Chapter Seven
Jelly found her phone and called Oscar.
Oscar heard her out then asked to speak to Leon.
She handed him the phone.
Oscar asked, “What you want with Storm, Leon?”
“I’m trying to stop an assassination.”
“Whose assassination?” Oscar wanted to know.
“Mine,” Leon told him.
“The hell you...say?” Oscar stammered. “I knew there was trouble brewing but I never heard about this part.”
“Si, my friend, there’s trouble brewing not only here but in Italy as well,” Leon explained.
“My son was kidnapped in Italy with member of the Familia there. Then here in this country, men were busted out of prison and hired others to cause a ruckus while someone was supposed to kill me. Then breach my estate’s gates and kill everyone inside.
And while they were doing that someone over in Italy was going to hit the Familia there.
Then step in to become the new Don and leader of the Familia.
Only problem with this man is that he’s unhinged and no one would work well under him.
He tried to get a foot in thirty years ago and he didn’t even try to hide his disrespect back then.
Now, he really hates the leaders so he’d been denied admittance.
He’s trying to force his way in. That means I have to go too. ”
“Damn, this sounds like a real problem,” Oscar griped. “We cannot have someone else running Boston, Leon. None of us could ever support that. I’ll try to contact Storm and let him call you. Stay close to Jelly, I’ll give him her number.” Oscar ended the call.
Leon handed Jelly the phone. “He’s going to give your number to this Storm.”
Jelly Bean nodded. “Did all that really happen?”
Leon nodded. “Si, child it did. This Fredo also ordered that kidnapping and his very own brother Luca was one of the victims along with my son. I just got off the phone with the Don. He told me Juno contacted him. His father Fredo shot him to try and stop him. Those men who want to kill me? They are waiting for his other grandson Giovano to arrive before they carry out the assassination attempt.”
“I-is Calderone...” Her voice faded a bit.
“He is alive,” Leon stated. “I didn’t tell...my wife and daughter about his kidnapping. I know they will worry and they shouldn’t have to.”
Jelly Bean stepped closer to him and said, “Leon, you have changed my life. Not by allowing me here into your mansion but by the things you have shown me. One of those thigs was about living in the absolute truth. To yourself and your family.”
“So this is a lecture?” he growled at her.
Jelly Bean smirked at him. “Hell, yeah. You think I get the chance to rag on you and catch you out... That I will pass that up?”
The room went utterly silent.
Leon glared at her.
John shook his head.
Nick looked a bit worried that maybe she had gone too far this time.
Suddenly, Leon leaned his head back and laughed.
They all stared at him.
Jelly Bean shrugged. “I didn’t mean it to be funny.”
“No, I realize this,” Leon replied as he chuckled. “And that is why it was funny.”
Nick asked Leon, “So you want to find them first and once this sonofabitch arrives, you want to take all of them down?”
Leon nodded. “I will not deny it. This is my home and my family lives here. I will protect them. If that means they all must die, so be it. Only it won’t be any of my family that dies.
I also do not want innocent people to die either.
” He nodded at Jelly Bean and Nick. “Let’s hope we can get the message through to this Storm before it’s too late. ”
The call came through twenty minutes later...
Jelly grabbed her phone and handed it to Leon.
Leon answered the call, “Si, is this Storm?”
“Yeah, it’s me,” a brassy voice replied. “I hear you want to talk to me.”
“Si, I do. I understand that you might know the whereabouts of a group of men willing to shoot me.”
The man named Storm was quiet then he answered, “Yeah, one of my guys got close enough to the place to overhear a plan like that.”
“I want you to show me where they are so I can stop that from happening. As I understand it they are waiting on the plane from Italy and as soon as Giovano gets here, they are going to carry out their plan.”
Storm went silent again then he said, “You know we got you covered, right?”
“Si, I have seen your signals,” Leon assured him. “Thank you for that but I don’t want your people hurt trying to stop this from happening. Jelly also tells me that you might be interested in joining my team, is that true?”
Storm seemed to pause then he said, “Yeah, we talked about it. I mean you’re a big wig here, why wouldn’t we want that dream?”
“You could have just come to me and asked,” Leon told him quietly. “I would have taken a meeting with you if you were serious about it.”
“I’m sure you got better things to do with your time than meet street people,” Storm suggested.
“You never know,” Leon told him. “I’m always looking for men that I can trust and who would be loyal to me.
I’m not just saying this so you will show me where these men are.
I’m beginning to learn the way you people think.
I’m looking for men that think for themselves and can carry on under their own steam, think for themselves and be loyal, not only to themselves but to me.
If you think you can do that, then when this is over, come see me and we’ll speak.
But first I need to stop this plot to kill me. Can you and yours help?”
“Yeah we can help you. We were already doing that.”
“Can you come to my estate and we can make plans to watch over this house?” Leon asked.
“You asking us to come to you?” Storm wanted to know.
“Si, I am asking you to come here, to my home,” Leon emphasized his request.
“Yeah man, we can come to you,” Storm assured him. “We know the address.”
“Bene. I just bet you do.” Leon smiled. “I can’t wait to meet you all.”
Storm chuckled and said, “Yeah, I’ll just bet you are.” Then he ended the call.
Leon handed the phone back to Jelly Bean. He studied her then asked, “Am I really that unapproachable to your people?”
Jelly just shrugged. “Most people see you and just know that you are so above their station in life. Your limousines, guards and those thousand-dollar suits. You reek of upper echelon, you know?”
Leon just shook his head. “I worked my way up the chain of command just like any other leader. I’m just a man, not a god.”
John slapped him on the back lightly, “But Boss, you also clean up very nicely and people respect that.”
Leon scoffed then caught the look on Jelly Bean’s face.
She raised a brow at him and commented, “There is blood on your dress pants, so maybe you should clean up better?”
Leon paused as did the other two men in the room.
He slowly looked down at his pants to see a few very small dots of crimson but they were on the very end of the leg cuff and they were almost undiscernible.
He raised his head to stare at her. “They kidnapped Peaches and beat Tula within an inch of her life. So, I spilled blood because no one does that to my family.” His voice had gone low and cold. He then turned and left the room.