Sold To the Grizzly Don (Alcee and Bruno) novel Chapter 136

Chapter 136

He started towards the hall and Susana stopped him with a raised hand.

“Please don’t go down there. Not yet. Antero is finally settled. Alcee needed to allow for Avalanche to get under the blankets with him. He’s processing but he’s not calm. His stomach is growling, which is making him angry. We’re going to get him his cereal and his toast and pray his melatonin kicks in and he falls asleep. It’s not uncommon when he’s like this that he wakes up multiple times through the night and is destructive. Please do not upset the balance right now because if he can crash out without further upset, then maybe he will sleep through the night.”

He looked away frustrated and noted Tito sitting on the sofa watching everything. He motioned to him, “fine, I’ll be in my office. Let Alcee know if she needs me that is where I’ll be.”

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“Thank you,” Susana said quietly. “For the record,” she took a breath, “I appreciate how much you want to make your brother part of your family,. and I know Alcee understands this too. She would have given anything for someone to defend her to her family the way you do Raniero. We all get it. We simply don’t understand why you need to do it blindly and at the cost of the people who trust you to keep them safe.”

He watched her walk to help his mother prepare food for his son and he felt his chest ache in an inexplicable way. Entering his office, he felt Tito’s presence at his back, and he walked to his chair and flung himself backwards, closing his eyes and pressing his palms deep into them.

“How the fuck did this all go so wrong?”

The question was hypothetical, and he wasn’t expecting Tito to really answer but the odd silence from his friend made him wonder what he was thinking. He pulled his hands away from his face and stared at him, curiously. Tito was still standing, on the other side of his desk, his hands resting neutrally at his side and his countenance blank.

“What are you thinking?”

“I’m wondering if you want me to answer this as your friend or as your consigliere.”

“Are the two mutually exclusive?” he asked with a raised eyebrow.

“In this situation, one will give you the answer you want to hear because I’m your ride or die best friend who has been pumping you up since we were roomies in the hospital when we were born.”

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“The other?”

“Will tell you tonight was a clusterfuck because you’re thinking with the heart of a boy who only wants his brother around instead of a man who calls himself the head of the Lozano family. Your fiancée tonight proved she has what it takes to be the wife of the boss. You however didn’t prove you deserve the title of boss.”

“Ouch,” he leaned back further in his seat, the mechanism grinding under his heavy weight. He waved at him, “go on. I feel the consigliere part of you is wanting to say his part.”

“Fuck it. Your best friend also has something to say. I’ve never seen in Raniero what you and Bastiano see. He’s definitely a Lozano and I don’t question his loyalty to you, Torq. I don’t believe there is merit to Alcee’s comment about him playing both sides. He didn’t betray you and he wouldn’t betray you or the family. He hero worships you because you are his big brother.”

“But?”

“But you are also everything he can never be and there is jealousy there. You are everything he knows he can never be. Even without the title of Don, Torq, you are superior to him in every way. He is not as smart. He’s not as big. He’s not as powerful. He endured a shitty upbringing, and you were given the world. He is gay as fuck and,” when Torq opened his mouth to protest, he held up his hand, “while you and I are not judgmental sorts, we all know in this business, there is a lot to be said behind closed doors on such things. He needs to act tougher and mouthier, so he’s not judged for his sexuality in such a heavily testosterone fueled industry. His mouth is a problem, and you know it. He’s gotten into shit more than once. Bastiano has at least five times in the last five years, pulled him out of a situation he talked himself into with his big mouth, and nearly fucked up operations because of it. He hates he was kept a secret until you could take out Corrado and while he loves you, part of him wants to see you punished for not bringing him in far earlier than you did.”

“It was his idea to play spy!”

“Yup. I agree. Doesn’t need to make sense for it to make sense.”

“What you just said doesn’t make sense.”

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Chapter 136

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