Chapter 25
Royal Screwup
Mason
“You find Oni yet?” my older brother asks as we sit waiting for my da to arrive for this meeting.
Something big is happening. I can feel it in my bones. Da never calls us in like this, not suddenly out of the blue.
I turn to Lorcan and glare. He wants Oni for himself. I’ve known this for a while.
If only he knew he stands less of a chance than I do. She will never be his. She’s too smart for him.
Besides, she would never put up with his shit—the partying, the other girls, the drugs, the abuse. Oh yeah, I know about the abuse. The girls he beats black and blue for not doing what he wants.
My older brother is a spoiled child. The reason I know I will end up running the family, not him. Oni wouldn’t tolerate his shit for two minutes.
Yet he’s always worried about her whereabouts, like she’s some property of his. I’m sort of glad she’s gone. Maybe she’ll stay away long enough for him to move on and forget about her.
“No, I haven’t found her,” I grumble.
“I might just have to step in and find her myself. Some best friend you are. Just tell the truth, you fucked up, and she ran off because of you, didn’t she?” he taunts.
“Fuck you,” I growl.
I don’t want to tell him I think he’s right. This is all my fault, and I know it deep down inside. Oni is out there somewhere. I don’t know where and it’s all my fault.
However, before I can open my mouth to retort, the door bursts open and my father storms in with a beet-red face.
He marches over to Lorcan and knocks his feet from the table where he had them kicked up and crossed at the ankles like he owns the place.
In the next breath, Da is roaring at the top of his lungs at Lorcan.
“What kind of moron are you? What don’t you understand about discretion? What the fuck did you just do?”
I sit with my mouth hanging open, not knowing what my brother has done now. For Da to be this angry, he had to do something huge. I swear, if Lorcan wasn’t his son, he probably would have blown his head off by now from the look on his face.
“What are you talking about?” Lorcan says with a frown.
Da hauls back and kicks him in the chest, knocking him out of his chair onto the floor. I take a deep inhale and try to hold in my laughter. This is not the time to draw attention to myself.
“You fucking eejit. What am I talking about? What am I talking about? You ambushed the Gallos, you cost us men, you. This was all you. Do you know how I know?
“I know because it smells like shit. Everything you touch turns to shit. You can’t zip your fly right without catching your dick in the fucking zip.”
This time I can’t hold my laughter back. I throw a hand over my mouth as my shoulders shake. Da doesn’t look away from Lorcan, but my brother turns his glare on me as he still sits on the floor on top of his turned-over chair.
“How am I the idiot? I did something no one else in the family ever has. I got to three Gallos, not one but three. How am I the fuckup?”
“Because you got to three of them and every single one is still breathing. You did nothing but make trouble for me. The only one you took out was Rico’s bed toy. What good does that do?” Da snarls.
Lorcan makes a sour face. I shake my head. He really did fuck this one up. He’s a hothead; he never thinks things through.
“They had Juliana. The plan went south, and I had to do something to get her out of there,” Lorcan says like a spoiled child.
Da roars and kicks him in the chest again. I reach to rub at the center of my own chest. That shit looks like it hurt.
From the puke that flies from Lorcan’s mouth, I’m sure it did. He rolls onto his side and groans. Da is never physical like this with us. At least he hasn’t been in a very long time.
“Whose door do you think Gallo will come to about his girl? Who do you think Emilio will want to answer for this? Do you think it will be the Abatos? No, you dumb fuck. That war will be coming straight to our door.
“I would rather one dead bitch over our entire family. That sounds more like the right move to me, Lorcan. Not some Italian cunt over all of ours. That’s your fucking problem. Always worried about some fucking pussy instead of getting the job done.
“Why do you think we were using the Abato family? What don’t you understand about this not having a single trace back to us? You were supposed to find a way in without it being linked back to this family.”
Da pauses with his chest heaving. He then turns his gaze on me for the first time. I hold my breath, thinking I’m next to get my ass kicked.
My plans didn’t go as planned either. There was the fuckup with Oni and I got word back that one of my guys got his head blown off.
As I realize these two just mentioned Juliana Abato, I believe I know how he got himself killed. Good thing he was from Connor’s crew, trying to move over to mine or Lorcan’s. With a little redirection, Da will count him as Lorcan’s fuckup, not mine.
“At least I have one smart son. This information, you think it’s enough to make it stick?”
I lick my suddenly dry lips. “It’s a start in the right direction and can’t be traced back to me. I tied up all the loose ends.”
“That’s my boy. Come, let’s go for a drink.”
I let out a relieved breath and nod. I still have one move in play. Someday, I’ll find Oni, but for now, I need to focus on my family and business. I can’t afford to be like Lorcan.