Page 26 of His Vicious Vow

Dominic admitted last night Carlo had no other person in mind but me to take over Vegas. Carlo might be a racist fuck but he was a businessman above all else. He’d sent Gianni out from Chicago only because he wanted eyes on what we were doing in Vegas. There was no way he was going to stick someone in Vegas from Chicago who would run it into the ground. Carlo was aware I was with Luca and learned from my father, no one else could keep Vegas running as well as me.

People thought running Vegas was easy. They didn’t get Vegas was a city that truly never slept. It was a city created by vice and people easily hit every deadly sin in twenty-four hours. We needed to be seen yet unseen, to hide in plain sight, to stay just below the radar. The amount of money we spent on cops, senators, and Feds every month is what the Outfit made in a month. Yet we came out with a profit bigger than some fortune 500 companies.

Anyone in the Outfit who thought they could run Vegas would be so stupid and delusional they would stick out. Yet Dominic called me not a half hour ago to tell me they dived deep but no one fit that would put out a hit on me.

So the hit had to come from outside the Outfit? It’s not like a I don’t have enemies. They were a given in this business. At the end of the day this is a business, a deadly one but a business nonetheless. I’ve pissed off people enough they might want me dead but wanting and doing were two different things. If someone killed me, the Outfit would demand retribution. Whoever wanted me dead had to know that. So what would make them take the chance with their own life?

If Luca hadn’t said Augusto Reyes’s son Mundo was the one who killed his father, the only person I could think of is Mundo Reyes.

I don’t bother calling Gaetano, he’s probably getting ready for bed around now and instead text him to go through the lives of the last ten men I’ve killed or had killed in case the person who hired the hitter is among them.

My phone rings, it’s Gaetano. I barely have it to my ear before he’s talking. “Do you have any idea how long it took to get your sister to sleep? She cried so hard she made herself sick. That was fucking cruel to do to her.”

The sheer aggression surprises me. Gaetano is ice. I’ve never heard him raise his voice, definitely not to me. I’ve known him since we were kids, I’m one year older than him. Vegas was split into four and the property on the strip with the capos all answering to Luca—now they’ll answer to me. His dad was a capo who ran the northeast area of Vegas, my dad ran the northwest side until Luca Moretti’s number two died and Luca elevated my dad to his second. If I weren’t intent on having him as my second he’d take over his father’s territory when his father died. Now it will be his younger brother.

“What the fuck did you say to me?” I dare him to repeat it.

His exhale is long and slow. “I apologize. But jesus fucking christ Sandro, she spent hours crying on me. She kept fucking hugging me and pleading for me to call you for her because she knew you’d answer if I called.”

Now I get it. Gaetano isn’t just ice, he’s rock. He doesn’t like being touched. Well, he did until he got married. He was married when he was nineteen to a nice girl who was the daughter of a capo who ran the southwest corner of Vegas. They seemed happy in the beginning. After he got married, he slowly changed from the guy who always had a smile on his face to a quiet guy who never smiled. She died of leukemia only five years into their marriage, she was sick for the last three of them. By the time of her funeral, I wasn’t surprised when he not only didn’t shed a tear, he appeared bored.

Ever since then there’s only been a usual working girl in our stable, he uses for sexual relief. When she left town a few years ago, he’s gone without, as far as I know. Some of the guys wondered if he was gay but he likes men even less than women. Aside from me and his brothers, he didn’t have any friends.

He also wasn’t a fan of Bianca’s, he thought I spoiled her too much. When they encountered each other, she liked pushing his buttons to see if she could get any emotion out of him. She also hated that he looked through her and ignored her more often than not. His face was always stone, but his eyes told me if she weren’t my sister he’d use his gun on her.

“I apologize. I didn’t think she’d go to you of all people. She shouldn’t have done that.” I don’t address his raised voice. If he had to deal with Bianca, he earned the right to raise his voice. “Did you kill her?”

His laugh is part humor part exhaustion, interesting I didn’t know he could still laugh. “I swear if she weren’t your sister I would have. In the end I said fuck it and stuffed two zannies down her throat to get her to calm down. It still took her a solid hour to fall asleep. And she’s in my damn bed. I’m trying to sleep in my fucking recliner that always ruins my back for a few days when I fall asleep in it.”

The idea of my sister in his bed has my blood cold until I remember he wouldn’t touch her unless it was to put his hands around her neck and squeeze.

“I apologize. When I get back Saturday night, I’ll handle her.”

“You really going to stay silent on her until then?” He sounds like he can’t believe it.

I get it from him. I’ve never left Bianca hanging. “Right this minute, yeah. I don’t know what to say to her. If I don’t know I don’t want to make it worse.”

“All this because of a ring?” His confusion makes sense if it were just about a ring.

“Typical Bianca, burying the lead. She picked a big ass rock that Carina hated. Bianca admitted she thought it was ugly. She called Carina a slut and said she only cared about money. Apparently, she went social media stalking and drew her own conclusions.” Just saying the words leave a bitter taste on my tongue.

Gaetano sighs. He knows how I feel about calling women sluts or whores, all that shit pissed me off.

“Look, I get it. She’s protective of you though. She probably thought she was saying what you didn’t think you could. You made it clear you weren’t happy you were being forced to marry to take over. Maybe give her a break. Bianca is a brat, but you had a hand in making her this way.”

The words hit me hard. He’s right. I was too damn vocal of my resentment of marrying someone I didn’t know. Bianca had no way of knowing I was going to eat every word the moment I met Carina. Hell, I have no understanding how I went from hating the idea of marrying to wanting our marriage to happen today.

“Okay, you’re right. I’ll unblock her. Let her know to give me a call when she’s up and I’ll talk to her.”

His sigh is loud. “Thank you. Can you tell her to go home after that?”

I chuckle. “Yeah, I will. And thanks for taking care of her. I get it wasn’t easy for you.”

“That’s my good deed for the year.” Is all he says as he ends the call.

Guilt hits me square in the gut. How bad had Bianca been to go to someone she hated as much as Gaetano? And what did it do to her for him to deny her? What she said was wrong, she knew that. But for me to just cut the call like that was worse than what she did.

Damn Tony for getting into my head. Bianca isn’t like that. I’ll explain to her I didn’t resent Carina, I wanted us to have a real marriage. She’ll get it and she’ll be nice to Carina because it’s important to me they get along. It’ll be fine.