Page 67 of Chaos & Carnage
Flicking the latch, I grab a hold of the handles and chuck it forward, emptying the contents across the top of the table. My father’s decapitated head goes rolling right down the center in a depiction of the most grotesque bowling ball in existence.
Every man at the table skitters backwards, their eyes wide with horror. “In case any of you had any doubts regarding my father’s death.” I wait until all twelve men turn to look at me before tacking on, “And how you will meet your end if you even think about crossing me.”
Little do they know, none of them are making it out of this room alive. I’ve already ensured they can’t escape. I do not trust them, and I never will. As Lor said, this ismylegacy, but that doesn’t mean I will continue with the same corrupt regime my father had. I plan to overhaul this family completely, starting with removing those in charge. Each one of my father’s advisors functions as an underboss, in charge of men lower down the totem pole. If they are corrupt, then those beneath them are too, and so on and so forth, until the entire organization is a cesspool of filth and depravity.
Thatis what I am dealing with. I will have to personally vet every person in this organization to root out anyone who won’t fit with the new regime. Anyone likely to stand in my way as I shut down the businesses my father encouraged that I don’t agree with. I’m going to piss offa lotof people, but these are changes I’ve been wanting to make for a while now. My time with Sawyer has only served to affirm that my plans for the Antonellis’ future, while radical, are the right thing to do.
This brings me back to the twelve scumbags sitting in front of me, finally staring at me with the right amount of fear and uncertainty.
“You are the new head of our family,” Carlo, a man sitting halfway down the table, says, a slight quiver in his voice. “It is our duty to do as you say.”
Yes, theirduty.Except, I don’t want men who will obey me purely out of duty. I want men who will follow me out of loyalty and respect, men who will challenge my orders and point out my mistakes. Just another way of ensuring I don’t turn into my father.
It’s more than that, though. My time around Cain and the Rejects opened my eyes to a different way of doing things. Cain’s men respect him, but they aren’t afraid to call him on his bullshit when necessary. They lay down their lives for him, not out of duty or because they feel obligated, but because they have faith in Cain as their leader to do what is best for them.
In all honesty, Cain is an aspirational leader—although I’d neverever,on pain of death, tell him that. He’s taken a rag-tag group of men and honed them into a strong, effective team. A team that succeeded in ridding the city of every other street gang. I can admit—to myself—that it takes incredible leadership to achieve that, especially within such a short period of time.
Is it so bad to want my men to respect and admire me the same way? My father’s leadership revolved around fear, threats, and blackmail, and while it may be effective, it’s not genuine. I saw how quickly my father’s men switched allegiances when they discovered he was dead. There was no love lost, no mourning period. The second my father died, he was forgotten by his people, and now I’m going to destroy his legacy. Before long, there will be no trace he ever existed, bar the internal scars he’s left on those of us unfortunate enough to have crossed his path, and even they will fade with time.
I don’t want that. Admittedly, I’m not sure what I want. To not be forgotten? To do better? Tobebetter? I just know I don’t want to be my father. And for the first time, with Sawyer and Lor at my side, I feel optimistic that I will never be him even though I may reside in his office and have his title.
“Yes, yourduty,” I spit out, as twelve soldiers I’ve already vetted step through the door and take up residence around the outskirts of the room, their feet shoulder-width apart and their hands clasped behind their backs, the guns at their hips on display. “Except duty is no longer enough to keep your positions.”
“W-whatever it is you want, we can provide it,” another man stutters.
“Oh, can you?” I scoff, my temper rising. “You can provide unquestionable loyalty, unfaltering trust, and incontestable respect?”
Unsurprisingly, a deafening silence follows my question.
Yeah, I didn’t think so.
“Because your history with me would point tono.”
“Look,” another nameless, faceless ass-kisser says, planting his hands on the table. “We had to abide by your father when he was alive, but now that you’re in charge, we’ll defer to you.”
“Really?” I challenge. “So you’ll accept that I’m closing Paradiso—permanently?”
Several pissed-off glances are shared, confirming what I already knew.
“And how many of you have girls hidden away against their will?”
Sawyer told me what my father let slip, and I have to agree that it sounds suspicious enough that I need to investigate it. So, as I speak, I’m having the skyscraper searched, along with any property each of them owns.
“Now,” the first man—Carlo—snaps, smacking his hand against the tabletop. “I do not appreciate accusations like that being tossed around.”
Yeah, and I bet he’s one of the ones keeping a woman like a fucking pet. I definitely clocked the scowl he did a piss-poor job of hiding when I informed them of Paradiso.
I wave off his anger. “Yeah, well, it’s not like it matters. Your properties are currently being searched, so I’ll find out soon enough.”
Another grumble of protests goes up, but I’m so fucking done with all of this. It’s time to begin purging this family of the malignancy that has seeped into it and been allowed to fester and rot.
Finally pulling my gun from its holster, I flick off the safety and, without a second’s thought, point it at the guy closest to me and pull the trigger.
One down, eleven more to go.
The guards standing idly at the perimeter of the room step forward, securing each of the remaining eleven men in their chairs.
I go around the table, putting a bullet in each of them until only Sam remains.