Undressed By The Mafia God

"I know what Marco has done for this family," Massimo said. "I know what he has done for Luciano. I know what he means to you. But he answers to the rules, none of us are bigger than it."

"I will not let you kill him."

"It depends."

She frowned. "On what?"

"On Luca," Massimo answered simply. "I have complained a couple of times to you that Elio is useless. He is not capable of handling the famiglia. He does not have the discipline, the instinct or the loyalty necessary to hold everything together. I do not plan on handing over to him."

"What are you saying?"

"I am saying Luciano continues to behave as if he can stand halfway inside this life and halfway outside it. He wants to pretend he can still build some ordinary little future with Veronica and their children without ever fully accepting what he is. I need Luca to come to the realisation on his own."

"His life for Marco’s."

Carol’s hand connected with his face. Massimo barely flinched. "You... You never intended for this to be about Marco." She looked at him as if seeing an entirely new species of bastard.

Then she dragged both hands down her face.

"You are unbelievable."

"Carol—"

"You’re still a son of a bitch." She pointed at him with renewed fury. "A manipulative son of a bitch!"

"Either that happens, or I do what I have to do," Massimo said.

"Luca doesn’t want to be Don of the famiglia."

"Doesn’t matter what he wants." Massimo’s tone stayed infuriatingly calm. "We all have sacrifices to make."

Carol briefly considered violence. Nothing dramatic. Just enough to improve his listening skills. "Massimo. Set my boys free. Let someone else continue from where you stopped. You are not the only Genovese."

"I was the most capable Genovese," he said. "That is why I took over the famiglia. And Luca is the most capable now. It is his right. When his time comes, he can decide who takes over the famiglia. That is not my problem anymore, and I will probably be long dead before then."

"That would certainly make you less annoying."

Massimo gave her a flat look. "But right now, I have to keep us strong. Hundreds of people depend on us."

"And somehow every time hundreds of people depend on you, one of my children ends up bleeding. Do those men matter more than the family holding the whole thing together? Just ask him, please. Ask Luca. Surely, you both can talk this through, come to some kind of agreement. If you believe so strongly that this is his right, then ask him like a father, beg him even instead of trapping him like a Don."

"He has to willingly give his life. He has to choose it," Massimo continued. "Completely. No pressure from me. No one telling him what the bargain is."

"You really hear yourself and think this makes sense?"

"And if you tell him," he added, "I will know. So you should go back to Singapore and hope for the best."

"The one that started this," she said. "Where is she?"

"Luca is working on something. Last I heard, she is in hiding with the Bastiones."

"That bitch!" Carol paced once, hands shaking with anger. "After everything Marco did for her." She turned back to him. "She runs to the Bastiones?"

"It appears so."

Carol pressed her lips together and decided to face the most dangerous threat in the room. "I won’t forgive you for this. If Luca does this to save Marco. I will not forgive you."

"I know," Massimo said. "But difficult decisions are what have made me a great Don. When Luca takes over, I can be with you, or go somewhere with lots of sun and live out the rest of my days. Either way, I am still Don. And I will do what I have to do."

Don.

Always Don.

Before father. Before anything that might require him to put down the weight of the famiglia. Carol finally grew tired.

"I should never have sent word when I found out I was pregnant. I should have just raised my son on my own. I should have done it all by myself. I should never have brought Luca into your world." Her eyes burned, but she refused to cry. "You know what I thank the heavens for?" she asked. "That somehow, despite you, they put a bit of sunshine in my son’s life."

Massimo’s gaze remained fixed on her. Vee had done what Carol had once hoped someone might do. She had reached Luca beneath all that control, violence and duty and reminded him that happiness was not weakness. That a home could mean something more than territory. That loving someone did not have to end with choosing between them and the famiglia.

"all you have ever brought him was gloom."

"I know." Massimo replied calmly, looking down at her face.

The fire and anger in her eyes had still never dimmed, even after all these years. Carol had never learned how to fear him properly, which was probably why he had never managed to stop loving her.

Carol did not even know what to say to that. She stepped back. "You’re going to grow old and lonely, Massimo. This path you choose? You will have no one by you when you really need them."

Massimo did not argue. Leadership was lonely, sacrifice was necessary. "I know."

Carol’s heart sank. He knew what he was losing. He knew what this might do to them. He knew Carol might never forgive him, and still he had chosen the path anyway.

There was no argument left to win. Carol turned away from him and headed for the door. Some foolish part of her still wished he would tell her that he would stop all of this because losing his family was finally too high a price.

But the room remained silent behind her. Carol kept walking. She was such a fool. She had known the man for a long time, gave him a child and still she thought love could soften him.