“In here!” Sasha yelled out. She sounded upset.
Knox followed the sound of his sister’s voice into the parlor where he found Landon and Sasha standing over their father in his bed. Each of them had somber looks on their faces. At first, Knox thought the old man might have kicked the bucket. That is, until he sat up in bed and started cursing at Knox.
“Where the fuck have you been?!” Michael spat, throwing major shade at Knox the very second he walked into the room.
“I had business to handle. What the hell is your problem? Sasha, Landon. Leave us. I need to talk to our father alone.”
“Knox—” Sasha began but quickly silenced her voice when she caught Knox’s cool gaze.
“Come on, Sasha. Let’s go out on the patio.”
“But it’s cold.”
“I’ll build a fire. Come on.”
Knox waited for their voices to fade before he began to speak to his father.
“I know what you’re up to and you’re going to get yourself and a lot of others killed.”
“Vengeance must be claimed.”
“You are engaging in a holy war against your own son, who by all evidence, has no intentions of killing you unless you bring him to it.”
“My sources say otherwise.”
“Yeah, let’s talk about those sources,” Knox suggested. “Nunzio Rigatti.”
“What about him?”
“Your sworn enemies coming over for coffee?”
“We’re on speaking terms now.”
“Apparently. At any point during this conversation did the name Giancarlo Rigatti come up?”
“How perceptive you are,” Michael said with an amused look on his face.
“Giancarlo Rigatti, whose murder was pinned on Miles. You decide to have a friendly meet-up with his grandfather, boss of the Rigatti crime family.”
“And?”
“As your consigliere, I would think you would seek my counsel before making some ill-favored alliances.”
“I have it under control.”
“Sure you do. A lot of people are going to get hurt because of this. Wise guys getting caught in the crossfire is one thing… Innocent people are going to get hurt. I can’t stand by this.”
“Then don’t. Be a traitor like your brother.”
“Why is he a traitor? Because he went to Mom’s side?”
“And framing him was your idea in the first place!”
“Better than killing him! You’re off your fucking rocker, old man. You’re on your own.”
Michael shrugged his shoulders. “So be it.”
Shaking his head at his father, Knox stormed from the room, slamming the front door of the Capadonno mansion behind him.
Juan reached for the remote control as he and G settled down on the couch to watch the hockey game.
“Almost game time, bud!”
“GOAL!” G yelled as he threw his hands up in the air.
“Let’s hope so, pal!”
Juan propped his feet up on the coffee table as he waited for the game to come with G snuggled up to his side.
“Think they’re gonna win tonight?” Juan asked G.
“Eh. Maybe!”
“Guess we’ll see…”
Just a few seconds after the game came on the TV, the doorbell rang.
“Hey! That must be our pizza!” Juan said as he pulled himself off the couch.
“Pizza!” G celebrated as he clapped his hands together.
“Just don’t tell your mother, she’ll have my head!”
G laughed as Juan crossed the room to answer the door. Swiping his wallet off of the bookshelf, he quickly opened the front door. As he did so, he was startled to see that it wasn’t the pizza guy at all, but three masked men. Barging their way through the front door, one of the men attacked Juan, hitting him in the forehead with the butt of a rifle. Crashing to the floor, Juan couldn’t move as the men rushed through. Juan could hear a crashing noise as the men ransacked the house. Juan didn’t know what they were looking for, but he was desperate to get to his grandson and get him to safety. Try as he might, though, Juan’s injuries were too bad to let him move from the floor. As G screamed in terror, Juan’s consciousness slipped from his grasp.
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
MILES AND LETTY CHECKED into the Taj Mahal Casino and Hotel at a few minutes past four. They took the elevator up to the ninth floor and quickly located room nine thirteen. Sliding the key card in the door, Miles strolled in with their overnight bag.
As Letty walked in the room, she gushed, “This is swanky! How did you afford this?!”
“I had money tucked aside,” Miles said with a laugh.
“Really? Dirty money?” Letty asked.
“No. You know better. I saved up from when I was working at the garage, and I got a small inheritance from my mother.”
As Letty twirled around the room, she noticed a large white box laid on the bed. Picking up the envelope that lay on top of the box, Letty immediately recognized the handwriting.
“What did you do?” Letty asked as she looked up at Miles with wide eyes.