Chapter Twenty-Six
Luca POV
“You have a crack on the inside,” Cohen commented as we were left in a private room to discuss the issue. “I can argue these one of two ways. One, you’re being framed; or second, if you know who has turned on you I can make sure they take the heat for this and not you.”
Exhaling out in frustration, “Either way looks like I’ll have to be locked up until I get in front of a judge.”
My attorney nodded his head, “But you know the outcome will be in your favor.”
“You understand Branton is practically on his death bed. At some point, he needs to throw in the towel and there’s no one to take his place.”
The D.A. was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer too late to catch. Dealing with chasing a ghost that had haunted my family and not having Emilio, there was no time or energy to ensure potential candidates were scoped out for the position.
“I’m sure his son Hamilton will likely be his successor.”
I shook my head, “He couldn’t give two shits about me. Made it clear he’s looking to keep his political career with clean hands.”
Cohen laughed, “He won’t get far. Politicians who are well known and successful are just as corrupt. Only difference is the law makes you out to be a criminal.”
“Wouldn’t matter anyway. Should his father die, the standing D.A.
to take his place in the interim of the next election won’t care about me either.
She’s looking to make a name for herself, and having Luca DeCarlo on trial, she’s going to have to pull whatever she can not to lose. You know how dirty they can be too.”
A knock at the door took our attention, Cohen stood up to see who it was. “We aren’t taking any pleas.”
“I need to speak with him.” Although the voice was muffled, I was able to make out who it was.
“Let him in,” I shouted to Cohen.
Stepping aside, Hamilton walked in dressed as though he was ready to make a press release.
“Come to rub this in my face?” I shot at him.
“No,” Hamilton gulped while walking into the room. “May I?” He asked as he motioned to the chair.
“You may,” I replied wondering if he was being snarky or if that was how his manners generally were.
Cohen sat beside me as Hamilton took a seat across from us at the small rectangular table.
“As you may or may not know, my father is ill and his days are numbered. I’ve been handling all of his work as he requested so that you can continue with your activities in the city.
” Hamilton took out a pen and paper and rested his briefcase on the chair beside him.
He looked at me with such distaste. Little did he know about the history of how the Branton family came to power.
“We don’t have time to hear you rambling,” Cohen stated.
Clearing his throat, “I want to speak to Luca alone.”
Cohen looked to me for confirmation and when I nodded, he got to his feet and left the room. Hamilton was nervous, I could tell by how his breathing changed and his forehead seemed to glisten from the sweat forming there.
“I’m the one who called it in,” Hamilton confessed.
When I leaned forward onto the table, he jumped back in his seat. “Don’t worry,” I mocked, “I won’t hurt you.”
“It was Emilio,” Hamilton blurted out, not trusting I wouldn’t rip the pen out his hand to stab him with it. “He came to me last night. Seizing the shipment was deliberate.”
Hearing Emilio’s name caused a vile uproar within me.
I trusted him with every fiber of my being and it shouldn’t have surprised me that he would be the one to betray me.
But I knew Emilio well, if he was in the city then that meant Bethany was in trouble.
My guess was ghost. He would be the only one who put Emilio in this situation.
When Bethany left, her note was simple but when I saw Emilio’s handkerchief that he frequently used to have with his suit left on the dresser – I knew he came back for her.
She was safer with him until everything died down.
Emilio also never did anything in a simple fashion.
He must be getting followed so contacting me would have been risky but using the D.A.
, or in this case his son, was a strategic move.
That shipment contained a lot of illegal items and if I had to guess, ghost needed them for something, and to interfere with my cargo meant whatever ghost had planned was going to be coming up very soon.
“Why are you telling me this?”
“He needs you here,” Hamilton replied.
A chill sent goosebumps throughout my body.
Emilio was telling me I was ghost’s next target, but if I was taken in by authorities, then ghost’s plan would fall through.
The pieces began to click. The monthly trio meeting was set for tomorrow.
Ghost wasn’t just targeting me, he wanted all three of us.
“Where is he now?”
“I don’t know.”
“I can’t stay in here,” I replied. “I’ll take the risk.”
“You aren’t going anywhere. I intend to push as many charges on you as possible. Get comfortable in here.”
Leaning back in my chair, I gave him a look that was quickly humbling him. “What do think this city would be without me? Hm? You think it’d be safer?”
“Less weapons, drugs, and other crimes.”
I laughed, “I keep everyone in this city in check. If you think removing me will make this city better you’re wrong. I don’t flush weapons and drugs through the city for my own benefit. Every major authority figure in this city has their hands dirty. You’ll have to take down everyone.”
Hamilton seemed taken aback by this causing me to laugh again.
With a stern tone, I continue, “I keep these streets under control. Without me there would be chaos. You couldn’t handle chaos.”
“Try me.”
“First person you will need to lock up is your father. If he’s still around.”
Hamilton tightened the grip on his pen, “Leave him out of this.”
“Don’t tell me you honestly think the Branton name was built honestly, do you?”
The hesitation told me he was clueless and was internally debating whether to open that can of worms. So I encouraged it.
“That scandal that never made the press. You know, the one where your father had a secret family?”
“What?” Hamilton reacted. “He doesn’t have a secret family.”
“Not anymore,” I stated. “My condolences.”
The look of mortification crossed his face.
He knew. Trained to appear innocent but he knew damn well about his father’s mistress and 3 children.
I wouldn’t be surprised if he thought his father paid them to go away but nonetheless he knew they weren’t going to be an issue anymore. But I wasn’t going to stop there.
“It would be a shame if that case against your brother re-opened when the missing weapon reappears.” I remained nonchalant. “Or how your father won the D.A. election.”
“Enough,” Hamilton stated. “I just want to take my father’s place without having any ties to you.”
“Well that’s a challenge. I can’t have you running around knowing at any point you’ll be looking for something to pin on me.”
“There’s one way I guarantee that I wouldn’t do that.”
His reply caught my interest. “What would that be?”
“Bethany.”
I hid the smirk from crossing my face. Of course my sister would be the demise of so many men.
“You understand she’s a married woman.”
“Well, you can take care of that.”
“The apple does not fall far from the tree.” I shook my head, “If you want no ties with me and have my sister then you will need to figure that out.”
Essentially, I was giving him the clear to make Bethany a widow. Funny how things came full circle. You couldn’t escape it. I needed him just as much as he needed me. That was the only way this city wouldn’t go into shambles.
Hamilton POV
“I need a guarantee there is no one else that is catching her eye,” I said.
Luca didn’t seem to ask what I was referring to which meant he must have already known.
“Luca was a fool to pass you up,” Bethany says. She tries to convince me that for us to get out of our misery, we should get married, that my father and her brother will be happy, and that we will be free.
Unable to hold back my frustration, “I did like you Beth. Really. But it doesn’t take a fool to know when someone’s heart belongs to another. I put the pieces together. I get why you tried to entertain me. Dangle me on your arm so Luca wouldn’t suspect you were fucking Emilio.”
Shocked, Bethany stays silent.
“It was clear Emilio didn’t like me. Hell, he even came to threaten me if I ever touched you again that he’d carve my eyes out. I figured that was supposed to be a message from Luca, but when your brother showed up to my father’s house wanting to set up an arranged marriage – it threw me off.”
“Luca wanted us to marry?”
I nod, “His words were ‘Keep the alliance strong.’ It was set to happen and I tried to contact you but you just … disappeared. I got worried and went to Luca. He said you were in Arizona for business.”
I watch Bethany shift on her feet and uncomfortably gulp.
“Luca never told me about the arrangement,” Bethany confesses. “I brought up the idea to him but he shut it down.”
I rub the back of my neck.
“Hamilton?” She urges knowing I am holding back something.
My eyes meet hers as my hand drops back to my side. “I called it off.”
She lightly gasps in surprise. “Because of Emilio’s threat?”
“No,” I reply. “It was my call.”
She gave me a questioning look. “I’m going to need more details on that.”
“My father wanted me to go through with the marriage not because he cared whether I liked you or not. Locking in Bethany DeCarlo was securing his power on the city. I knew exactly who you were at that pool party. It was all planned out. Get close to you. Make you fall in love.”
With a laugh of disappointment and a look of hurt in her eyes, “So you were just like everyone else. Using my name to benefit your own.”
“That was my father’s plan. I didn’t care as long as that meant he was off my back. Then I got to know you. And I thought you deserved better than that. After a few days, I told my father to call it off but he refused. You don’t go back on a deal with Luca DeCarlo.”
“So then how did you do it?”
“I started asking around. Everyone confirmed backing out was a bad idea. That you didn’t want Luca sending Emilio to offer the consequence of doing that.
Emilio doesn’t come to warn, he sets out for blood.
That’s when the pieces started clicking.
Emilio said he’d carve my eyes out if I saw you again.
That’s a warning. For someone who doesn’t give warnings, that had to mean something. So, I confronted him.”
Her eyes widen. “You, confronted Emilio? About the situation?”
“That was the scariest 5 minutes of my life,” I confess, still shaken up by the memory.
“What did you tell him?”
“I was able to convince him not to cut my tongue off right then and there.”
“How?”
“I told him if he wanted me to keep quiet then he’d have to convince Luca to drop the marriage thing.”
The look of confusion on her face is replaced by a distasteful glare. “We would have made a good team.”
How could she look at me like that? I smile sarcastically and shake my head, “I’m not made for your kind.”
“My kind?”
“My father may be a lot of things but we aren’t criminals. Now that I know exactly what it means to be a DeCarlo, I can’t be tainted by the image I made for myself. One that I’ve tried so hard to separate myself from living in my father’s shadow.”
I turn around and begin walking away while anger brews within her.
“It wouldn’t taint your name. Marrying a DeCarlo would elevate it,” her words leave a buzz in the air. “After all, we are above you.”
This made me stop and turn back around. “Above me?”
“Why do you think Luca keeps your father in office?”
“Your brother has him stuck in a corner.”
Walking toward me, Bethany lashes out defending her family. “The only difference between our families is that mine is considered to be on the opposite side of the law. But make no mistake, their actions are just as bad. Morally. Your family’s power is stemmed and fueled by greed.”
“You’re going to tell me with a straight face that Luca isn’t just as greedy?” I shoots back.
“My brother is hellbent on making sure our family stays alive. It has nothing to do with greed.”
“You’re going to give me some mobster fairytale story?” I cross my arms against my chest, the fabric of my suit clings against my arms.
“It’s no fairytale. Our family line did what they had to in order to survive.
Life of crime wasn’t the goal. The goal was to make money to put food on the table, a roof over their family’s head, and respect to their name.
Everything else was just what came with it.
So, we may be the same in certain ways, but for us it always goes back to family - whatever cost it takes to make sure they are safe.
Your father was willing to sacrifice you to keep him from falling off his own throne.
Luca would throw himself onto his own sword if it meant saving us all. And because of that, we are above you.”
Her words are a slap in the face. Can it be true that my family has dark skeletons in the closet? I know my father does but I always suspect it is because Luca forced him into situations.
“The untouchable DeCarlos. Yet they need the Brantons. Riddle me that.”
“Because that’s how this works between our families,” Bethany looks me straight in the eyes. “We keep our hands dirty so that yours look clean. In exchange, you allow us to conduct our affairs without repercussion.”
“You’re lying.”
“Your father owns a lot of factories in the city. He doesn’t seem to have a problem filling products with illegal items as a means to transport as an exchange to keep winning elections.” I start to sweat and get uncomfortable. “Should I keep going on how your family remains in their social status?”
“No.” My tone is firm.
“Where do we go from here?” Bethany questions. “I don’t want to be an enemy or a rival. I really do value our friendship - one that was made outside of alliances.”
“You’ll be dropping the DeCarlo name soon enough. Once you do that, I think we can get back to some kind of common ground.”
“I can’t control if she has a wondering eye,” Luca said.
“You can make sure there isn’t one lingering around.”
Luca was right about one thing – the apple does not fall far from the tree.