36. Rafe
RAFE
Ignazio’s sneering only worsens as he strides around the table like a preening peacock.
“You all know I’m right!” he shouts at the last few holdouts.
Loyal and loud Rocco hurls insults, God bless him for it, while my brothers remain grimly silent.
Devlin restraining himself visibly. Cassian looking like he’s ready to kill the whole lot of them.
“Today we’ll take control of the Corvino organization from the corrupt brothers. They call themselves the Lords of Ashes, but I say they’re nothing more than thugs and bastards in pretty suits.” Ignazio returns to his position at the far end of the room, looking like he’s won.
And right now, it feels that way.
Has it always been this bad?
“We take the vote.” My voice is gentle but everyone hears it.
I push heavily to my feet. No matter how this goes, I’ll deal with it.
“No more talk. You all know where I stand and how I feel about this merger. You’ve listened to Ignazio, the traitor, and you can decide what you think now.
No more talk, no more insults. We vote.”
Silas takes his cue. He claps sharply. “All those in favor, stand.”
Men climb to their feet slowly. All four of my brothers first. I join them, proud and tall. Rocco leaps up, glaring at the rest of the gathering.
“You fucking pussies gonna stay down this whole time?” he snaps.
More get up. Men I’ve known all my life. Men I’ve raised from nothing, given positions of power, and built into giants of the city. But more stay where they are, staring at their drinks, at their cigars, at anywhere but me.
At the Don who gave them everything.
My heart breaks. It’s close, like we thought, but Ignazio’s diatribe must’ve scared—or convinced—a few of those who weren’t sure.
In the end, there are slightly more than half of the gathering still in their seats.
“That’s it,” Ignazio says, sounding triumphant. “That’s the end. I hereby announce?—“
He doesn’t finish. I draw the gun I’ve had in my jacket, aim it at his face, and pull the trigger.
It’s a good shot. A handgun from across a large room is far from a guaranteed hit. But my bullet strikes true, bashing straight through Ignazio’s mouth, scattering teeth, rending tongue, blasting blood and gore from the back of his neck.
His corpse crumbles as more guns are drawn.
Every man on his feet is armed. Rocco has two knives for some reason. He looks around sheepishly at the handguns.
“What is this?” Enzo Palladino pushes back from the table, pale and terrified. “What the fuck is this, Rafe?”
“You made your choice. This is the only way. To avoid a civil war, we end it now, before the fighting has a chance to begin.”
“Fuck you!” Gio Palladino shouts. “What the fuck? This is crazy! We were just voting!”
“Please.” The elder Palladino is pale. “Spare my boy. He was only following my lead.”
I aim at Enzo and shoot him in the chest.
The slaughter is horrific. Rocco howls, diving into poor Gio, and stabs the youngster to death after a brief struggle.
Cassian walks through the room executing men with ruthless abandon.
Every single Capo and Lieutenant who voted on my side pulls the trigger, killing men they’ve known for years, men they might’ve liked, might’ve respected.
Blood flows in thick rivers on the floor of the venue and I wonder idly how much trouble June’s going to be in when the owner sees the cleaning bill.
The killing ends abruptly. Corpses litter the floor.
My remaining men slump back into their seats, all of them looking drained.
Except for Cassian, who pours himself a drink and sighs like he’s finally satisfied.
“Ignazio’s boys are still out there,” he says, swirling the whisky.
“I’ll find them and finish them off. It’ll be my pleasure. ”
“I know that was hard,” I say into the deathly silence that follows.
“But like Silas explained, this is the only way the Corvino Famiglia survives. The lines were drawn. No matter what, there would have been conflict sooner or later. At least now, in this room, only these men had to die, instead of the whole organization turning to blood and murder. At least now we move on and build anew.”
“To the Don,” Silas says, raising his glass. “To a new era. To the future.”
“Here’s to fucking that!” Kellan shouts, drinking his glass to the dregs.
The remaining men follow, though they aren’t as enthusiastic.
But it wasn’t hard to secure their loyalty.
Silas only had to make a few promises and to point out that with half the leadership of the family dead, a lot of new positions would be open.
Money would be concentrated in fewer pockets.
The family would get more powerful, and these few in this room would benefit the most.
Greed can pull most triggers.
But it wasn’t about that for me.
No, it was about June and Hattie.
I didn’t want to kill anyone in this room. Some of the dead were like cousins and uncles. They were all friends at one point or another. They backed me at my lowest, and I rewarded them over and over, until they finally decided they’d had enough.
I ended them to make sure my daughter and my wife would always be safe, no matter what.
Now there will be no civil war.
No more enemies gunning for me and my loved ones.
Only a bloody, new future.
I go around the room thanking the survivors.
I pour drinks and light cigars. I shake hands and exchange condolences.
There are some tears, but these are hard men.
They know death and pain. We’ll survive and grow again.
I have a pit in my stomach and a stone for a heart, but the closer I get to the door, the warmer my body becomes.
Silas joins me briefly toward the back. “I’ll handle cleanup. You’ve done enough for now.”
“That went to plan.”
“Which is rare for us.” He smiles and hugs me tight. “Love you, brother.”
“You too.” I open the door and leave the slaughter room, into the quiet of the hallway.
The guards escort me through the mansion, down a set of stairs, and to the first-floor kitchens. They’re empty.
Only my wife lingers there, pacing back and forth. She yelps when she spots me and rushes over, then stops short.
“Not my blood,” I explain.
Which amounts to an invitation. She throws herself at me and smothers my mouth with hers in a smeary, perfect kiss.
I return that kiss with so much intensity it feels like I’m cracking myself in half.
“I love you,” she says breathlessly. “I heard the shooting and I was so scared.”
“It went exactly like you said it would.” I lean my forehead to hers. “You have a devious mind, my love.”
“I have an organized mind. I can’t help it if those morons did exactly what we expected.”
“How’d you get Ignazio here?”
“Silas spread some rumors and that asshole did the rest. Is he…?”
“He’s dead.”
She touches my cheek. “I’m sorry. I know that was hard.”
“Killing Ignazio was satisfying as hell. But losing the others?—“
She kisses me. “You’ll do right by everyone else.”
“That’s my plan.”
“And you will. I promise. You will.”
I believe her. More than anyone in the world, I think she’s the only person who would tell me the truth.
I’m a monster. I’m a killer. I murdered men from my own family tonight for opposing my vision. I took control of the Corvino operation for the second time, tightening my grip, showing those who survived what happens when they cross me.
There was never a vote.
There were only battle lines. Sides drawn across a conference room table.
Those on their feet, and those in their seats.
The plan was always simple: kill the men who voted against me and ensure there would be no opposition in the future.
It was brutal but it’ll be effective.
That’s why I felt so terrible when it became clear Ignazio had convinced more of my Capos to join him.
That meant more men had to die, and it’s not what I wanted.
I wrap my arms around June. She leans into me, smiling to herself.
“Does this mean you won’t be in such a bad mood all the time?”
“That’s just my sparkling personality.”
“Something like this.” She tilts her chin up and I kiss her. “What do we do now? Nobody’s out to get me anymore.”
“Now you’re my wife. Now Hattie’s my daughter. We’ll figure it out.”
“Yeah.” She touches my cheek. “We’ll figure it out.”