Under the City Lights

Chapter 11

POV: Luca

"Why did you not answer your phone, figlio?" My father asks while he exhales a cloud of smoke.

I have just come back to my father's penthouse from Il Chicco di Caffè, where I was with Zara. Already he is shouting at me for not picking up his call even though he's the one who sent me off to discuss the magazine article with her. Little did he know we did not talk about business. I will have to remember to text her later to see if she has any actual editing questions about the company.

"Are you not paying attention to me?" My father slams his fist into his office desk. "Are you in dream land today? Ahh, I see. You were out with that beautiful girl who is clouding your memory now, no?"

"Mi dispiace padre, I should've answered your call. I was busy with the work that you tasked me with."

He laughs. "Ahh so now you're blaming me for your inattentiveness?"

"No. I'm not blaming anybody and Zara's not distracting me. Now, are you going to tell me what you have to say, or are you going to keep shouting at me?" I walk around the leather sofa in his office and sling my arm across the back.

"Cassian has found out who had put a hit out for Sebastian, the one shot at our bar in Brooklyn. The public was told that it was a random gang related shooting, but of course we know differently." He walks around to the front of his desk. "Sebastian got sloppy on his last job and left a trail leading straight to him. It's the bastards own fault, but it's a shame. He was always good at negotiating."

"Enough. Just tell me who did it." If I don't pester my father to get to the point he will continue to build the suspense.

"Rico Gonzalez put the hit out for him. When Sebastian organized the job to take out Gonzalez's bad for business cousin, Rico caught wind that it was Sebastian who took him out." My father says simply.

"You mean to tell me that we are doing business with the cartel now? I thought we agreed not to get involved with the Gonzalezes?" I am confused. We never do dealings with the cartel. "It's a fine line before we get roped into their family biddings. No one who's smart puts themselves in their line of fire!"

"Calm down it was a one time thing, figlio."

"Cazzate!" I curse. "It's never a one time thing. Our families are too hot tempered to work together. We maintain peace and stay out of each other's way. What has Sebastian done? He drew attention to us! Police were at our bar cleaning up Sebastian's blood! It was too close of a call."

"But if we let Rico get off scot-free for whacking Sebastian then we will seem weak like they can off us and get away with it!" Steam seems to seep from his ears.

I laugh. My father's ridiculous if he thinks this mindless revenge is worth potentially spilling our own blood. This is where my father and I differ. He seeks to hold his merciless reputation while I'd rather protect the family that's loyal to us. Sebastian went out and made his own deal with the Gonzalez family. How did we not know what he was doing on the side?

"How many other men in this family could be doing jobs on the side and putting the Maranzano's at risk?" I counter. "We need to have an immediate conversation about being careful and about who we do deals with! Things can't get sloppy or more men will die."

"It will be handled, Luca. Just stay out of the Gonzalez territory for now. I have some phone calls to make. You may leave." He ushers me out.

There are a lot of things being thrown at me lately and one of them hasn't been talked about yet with my father. The wedding between mom and Basile Bourgeois. If my father is already in a bad mood then why not just bring it up now to get it over with? Before I make it out the door I stop myself. "Padre, did Henri tell you about the wedding?"