he’s an asshole,” I said. “I get it. He’s a bastard who doesn’t consider people’s feelings or give a damn about who they are or what he does to offend them.”
Cesare protested, his words muffled around the cloth clenched between his teeth. He glared at me.
I threw my hands up. “Look, he sucks. Don’t mumble at me, sometimes you do suck,” I said.
“But he didn’t grow up like all of you. Do you know what he told me?
He was proud of you all for being as tough as you are.
That he made you all strong, even if he knew that you hated him.
” My throat worked. “His father beat the shit out of him everyday. You all think you have it bad? No. Go on, ask him. Ask him about what that man did to him. The only time he got free was when he finally punched him back. Then it was done.” I turned to Benito.
“And your grandmother that you dote on so hard? She let it all happen. Now she blames him and pretends your grandfather was a saint.”
Benito frowned. “He was nice,” he muttered.
“To you!” I snapped. “He was nice to you. Not to Cesare. And you were lucky Cesare grew a backbone, because he criticized him all the time for not beating all of you. Or for even having and taking care of some of you.”
Cesare looked like he was ready to kill me. His eyes were dark pools, his jaw so tight I thought he’d snap a few teeth. I swallowed hard and forced myself to keep going. They had to know. They needed to know.
“He says a lot of fucked-up stuff,” I muttered. “But has he ever hit one of you?”
“Well, one time—” Gin started.
“If it wasn’t to teach you how to fight and defend yourselves?”
Everyone went quiet. For a long time, I searched their faces as they all seemed to realize that no, Cesare had never laid a finger on them. He might be a jerk, but he wasn’t his father.
“I’m not saying his parenting skills couldn’t have used work,” I admitted.
“But at least recognize that he tried to be better in his own way. He literally told me he would rather all of you hate him than fail. Than be vulnerable. And he isolated himself for that.” I bit back another sound and blinked rapidly, clearing my eyes.
“So do you really think he’d hurt your kids?
Fuck, just talk to each other,” I said. “You’re all so full of shit, you’d rather take this to the grave than have a conversation!
” I shook my head. “He did his best. It wasn’t great, but it was better than what he ever got. ”
"Fuck. That true, old man?" Gin asked.
Enzo and Paolo were still in the grave, holding a gagged Cesare. He didn't move and didn't show any emotion on his face.
"He did say he wouldn't hurt kids," Blake finally voiced.
Benito put his gun away and squatted down. "It doesn't make sense. We silenced our enemies. No one has been dumb enough to challenge us in a while. You coming for me made sense."
"But he would never go for your kids," I reminded them.
"No, I guess he wouldn’t," Paolo added. "Fuck, then who did?"
I shook my head. I didn't know. It was already hard enough finally finding out what had happened.
"We were shot at—" I started.
"It wasn't us," Benito said.
I nodded. That I believed. They obviously wanted to be the ones to put him in a grave. Too bad I was never going to let that happen.
"Can you get him out of the fucking grave now?" I asked.
"We calling it a truce, old man?" Benito asked. "We can talk."
The tension in the air could be cut with a knife. I held my breath as I waited with them. I just wanted him safe and alive. Why was that so hard for him?
Cesare gave a curt nod, and it was like I could suck in air. They all got out of the hole. I stepped toward Cesare but stopped short. He brushed dirt off his suit, grimacing at the stains on his clothes. He was going to burn them later. I just knew it. He yanked the gag out of his mouth.
"Really? You dug my grave?” He glanced around and looked up at the sky. “Shit. It’s a good spot. No one would have found me for ages.”
He was not seriously praising them right now. I was in some alternate universe. Cesare made his way over to me, and I prepared myself for the threats and probably a beating I was going to get. Instead, he grabbed my face and turned it from side to side. His shoulder eased as he checked me over.
"Who said you could track me?"
I shrugged. "I've been doing it for a while."
"What's a while?"
"Since you had that accident," I admitted.
Cesare's eyes widened. His hold on me grew softer, but he didn't stop touching me. I wanted to check him over, but I was pretty certain he'd rather jump back in the grave than let me.
"Gay," Giancarlo coughed.
"Gin, you're not too old for me to kick your ass," Cesare growled.
"I'm just saying what I'm observing. It's a whole lot of gay."
"You would know since you're a fucking fruit loop," Cesare shot back.
"He could be bisexual," Enzo added. "Or maybe he only likes Rafael."
I liked that answer best. Cesare only needed to like me.
Benito pinched the bridge of his nose. “I don’t know why I keep doing this job. I really don’t.” He sighed. "Was it you who spread the rumors?" he asked, getting back to business. “Tanking my connections?”
"Yeah. You stopped my imports." Cesare shrugged. “I was out of a mode of income. What’d you expect?”
Benito nodded. "You killed one of my men."
"He spilled all your information after a few hits. Not worth keeping around."
"York got fired," Paolo added.
"He should have stayed out of it. The partnerships in Milan? I know about the others."
Benito shrugged.
There was some weird, mutual respect happening between them as they traded off what they did and didn't do.
Fucking Vitales.
"What about planting the drugs at one of our construction sites?" Blake asked.
"No," Cesare said. "My secondary stash of imports. You blow it up?" His gaze skipped over to me, but I had no clue why.
"Didn't even know about it. I meant what I said. Rafeal was useless. He only ever told us shit last minute or well after it was done," Benito said calmly.
"Hey,” I objected. “I tried, but I couldn’t snitch too hard.”
They continued to go back and forth. The more that was brought up, the more I realized I had no clue about half the shit that was happening. Cesare hadn't let on about anything. He'd been just taking care of it. No wonder he was stressed ninety percent of the time.