Rocco was the one to ask me if they could start doing their own jobs for me. It was clear the twins wanted to be part of my family and part of the Diamond Butterflies. The small Nesta Family would be in the 2nd generation. It was Bella that dropped her fork. "Absolutely not! You're both still so young! I won't allow it." she said. I shrugged my shoulders. "Your mother has said it. You'll have to wait until you are older." I told them. Both of them looked like they were going to whine and complain, but Bella gave them a death glare. That shut them up. I spent the night like usual and sent them off to school before moving on to my headquarters. I had received another invitation to have a sitdown at Acario's place. I decided to go right away. When I got there, I was immediately ushered into his office. Acario and I were not the only ones there. There were 2 other men and a woman. Acario smiled at me. I was immediately wary. "Look who arrived. It's the scrappy Martino Nesta." I cracked a smile despite myself. "Did I come in early. I thought this was going to be a simple meeting." I said. He simply waved it all off.
He then pointed to a chair. I sat down in it. "If you haven't met, this gentleman here is Lazzaro Granese, lieutenant of the Payday district. Gregorio Caradonna here is his right hand man. The lovely lady is Belina, my wife." I just stared at Lazzaro. "You ambushed my childhood friend the other day." He smirked and rolled his eyes. "Street rat punk can run. I'll give him that." he spat. I then turned to greet Belina. "The pleasure meeting you is all mine." I said. She gave a terse nod. Looking at Acario again, I said "I came because you called. I am in your debt, but I do not like being jerked around. Why am I here?" He folded his hands on the desk. "Watch it, boy. You are in my debt, so you will come when I send for you. That's just a given. As for why I called you, it's in your wheelhouse. This is about another boy." I was listening. Gregorio had a bastard son. That adult bastard son was gay. He was seeing another gay man in this town. The bastard did good work as a mob lawyer. He also had a good relationship with his elder half sister. Killing him was totally out of the question he was family. A made man.
Askill Town was slowly becoming known for this kind of thing in the subculture. But larger society still frowned on it. Mafioso culture certainly did. Gregorio's bastard son was in his 30s now. He had a live in lover. They wanted me to kill him. It would be simple, clean and the Brown Owls could keep their hands clean of this. I pinched the bridge of my nose before turning to Gregorio. "I will do this to get out from under Mr. Cordone's debt, but I have to ask something." He gestured for me to go ahead. "Why do you hate your own son? Even if you don't accept it, killing someone who he loves will destroy him. From what you've told me, he's perfect. He is a lawyer, respects you and your legitimate daughter, and he moved out here with his lover to support you." His face twitched. "A bastard is a bastard. You keep them close so they don't get used against you. If they can actually do good work, you bring them into the fold and use what they can do. He's a lawyer, only good if my guys get caught. No one wants to be defended by a fag. Rodolfo is an idiot if he thinks I actually wanted him to follow me over."
