more than the fact he was dying. He’s a man who prides himself on family. When he wasn’t cutting people at the knees with his sharp tongue, or wreaking havoc on the streets, he’s home, loving on his family.
“What about Grace?” Joaquin questions and I picture my aunt. If there was ever a woman meant to ride the waves of the mob, it was my mother’s sister. She took hit after hit without batting an eyelash. Raised her two daughters in the shadows of my uncle’s criminal empire and never once complained. I guess that’s what happens when you love unconditionally.
I shake my head.
She’s going to be devastated.
“Adrianna and Nikki?” Joaquin asks.
Fuck.
His daughters.
I didn’t even think what this would do to them.
Anthony Bianci, Adrianna’s on again off again lover and Uncle Vic’s former enforcer, better be bulking up because his arms are going to need to be huge to shoulder all the carnage Vic’s death is about to leave behind.
Sighing, I glance at Joaquin.
“What part of no one don’t you understand?” Draining my glass, I cross the room and lower myself onto the couch. I rub my temples as Captain-Not-So-Obvious tries to make sense of what I’ve just told him.
“So that’s why he’s here,” Joaquin says, taking the seat across from me.
I drop my hands away from my face and consider his words.
“I suppose that has something to do with it. He wants to have dinner with the both of us tonight.”
My eyes slice to him.
In between revealing he was dying and flipping my fucking world upside down, Uncle Vic revealed why Joaquin needed a change of clothes and clean-up crew—something I should’ve asked about myself, but I was too busy trying to bleach his sister from my mind with those two broads to give a flying fuck that my right hand had just offed one of Miami’s prominent drug lords.
“I need you to tell me what happened with Pablo Rodriguez. You don’t just off a fucking guy like that and not tell me about it. All you said was there was a problem and the next thing I knew, you were changing your clothes, but I don’t remember seeing any blood, so what kind of problem was there?”
The shock of Uncle Vic’s imminent passing wears and he clucks his tongue against the roof of his mouth, fixing me with a glare.
“First off, don’t fucking talk to me like I’m beneath you. I don’t give a fuck about bloodlines—we both know I do a fuck of a lot more around here than you do and if it weren’t for me, you’d be fucking dead.”
I’m the first to admit that, this we know—just never to him.
“Should I tell you where you’d be if it weren’t for me?” I counter, cocking my head to the side. It’s a low blow but with my uncle having one foot in the grave, it might be time I step up. Take charge of my own life and stop acting like a scorned bitch. Show the world who the fuck I am and what I’m capable of—I might need some sleep first, but after that, it’s on.
But before I commit to changing the underworld, I’m going to need Joaquin to explain why he wasn’t the least bit concerned by the fact a guy like Rodriguez got past the front door of Temptations. If there is one thing we’ve been groomed not to tolerate, it’s drugs. We don’t deal them, and we don’t do them. It’s not Uncle Vic’s style and that’s fine by me, seeing as how drugs ruined my fucking father.
Grinding his teeth, Joaquin leans his elbows on his knees.
“I didn’t know Pablo was even in the club until Miguel came to me and told me Pilar was unresponsive in one of the VIP booths.”
Fucking Pilar.
That woman is a cancer in her own right.
“I immediately took her off the floor and brought her downstairs, he gave her a shot of Narcan, and I played back the surveillance tapes. Luckily, Rodriguez is a greedy motherfucker and stuck around after he sold to her. I knocked his two guys out and grabbed him when he was taking a piss, his dick was still in his hand when I dragged him to the basement. You want to know his last words too?”
I swipe a hand over my face.
Weakness…it’s real.
Palpable.
Festering inside the man in front of me.
“I’m sorry, should we grieve the motherfucker who was dealing drugs in our club and nearly killed my girlfriend?”