The idea that a woman was ever the Boss of the family was completely foreign to Caprice and Nico, although it did give Caprice a sense of comfort. If Fausto had worked for a woman before, he wouldn’t be completely opposed to working with one.
“What Paolo doesn’t understand is that I just want to right a wrong and get my father’s casino built without him fuckin’ everything up with his archaic thinking. He needs to loosen the reigns a bit.”
“You have the Bonatelli temper,” Fausto commented. “I agree with you on some points. You deserve your vengeance and Paolo needs to let you have it. But, from what I hear, Aries’ little drug operation is a nice chunk of cash for us. Paolo doesn’t take risks with money. Aries is a sure thing, but going after him makes Paolo uncomfortable. With my grandson away and the Atlantic City project taking so much income, we definitely can’t afford to lose what Aries is giving us.”
Nico leaned back in his chair and eyed his great-grandfather suspiciously. What exactly had Paolo been telling him?
“Papa, Aries isn’t buying from us anymore. He hasn’t in months. That was why we sent Caprice in. That’s how we found out about Cesar Valdez. Dad took care of that, but Aries is still looking for a new connect.”
“But,” Caprice chimed in before Fausto could speak. “I know that if Aries is gone, BDM will come back to us. I didn’t spend all those months getting close to him and not learn anything. We have a better chance of making them fall back in line, if they had a new leader. Paolo is a fuckin’ idiot if he thinks differently.”
Fausto glared at Caprice. “You’re young, and you’re a woman. But Paolo is made and you, despite what Nico and your father think, are not. Watch your mouth.”
Caprice lowered her eyes and stared at the floor.
“Look at me,” demanded Fausto. Caprice looked up.
“You’ve spent the last four and a half years alongside your big brother so you think you’re one of us. You’re not. Not yet, anyway. I see potential in you,” Fausto stated. “But you’re a hothead like your father and there’s no one except me to control you. So you better start listening, understood?”
Caprice nodded.
“Do you understand me?” Fausto asked again.
“Yes, sir.”
“Good, because when you get to Atlantic City, you’re going to be dealing with men who dealt with me and my grandmother. You better have brass balls, you understand? Right now, you’re soft and emotional, and I don’t like it.”
“She’s going to be okay, Papa,” Nico insisted.
“I know. Tell me about this plan you have. What do you know that Paolo doesn’t?”
For the next two hours, Caprice, Nico, and Fausto discussed everything that occurred with BDM and Caprice. Domani and Paolo hadn’t actually been precise with the details. By the time Caprice and Nico left Allenwood, Caprice’s head was spinning with the things that Fausto had told her and the assignments she had been given.
“I can’t believe he’s on our side,” Caprice muttered as Nico pulled the Mercedes onto the freeway.
“What conversation were you hearing?” Nico barked. “He’s not on ‘our’ anything! He gave an order, only after we had to lay all of our cards on the table. I’ve never had to do that with my father or Paolo.”
Caprice didn’t understand why Nico was so upset. They’d gotten what they wanted. Plus Fausto agreed that the family business would operate more smoothly if Nico stayed in New York. He didn’t want to go to New Jersey anyway. He should have been smiling.
“I don’t understand what the problem is,” Caprice mumbled.
“Of course you don’t. You’ve spent hours talking about getting Paulo to step down and being in charge. Don’t you see that it’s never going to happen? I wanted to stay in New York. I didn’t want to have to take orders from Paolo.”
Caprice stared at her brother with a look of contempt written across her face. “Then you should have said something while we were in there.”
“Yeah,” scoffed Nico. “Like the way you spoke up.”
“Timing, big brother. It’s all about timing. I’m not stupid enough to say what I really wanted to say the first time I met the man. I will, though. I guarantee it.”
Nico’s eyes remained focused on the road, but worry wrinkled his forehead.
“You know, when Paolo finds out that we came here, he’s not going to take it very well. Even with the order from Fausto on the books, Paolo is going to make a move. Be prepared for it.”
“But,” Nico took his eye off the road for a split second and smiled lovingly at his sister. “At least he likes you. That’s going to make Dad’s day.”
“That’s the last thing we need to worry about, big brother. Let’s go take down a drug dealer.”
Nico laughed and shook his head. “You think you’re so tough, don’t you.”
The crunch of tires on gravel was very distinct. Caprice peeked out of the window. Aries’ black BMW was pulling to a slow stop. She watched as the driver’s door opened. Aries stepped out of the car and lowered his sunglasses over his eyes. He stared at the house suspiciously before leaning back into the car. He looked as if he was talking to someone. When the passenger side door opened, the blood in Caprice’s veins ran ice cold.
“What the fuck?” she muttered, unable to believe she was seeing what her brain was telling her she was seeing.
With one hand on her gun and her trigger finger itching to fire, Caprice threw open the front door. She and Nico, followed by the cousins, stopped dead in their tracks on the dilapidated old porch.
“What the fuck are you doing here?” Her question wasn’t directed at Aries, but to the man standing next to him.
Paolo’s sinister grin as he stood next to Aries made Caprice take a step back. Aries brought his hand from behind his back. He was holding a big black AK 47 in front of him as he smiled at Caprice and winked.
“Hey baby. I heard you wanted to see me.”
Caprice ignored him for the moment. Despite the fact that Aries was holding a big ass gun, Caprice never took her eyes off Paolo. Anger boiled inside her as the confirmation that she’d been double crossed hit her.
Her only question now was who had done it. The only feasible answer, the only one that made any type of sense was the one that she feared most.
Diesel.
Betraying her would be the last thing he ever did.
“I asked a question,” Caprice shouted from the front porch. “What the fuck are you doing here?”
“I don’t answer to you, girl,” Paolo sneered. “Aries works for me now. You don’t have business with him without me knowing about it.”
Nico leaned over and whispered in Caprice’s ear. “He doesn’t know we talked to Fausto.”
“I don’t care,” she hissed. “We’re doing this.”
“Uncle P,” Nico called. “You should just let us handle this.”
“Shut up, boy!” Paolo yelled. “I didn’t authorize any of this! Every body put your guns away before I get pissed.”
Caprice rolled her eyes and kept her finger locked around the trigger of her .45. No one on porch made any moves to put their weapons away either, not while Aries was still holding his gun. Years of dealing with people like the four on the porch made that clear to Paolo. He motioned for Aries to put the gun in the car.
“No one’s gonna do anything to you,” he assured him when Aries balked at the order.
Out of the corner of her eye, Caprice saw Nico having a quiet conversation in Italian with his cousins. Mateo and Giovanni slowly eased across the porch and disappeared into the house. Nico caught his sister’s eye. His nod was barely noticeable. From where Aries and Paolo stood, they wouldn’t have been able to see his head move.
“Aries,” Caprice called, “you should really do what your boss says. We all know you ain’t shit without a gang of bitches doing your dirty work.”
Aries unimpressed grin was enough to push all of Caprice’s buttons, but she stayed on the porch, waiting for Nico to make his move.
“Are you mad, Caprice? You’re pissed that you tried to come at me and failed. Again. Baby girl, you should go back to school. You ain’t about this life.”
Caprice took two steps down the porch stairs and stopped. “I’m not about this life? Tell me something then. Why are your hands shaking holding that big ass gun? I bet you’ve never even fired that thing. But me, I can hit you from here with one eye closed.”
Aries chuckled. “I gotta say, you play the tough act pretty well. But you weren’t so tough when Keisha and her girls were kickin’ your ass, were you? I have to admit though, you still look good. Gonna have to let my cousin know how fast you heal up. She probably won’t like that.”
Caprice shrugged her shoulders casually. “Tell her. I don’t give a fuck. She can die too.”
“Oh really?” Aries chuckled. “You weren’t saying that before.”
Caprice stepped off the porch completely and started to cross the overgrown yard. Despite knowing that nothing Aries said mattered…despite knowing that she had the upper hand, Caprice’s stomach twisted at Aries’ condescending smugness. She resented the way he stood by his car, daring her to make a move while thinking that she had lost.
Aries burst out laughing as she approached him. He tossed the AK on the front seat of his car.
“You walk up on a man like that, you can get knocked out like a man.”
“Try me.” Caprice’s dark eyes were filled with a hatred that Aries had never seen before in anyone.
“I heard you were training at some boxing gym,” he taunted her. She would never make a move with Paolo standing just a few feet away. “Is that why you came over here, Caprice? You wanna box?”
Pain riddled screams interrupted Aries’ taunts. Immediate recognition flashed in his eyes as another ear piercing scream permeated the cool evening air. Caprice didn’t know what Mateo and Giovanni were doing, but damn, it had to hurt to invoke those types of screams.
Aries surged forward and began running towards the house. He’d blindly taken about three steps before he tripped over Caprice’s outstretched foot and stumbled to the ground. Before he could regain his balance, she kicked him in the face with so much force that she thought she heard his jaw crack.
“Caprice!” Paolo yelled and moved to grab her. She stepped out of his reach.
“Leave me alone, old man!”
Aries struggled to his feet and grabbed Caprice’s arm. “That better not be my sister in there!”
Caprice pushed his hand off of her arm and swung, like Angelo had taught her, connecting with the soft cartilage of Aries’ nose. Blood gushed from his nostrils as she jumped back to avoid any splatter.
“How does it feel to hear your sister scream and know there’s nothing you can do about it?”
“I’m going to fuckin’ kill you!”
Fueled by rage, Aries lunged for Caprice. It happened so fast that neither Paolo nor Nico had time to react. Caprice jumped backwards and squeezed the trigger on her .45. The unexpected gunshot startled everyone. Aries stumbled on his feet; the blast from the gun pushed him backwards until he hit the ground.
Caprice saw him fall to the ground in slow motion. She heard Nico say her name, but it was muffled by the gunshot still ringing in her ears. She stared down at Aries’ body, watching the blood pour out of his chest as his lungs struggled to release his dying breaths. She didn’t notice Paolo snatch the gun out of her hand. All she could think about was the blood. The painfully sharp sting of Paolo’s palm across her face snapped her back into the moment.
“You stupid bitch!” he screamed. “What is wrong with you?”
Paolo’s wrinkled face was so red that Caprice had to hold back a giggle. Nico ran in between Paolo and Caprice and kept them apart.
“Don’t ever put your hands on her again, Uncle P,” he growled.
“Boy, don’t you talk to me like that! I am the Boss. Step the fuck back!”
“She had every right,” Nico tried to explain to his furious uncle. “Fausto put out the order today.”
Paolo stiffened like he’d been hit in the face with a splash of ice cold water.
“You sneaky little shit!” he cursed. “You back stabbin’, double crossin’ motherfucker!”
“Oh, shut up, Paolo.” Caprice finally was able to break her stunned silence. Her voice quivered a little. “You shouldn’t even be here. This was our fight, not yours. Let’s get out of here, Nico.”
Nico waited for Paolo to say something. Domani would not appreciate his son walking away from Paolo without him having a clear understanding that they had done nothing wrong. During Domani’s reign, there had never been bad blood within the family. Nico wasn’t about to ruin that.
“Uncle P, everything’s the same as it was, okay? You knew that there was no way Aries could live after what he did to Caprice. That kind of disrespect doesn’t go unpunished. If it wasn’t me, it would have been Dad. You know that. Fausto gave the order directly to us. We didn’t double cross you. You still have rank.”
“Rocco said you were up to somethin’. You’re slippin’ boy. I’m so disappointed. You had such potential.”
Paolo’s harsh words caused Nico to lower his eyes. It was the first time anyone he’d ever respected had expressed any type of disappointment in him. He worked hard to never see his father look at him the way Gianni had once looked at his own son. Paolo wasn’t just angered by his actions, he was disappointed. When word got back to Domani, would he feel the same?