Bloody City: Deviants

Chapter Three

I still sat in front of the fire an hour later when Lino walked in rubbing his forehead and looking like he was concerned, not something I'd seen him in a long time. Not since my father's assassination. He'd been good to keep that secret, keep it from ever even being mentioned and yet he looked tormented.

"Boss, Savio Giovanni is here," he says and I nod slowly lifting the glass I held to my lips. The loss of the nights original intent was a sign in my mind. Would be a sign to others that Aria and I's union was challenged. Most knew it wouldn't have come from within, none of my made members would challenge me, not my word, or my choices. Not unless I failed in my duty as a Don. That title was my torment, I'd been young and foolish once, believed I could escape the life for love. I'd been taught the price for that thinking, and once again I'd been taught a lesson for believing that as the Boss of the Salvatorini Familia I'd be able to keep her from harm.

Ignorance was bliss, until someone caught a fucking bullet.

I set my glass down as the thought richocheted through my mind sending another dangerous wave of anger coursing through me.

"Boss?" Lino repeated himself, clearly having lost more of the weak bravado in his voice.

I almost apologized, but that would have been out of character for me, and my mental duress couldn't be known by my head of security, close friend or not. My father had believed a Don didn't have friends, he had followers, and enemies. It was that black and white principle that led to his death.

I had often forgotten that I had intended to be a very different Don then him, had told myself I wouldn't repeat the same mistakes having forgotten that the same reason no one touched his territory was that it meant everyone they cared for died without mercy.

"Bring him in, thank you Lino," I say lowly in an attempt to make my voice seem less uneven then I felt.

I had a feeling my wife's shooter was from the Chimera but I'd not bothered to ask yet, and as the guy who did body clean up for me, Giovanni would know if it was as bad as I thought it was.

A moment later two sets of footsteps entered the lounge and I turned away from the fire to face Giovanni darkly tanned, thick black hair swept back, a nose like a glass shard, and his customary charcoal pants and shirt, olive green jacket neatly buttoned at the waistline and recently tailored, brown shoes shined to perfection. One wouldn't have expected Giovanni to be as sauve as he was considering his position. A cleaner was a dirty job most thought but without him the Empire I built wouldn't exist.

The butcher of Liguria.

That was his name from many of the higher ranked members of the Salvatorini Familia, anyone who got close to him often had called him pretty boy, something none of them did more then a few times.

"Make yourself a drink, I have a favour I need from you," I say my cigar at its halfway point as I watched him make a drink from my bar while Lino stood nearby in the doorway.

"You may return to your duties, Lino. Giovanni and I will be a while," I say and I recieved a curt nod in turn before he walked away through my house.

"Beautiful house, you have. It's been a while since I had to clean up anything here," he says and a smirk rose to my lips.

"Not why I called for you. I want to know if you found anything that could be helpful on the body of the fucker who shot Aria," I say and he took a sip from his glass as he leaned against the bar.

"His forearm was burned whatever the tattoo on it was, was too distorted to make out," he says and I nodded knowing that Giovanni was one of the few that actually had tattoos out of the Familia excluding myself and my siblings. On Giovanni he had them as markers of his own personal endeavors and I wasn't one to stop him considering mine were no different. Words on my back as a promise to my family.