The Return of my 72

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Chapter 72

Alessio

“What?” I furrowed my brow, confused as to how the hell I got involved. Gian wouldn’t be Gian if he didn’t throw around my name unprovoked.

“Don’t you think I’m furious?” Dad spoke, but his voice was weak and lacked the usual strength that made us want to follow him. “I lost my brother, and I almost lost my son.”

“Then why are we here having teatime?” Gian frowned.

Dad released an exhausted sigh. “I just want to bury your Uncle for now–and that’s it,” he said, glancing at Mom, who stood by uncomfortably. “Now is not the right time to discuss this.”

Gian’s eyes softened, and I knew his mind went to Uncle.

Stefano always had a soft spot for Gian. Maybe because he could see a bit of himself in Gian’s reckless behavior, or maybe because he could tell Gian wasn’t all there in the head. Who knew?

“Do you already know where we’re going to bury him?” Gian asked softly.

“Your nonna wants him buried here, so we will bury him here,” Dad said firmly, closing off the topic. Talking about him was still difficult, and we

could all see that.

“I’m thirsty, I will get something to drink,” he cleared his throat afterward, walking out of the room before any of us could say something.

Mom stared at his back for a split–second but did not follow him. Dad was the type of person to deal with everything on his own. He hated people pitying him and telling him everything would be alright. After dealing with him for years, she knew better than to follow him.

She turned her attention back to Gian. “Mom cooked you some good food. Let me feed you?” she offered, beginning to unpack the bag she had brought with her, revealing a variety of dishes.

“Oh, that looks good. I’m starving!” Gian beamed, his mood changing. “What did you bring me?”

I chuckled at the sight of a grown man getting babied by his Mom and not minding it one bit. If any of the guys were here, they would roast him for that, for sure.

“I’ll wipe the giant toddler’s mouth, make myself useful,” Dante joked, already making fun of him.

I, on the other hand, decided to give thEmily some space. Silently, I left the room to clear my head and walked through the halls again. Gian’s pleas for revenge and justice brought back a dark anger.

I felt like a piece of shit for admitting this, but I just wanted to lay Uncle to rest already. The only thing I looked forward to was revenge, and I was going to get it. The Baldinis had his head? I would take all of their heads and serve thEmily to all of our enEmilyies.

They wanted a war? I would give thEmily a war. They wanted to see me go crazy? I could do that; I could be crazy.

Just wait and see.

After walking for a bit, I eventually found my dad sitting in a chair, his head buried in his hands.

I walked over and took the seat next to him, not saying a word. Seeing him like this got me even more heated. All of this wasn’t supposed to happen to Domenico Fanucci. No one dared cross him, yet someone did–and now he had no energy left. That was the outcome.

“How are you holding up?” I eventually spoke.

Dad looked up to meet my eyes, and I was expecting him to tell me he was just doing fine–but he didn’t. “Your nonna has been crying for days now. She hasn’t eaten a thing, neither have your aunts.”

“But how are you doing?” I asked again, wanting to know more about his state of mind rather than the others, who were very open about their pain.

“How am I doing?” Dad looked straight ahead. “You told me that you left the Baldinis with a bad feeling. When you said you felt like we needed to attack, I disregarded those feelings and told you to wait it out….you were right,” he admitted, his voice filled with regret.

65.

Chapter 72

I didn’t know what to say. Dad was stubborn, yet he admitted his wrongdoings so easily. I wished he could’ve said I told you so, but in this case, he

*All of that doesn’t matter anymore.” I tried to offer some consolation. “What happened, happened, and none of it would’ve happened if I hadn’t.”

I stopped talking After all, I was the one who said all of that doesn’t matter anymore. I could do it now, so why couldn’t I do that with Emily?

Poor Dad was on the verge of collapse. He hadn’t had any real time to grieve because everyone came to him with questions.

What happened?

Who did it?

What are we going to do about it?

He gave thEmily the same answers he gave us. He had a funeral to prepare, and his son had just got his hand amputated. It was all becoming too much for him, and me adding on top of that wouldn’t do him any good

“Leonardo is an ambitious man, with a lot of people behind him,” he spoke, “a man that cannot and will not share power.”

It was true. That’s what I had already noticed a long time ago. He was like a jealous little child who couldn’t handle anyone having something he didn’t.

“I promised you to Maxine a few years ago.”

“You what?”

“He had me cornered in front of all the families–and I said yes, hoping he would forget it over time,” Dad confessed shockingly. “In this business, keeping your word is something big, and I had made that promise with over ten families present at that time.”

Now everything started making sense. He had pushed for me to marry Maxine because he was forced to accept Leonardo’s engagEmilyent.

I never knew of the pressure he was under and made it more difficult than it had to be. I had called him selfish, foolish, stupid–while he was only trying to live up to his word.

“Uniting the East and the West,” Dad spat with a chuckle, “That’s what he called it.”

“Why didn’t you tell me? I felt conflicted, knowing there were pieces of my own life that were decided long before I even had a say in thEmily.

“Pride,” Dad shrugged.

It was an issue both of us se Emilyed to struggle with. Pride.

“And would it really have changed anything?” he asked. The truth was, I never saw myself marrying Maxine. The arrang Emilyent was complex, my feelings were non–existent, and I had been unfaithful to her without regretting a single thing. To this day, I didn’t regret it because she meant nothing to me. She was just there.

It was nothing like what I had with Emily.

“No,” I shook my head. “It wouldn’t have changed anything because I wouldn’t have married her either way.”

“I know you told me everything with Emily started off as fake, but she is your person. You love this girl. She is the one you’ll have to end up with,” Dad stated, doing a complete 180 from the first time she came into the picture.

“Whatever happened isn’t her fault or your fault. Leonardo would’ve sent someone else to take our heads,” he finished.

He worded it so perfectly. Something I had failed to do because I wanted to push the blame on this and that. This whole mess wasn’t anyone’s fault, not my fault, not Dad’s, not Emily’s. It was bound to happen–it was just that Jason happened to come on Leonardo’s path.

“I don’t know if she’s my person. I think I screwed that up,” I warned him not to get his hopes up. “I’m just going to keep her and Naty safe for now.”

There was no way in hell I would let her leave right now–but after all this was handled, and she still wanted to take her daughter and go, I wouldn’t force her to stay with me. There was no point in forcing her to stay if her mind wasn’t there.