“Mr. Valentinetti, sir, are you aware of a charity called The Sunshine Child? It’s a multi-billion-dollar charity that helps house and protects children that have been harmed or hurt by abusive parents?”
“Yes, my mother is on the board of that charity. In fact, she is heading up this year’s benefit. Why?”
“Yes, sir. I know. Diablo or the Collector received an invitation to the benefit, sir. He accepted and will be attending.”
Gio sat up and looked at Sal. “You mean to tell me that Angelo Capribella will be in my house?”
“Yes, sir. In fact, after I did some more digging, I found out that Angelo Capribella is one of the board members, and he is using the name, Angelo Diego….”
“Danvers.” Gio finished.
“Yes, sir.”
Watching my cousin, I could quickly tell he was rattled. He did it well, but I knew all his ticks, and when he looked to Sal as he started, I knew this wasn’t what he wanted to hear.
“Before you say anything, Gio,” Sal clearly said. “I’ve already called Marko. He is investigating the mishap. Capribella should have never passed our security protocols.”
“Gio, there’s more,” Ghost said, stopping Gio in his tracks.
“What? What more can there be?” He barked.
Ghost looked at Reaper, who nodded. Ghost sighed and began, “It’s about Layla. We need you to ensure her safety.”
“I already said she was safe. I gave my word to Reaper. What more do you need from me? What aren’t you telling me?”
“Layla is Dylan’s sister. They share the same mother. However, they have different fathers. Layla isn’t a Doherty. We’ve just recently learned that her mother Donna was raped, resulting in the birth of Layla.”
“Okay?” Gio questioned loudly.
“The man who raped Donna was Diablo,” Reaper carefully said, looking up at Gio as he stopped dead in his tracks.
Sal jumped to his feet, cursing as he grabbed the chair he was sitting in and threw it across the room. I looked down at the table and knew my mistake instantly. I had inadvertently let Gio realize I knew the truth about Layla.
This was bad. Looking up, I could see the rage on Gio’s face. If I thought I was afraid of Reaper’s wrath, well combined with Gio’s, I was soon to be laying six feet under.
I was dead.
A dead man walking for sure.
“You knew!” Gio shouted as I flinched at his outburst. “You knew and said nothing knowing how our family felt about the Capribella’s. And you still brought her to me, knowing I would give my word, not caring how I would feel or what it would mean to the family. Why? Why did you do it, Reginald? Why!”
“I didn’t have a choice. Reaper wanted her protected. He asked me to make sure she stayed safe. I knew you would help. I’m sorry Gio. I am so very sorry. I had no choice.”
“Yes, you did! You always have a choice.”
“No, he didn’t,” Reaper said, slowly getting to his feet as he faced Gio dead on. “I ordered him to take her away. If you want to blame someone, blame me. I couldn’t let Diablo get his hands on Layla, not after just finding her. Dylan is my blood, which makes Layla mine too. If I lose Layla, I will lose Dylan, and I refuse to let that happen. And Player, you may think I didn’t know about your relationship with Gio, but I knew. Just like I already knew, Axel was also related to your family. I said nothing and let you all believe I was ignorant because I knew someday I would need to cash in on that relationship. You want to know why I’ve been holding off on an alliance Giovanni. It’s because of this very thing. I knew when I took over the club that shit was bad. I just didn’t know how bad until Kitty came along. My Vault is dead. Now, I don’t know who to trust or where to turn. That’s why you are still here. You say you protect your family, well so do I, and this is me protecting what belongs to me. You are here because I need you here. You still want an alliance? Well, you’ve got one. I will sign whatever contract you have. Just help me keep my family safe. Keep Layla safe. I can’t lose Dylan. This club has lost too much already and I refuse to lose anyone else.”
Staring at my President in shock, I couldn’t believe he just said all that. It was so unlike Reaper to lay everything bare, showing all his cards.
Whatever was going on in the club must be worse than he was letting on. And now, he wanted my family involved. I didn’t know how I felt about that.
Our involvement was a misunderstanding.
Technically the family had nothing to do with the shit going on in the club.
I didn’t know how Gio would handle this, but I knew it would be law whatever he decided.
No one ever disobeyed a direct order from Gio and lived.