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I try to keep my cool till we get to the car, but it isn’t easy. I was so angry, I thought I might attack Christian!

Christian doesn’t say a word to me either.

Finally, fifteen minutes into the drive home, I explode with, “WHY THE FUCK DIDN’T YOU TELL ME?”

He responds calmly, “Because we wouldn’t have even made it to the table. Trust me, this is the way things have to play out.”

“Please,” the sarcasm drips from me, “explain it like I’m five years old.”

“We want to avoid bloodshed.”

“Not good enough, Christian!”

“Oh, there’s going to be some,” he gives me a sideways smile, “but we don’t want to come out of this thing looking like the aggressors.”

“Why?”

He huffs, “When that incident happened with your family—”

“It wasn’t a fuckingincident!He murdered my entire family! He was standing right in front of me and you held me back!”

“Don’t be stupid, Chelsea! Even the Don himself wouldn’t get away with assassinating someone in a room with hundreds of witnesses.”

Fine…he’s right. I take a breath to calm myself down.

“Now, when thatthinghappened, a lot of the other guys weren’t happy with Don Cassaduchi and the way it all played out. They still hold it against him. We need the families to know that de Soto screwed up the first time and now it’s come back to bite him in the ass.”

“How?”

“Look,” Christian turns to me with a raised brow, “the rules inour thingstate that they’ve got to make this right somehow. What they do depends on how greedy they are.”

“Okay?”

“Either they’ll offer compensation or they’ll go to war. Compensation means everyone’s pockets in that family is going to get lighter or—”

“What do you mean?” I cut him off, “Like they’re going topayus as asorryfor killing my family?”

“Exactly. And it has to be a number you’ll agree to.”

“There’s no number,” I say firmly.

“Well, they’re definitely going to bounce the idea around. The other thing they can do is offer us de Soto and the Don.”

Now we’re talking.

“Do you think that’ll happen?”

“It might happen. See, what we want is for these guys to lose faith in the leadership. At the most, we can hope for the Don to offer us de Soto on a silver platter. It’s one way for him to save his ass. If he doesn’t, it’s because he’s making too much money out of de Soto’s drugs.”

“At the least?”

“The guys in their family who disagree with the Don and de Soto will step back and say—Do what you gotta do.”

Hmm…“That’s what Antonio said.”

“Yup. If we just go in there and kill de Soto and the Don, they’ll have to retaliate as a matter of pride because there’sbound to be collateral damage, but if they warm to the idea first, it’ll smooth things out.”

I sit quietly for the rest of the drive, contemplating my next move…swallowing my rage.Josh fucking de Soto.He was right there!

I had never seen his face before. He wasn’t in my dreams, but he definitely looked like the kind of asshole who could wipe out an entire family.Fucking Murderer…killing innocent women and children.

Something about all this isn’t sitting right with me…butI just can’t put my finger on it.

When we arrive at the house, Charles is there at the door and both Christian and I know what’s coming next.

Christian says, “I assume he’s waiting for us?”

“Indeed,” answers Charles, “in a mood more sour than the last. Your brothers are with him.”

I take the stairs ahead of Christian, hurrying to confront Vincent.

“Hey! Slow down!” Christian calls from behind me.

“FUCK YOU!” Is my answer.

I get to the top of the stairs and hear shouting coming from inside Don Vincent’s office…and that’s when the itch in my brain becomes unbearable.

I storm into the office and break up the three-way shouting match when I grab Antonio by the collar, “You fucking lied to me!”

He gently, but firmly takes my hand off of him and says, “How did I lie to you?”

“You said you were going to pick a target. YOU SET ME UP!”

“I showed you the target you want and we gave you a means to get this done the right way.”

“The right way?” Vincent shakes his head at Antonio. “The right way is gone. The right way wasmyway—To negotiate. Tokeep the peace! To keep this quiet!Six months…down the drain.Now, the four of you have set us on a course for war. No matter what happens…war is coming.”

“Then let it come!” I point at Vincent. “The only thing you’re good at is sitting on your hands and letting things happen around you. If you were any good at leading this family, your sons wouldn’t be riding roughshod over you and yourwell laid plans!”

“How dare you speak to me in that manner,” he thumps the desk with the flat of his hand, “I am Don Vincent Bernardo and I am the boss of this family!”

“The only thing you’ve done is keep my seat warm for me! You and your God damn plans! YOU! Letting that fucking murderer walk free for sixteen years! YOU! Wanting to keep thepeaceinstead of your dignity as a man! YOU!”

The Don bellows, “ENOUGH!”

Daniel pulls me to the side and gets in front…like he’s protecting me.

The Don comes around his desk, “You arrogant, foolish, impetuous child! You know nothing of this world! You are stumbling through a minefield with your eyes closed, blinded by your hate! What I do, I do for the greater good!”

“And pray tell,” I push Daniel away, “what inyour opinionis the greater good?”

“I protect the old ways,” he thumps his chest.

“The old ways are gone, dad,” says Antonio. “Those ways ended when you didn’t stand up for Chelsea’s father. An unsanctioned hithasto be met with force, if for no other reason than principle.”

The look on the Don’s face changes…and when it does…something clicks in my head. It’s what’s been bothering me all along…the phrase that I’ve heard twice today—First from Antonio and then from Christian.

“Do what you gotta do…” I look from Antonio to Christian and finally, I stare at Don Vincent, “it was you, wasn’t it? You didn’t retaliate because youallowedde Soto to kill my family.”

“How dare you!” The Don points at me, “I loved your father like a brother!”

Daniel grabs me, “That’s insane! My father wouldneverdo something like that. You don’t know what you’re talking about Chelsea!”

I push him back, “Just give me a minute, Daniel.” I step to the middle of the room so everyone has a good view of me, then ask, “Who was in the room when the paramedic came to tell you about me?”

“I was,” says Antonio, “he approached me and I brought him to my father, the three of us sat down and spoke, then I told my brothers. What are you getting at, Chelsea?”

“You probably saved my life, Antonio.” I look at the Don.

He stares back, his eyes narrowed with malice, then goes to pour himself a drink.

“What do you want to bet that if you hadn’t heard the story alongside your father, the paramedic and I would have been killed six months ago?”

“Now you’re just talking out your ass,” Christian butts in angrily. “Why would my father take all that time to watch you, get to know you, follow your fiancé? What was the point of all that?”

“You tell me,” I send a vicious smile towards the Don. “Any rational person would have just come to me and told me who I was on day one. My guess is—You father was buying time.He was hoping the longer he drew things out, the three of you would eventually get tired and let it go.”

I take another look at the Don, he still doesn’t offer an explanation.

“Watching me, getting the pictures…all that was probably you guys coming up with those ideas, right? You guys kept coming up with reasons to make contact and every time he said—No—he granted a concession.”

Christian and Antonio share a knowing look.

“You guys are the reason I’m alive, not the great and powerful Don Vincent Bernardo. He was hoping I’d go away quietly and he wouldn’t have to tell you the truth. Isn’t that right?” I stare at the Don.

Daniel gets in my way again, looking panicked, “You don’t know what you’re talking about, Chelsea. What fucking truth?”

I push him away from me, “Isn’t it fucking obvious, Daniel?”

“What?” Christian steps up to me…looming like a hulk.

“That the kids you grew up playing with, Mikey and Daniel, my brothers, weren’t ever coming back…because the man you called your uncle, my father, had to go. Andyourfather and Don Cassaduchi couldn’t risk my brothers seeking revenge.” I step up to the Don. “Why? Because Vincent Bernardo told Joshua de Soto—Do what you gotta do.”

“Jesus,” Antonio runs his fingers through his hair in disbelief.

I look at him and say, “Why don’t we all put our cards on the table? When Christian and I came in here just now, your father was shitting all over you because de Soto called him. Am I right?”

“Yeah?” Antonio says.

“What your father didn’t tell you, is that de Soto was shitting on him for not having already taken care of me,” I gesture to all of them like these are facts, “or given him a heads up that I was still alive.”

Everyone is quiet. They look to each other like they’re considering the facts and the evidence.

I go on, “He was wondering why Christian Bernardo, capo of the Bernardo crime family, was showing off Chelsea—the last Lombardo—like the lost treasure of Atlantis, instead of standing over her dead body six feet underground.”

The brother’s all look shocked.

“He was wondering why Christian Bernardo presented me as though he didn’t know his own father was complicit in my supposed death!”

“Enough!” The Don hurls his glass into the fireplace and the flames roar!

“You didn’t retaliate sixteen years ago because you didn’t have to! You gave your blessing! Didn’t you?”

The Don shouts, “YES, I FUCKING DID IT!” He begins pouring another drink with shaky hands, “I did it.”

“Dad,” Antonio puts his hand out to touch his father, then pulls it back, “why?”

Vincent takes a massive gulp of the amber fluid, sets the glass down and speaks, looking directly at me. “Not a day goes by when I don’t regret what I did. I loved your father, but I love my sons more.”

I feel hollow. Up until right now, I was just speculating because I was angry, I didn’t really think he’d admit it.

“The families were stagnating financially and your father wouldn’t budge on the matter. Don Cassaduchi told me himself that if we couldn’t reach an accommodation, he would have to take drastic steps. It’s always about money in the end…and your father was holding them back. He was holding back everybody!”

“For good reason, dad,” Antonio shakes his head.

“I know that, son,” he puts his hand on Antonio’s shoulder, speaking softly, “I know that. I counselled Don Lombardo for weeks. I warned him over and over what would happen if he wouldn’t see reason.”

Christian asks, “Did you tell him what Don Cassaduchi told you?”

“Of course, I did. He wouldn’t listen. He insisted that Don Cassaduchi wouldn’t dare make a move on us, but Iknewthey were serious. It’s always about the bottom line…the money…and the fact of the matter is—No man has the right to tell another how to earn a living.That’s what Don Lombardo was doing to them. He was putting his foot down for everybody, not justthisfamily.”

“I bet they’re giving you a piece of the drug money for looking the other way about my family, aren’t they?”

Vincent looks away.

“You’re getting rich from letting them kill my family, you son of a bitch!” The only reason I’m not crying is because I’m furious. He deserves to die for what he did!

“Chelsea,” he puts his arms out pleadingly…and for the first time he looks exactly like what he is—An old man filled with regret.“You have to understand, it was either your family or mine. How could I have made any other choice?”

“I thought there was onlyonefamily. I thought there were rules and honor. I thought—”

“Chelsea,” he stops me, “if I hadn’t chosen peace, it would have been all out war. I saved this family from extinction. I did what I did to save my sons.”

“Maybe that’s true, but now they know I’m alive and staying here. You only have two choices, kill me or—”

Christian puts his hand on my shoulder, “That’s not going to happen.”

Antonio nods, “It’s going to be war and we’ll be ready.”

“There won’t be negotiations, there won’t be offers of compensation,” I tell the Don, “you colluded with them and you failed. I’m taking back what’s mine. If you want to put a bullet in me while I’m asleep, you know where I’ll be.”

I leave them there and head to my room.

I leave the Don to his lies and betrayal.

I leave them and wonder…why didn’t I see this sooner?