20. Von
W hen we reached the door to my father’s office, I didn’t bother knocking and simply threw the double doors open. I was greeted with the sight of my father sitting on a leather sofa, head tossed back, a glass of whiskey in his hand, and Katarina on her knees, polishing the old man's cane. The sound of slurping made my stomach roll, but I refused to be the one who retreated. If Father wanted some personal time with his mistress, they should have locked the door.
“Hey, Dad,” I greeted as I forced a casual smile. “I’m glad to see you’re taking the rapid decline of your wife’s health so well.”
Katarina whipped her head around as my father grabbed a pillow to cover his spit-covered cock.
“Evonnia,” Katarina gasped. “What are you doing here?”
My brows raised. “I’m sorry, am I not allowed to surprise my family with a visit? Pretty sure Dad called me a few days ago asking me to come home.”
“That’s enough,” Father snapped. “Do not take your anger out on Katarina when I’m the one you're mad at. Now, if you could step out of the office for a moment while I pull myself together, I would appreciate it.”
Rolling my eyes, I spun on my heel and walked out, leaving one of the twins to close the office door. The guys had decided to give me a moment with my father alone before I introduced them. However, that didn’t mean they couldn’t hear everything that just transpired.
“Damn, little siren, you’re one stone-cold bitch, and fuck if it isn’t sexy as hell,” Erik praised, grinning at me.
Bear leveled me with a look, telling me he knew I was looking for a fight with my father. What can I say, I have a talent for being able to know what buttons to push to piss people off.
Apollo took my hand in his and gave it a slight squeeze, drawing my attention. “Tell me, treasure, do you have an issue with Katarina? I’d be more than happy to remove her from the equation.”
I sighed and shook my head. “No, I don’t have a problem with Kat, it’s my dad who I’d like to punch in the face more often than not. Kat’s been around most of my life, and she’s always treated us kids as if she was our live-in aunt.”
“Wait, hold on,” Erik cut in. “Let me get this straight, you already knew about them?”
Matteo snorted as if trying to cover up his laughter. “They are the worst kept secret. Actually, I’m not sure you could have ever considered it a secret. Dad and Katarina have been a thing since all of us were under the age of ten. Plus, they have our mother’s blessing to be together.”
Surprised, Erik simply blinked in response to the information.
“Yes, it’s a fairly common practice among the mafia families to have a wife or wives and mistresses,” Apollo added. “From what I’ve heard, they are reluctant to give up their old-world ideals. Men of power always had whatever women they wanted and no one judged them for it.”
Lazzaro frowned as he scrutinized Apollo. “And how would you know that?”
Without missing a beat, Apollo gave a flourish with his hand as he bowed. “I am a connoisseur of all things ancient and rare. My job is to learn about the past and find things from those early days so the museum I work for has fresh exhibits for people like you to come and see.”
“Where the hell did you find this guy, V?” Matteo asked, scratching his temple. “No offense, but you seem way too smart and put together to have attracted our sister's attention.”
Apollo released my hand only to slide the arm around my waist. I tensed and gave him a warning look not to take advantage of the situation.
“It’s a rather boring story,” Apollo admitted. “She was enjoying herself at a club I frequent, and I gathered up the balls to dance with her. Our meeting was hot, intense, and a whirlwind, which was over all too soon. Then, by chance, we met again recently, and our connection was just as strong as it was back then. Lucky for me, this time around I’m able to be of service in locating a few rare finds.”
The twins exchanged a look and simultaneously shrugged their shoulders. “You’re right, that was really boring,” Matteo muttered.
My hand whipped out and slammed into Matteo’s gut, causing him to double over with a groan. “Goddammit, V.”
“Far be it for me to lecture you about what comes out of your mouth, but maybe you should give it a heartbeat before speaking,” I said as I crossed my arms.
“Children, please,” Katarina scolded as she exited the office. “Why must things always turn into a fight around you, Evonnia?”
“I guess you could say it’s my preferred method of communication,” I answered.
Katarina sighed in defeat and moved on to other matters. “Will you be staying for dinner?”
“Yup, it’s pot roast night and I wouldn’t miss it for anything. Oh right, I brought along a few extra people this time,” I said, using my thumb to point at Apollo and Erik. “They’ll be staying as long as I am.”
Katarina looked each of them over for a moment, then fixed her gaze back on me. “Do I need to prepare extra bedrooms, or will they be with you?”
I had to admit, I was impressed by how Katarina handled all this. Which was kind of nice since I knew my father wouldn’t be as chill.
“We’ll need one extra room next to mine,” I shared.
Katarina nodded and started down the hall, then paused to look over her shoulder. “You can go in now, your father is decent.”
Something about the way she said that caused my hackles to rise. Maybe it was because I knew moles were in our midst, or I simply wasn’t feeling friendly today. Who the hell knows, but it didn’t bode well for the conversation I was about to have.
Lazzaro thrust out an arm, stopping me. “Vonnie, you said this matter was important, so try to explain things before you and Dad start an all-out war over nothing.”
I glared at my brother. “It’s not over nothing, and you know it.”
His shoulders sagged as he stepped out of my way. “Will you ever tell us what really happened after you left home?”
“Why the fuck would I do that when it won’t change anything?” I shot back. “What’s done is done, and this is the sister you’re left with, so take it or leave it.”
Katarina hadn’t latched the door, so I shoved it open and found my father leaning against the front of his desk, clearly waiting for us. I walked over to one of the leather armchairs and sat, kicking my legs over the armrest.
“What up, Daddy’o? Sorry about the blue balls, but we’ve got something important to talk about,” I said.
My father’s gaze lifted from mine as he spotted Erik and Apollo. “Evonnia, who are these men, and why are they in my home?”
“They’re my men, and I vouch for them,” I stated. “Unless my word isn’t good enough.”
Father pinched the bridge of his nose and took a deep breath. “Of course, your word is enough, but I have every right to question unknown people in my home.”
“Funny you should say that,” I mused aloud. “I’ve got intel from a source I trust enough to take seriously, there are traitors who’ve managed to weasel their way into your business.”
My words had the desired effect as Father’s head snapped up to hold my gaze once more. “What?”
“You’ve got a fox in the hen house, Pops,” I reiterated. “Seems you’ve been lax on questioning the unknown faces already in your home.”
Matteo charged up to my chair so he could glare at me. When he reached out to grab my arm, Erik was on his feet and had Matteo’s arm twisted behind him before my brother could react.
“Get your fucking hands off me,” Matteo demanded.
Erik smiled as if what Matteo said was the funniest thing on the planet. “Ha ha ha, yeah, I think not.”
“V, tell your boyfriend to let me go,” Matteo said through gritted teeth.
I cocked my head slightly. “Are you telling me you can’t break his hold? My, my, what a shame, and you spend so much time in the gym training for moments like this.”
It was Lazzaro’s turn to step up, but he had a gun aimed at Erik’s head. “Let go, or I will be forced to retaliate your attack on an underboss of the Zuccaro Family.”
His threat had me on my feet, lip curled in a snarl as I yanked Erik behind me. “He is not yours to discipline, Lazzaro. Put the gun away, or you’ll force me into doing something I’ll regret.”
In an odd switch of roles, Matteo was the one who forced Lazzaro to lower his gun and take a step back. “Laz, this is Von, our baby sister we’re dealing with here. What the fuck were you thinking?”
“I-I don’t know,” Lazzaro muttered, shaking his head. “All I saw was this stranger attacking you, and I reacted.”
“Erik was only trying to protect me,” I explained. “Matteo came at me a little hot and Big Red did exactly what he was supposed to. Remember, Bear has been around us for a lot longer and knows when we argue it can get intense. However, I want to make it clear, if I ever see or hear anyone threatening any of my men, I’ll deal with the matter personally.”
“And people say it’s such a joy to have all your children home,” Father grumbled. “Everyone put away your weapons, yes even you, Bear, and attempt to have a civil conversation.”
I turned to see Bear had moved from his spot behind my chair and was now right behind Lazzaro. The flash of metal told me he had a blade in his hand, which he was now returning to its sheath. Knocking Lazzaro out of his way, Bear headed my way, scooped me up, and placed me on his lap like I was a child. This was a fairly typical occurrence when I visited home because I couldn’t get out of his hold. When Bear wanted to pretend he was made out of stone I was shit out of luck and forced to behave.
“Von, let’s start from the beginning, how did you come across this information?” Father questioned as he absently flipped a coin through his fingers.
Armond Zuccaro didn’t have many tells, but when he was pissed and trying to control himself out came the coin. I warned him about the tell, and since then he made an effort to fiddle with the coin randomly to throw people off. However, when we were at home where he let his guard down, the tell was well known to those of us who called him father.
“You know I’m searching for the Accardi twins, right?” I asked, and they nodded. “Well, the other part of my mission was to also deal with Serena, and she’s decided to move herself to the top of my to-kill list. The bitch put a bounty on my head for fuck’s sake. Thank God I have connections to someone who monitors the dark web and gave me a heads up.”
My father’s face flushed red as his anger continued to build. “She dared to put a bounty on my daughter like she’s some common criminal?”
“Honestly, Dad, you should see it as a compliment. The bitch was forced to do it this way because no one worth a damn wants to cross me,” I pointed out. “Moving along, since my bounty has nothing to do with why I’m here. While researching Selena, I found out a lot of interesting things she did behind Gian’s back. One of them being the rule, if the whole family is taken out, Serena has to get revenge on those responsible. Which brings us to the reason why Serena bothered to infiltrate your ranks. Their one and only goal is to kill all of you so Serena gets power over the Accardi Estate.”
“I see,” Father said, the coin in his hand moving faster as he processed what I told him. “How did you come by this information?”
“A bunch of places,” I answered, knowing my vagueness would irritate him.
Sure enough, I was leveled with a disapproving look as his hand fisted the coin tightly enough his knuckles turned white. “Evonnia, I don’t want to fight with you. That being said, if this information is accurate and we’re in danger why are you fucking around? Please, for the love of God, just spit it out so we can act on the problem.”
He had a point, but it was so damn hard not to pick at the scab of guilt he carried for being the reason I ran away. I’d come all the way here to deal with the cockroaches who dared to fuck with my family, so I suppose I should lay it all out for them.
“From what I could figure out with the help of various sources, at least two or three men on Serena’s payroll were placed in the batch of new blood. I don’t know how or who their sponsor was, but they managed it.” I turned to look at the twins. “Have you noticed any of the new blood trying to suck up to you guys?”
“V, every single one of them sucks up to us,” Lazzaro explained. “It would be odd if they didn’t since we’re the ones who get the final say this time around.”
Surprised at this news, I glanced at my father, who nodded in confirmation. “I figured with all the changes going on with two of the Five Families gone, the twins should take on more. This new era of the mafia will be the one they have to live and thrive in. So I decided they should start to fill the ranks with men who will help them grow the Zuccaro legacy.”
Internally, I rolled my eyes, knowing these two would never be able to judge the new blood the way they needed to be. When they tested people, their challenges all seemed to come out of the master playbook of every jock fraternity around the world. Knowing how fast someone could shotgun a beer or how many BB gun pellets they could take to the ass did nothing to prove their loyalty.
“How many did you say were still left?” I asked the twins.
“Fifteen,” Matteo answered. “We started with, I think, thirty-five, but some didn’t make it past the first week. There were two who thought if they changed their minds they could just leave and go back home.” The disgust in his tone was obvious.
Much like when people come to work for me, the mafia isn’t a job you can just quit even if you haven’t taken your vow. At least with only fifteen men left it wasn’t going to be too hard to flush out who the moles were.
“What do you say we take the new blood out tonight?” I asked, leaning back against Bear.
The twins exchanged a look and shrugged. “Okay,” they said in unison, and a grin bloomed on my face.