CHAPTER 18
Adriano
Everything is ready, and my men have given me the green light to approach the restaurant with my car. We’ve been studying the area with drones and every other possible way we could find, and my men have slowly moved closer to the restaurant during the day.
Some have come with food trucks. Some with rented cars. Some on their bikes. Everyone perfectly disguised so that Matteo’s men don’t suspect anything.
But it’s not just my men who are careful not to show who they are. Matteo’s men have done the same, but now, as the time indicated on the note left for Chiara comes closer, they’re the only ones who are still at the restaurant.
I pull over in the parking lot. As I get out of the car, it’s my men’s time to act. They pull out their weapons and come out of hiding. We all approach the restaurant, and I let them go first.
I wait outside, in the darkness, until I get the signal that all Matteo’s men have been neutralized.
I get my gun out and head inside. But as I make my way between the empty tables while my men gather our enemy in a corner, I furrow my brow.
It’s not Matteo sitting at one of the tables.
It’s Gennaro.
I slowly approach him, but he’s just sitting there and watching me. Unarmed.
“Ah, it’s you,” he says with a smile.
I lower my gun and take a seat across from him.
“Was this whole thing your game then?” he asks.
“What thing?” I should be asking him the same question. “Where’s Matteo?”
“Are the twins yours?”
“Yes, why?”
“Perfect.” He claps his hands. “Then we can talk about us working together again and merging our territories. And my retirement, of course.”
“I don’t understand.”
“What’s there not to understand? I found out what Matteo was doing. I heard about his little story to provoke you. Hell, I thought your wife would show up here and I would bring her to you, but it looks like you figured out the truth on your own. I can’t say I’m surprised. You’ve always been smart.”
“So where is he?” If Gennaro talked to Matteo, then it’s possible Matteo agreed to step away from the whole thing, but there’s no way he’s going to agree to me getting everything.
“Don’t worry about him. He’s irrelevant.”
“And we’re back to those same questions I already asked you once. Why should I trust you? You ignored me for years, and Matteo is your son. Your real son. I have a family to protect now, and I don’t want to play your games.”
“That’s why I like you so much. You won. You did everything right, and, like I already told you, I knew you could make it all on your own and you proved yourself to be a true Gaviani.”
“Do you know who my real parents are?” I don’t know why he’s so quick to hand everything to me just like that.
Maybe there’s something I’m not seeing. He and Matteo might be playing a different kind of game. Maybe they want to use me for something, so they’re pretending to give me everything and then they intend to take it all. Maybe I’m related to someone powerful and don’t even know it. Or I’m overthinking everything.
But that’s Gennaro’s fault. His unexpected moves have taught me to try to think about all the possibilities, no matter how crazy they seem. Because it’s the only way to keep up with him or one-up him.
A smile coats Gennaro’s lips. “See? Again asking all the right questions.”
Dread fills my stomach. If he’s actually my real father... I don’t even want to think about it.
“Just fucking tell me,” I snap.
“It was that necklace you had with you. I knew right away who your mother was. She was a mafia princess.”
I gape at him. He’s known this all along, and he’s only telling me about it now? Fucking hell.
“She had to hide her pregnancy because she was supposed to marry someone else. She was very young too. Your father was some guard or someone irrelevant.”
Relief. It’s the only thing I feel, because I don’t want to be blood-related to someone like Gennaro.
“Anyway, they’re all dead. The whole family was wiped out, and before you ask, no, I didn’t have anything to do with it. But you have mafia blood in your veins, so it’s natural that you ended up like this. I picked you for a reason, and I don’t make mistakes.”
I just stare at him.
“Even if you showed up without that necklace, I would’ve kept you. But I wouldn’t have adopted you or taken such good care of you, like you were one of my own.”
His description of good care doesn’t match mine. Does he think he’s treated Matteo right? Because Matteo is his son, and he’s never shown him any affection.
“I had to get rid of that necklace. Someone could’ve found out, and I couldn’t let that happen,” Gennaro says. “But your family was dead by then, so it was easy to keep it all a secret. You have some cousins, but they’re not close by. Of course, if you ever need them, you could prove you’re related, but that’s up to you. They go under the same name as your family did—the Todranis.”
The Todranis? I’ve never even heard that name.
“Why didn’t you say anything about it before?” I ask.
“I’m telling you now. There was no need for you to know it before.”
“Oh, is that right? And what if I’d gone after my relatives?”
He shrugs. “What then? They don’t know you, and you don’t know them. They’re far away. It was impossible that your paths would cross.”
“Impossible?” I laugh, because the way Gennaro is just telling me all this, as if none of it matters, is infuriating.
“Look, if you want to reach out to them, you can. I was only protecting you. I haven’t kept an eye on them, so I don’t know how they’ll react when they find out about you. They might see you as a threat, but once you have everything, no one will be able to touch you. They’ll want to be your friends rather than your enemies. You’ve made it, Adriano. I’m so proud of you.”
“You really want to merge our territories and leave everything to me?”
He nods. “It’s what I said. I doubt you’re not paying attention. I’ve prepared a contract where everything is perfectly laid out. We need to agree on all the terms because there can’t be any secrets or surprises between us. You would have it all, and I would retire and keep a percentage of your earnings that come from my territory.”
The deal Gennaro is offering me is something I’ve considered many times in the past. I knew he’d want to retire eventually. It would be a good deal for both of us, and with his territory and his men, I’d be unbeatable. No one would dare to come against me, and paying Gennaro and keeping him safe wouldn’t be a problem either.
But...
“What about Matteo? Where is he?” I ask. “I can’t imagine he’s okay with any of this. Does he even know anything about your offer to me, or is he your backup in case I refuse?”
“Why would you refuse?”
“Once again, where is Matteo? Is he with you?” I stare into his cold eyes.
“Maybe.” The corners of his lips twitch.
Matteo is definitely with him then. Somewhere. Has Gennaro lied to him again? Convinced him he was going to take care of me? Or does he plan to send me to deal with Matteo once we sign our deal? Or...
“Is he still alive?” I ask.
“I told you not to worry about him. Don’t make me change my mind and back out of the deal.”
My hand tightens around my gun, which I keep under the table. Gennaro must have forgotten about it, or he thinks that I’m going to take his offer. He’s so sure about his twisted plan that it makes me sick.
My men have his men surrounded, and yet, he’s acting like he has all the power here. Matteo must be his backup then. Gennaro must’ve told him that he’d handle me, but without telling Matteo what that meant.
So now Matteo is waiting to see what happens. If something goes wrong here, Matteo is supposed to come for me. If we sign a deal, Gennaro will betray his own son and let me kill him, just like he already gave me permission to do it if it came to that.
I might be wrong, but I’m so tired of Gennaro’s bullshit. So tired of how he has treated both Matteo and me. We’ve always been his toys. His pawns on a big chessboard.
While we struggled to figure out which move to make next, he was probably enjoying himself. Even now, he’s only thinking about himself. He doesn’t give a damn about Matteo or me, just about who’s going to give him the best benefits. It turned out I was his preferred option, so now he wants to sign a deal with me.
“I don’t want your stupid deal.” I whip out my gun and pull the trigger.
The shot is so loud the whole restaurant echoes with it. Gennaro’s eyes widen and go empty as he slumps in his seat. The silence becomes unbearable as tension fills the air.
I get to my feet and turn to my men. Gennaro’s men can’t do anything other than watch and wait.
“I’m Adriano Gaviani,” I say. “You can either obey me or die. But first, you need to tell me one thing.”
I approach our captives. The most loyal ones will probably have to be dealt with, unless Gennaro gave them different instructions and told them that he chose me no matter what. But even if they stay, I won’t keep them anywhere near me or anywhere they might do any damage. They’ll basically be cannon fodder to me.
“Where is Matteo?” I ask, because he’s my next target.
They all exchange confused looks.
“Come on, you have to know. Or you know someone who does.”
The news will spread quickly. I’m sure of it. I don’t know what Matteo will do once he finds out his father is dead and that I killed him, so I need to be ready. Ideally, I’ll find him before he hears about it.
Things will get chaotic, and I’ll have to try to take Gennaro’s territory before Matteo gathers forces around him. Has he already done it? Maybe the men here really don’t know anything because they weren’t supposed to. It could’ve all been a part of Gennaro’s big plan, and now that he’s dead, everything will change.
But without him, the world already seems like a better place. Even if Matteo now takes control of all his father’s resources, he still won’t have it easy to defeat me because I’ll be ready. And maybe not everyone will want to follow him, since Gennaro clearly picked me as his heir.
“Really? No one will say anything?” I sigh as I turn to my men. “Take them and check everything they have. Their phones. Their pockets. Everything.”
We need to get out of here. I bet Matteo knows we’re here, and when Gennaro doesn’t show up or call him, or whatever it is that they agreed on, he’ll come rushing. It’s weird he didn’t accompany his father or at least stayed close by. But I guess Gennaro played him, so he needed him to stay away.
It’s sick. I could never do something like this to my children. Gennaro was one of the big influences that made me into who I am, but I’m also a hundred percent sure I don’t want to be like him.
Or end up like him.
He thought he knew me, but he didn’t. I’m not the kid he abandoned anymore. The younger me would’ve jumped at this deal and would’ve already been celebrating it.
I’m glad I’m not that guy anymore.
For myself.
For my wife.
And for my children.