Memphis – Brothers At Arms MC, #3

“You know these names?” Memphis asked the old man. “Who were they?”

Alfredo looked up at him and he still looked pale. “Yeah, I know those names and Leon will as well, I’m afraid.”

“Who the fuck were they?” Zeus growled.

“Well, they weren’t drug runners, that’s for sure.” Alfredo scoffed. “Dad always told me they were pressing him and that he ripped them off but those men weren’t runners, they were security men under Leon’s father.” He shook his head. “I don’t know what went down, but after he shot them, we left this place and went into hiding for a while. At least until things cooled off. We heard the odd rumor about the Famiglia and that Salvador Vincinti, Leon’s father, was looking for my dad but he stayed away and let things settle down again. It took five years before we came back here and by then, my dad started up his stills again and was back to making money through bootlegging. The only thing was selling booze wasn’t against the law anymore and for the next twenty years, dad kept his nose clean. And believe me when I say, for him, that wasn’t easy. Like I said he loved his head games but he knew if he stepped out of line again too soon, Salvador would come sniffing around. Dad thought he got away with these murders and now long after his death, his deeds are coming back to kick us in the ass.”

The people in the room all stared at him.

He shook his head and explained, “When Leon took over for his father and Salvador stepped down, my father tried playing his games with Leon but Leon wouldn’t put up with it. He was a hard but fair man. My father never respected him and he always knew that, but he never crossed the line too far with Leon.”

Zeus stared hard at him. “So if we tell him we have two bodies in the basement and tell him who they are, what do you think this Leon will do?”

Alfredo shook his head. “I don’t know,” he admitted. “My father is long dead. He can’t be dragged to the council in chains to atone for his crimes, as much as Leon might want that to happen. But at the time, when he shot those men, he spread rumors about who they were and what they were doing. Like I said, all these years I had thought the men were drug dealers and my father had stopped them.” He snorted. “Just more lies and head games. Dannazione him anyway.”

“Grandpa,” Delaney spoke up. “All you can do now is tell Leon what you know for sure. Be honest with him and I’m sure he’ll be fair with you.”

Alfredo let out a heavy sigh. “Dad’s been gone for twenty years now and I’m still cleaning up his messes.”

“Well, my peeps and brothers,” Click announced. “We’re about to find out. Just got the head’s up that Leon’s private plane just landed. Only took him 2 hours to make his appearance.”

“Means he’ll be here in about twenty minutes.” Zeus shook his head. “But we got a whole host of potential storms happening just as Leon is coming. We got construction crews, the Raggetti’s brothers and god only knows what else going on here. I hope he doesn’t expect too much from us.”

Diabolus shrugged., “We deal with it one storm at a time.”

“Well we got most of the fence line done,” Memphis added. “So that’s a good thing and we got cameras up, also a good thing. At least we can see them coming before they get to our back door.”

Click nodded. “We got cameras all around and they are hooked up.” He looked at Marty. “Mark brought a brand new system over and showed me how it worked. I’ve been adding cameras all night. We got most of them up and running now.”

Marty nodded. “That’s good.”

Click looked pleased by his progress. “Yeah, so now we’ll see them the moment they cross over onto our land.”

“I want eyes on those cameras 24/7,” Zeus stated. “At least until we get the border secured. And especially while Leon is here.” He looked over at Delaney and Alfredo. “If your brothers or the Dragon’s attack us while he’s here, that’s gonna start a war no one will win. We’ll all end up dead.”

“May I make a suggestion here?” Alfredo asked.

Zeus stared at him and nodded slowly.

 ”Whatever you do when Leon gets here,” Alfredo advised. “Tell him the truth. But do so with respect. He didn’t get where he is without earning that much at least. And don’t try to hide the facts from him. If you don’t know whatever it is, then tell him that. He’ll respect you more for that.”

“You seem to know a lot about a man that you don’t know personally.” Memphis stared at him with a raised brow.

 ”I never said I didn’t know him,” Alfredo replied. “I’ve met the man a time or two when I was younger. I doubt he would remember me but I remember him. To a man like Leon, Family business is Family business. His Business and no one else’s. He’ll ask you your secrets but he won’t tell you his. He answers to no one but the Consiglio but he’s earned that.”

“Yeah, that’s kinda how the MC runs too,” Zeus said. “We have our secrets and they are just that. Ours. We have our own rules too. We are faithful to those rules and if we aren’t, then we lose control and that leads to chaos. I’m president here and we have our own council as well. But we all have to agree to the rules we live by.”

Alfredo nodded. “That’s pretty much how the Family is run too, only with the Consiglio, the rules are life and death and Leon makes those rules. My father thought he could play his games with Salvador, but that man put his foot down and after him, Leon did as well. So instead of playing his games on them, my father just never told them what he was doing. He kept his secrets and those secrets finally caught up with him. When they found out about what he was doing, the Family stripped him of everything. I was grown by then and had my own family but they stripped my father of everything he had back then. They thought they won, but my father cheated and had been tucking money away for years. In the end, he had more than enough to survive. So after they took what they thought was everything, my dad just sat back and laughed his ass off. He ruined the Raggetti name with the Family but he didn’t care.” Shaking his head he said, “My dad lived the good life almost in spite of what the Family did to him. And he did it in full view of the big boys. But they never found the rest of his money. Salvador then Leon never forgave him for that.”

“What happened after all of that?” Memphis asked.

Alfredo shrugged. “My son Carlos was killed. My son Barrett went before the Consiglio, asking to rejoin the Family. Dannazione, I warned him about that but he did it anyway. I warned him that the Consiglio never forgot what my dad did to them and to just leave it alone but Barrett thought he knew better than I did. He thought the Family would welcome us back to the fold and that somehow he could just take over and be the big shot. He learned the hard way that the game he was thinking about playing wouldn’t help him in the long run. When he began tucking money away like my dad did, the Family caught him. He found out the hard way the Family was a different kettle of fish than he’d been led to believe. He grew up listening to my dad’s stories and he took them to heart. But today’s Family isn’t the Family of my dad’s time. Before Barrett started playing his game, he followed the rules. Everyone took his word for what he was doing. But now they have records and with the internet the way it is, it’s all too easy to find the truth. Barrett found that out. The hard way. His own wife left him when he went to jail under the Ricco act. When he got ten years, she decided she wasn’t going to wait that long for him.”

Delaney snorted. “Theirs wasn’t a good match to begin with. They fought like cats and dogs. Dad wasn’t a good man anyway. He would do his own thing while leaving her with the four of us kids alone most of the time. We’d go hungry while he was out making what he thought was a good deal. It might have been a good deal for him but he forgot to bring the money home for his family. You know money for the rent and groceries?” She looked angry as she recalled those days. “He was fattening his own wallet but not taking care of his own family.”

Alfredo nodded. “When they busted him on the Ricco act, Leon finally cut him loose. What the government didn’t take, Leon did. He found the bank accounts Barrett tried to hide and they took it all.”

“And that pissed the boys off greatly,” Delaney added. “Dad put that money aside for them to start up their own businesses and suddenly, poof…it was all gone. The boys had to work for their start-up.”

“But they all did that, didn’t they?” Memphis stated.

Delaney nodded. “They did that. Vincent started the Dragon’s while Alijala and Romano started up their own gangs. I have no idea how they are doing with that asinine endeavor but their men are nothing more than thugs and ex-cons.”

Zeus snorted. “Well, Raggo just got a windfall of about 700k recently. I have no idea what he did with it but he got it.”

Delaney stared at him in shock. “700k? What the hell did he have that made him that kind of money?”

Marty answered this, “He met my sister almost five years ago and they had a daughter together. Before my sister died, she begged me to get her daughter away from him. So he demanded money and I gave him that money. He signed a paper giving away his parental rights in exchange for the cash.”

“Vincent had a daughter?” Delaney asked in astonishment. She glanced at her grandfather and saw his shock. Then she looked back at Marty. “Is she here? Can we meet her?”

Marty shook her head. “Maybe when this is over you can, but I won’t put her in harm’s way. That’s why I paid him…to keep her safe. She’s mine now and mine to protect.”

Alfredo stood from the table and turned to face her. “You protect her then, with everything you’ve got. Don’t tell the rest of her family about her or there will be hell to pay. Her uncles will take her away and god only knows what will happen to her then. They won’t care that she’s a young innocent, but they will care that you have money to ransom her back. If you gave Vincent 700k, they will want more. Solo il cielo lo sa…heaven only knows what Barrett will do with her. You keep her safe, young lady.” He shook his head. “At least with you, that little girl will stand somewhat of a chance at life.”

“What’s her name?” Delaney asked. “Can you give us that much at least? Just her name?”

Marty turned to her and studied her for a moment then told her, “Her name is Lily and she’s almost 4 years old.”

Delaney covered her mouth with her hand and gasped. “That was my grandmother’s name. He named his daughter after her great grandmother?”

“Then he sold her, il malvivente.” Alfredo snarled. “The Bastardo sold his own child.” His hands clenched into fists.

Marty walked over to him and placed her hands on his fists. “Her mother begged me to get her away from her father. Yes, I paid him for her but I would have paid much more to get her. When the exchange went down, I could see he never wanted her but he did use her for money. I have no regrets because I know she will be safe.”

Alfredo nodded. “I tried to impart the feeling of famiglia being a strong unit but that didn’t go very far. Barrett enjoyed the making of the babies but he was never there for the hard part of raising them. My Lily was a woman who believed in famiglia too. But she died too young and when Barrett went to prison and their mother walked out on them, the boys were too old to start listening to an old man. I tried but they never listened. The state took them and solo Dio sa… god only knows what they were up to after that. The police busted them over and over until they finally got their shit together and got their own people to watch their backs.”

“Either way, what happened wasn’t your fault.” Marty patted his hands.

“Incoming,” Click called out to the group.

Alfredo looked out the open door and everyone else gathered did the same thing.

Three large vehicles entered the MC’s parking lot. A limousine and two SUVs.

First, two very large men got out of one of the SUVs. Broad shouldered wearing suits that had to be custom made and nothing off the rack would fit their bulk. Then two more did the same from the second SUV. They all wore their gun holsters in plain sight. Looking around as almost one well oiled unit, they paused for a minute or two, getting the lay of the land.

One of them then gave a nod to the Limo.

Next, the driver of the limo got out and he opened the back door of the long black car.

Finally, a man stepped out. Elegant Italian suit, not a hair out of place. His expression looked hard and cold, his eyes glittering like steel. He gazed over at the open doorway of the clubhouse. If possible, his glare got even harder.

Alfredo slowly shook his head then looked over at Zeus and announced, “Dannazione! Leon looks ready to kick some ass.”