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Nikki had fallen asleep. Teddy’s half-sister Gloria Sinatra-Drakos, who had flown into town on her husband’s plane, had fallen asleep. And both of them sat in between Mick with their heads laying on his shoulders. Big Daddy, who sat next to Mick, was leaned forward, his head down. Kimmie was playing in the attached makeshift nursery inside the suite under the supervision of her nanny. Teddy, leaned against the wall and staring at his family, hadn’t seen his father look that stricken in a long, long time. And Roz, who couldn’t be still for more than a few minutes at a time as she moved around the room like a wounded animal, just looked numb.

They were inside Jackie’s hospital suite after all tests confirmed she had no internal injuries but would remain hospitalized overnight for observation. Unnervingly quiet, the only sound in the room was of Jackie lying in bed and punching keys on her iPad as she distracted herself with her social media friends.

Although two large TVs on the walls across from each other had both been turned on and were tuned to the 24-hour news channels, their sound had been muted. But seemingly every few minutes, on CNN’s scroll at the bottom of the screen, and on MSNBC’s scroll as well, was the banner headline: The two youngest children of billionaire industrialist and reputed mob boss Mick Sinatra ambushed in Philadelphia .

It was a continuous loop. But nobody in that hospital suite tried to turn either one of the TVs off. It was as if they wanted the world to know of this injustice. It was as if they wanted their enemies to have that constant reminder, like a scroll in their brains, that there was no way in hell the Sinatras were going to let this stand.

Nerves were shot. The tension was thick. Teddy had already left the room numerous times to check on security inside and outside of the hospital. Mick went to the bathroom three times in an hour. And Roz went from curling up on bed with Jackie, to pacing the floor, to siting in various chairs around the room, and was pacing once again. This entire week had already been a nightmare for the family with what happened at the docks and with those three capos. Now this? Teddy leaned his head back. He knew there was going to be hell to pay.

“Marco!”

Nikki and Gloria quickly woke up and sat up as everybody looked at Jackie, who had sat upright in bed and was beaming from ear to ear. When they looked where she was looking, they were all pleased to see Teddy’s son, along with another young man in his early twenties too, walking through the door.

“Hello everybody,” Marco said in his usual jovial way as he gave Roz a hug and Nikki a hug and Gloria a hug and Big Daddy a handshake and hug.

Then he got to Mick. “Hello Sir,” he said as they shook hands. That was what he took to calling his grandfather: Sir or Boss . Both names lacked warmth because their relationship, if they had one at all, was on that surface level too.

Then he got to his father, a man he not that long ago learned was his father, and all he could do was nod his head. “Hey Pops.”

It sounded like a warm greeting, but everybody looking at the two men knew it wasn’t.

And Teddy’s response to his son proved it. “Where your ass been?” he asked him with a sharp tone. “Nikki called you as soon as this shit went down. You should have hopped on your plane right then and there.”

“I did. But remember I live in Cali.”

“I know where you live. And I also know your ass wasn’t in California. You were in Jersey.”

Marco was shocked his father was keeping tabs on him. He didn’t think he cared. But Marco was proficient at getting out of rough situations. “I knew you guys would be holding it down long enough for me to finish my business and then get here as fast as I could.”

Teddy gave him a hard look. “You’re still selling that poison, aren’t you?”

“I don’t sell anything. I do business. I get crated cargo from point A to point B, no questions asked. That’s my business. What they do with that cargo is their business.”

“Answer my question.”

Marco exhaled. “No, sir. I do not sell drugs anymore.”

Teddy continued to stare at him. Mick glared at him. “You changed your name to my name. To Sinatra. You’re a Sinatra,” he said. “Your ass better never forget that.”

“He hasn’t forgotten it,” said Big Daddy. “Have you, Marco?”

“Not for a second,” Marco replied with a smile. Big Daddy kept in constant contact with Marco. They were very close.

But Nikki could see the pain in Marco’s big eyes as those eyes looked, once again, at Teddy. It was as if he wanted his father to make that affirmative step of standing up and hugging him, or at least show some affection towards him. But it wasn’t happening and Marco, a survivor if he was anything, moved on too.

He hurried over to the bed to fall into Jackie’s arms that had been extended and waiting impatiently for him as soon as he entered the room. They hugged vigorously.

“Let me look at you,” Marco said as he pulled back. “Damn girl. You don’t look too bad at all.”

“Some bruises, but I’m okay.” Then her face turned anguished. “But Duke isn’t.”

“He’s still in surgery?” Marco asked, looking over at his father and grandfather, both of whom were staring at the handsome young man smartly dressed in his Tom Ford suit. He got the Gabrini/Sinatra memo that every man in the Sinatra/Gabrini orbit had etched on their brains: Even if you’re a lowdown dirty dog of a thug, dress like a businessman. People, and cops especially, will treat you the way they perceive you . Marco, though they all knew was thuggish to the core, lived that memo too.

When neither man answered Marco’s question, Nikki spoke up. “He’s still in surgery. But we hope to hear something soon.”

“They shot at us and everything, Marco,” Jackie said. “Then Duke crashed the car, but only because he was trying to get away from all those bullets. Oh Marco !” She hugged him again. “I still can’t believe they hurt my brother like that.”

“You know what I still can’t believe?” said Marco, attempting to ease her anxiety.

Jackie pulled back. “What?”

“That you’re my auntie.”

At first it seemed so out of nowhere that Jackie didn’t know how to take it, but then Marco smiled that charming smile she adored and she began laughing too.

“That’s your auntie?” the young man with him asked with a grin on his face. “She’s younger than you are, Markie.”

“I know, right?” Marco stood upright. “Ain’t that some bull?”

“You must be Vivian.”

Marco and the young man with him turned toward the sound of Teddy’s voice. “Yes sir,” the young man said. “And you must be Teddy T.”

Mick leaned his head back and gave the young man a hard look as if he should know better than to disrespect the head of the Sinatra syndicate.

Vivian realized he was referring to Teddy the way Marco referred to him when he wasn’t in Teddy’s presence. “I mean you must be Mr. Sinatra,” he corrected himself. “Nice to meet you, sir. Sorry about the circumstances though.”

“And who are you?” Roz asked with that accusatory tone she was known for.

“My bad, Ma,” Marco said. “Let me introduce you to my family, Viv. You met my dad. This man right here is my grandfather.”

“I know who he is,” Vivian said, grinning again. “Very nice to meet you, Mr. Sinatra, sir. I heard nothing but amazing things about you.”

“Amazing?” Mick was frowning as if the word itself was insulting. “What’s amazing about me?”

Vivian lifted his eyebrows in a deer-in-headlights moment as he realized he had put his foot in it again.

“They’re a tough crowd,” Marco said to Vivian. “Just remember that. And that old broad over there,” Marco said with a grin of his own as he motioned toward Roz. Jackie and Nikki and Gloria couldn’t help it. They burst into laughter. Even Roz smiled, which was hard to do in those circumstances. But Marco was always good for a laugh.

“That’s my granddad’s wife,” Marco continued his introductions. “I would call her my step-grandma, but she’s too young and restless and bold and beautiful for that.”

“Child bye,” said Roz, dismissing her step-grandson. “What kind of name is that for a boy?” she asked Vivian.

“I was named after my dad. It’s a family name.”

“But beyond her sassiness,” Marco continued, which got Nikki and Jackie and Gloria laughing again, “she’s not too bad.”

Mick spoke up. “Careful,” he said, although there was no malice in his voice.

“I’m just joking, Sir. I know not to disrespect your wife. I know it’ll be my body print through wall if I was to be that crazy.” Then Marco’s look changed. He turned serious. “Which brings us to Duke and Jackie’s ambush. Who could be that crazy?”

The Sinatras weren’t about to speak of anything related to the family with a stranger in the room.

That was why Nikki changed the subject. “When you would call and talk about Vivian,” Nikki said, “I wasn’t sure if he was your friend or worked for you.”

“He’s both. He’s my best friend and he works for me. He’s my righthand man. He’s my underboss.”

“Your ass don’t have an underboss,” Teddy said.

“You do,” Marco replied.

“You aren’t me,” Teddy fired back.

“Yes I am,” Marco fired back, and Mick gave him a hard look. Because he knew that young man was, in a lot of ways, just like Teddy. And he knew they were both, in a lot of ways, just like him.

When Teddy didn’t continue the no you’re not, yes I am conversation, Marco continued his introductions. “And that big guy over there is Charles “Big Daddy” Sinatra, the patriarch of our family. You don’t wanna fuck with him, trust and believe.”

Vivian laughed. “Nice to meet you, sir.”

“Likewise,” said Big Daddy.

“And that gorgeous young lady right there is Gloria, my Dad’s sister and another one of my aunties if you can believe it.”

“I can’t,” said a still-grinning Vivian.

“And this bombshell over here is Nikki. My father’s righthand man and wife and one dame you don’t want to trifle with. She can kick ass. For real.”

“Nice to meet you, Mrs. Sinatra,” Vivian said with a nod. He knew where to draw the playful line seemingly better than Marco did. But then the head of security for highly-sensitive matters in Mick’s entire syndicate knocked and then peeped in.

“Come on in, Bo,” Mick said, and Johnny Boreau walked on in. He was about to speak until he saw an unfamiliar face.

“Vivian, wait outside,” Teddy ordered.

Marco frowned. “What for, Pop? I told you he was my righthand man.”

“But he ain’t mine,” said Teddy. “Outside,” he said to Vivian.

By his facial expression alone, it was obvious that Vivian wasn’t accustomed to being dismissed from rooms. But it was also obvious that he’d never been in a room with heavyweights like Mick the Tick and Teddy T. “No worries,” he said, and left the room. The capo in the hallway guarding the door of Jackie’s suite closed the door after he walked out and eyed him suspiciously as he was trained to do.

When the door closed, Teddy looked at Bo. “What you got?”

But Marco was still offended. “That wasn’t necessary, Pop. You didn’t have to hurt Viv’s feelings.”

Teddy frowned. “What is he your girlfriend? What the fuck I care about Viv?”

“What you got?” Mick said to Bo.

“We weren’t able to ID anybody in the car that took on Duke and Jackie. They were burned beyond recognition.”

Marco glanced at Jackie, who recoiled at the thought. He sat on the bed beside her.

“As for the three men that was in the gunfight with the twins’ security detail, we’ve been working nonstop, and it’s been difficult to work without drawing police attention. But we have our first positive ID on one of the three men.”

“Anybody we know?” Teddy asked.

“Ever hear of Mel Janantoni?”

“Janantoni? Never heard of him. You Pop?”

“No.”

But Marco looked at Boreau. “Is it Mel or is it Hal?”

“It’s Mel like I said.” Boreau opened the folder he had in his hand. “Oh no. Excuse me, you’re right. It’s Hal Janantoni.”

Everybody was looking at Marco. “You know him?” Nikki asked him.

“He used to make runs to South America for some guys I knew.”

They all understood what that meant. He made runs for Marco.

“But when I moved my enterprise to California,” Marco continued, “we lost touch. Last I heard he was a lieutenant in an outfit around this area.”

This interested all of them. “Which one?” Teddy asked.

“The Bengino crime family is what I heard.”

They were all shocked. “Bengino?” Nikki asked.

“But for which Bengino?” Teddy said. “For the old man? For Denny? Or for Potter Rarsi?”

Marco shook his head. “I don’t know the dynamics like that. I just know he went to work for the Bengino family. That’s all I know.”

Teddy and Nikki looked at each other. Then they looked at Mick.

“What am I missing?” Marco asked as he looked at all three.

“Potter Rarsi has been recruiting your father,” Nikki said.

“Recruiting him? To do what?”

“To head the Bengino crime family.”

Marco frowned. “Shit! I heard about the explosions and the suicides. I knew shit was going down. But Pop, why would you wanna leave the family?”

“And leave the family,” Nikki added, “to work with a guy like Potter Rarsi that Bugs Cartelli said was behind those suicides from jump. But we didn’t believe him.”

“Bugs is a despicable human being,” Marco pointed out. “But he gives good intel. Why wouldn’t you believe him, Pop?”

“Because he trusts Potter Rarsi,” said Nikki.

Marco smiled. “You trust him? Since when do you trust anybody but Nikki?”

“It’s more than that,” said Teddy.

Nikki and Marco looked at him, waiting for an explanation. But Roz jumped up angrily. “Who gives a shit? My son could be dying on that operating table and you’re worrying about who’s behind it? Worry about my son!” she yelled out.

“It’s okay, Mommy,” Jackie said, and Roz went over by the window and turned her back to everyone. It was obvious that she was quietly crying.

But to everybody’s shock, it was Mick who got up, went over to Roz, turned her around and pulled her into his arms. She sobbed in his arms.

Teddy ran his hands through his hair. He knew none of this would have happened had he done his job at the level it demanded. It was all his fault, and he was having a hard time coming to grips with that hard, cold truth.

Nikki went to him, and stood beside him, but there was no comforting him on that front. To her credit and Teddy’s relief, she didn’t try.