Page 57 of Dirty Hearts

We went down to the little room in the cellar, and Luc locked the door.

“Well, you’re looking more miserable than usual. So, something else must have happened.” Luc smirked.

Pa brought his hands together and looked me over. “Luc told me about the Manello grunt. When was I going to hear it from you?”

Pa raised a brow, and I leaned forward, resting on the table. “I’m sorry. I had other things on my mind. There’s a lot going on.” I didn’t apologize for anything, but I knew when I was wrong.

“Claudius, if you let me hear shit like this second hand again, I will step down as your consigliore and move back to Italy.” Pa gave me a pointed stare.

“Noted.” Sure, I was boss, but my father was my father. He was old school and right now, I needed some sort of order.

I glanced at Luc. This was supposed to be us catching up, but it was difficult not to draw a line between stuff that was happening to me and business talk. Even after three years of him not being involved with business affairs, I found it strange to keep certain things from him.

Right now, I needed to tell Pa about the Antonellas. It was something I should tell him because of the seriousness in it.

“What? What is it?” Luc asked, narrowing his eyes.

“I’m just mindful.”

Pa straightened and looked from Luc to me with a scowl on his face. “What the fuck’s wrong with you? You?” He pointed at me. “If this is business, save it for the office. If it’s not, let’s talk. Luc doesn’t work for us anymore, but he’s not a schmuck. Capisce?”

It wasn’t just Luc. I knew what Pa would say the minute I mentioned Barabbas, and I didn’t want to get too involved in anything that could blow up in my face.

This… it was Ava again. I was being careful because of her. Treading on cautious grounds because I knew pissing on a guy like Barabbas Antonella would mean instant war. But… this was me going fucking soft.

I needed to get my act together.

“Dante and Gio saw Barabbas Antonella,” I declared.

Jesus, their faces. Both Pa and Luc looked like they’d seen a ghost. Pa’s skin actually went pale.

“When? Where?” Pa asked.

“Days ago, at the old theatre. They were trying to get intel on the Manellos when they saw him. Plan is to do some more searching and see why he’s back. But I don’t want trouble.”

“Trouble’s already here, boy. What you’re suggesting is taking a peak and turning away.”

“Something else is here. Or someoneelse,” Luc cut in and pressed his lips together.

“Someone else?” I wondered who he was thinking of.

“It’s no coincidence, Claudius. A Manello grunt, sighting of Barabbas Antonella. It’s too weird to be coincidence. Both those families haven’t been seen in a heap of years. Seven years for the Manellos. More than that for the Antonellas. Trust me, it’s no run of the mill thing that’s going on.”

“And you have to get involved,” Pa added.

“What the hell are they up to?” I frowned, clenching my fists.

Those fuckers. If they really were dealing with some crazy shit, there would be hell to pay. What were they doing?

“Son, it’s not gonna be anything good. You may want our CIA contacts on this and the secret squad on foot. Keep The Four close by in case there’s trouble.”

Sure. Looks like I was messing things up here now too. Maybe I’d had it too easy all these years, running off the steam of the way things were set up and not really seeing anything to challenge me.

Pa had a good plan though. A plan I should have come up with myself.

“Fine, I’ll do a thorough search.” I held up my hands and snapped them shut. This would have to take precedence over my concerns on selling the shipping company. And, if we were diving into this territory there was something else I needed to sort out. “Luc, can I borrow your boys?”

“You know you don’t have to ask. But why would you if you got The Four?”