Authors: Harold Robbins
The Piranhas (28 page)
“That’s not true. I just owe more money than anybody else.”
He laughed. “You’re really Sicilian. Your blood may be half Jewish, but in your heart you are pure Sicilian,” he said quietly. “You are family. You are the son that I lost.”
“I could never replace Angelo, but thank you for saying that.”
“At one time,” he said, “I really hated you.”
“Why?”
“I know,” he said, “that you shot Angelo.”
“I saved him from pain,” I said, “because I loved him, and he told me that I should help him because I was family.”
Uncle Rocco was silent for a moment. “I know that,” he said finally. “Alma told me many years ago. She told me that you tried to save him, but there was no way that you could.”
He moved his other hand. “I have a ring on my finger, take it off.”
Slowly I removed the ring. It was an old-fashioned heavy gold ring with a large square diamond set in the center.
“Put it on,” he said. “I want you to have it. I was going to leave it to Angelo. But you are Angelo to me.”
Silently I slipped the ring onto my right hand. It felt very heavy.
“The doctors told me,” he said, “that I will not wait too long.”
“Doctors do not always know everything,” I answered.
He smiled at me. “I really don’t give a shit,” he said. “I don’t want to wait.” He squeezed my hand and closed his eyes. Then his eyelids opened again and he was gone.
* * *
IT WAS THE
day after Uncle Rocco’s funeral, and I was sitting at the dining-room table in his apartment with a number of papers spread out before me.
I had the last check from the “Chairman.” I was arranging to transfer them to Uncle Rocco’s foundation.
The maid came in. “There are some friends of Mr. Di Stefano’s to see you,” she said.
“Ask them to come in,” I answered.
Three old men entered. I remembered I had seen them at the funeral, but I had not spoken to them there.
Now they spoke to me about Uncle Rocco, whom they had known since they were young. They also had known my father. They said they felt sad because there were not many men of honor now.
“But Rocco,” one of them said to me, “was an extraordinary man. He never betrayed the trust. He truly was a great man of honor.”
I thanked them for coming. They rose to leave, and one of them noticed the ring Uncle Rocco had given me. He reached to hold my hand. “I know that ring,” he said. “It was your uncle’s ring, and it was his father’s ring—your grandfather’s. It was a symbol of a true Don.”
Before I could move my hand away, he bent down and kissed the ring. A moment later the other two did the same. They looked up at me and there were tears in their eyes.
“May God be with you, Don Jed,” they said, and they left.
I sat there for a few moments and looked down at the papers. The tears began falling from my eyes.
I knew that I was a very ordinary man. And I was an American, not a Sicilian.
But to these three old men, I was the Godfather.…
BOOKS BY HAROLD ROBBINS
from Tom Doherty Associates
The Betrayers
(with Junius Podrug)
Blood Royal
(with Junius Podrug)
The Carpetbaggers
The Deceivers
(with Junius Podrug)
The Devil to Pay
(with Junius Podrug)
Heat of Passion
The Looters
(with Junius Podrug)
Never Enough
Never Leave Me
The Piranhas
The Predators
The Secret
The Shroud
(with Junius Podrug)
Sin City
Praise for Harold Robbins
“A sprawling, sparkling international romp … Robbins’s literary legacy remains very much alive, and fans should experience a pleasant sense of déjà vu as they race through this latest installment.”
—
Publishers Weekly
on
Heat of Passion
“Splendid pulp … Stunningly well written.”
—
Kirkus Reviews
on
Heat of Passion
“An intriguing story … fascinating.”
—
RT Book Reviews
on
Heat of Passion
“Tight-packed plot and inside detail on gambling cheats in Las Vegas gives off blue rocket fire … Seminal Robbins. The pages go
whoosh
.”
—
Kirkus Reviews
on
Sin City
“Robbins’s faithful fans will be lining up for this one.… The plot is spiced with loads of fantastical sex and nymphomaniacal women.”
—
Booklist
on
Sin City
“
Sin City
moves quickly and is great fun.… Packed with vintage Robbins boudoir scenes, it follows a street-smart youth clawing his way to wealth and power. Robbins fans … will be rewarded for their devotion with this unexpectedly lively offering.”
—
Publishers Weekly
“Harold Robbins is a master!”
—
Playboy
“Harold Robbins is one of the world’s bestselling authors.… Each week, an estimated 280,000 people purchase a Harold Robbins novel.”
—
Saturday Review
“Robbins grabs the reader and doesn’t let go.”
—
Publishers Weekly
“His characters are compelling, his dialogue is dramatic, and his style is simple and straightforward.”
—
Los Angeles Times
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
THE PIRANHAS
Copyright © 1991 by Harold Robbins
Originally published in 1991 by Pocket Books, a division of Simon & Schuster Inc.
All rights reserved.
A Forge Book
Published by Tom Doherty Associates, LLC
175 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY 10010
Forge
®
is a registered trademark of Tom Doherty Associates, LLC.
ISBN 978-0-8125-7788-4
First Forge Edition: June 2010
eISBN 9781466833753
First eBook edition: November 2012
