Road to Respect ~ Sopranos

Chapter 26

Antonio

"Hey, wake up." Antonio groaned and looked up with blurry vision to see Tony standing over him, looking angry. "Why the hell are you sleeping?"

"Because I got tired." Antonio said groggily before sitting up. He looked out the window and saw that it was light out. "They still playing?"

"Yeah, just asked if anyone wants to close the lights." Tony explained. "And I told you before I went to sleep to keep an eye on David. He owes us forty-five thousand dollars now."

Antonio chuckled and got up from the couch. "And?"

"'And?' He's my friend. He can't pay us back."

Antonio raised a brow and tilted his head to the side. "Tony, you do realize we can shake him down for much more than forty-five K, right? It's not my fault or yours that he owes us now. Besides, if you really didn't want him in debt to us, you wouldn't have let him in." The LaRocca stood up and looked Tony in the eye. "Don't try to bullshit me, Ton'. I know how you think. You just don't want to seem like the bad guy." Antonio looked over and saw that Aldo had most of the chips on the table. "And it seems like he owes my brother the money. Meaning this is a LaRocca problem, not a Soprano one. But don't worry, boss, you'll get your cut."

Antonio patted Tony on the shoulder before walking over to his twin. "Having a fun time?" Aldo turned to him with a smirk and nodded. "Good. I'm gonna head out, check on the brats. Call me when you need me to pick you up."

Right as Antonio was about to walk out, there was a knock at the door. Chris answered it and Richie Aprile walked inside. "Look at this fucking lineup." Richie jokes, looking around the room. "Ho! Johnny Sack! They must've had free tokens at the tunnel. How'd you expect to make a dime with this fucking stonewaller?" Richie jested before pinching Johnny Sack's cheek. Then Richie turned to the twins and smiled a smile that didn't reach his eyes. "And the LaRocca's. You cheating people out of their money, Aldo?"

"Don't have to cheat, Rich." Aldo responded emotionlessly.

Richie huffed a laugh and scratched the back of his head. "Then I guess Joey gets it from daddy dearest, huh?" Antonio looked over at Richie. "Him and I had a job planned last night. He threw me out last minute."

"Good for him." Antonio said with a shrug before walking over to the coat rack.

Richie sucked on his teeth before looking over at David. "How'd you get in here?"

"Same as you." Tony said from the bathroom. "Through the front door."

"Hi, Rich." David said nervously.

"'H, Rich?' you got some fucking balls, you know that." Richie took a step forward to loom over David, which annoyed Antonio since he had to stay now and make sure Richie didn't kill the guy who owed him and his family money.

"What'd I do?" David asks.

"I should stab you in the fucking eye." Richie threatened.

Silvio stood up while Aldo protected his chips like the greedy gremlin he was. Chris grabbed Richie and said, "Hey, come on, Rich--"

"Get your hands off of me." Richie growled at the man. "Or I'll put one in your head."

"Hey, don't fucking threaten me, Richie." Chris warned.

"Don't threaten you? Or what, you gonna sick your butt buddy Joey one me?" Richie chuckled and leaned in closer. "Give me a reason. "

Richie turned back to David and started to strangle him, but Antonio walked over and pushed Richie away. With a huff, Richie fell onto the couch and was about to get up, but Antonio only raised a finger and pointed it right at Aprile's face.