38. Chapter 37
Tucker
“Gentlemen, have a seat.” When dinner was over, Sandro had Marco, Elio, and I follow him to his office. “We need to discuss the Blackwood situation.”
It shouldn’t have surprised me that Marco and Elio were aware of what was going on. They were his lieutenants after all. However, I didn’t know how much they knew, so I was going to let Sandro take the lead on this.
Sandro’s attention turned to me. “We were called into a syndicate meeting last night. Emiliano Carbone informed us that he has cut a deal with the Blackwood family.” He ran his hand down his face and growled before his eyes met mine again.
“With the help of Nico Ricci, they were able to track down the family. But instead of executing them all, they made a deal.”
That was not what I was expecting. “What kind of a deal?”
Sandro sighed. “Carbone would spare the lives of Sr.’s wife and children on a couple of conditions.
One, he turned himself over to Nico, who then helped with the death and disposal of the older Blackwood since so many eyes are on Emiliano right now.
Two, Junior would take his place at the family business and is now in bed with the Carbone family. They basically own him.”
I felt sure that if anyone looked closely, they would have seen smoke billowing out of my ears.
Before I could say a word, Sandro held up his hand to stop me and continued.
“I know that this is the exact opposite outcome you wanted, and I’m not thrilled with it either, but my hands were tied.
The deal was done when they called the meeting, so there was literally nothing I could say.
But even if it wasn’t, I couldn’t have said anything.
We couldn’t risk them thinking that we played a part in all of this. ”
I let out a deep breath, trying to reign in my anger because this wasn’t Sandro’s fault.
“This isn’t only the exact opposite of what I wanted, Sandro.
It’s the worst case scenario. Now Bradley is going to be even more powerful.
Not only is the entire company and bank account at his disposal, but he has connections to one of the five families. ”
Marco crossed one leg over the other, then turned to face me.
“That’s not exactly true. He’s essentially been neutered.
The Carbone’s own him. He might have their protection, but not their power.
And he only has their protection so they have access to his money and reach.
The good news is it should protect Leyla more than making him penniless and powerless would have. ”
That seemed unlikely. “How?”
Sandro took over again. “With that option, there is no one to keep him in check. He would have lost everything, and when people have nothing else to lose, that’s when they become dangerous.
Now, he’s on a leash. Everyone knows that the Vitale’s and Givenchy’s have an alliance through your marriage to my sister.
I couldn’t dole out retribution before when he came after your family because he didn’t have any affiliations, but now that he does, I can protect you better. ”
“If he comes after anyone in your family, Sandro can go to Don Carbone. Bradley is an extension of him, like your family is an extension of Sandro. It would be the same as if one of his men attacked one of ours. He would have to either take care of the problem himself to keep the peace or go to war.” Marco said that as if that should ease my worries.
“That doesn’t make me feel better. Bradley hasn’t grown up in this world. Crestwood is a completely different world than it is here. He’ll see this as him becoming more powerful and untouchable.”
Sandro sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “That’s possible. I know that he was in Emiliano’s care when we met last night. He was probably threatening his life and making sure he understood what was expected of him. If he becomes a problem for you, let me know and I’ll handle it.”
“And if Ari decides she’d rather handle it herself? She’s already pulled a gun on him once.” I could just imagine how pissed she’d be when she realized he wasn’t only going to walk out of this plan alive, but in a better position.
Sandro chuckled. “Can’t keep your wife in check, Givenchy?”
We both knew the answer to his question. Just like we knew the answer to mine. “Can you?”
When we walked through the doors of my parents house Sunday night, I was exhausted. All I wanted to do was go back to my home and curl up in bed with Ari and sleep for the next couple of days. We could afford to skip a couple days of school to rest and recover, surely.
Unfortunately, though, my dad had insisted we come home with him, and Leyla, Potter, Brennan, and my uncles would be joining us for a meeting.
We hadn’t had time for me to update him on what Sandro said in his office Thursday night, but he wasn’t going to let anyone go to school Monday without knowing where things stood.
I was kind of surprised that he didn’t want to meet just me, him, and my uncles before bringing the info to everyone else, but I guess this was progress. Maybe Arianna bringing to his attention that keeping Leyla in the dark was more dangerous had really sunk in with him.
My father sat behind his desk while the rest of us took any open chair we could. As soon as we were all seated, he began. “What did Sandro have to say about the Blackwood situation?”
I was glad that I didn’t have to tell Ari at home, just the two of us. If she was going to lose her shit, I’d rather she did so here so maybe we could rein her back in.
“A deal was worked out with Bradley Sr. He forfeited his life, and now Bradley Jr. is in charge of the company and indebted to the Carbone family. Sandro assures me that even though this isn’t what we wanted, it’s not exactly a bad thing.
He thinks that Bradley will be more in check now that he answers to Don Cabrone and will leave us alone.
” Sure, I could have gone into more detail, but I was so tired of thinking about it and trying to make sense of Sandro’s logic that I figured less was more.
It’s not like I could accurately explain it anyway.
Ari’s jaw clenched, but that was the only reaction from her. So far. I doubted it would stay that way.
My father let out a sigh and ran his hand through his hair. “Does anyone believe that this will actually make Bradley less dangerous?”
Percy laughed. “Not a chance in hell. If Caspian had been given the reins of his fathers company and the protection of a mafia family, then he would have doubled down his efforts towards Sterling.”
“According to Sandro, if he makes any moves against our family then it’s the same as if he moves against Sandro himself. He said to let him know and he’ll present it to Don Carbone to handle the problem.”
Ari crossed her arms and shifted in her seat, but still didn’t say a word.
My father noticed and his eyes connected to mine. For the first time ever, I was on the inside of one of his silent conversations. I knew exactly what he was thinking.
My wife was going to go rogue.
Apollo seemed to be on the same wavelength and brought up the obvious here. “From that, I assume that means that if we make a move against Bradley, it would be the same as making a move against Emiliano himself?”
I turned to Arianna, wanting her to know that this was directed at her. “Yes. That’s exactly what going after Bradley would mean.”
She rolled her eyes. “I’m not going to go after him.
How dumb do you think I am?” She uncrossed her arms and turned towards me, fire in her eyes.
“I grew up in that world. I know a hell of a lot more about it than any of you. Killing Bradley is firmly off the table, and just so you know, I blame you for that, Tucker. If you’d let us kill him from the start, we wouldn’t be in this position now. ”
“Tucker didn’t make that call.” Dad looked at Arianna and spoke to her the same way he did when he was irritated with Leyla.
“We all sat in that office and decided to move forward with Potter’s plan.
And if I remember correctly, you were the one that suggested making it seem like the Blackwoods were making a move against the Carbones. No one saw this outcome. Not even you.”
“So this means we still need our bodyguards?” Leyla seemed irked more than scared.
I mean, I didn’t like the idea of my sister being scared for her safety, but sometimes I wondered if my wife’s blasé attitude and fearlessness rubbed off on my sister a little too much.
A healthy dose of fear wasn’t a bad thing.
Dad nodded. “You will still have your bodyguards for a short time. I think it’s best that we see how Bradley behaves before pulling them back.”
Everyone left the meeting irritated, but none more than my wife. I was sure I was going to either get an earful when we got home, or a cold shoulder. With her, there would probably be no in-between.