Alessio
“Now that you all know it’s final, we’ll attack before the wedding,” I declared, locking eyes with each person in the room. This was the last meeting before we would set our plan into motion.
Unlike last time, there were no interruptions, no disagreements-everyone listened and knew what we had to do.
We would leave in a few days, stay in the Midwest, discuss further, and then head west to the Baldinis. I had already taken care of every single detail and had looked at every outcome-and none of those included us losing to Leonardo.
With the new information provided by Mikael, I could tell that he was weak, the other families were weak, and their weapons couldn’t hold a candle to ours. They might’ve been our competitors in business matters, but going to war with them, having the families behind us we had, they would not stand a choice.
He was just a weak man hiding behind a made-up nickname. I knew better than to underestimate an opponent-but in this case, I was confident.
All that mattered to me was getting to both Leonardo and Anson and making them pay-and now I know I would.
After the meeting, I pulled out my phone to send a quick text to Estelle.
‘Once again, I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart.’
If it hadn’t been for her, I would’ve never gotten in contact with Mikael, and I would’ve never known that Leonardo’s mouth was bigger than his actual ability to cause any real damage. Anson got lucky with Uncle because he had caught him off guard, that was all-but now his luck had run out.
Estelle was quick to send back a reply.
‘You too, from the bottom of the briefcase you brought me,’ she sent with a wink emoji and a picture. It was an image of her flaunting two designer bags in her hands. I laughed, deleting both her message and the picture from my phone because I didn’t need them on there.
Now that everything had been settled, I took a private moment to call Dad. His one request when he handed me the business was to keep him up to date about everything. He might have stepped back, but he still felt the need to know about everything, and I respected that.
“Dad,” I greeted as soon as he picked up.
“Alessio, my boy-wait, let me step out for a bit,” Dad’s voice came through, sounding more cheerful than I had heard in a long time. In the background, I could hear a lot of voices and music. It struck me how different and less tense the situation was from back home.
“Yes, do you have something for me, son?” he asked after a moment, his voice clearer now.
I chuckled, “Thanks for asking how I’m doing, Dad.”
He laughed, “You’re right, you’ll have to forgive me. How are you doing?”
“Good.”
So good that the only thing keeping me together were Mena, Naty, and my little sister. I had been by Dad’s side since the day I was born and had barely left his side ever since. I missed him, more than I cared to admit to anyone because doing so would make me out to be weak, and I wasn’t.
Complaining to Donni or Levi or any other family about certain things, like my brothers for example, wasn’t the same because they could never understand.
“How are you doing?” I asked.
“I’m doing great! We’re visiting your great-aunt Maria, it’s her 90th birthday, she asked about you!” Dad spoke full of enthusiasm. I remembered Aunt Maria as Mom’s aunt, the one who nagged a lot. The last time I had seen her, she even offered to marry me herself if I didn’t settle down soon-and it did not feel like she was joking.
“Please tell her I said hi,” I spoke. “How’s Mom? Because she barely answers my phone calls,” I asked, concerned. Anyone could tell that she really didn’t want to go, but she went anyway because everyone expected her to remain at Dad’s side. If she wouldn’t have, they would’ve looked at her strangely.
“Your Mom worries about all of you, misses you way too much, so I told her not to pick up unless it’s Melody,” Dad explained. “And it was a good call because she’s finally having fun.”
I smiled, feeling partially relieved that she was making the best out of it. I missed both of them, loved both of them equally-but Mom was barely around, which was why it was surprising and bittersweet to hear about how much she missed us.
“Has Mena run away from you yet?” Dad asked.
It was a very serious question asked in a very serious tone, and that was because everyone had already painted an outcome in their head. “Not yet, I’ll give it a few more months,” I played along, despite knowing that I would never let go of her. At least not if it were up to me.
“Now let’s talk business, what do you have for me, son?” Dad wondered after pretending to give a shit about the rest.
“Where do I start?” I said, preparing myself to share everything from beginning to end. I laid everything out for him, from the information I had gathered, to the plan, to how confident I was that nothing could ruin this revenge. Dad listened without interruption, which was a good thing because he was the kind of person to speak up if he didn’t agree with something.
“I don’t have anything to add, Alessio. You did a good job. I’m proud of you,” he spoke with a sense of pride. “And Stefano would’ve been proud of you.”
I listened to his words, taking them in, mainly because I didn’t want to say anything back. He would’ve been prouder if none of this had happened, if I had killed Anson on the spot without sparing his life. That would’ve made him proud, not me fixing the mess I created.
“You should know that your mom and I will be back in a few days because I’ll be joining you.”
“What?” I blurted out. “I thought you had to recover, and I told you, I got it under control,” I protested, not wanting him to interfere with things I believed I could handle on my own. Sure, I missed him-but not that much.
“I’ll still go back after to recover-but I was thinking, I won’t feel fully satisfied until I’ve done something to avenge my brother,” Dad explained, a determination in his voice. “Do you get me?”
“I get it,” I mumbled. He finally had his drive back, and I didn’t want to take it away from him. If he needed to execute the Baldinis themselves to find peace, then so be it. However, I silently hoped this wasn’t his way of taking back the power he had given me. Dad following my lead felt like a strange and unrealistic concept.
“You don’t want me back home?” Dad asked, puzzled.
“No, I want you home. I just don’t want you to order me around in front of the guys and families, like you used to,” I gave him my honest opinion as I always had. I knew he could take it.
“Alessio, Alessio, Alessio,” Dad let out a long sigh on the other side. “If you fear that they won’t take you seriously because I’m there-that means you were never ready to be a leader in the first place.”
“That’s not what I meant-”
“I’ll step back, keep my mouth shut, and follow your lead,” Dad said. “Now, I’ll be home in a few days and expect you to give me a warm welcome. Can you do that, or do I need to buy my own fucking balloons?”
I chuckled, “I can do that.”
“Alright, but listen, I see they’ve started drinking without me-” Dad’s voice faded away as he began walking into the crowd again.
“Dad, your heart? You almost died, remember?” I reminded him through the noise in the background. Throughout our conversation, it had already become clear to me that he already had more than enough to drink.
“And that’s why I’ll be having that drink because I don’t know when will be my last. See you soon, son,” he replied.
“Alright, see you-” My words hung in the air as I realized he had already hung up.
“Soon,” I muttered, staring at the phone in my hands.