I Buried The Don And Took His Throne Chapter 04
Half My Crew
Marco storms in wearing a black suit, rage all over his face.
Bianca trails behind him, sniffling, half her face swollen up like a plum.
His eyes land on the burnt dress in the fireplace and his pupils shrink.
“Sloane Crestwell! Jealous, out of control, vicious — Bianca comes here trying to make peace and you put hands on her?!”
“You forget who runs this Family now?!”
Bianca whimpers behind him, voice soft as silk.
“Baby, don’t… Sloane just lost her temper for a second… it’s nothing…”
The gentler she plays it, the darker his face gets.
“Ricci.” Marco snaps his fingers. “Effective tonight, Sloane doesn’t leave this room. Not a step outside without my word.”
He pauses. Something ugly and calculating slides across his eyes.
“And the Crestwell house has clearly gotten sloppy — letting a woman run this wild. I’m heartbroken over it, really.”
“Get word to the capos. Half the Crestwell crew gets stripped and handed over to Enzo Russo, effective immediately.”
Half the crew.
Thirty years my grandfather bled in back alleys and warehouses for those men. Thirty years of funerals and payoffs and dead friends.
And Marco hands them, in one breath, to Bianca’s brother — a guy who can’t even hold his liquor at a sit-down.
I look into Marco’s eyes and it clicks.
He didn’t touch my crew because I slapped Bianca.
He’s been waiting for an excuse. For a long, long time.
I don’t beg or argue. I just lower my eyes. “…Understood.”
Marco snorts, wraps his arm around Bianca, and walks out.
—
That night, my door is lined with soldiers. Every one of them holding.
Around midnight, the door opens on its own. A wave of heavy perfume hits me first.
Bianca walks in on gold-heeled Louboutins.
She’s changed clothes.
Blood-red silk, gold trim, a diamond tiara pinned into her curls like she’s already the Donna. Every finger dripping.
She saunters over in the outfit, cradling her puffed-up cheek, and looks down at me.
“How’s the fit? You like it?”
She crouches, brings her mouth to my ear. Voice sweet. Words like broken glass.
“Sloane. Your grandfather’s crew — mine now. Marco — mine. Three days from now at the coronation, I already asked him for something special.”
“You’re gonna kneel at the bottom of the compound steps and watch me get made Donna in front of every capo on the East Coast.”
She stands, laughing so hard her whole body shakes.
I lift my head and look at her smug little face.
Then I laugh too.
Hers freezes on her mouth.
“You… what are you laughing at?”
“Coronation, huh? Don’t sweat it, Bianca. I’ll bring the two of you a hell of a gift.”