“At the diner on 7thand Sterling.”
“On the east side?”
“Yes.”
“That’s Alexander’s territory,” Sal said, and I nodded as a sense of dread moved about me halting my steps.
My heart began to beat fervently in my chest.
I felt as if the air was being sucked out of the room. Everything was starting to fall into place, and I didn’t like where my mind was taking me. I didn’t want to believe it. I couldn’t. And when I asked, “Was anyone else around when you grabbed him?” I prayed the answer was no.
“Just a waitress.”
My shoulders sagged. If I was right, this was going to tear apart everything. Alliances would be broken, families would fight against one another, and no one would be safe.
“No one else?”
“Not that I saw.”
“Gio, what are you thinking?” Sal asked, concerned.
I shook my head as everything I had just recently learned came rushing towards me. I needed a moment to understand it all. To compartmentalize everything. The investigation, the war, the deception, all the lies, everything was starting to fall into place.
This wasn’t just a family feud.
It was a vendetta.
A long con.
But to what end?
What was his endgame?
That was what was eluding me. Everything I thought made no sense. Why bring the Golden Skulls and my family together? Why include the Capribella’s? How was the Black Vultures involved? What was the common denominator? The more I tried to reconcile everything, the more nothing made sense.
Then it hit me.
This wasn’t about William Doherty, The Original Seven, or Vietnam.
No. It couldn’t be? Could it be? Could it be that simple? Something everyone overlooked, never putting it all together.
I knew what this was all about.
It wasn’t about Doherty or the Original Seven.
It was about one man.
The one who started it all.
The one person who had everything to gain by making all of us kill each other.
He was the reason for it all.
“Gio?” Dwayne carefully said as Demarco started to chuckle.
“He knew. All along and when I came to him, he said he’d been waiting for me. I didn’t understand at first. Then he told me,” Demarco said, then lifted his head and smirked. “All of you are so blind. I’ve been working with him for years, and you never suspected. I even placed his men within the organization. They are here right now. You may think you’re the boss Valentinetti, but you are nothing more than a pawn. A steppingstone so he can get what he wants, and you brought them right to him.”
Sal, Marko, Dwayne, and Carmine stepped forward, and I growled.