escaped in the chaos. I talked to your father's guards. I talked to Chris. No one knows what happened. She was just gone."
"Was there blood?"
"No. No," he insisted, voice firmer. "I looked. No crime scene was cleaned up. She just wasn't there. I think she just slipped away in the chaos."
"I need to find her."
"I will get someone on it. If we can spare them."
"We will spare them," I told him, not caring if it meant I would be less protected as I made my move to take the position of power, as I plotted to become the Capo dei Capi.
"Okay. I will get someone on that. I think Chris will volunteer. Sounds like they bonded over the days when he was on guard. Your old man kicked him out. That was when all this shit went down. He has been beating himself up about it since."
"Alright. Yeah, in that case, put him on it. And Anthony. We need to open the books, get him in. I need more men I know I can count on around here. Old alliances need to be evened out. And I want Terry taken care of," I told him, thinking of my father's consigliere, a man I wouldn't trust as far as I could throw him.
"Taken down a notch, or taken care of?" Emilio asked, parking, glancing over at me.
"Fucking taken care of," I told him, opening my door, climbing out.
"Boss," Christopher greeted me, rushing forward, blocking my body at the right as Emilio moved in at my left.
I didn't love the idea of having the men I trusted most in the world literally shielding me from possible bullets, but I also had to accept that this was my life now.
I was no longer an underboss.
And being the boss meant you had bodyguards at all times, like it or not.
We rushed up the steps and into the house, most of the family gathered around.
I saw several looks around the room.
Some showed relief.
Others fear.
And still others, uncertainty.
The ones with relief were on my short list for positions closest to me.
The fearful ones needed to be interrogated.
The uncertain ones would just need to have their loyalty inspired. It shouldn't be hard considering they'd put up with my father's shitty leadership for so long.
"You," I said, pointing to several of the fearful and uncertain ones. "On the streets. Listen around. We're not worried about the Morellis or the D'Onofrios. Work any leads you have on the other families. Get it out that I am back and I am fine and I am taking my father's place. You," I went on, pointing to some of the relieved ones, thankful for their acceptance. "We need to gut this place, get all the useless shit boxed up, and get rid of it. And anything even slightly incriminating, questionable, all the weapons, everything else, we need to sort and deal with. I need to know what my father didn't make public knowledge. No surprises."
"Me?" Christopher asked, chin jerking up. "You know what your job is. Find her," I told him, giving him a hard glance, getting a nod before rushing off.
"I need ten guards here at the house. Everyone else, I need you making the rounds at our local businesses, drop in, tell them we are giving them this month off from their debts until I can meet with each of them personally to make sure the rates have all been fair. Yes, fair," I affirmed when brows pinched. "My father leaned too hard on some, and not hard enough on others. We are fixing that. But they don't need to know that. Just tell them what I said. And otherwise, business as usual. Except you now come to me with your problems. Coffee," I told Emilio as the others decided who would stay and who would hit the streets. "What did the cops and coroner say about my father?"
"Accidental consumption of peanuts. Though no one has any idea how. You know how your father was about nuts."
I did.
I never even tasted peanut butter until I was an adult. He made some rule about how the people who owed us debts couldn't touch or eat nuts the day debts were collected each month. He was anal about it. Which made sense since he had a severe allergy, and almost died twice.
Why he hadn't gotten to an epinephrine pen was beyond me.
That said, I wasn't exactly sad about it.
I saw it in his eyes as he pulled that trigger.
He meant to kill