*Leo*
For a while, now, I’ve felt like I was spinning my wheels with Darion. The boy had a head as hard as two sacks of bricks and about as much sense as them, too. Majority of the ti, I wanted to slap so sense into the boy, and other tis, I wanted to shoot him. I figured that would put both of us out of our misery.
Darion was the antithesis of all and Franky stood for. We didn’t shirk our duties. We didn’t half do shit then swore we did our jobs. We never thought being leader was about money and flash. It wasn’t about the cars and won.
It was about the people and how we were going to take care of them. Sure, we had shit to do. over the years, Franky and I had our share of girls. We had flashy cars, and I was into being a suit while Franky was a jeans and tee man.
Either way, we’d worked our way up the ranks. We’d done our ti in the trenches. Shit I’d been an enforcer long before I’d been a second-hand man then leader. I’d been a driver. Hell, for a while there I’d been a number chaser for the bosses.
I did all I could to be a part of this family. It was the only one I knew. They’d taken in. These people had been the only family that accepted and never let go. I had looked up to the n I was trained under.
Darion couldn’t understand any of that. He’d always had his mother and father. And even now, though Franky couldn’t stand him and he got on my ever-loving nerves, he still had us.
But we kept having to bail him out of shit. There had been a couple of tis I’d wanted to leave his ass right where he was and let him either rot or get what was coming to him. That’s what a leader should do when his n are insubordinate. Well, it was better than killing his dumb ass.
This ti the little shit had gone too far. My woman was in a burning building because of that stupid as fucker. If I found him, I’d kill him myself. I was so done with this acting out shit. The boy was in his twenties. He’d had plenty of ti to get his shit together, and I was being lenient because I saw the potential in the arrogant ass.
He was smart, and normally if I told him sothing, he got it without having to repeat myself fifty-thousand tis. it was when it ca to the rules he seed to get off track. Hell, when I was in my late teens and early twenties, I was stupid too. maybe not as stupid as Darion, but I had my monts.
The major difference between Darion and at twenty-sothing, was I hadn’t done shit to get myself killed. I swore the boy was trying to see if I’d actually do it or not because he’d been sent to from Alessandro. What he didn’t understand was that Alessandro didn’t run LA. I did. Sure, I took orders from Al, but the buck in LA began and stopped with . I was still the Don, and I could wipe the floor with his little ass if I wanted, but he didn’t seem to understand that.
I was standing outside of a fucking arena where people and smoke were billowing out. I heard the sirens and felt the urge to kill Darion all over again. People were scrambling like a house of ants when their ho was stepped on. They were running to cars, trucks, and SUVs. They were screaming and not looking where they were going. I kept looking around for the only person in that mont that mattered to .
Part of felt as if my heart would explode with panic. It beat so hard and fast it was a wonder the people around hadn’t heard it and stopped to stare. It felt as if it were on stereo to . the longer I couldn’t find her the more my stomach felt as if a fire were building inside it.
My skin had a sheen of sweat covering it, and it had nothing to do with the smoke and heat in the air. I ran against the tide of people toward the fiery field searching every face for Bianca’s. I slid between people, ran around others, and nearly plowed into so, as I turned and maneuvered my way toward that horrifying conflagration.
I tried to get closer, but I was pushed back by the fire. My God, have I lost Bianca and our baby. No, not now! God, not now, my mind shouted. I couldn’t speak, not even to call the one na that seed to keep my heart beating most days.
All I could do was stand there, staring at the fire and smoke, wondering if I’d have to live the rest of my life without color, rhy, or reason. That’s how it had been before for . I’d been existing. Bianca made live. I wasn’t sure I could do any of it without her.
Just when I was about to sink to my knees in abject despair, I watched with relief Darion leading a coughing and soot-covered Bianca out of the smoke. Though she looked like a chimney sweep, I thought she was the most beautiful sight I’d ever seen.
By the ti I’d made my way to them, my relief had turned to rage.
“What in the actual fuck, Darion!” I yelled. I rarely raised my voice, and I saw Bianca jump at the sound. I pulled her into my arms, and kissed her smoke covered temple. Having her in my arms made feel better, but I wanted to grab Darion by the throat and throttle him right there, cops be damned.
I’m sorry baby,” I whispered in her ear, and rubbed her back as she held on to shivering.
“Shit, Leo. Bianca wasn’t even supposed to be here,” the dick said, as a paradic jogged over to us.
“Yeah, and she wouldn’t have been if you hadn’t brought your ass over here.”
“It’s not my fault she was following , man,” he said, tilting his chin up in defiance. I wanted to punch that look off his face.
I glared at Darion, as the paradic looked Bianca over. She was still coughing.
“Ma’am, we need to take you in for oxygen,” the paradic said.
“Don’t think this is over, boy,” I said, staring into those dark arrogant orbs.
“Whatever, man,” Darion scoffed as if he were blowing off what I’d said and the ramifications of his actions tonight.
Darion was right, Bianca shouldn’t have been following him, and I was definitely going to give her hell. But Darion was putting his actions off on Bianca when he’d been in the wrong in the first place.
All I could think in those monts, as I walked to the bus beside a still coughing Bianca, was what if Darion had been in the fire alone with no way out. While I joked around about killing the little shit, and I often thought about shooting the dummy myself, I didn’t really want him dead.
I wanted him to learn how to be the next Don of the LA branch of the family. I wasn’t in such a rush to hand the family over that I couldn’t find another candidate, but I thought if he’d get his shit together, Darion would be an all-right leader.
I knew Franky and Bianca thought I was wrong about Darion. They didn’t see the potential in the boy, and I was starting to think maybe they were right and I was wrong about Darion. After tonight, I’d be harder on the boy. I was tired of forgiving every infraction. It was ti to crack down on him even more.
I rembered working my way up and seeing n getting killed for less than the shit Darion pulled. I’d seen my share of death, and I didn’t really have any qualms with taking soone out who needed it if necessary for the safety of everybody.
I’d seen so much death in so little a ti in the last few months. I wasn’t going soft, or at least, I didn’t think I was. I didn’t want to kill the boy for stupid shit he’d probably grow out of over ti.
But who had the ti to play teacher and patient ntor with the boy? Certainly, not . I knew if it were up to Franky Darion would have already been six feet under, and Franky wouldn’t have had a mournful bone in his body for it. If it were up to Bianca, Darion would be back in Italy with Al and his goons.
But it wasn’t up to them. It was up to , and I was beginning to wonder why I’d invested so much in the twirp. Why had I taken up for him with Franky? Why hadn’t I listened to Franky when he first told to send the boy back to his privileged life in Italy and search for another Don?
I’m sure you’re asking the obvious question of why hadn’t I asked Franky to be the don. he was my second in command and would probably end up staying in that role with the next Don. why would I ask when I already knew the answer.
Sure, Elio hadn’t really given a choice, but I knew Franky didn’t want to be the boss. I also knew he’d probably carve out my heart if I even suggested it nonetheless appointed him Don the way Elio had done . Nope, that wasn’t an option.
Then, as we got to the ergency room and Bianca was taken to a private room, I realized Darion could have easily run out of the arena the way the rest of the cowards had. Instead, Darion had stayed to help Bianca get out.
I was grateful to him for saving my fiancée, but I couldn’t forgive him for putting her in such a dangerous situation even if he hadn’t intended for it to happen the way it had. The fact he was there was a major issue, but Bianca and our baby nearly being fried alive was grounds for sending his ass back to Italy.
Not to ntion, all the other shit he had been doing before now. I was done with the fast talking and giving chances. This ti I had to find a way to get through, or I was sending him back to Al to deal with.
I waited for the doctor to clear Bianca.
“Leo,” Bianca said softly.
“Bianca, that tone is not going to work with this ti. What the hell were you thinking to follow him into that den of vipers?”
“I was thinking...”
“No, you weren’t thinking at all. I know you don’t like him and I get why you were following him, but do you know what could have happened to you and the baby. I nearly had a fucking heart attack when Taylor told where you were.
Then, I get there and figure you’re in that burning field. I wanted to kill Darion. And let’s not even begin to talk about how I felt thinking I’d lost you.”
I was pacing her room like a caged panther, striding up and down the room. There wasn’t much room in there, but I found a way to make it work. I had to get so of this anxious energy out. I couldn’t punch anything, and I’d just scare Bianca if I tried.
“Leo, co sit with . You’re right to be angry with ,” she said when I settled beside her and leaned down to kiss her. She wrapped her arms around and I kissed her sweet lips.
“Don’t do it again,” I softly admonished and kissed her pretty nose.
As I cald down even more and the adrenalin slipped away, Bianca pulled back down and kissed my lips.
“Do a favor?” Bianca asked.
“Anything,” I answered, kissing her back.
“Teach how to shoot.”
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