Chaos

He tried to focus on speeches going on and on at the front of the ballroom, but he was eyeing his phone with far more attention than the rest of the world. He gripped his phone tightly when the accountant messaged him back with a copy of his grandfather’s last credit card statement, which according to the man had been paid off in full. He knew the old man had kept a few secret accounts and didn’t blame him. He had several of his own.

He noted almost a daily charge for roughly thirty dollars at a place called Gina’s and wondered if his grandfather was frequenting a coffee shop in his neighborhood. It was the other item near the bottom of the bill which caught his attention. Mercy General Hospital. Eighteen thousand dollars.

He pushed his chair back and walked out of the room ignoring the curious glances in his direction as he dialed out his grandfather’s number. He didn’t stop walking until he found himself in the hotel lobby and even then, walked to a far corner of the room and hung up and dialed again when the old man didn’t answer.

After the eighth time of trying, Sonny picked up the phone.

“What do you want? It’s late!”

“Sonny are you okay?”

“I was having a fantastic dream involving your grandmother and strippers, but you ruined it.”

He rubbed his forehead, “are you ill? You were in the hospital.”

“Says who?” Sonny argued.

“Says the fucking eighteen-thousand-dollar charges on the credit card statement.” He spit at the man wondering why he was being so antagonistic.

“Do you know they charge thirty dollars for acetaminophen and then yell at you when you don’t want to swallow the pill? They called me a crook but that’s god damned highway robbery.”

“Why were you in the hospital?”

“Ah, I got my leg caught on a nail and it punctured the skin and got infected. My girl insisted I go to the hospital and get checked out.”

“Your girl?” he rolled his eyes. His grandfather for nearly seventy years had loved one woman and one only and she was the saint he had called Nonna. There was no way his grandfather had a lover. A nervous quelling in his stomach made him second-guess his thought when the old man spoke again.

“Yes, my girl. Little Sasha. She’s a good girl. She’s been taking such good care of me. She gives a shit unlike the rest of you selfish bastards. I try to do what your grandmother wanted me to do all those years and make you stand on your own goddamned feet and what do I get for it? Cut off like a gangrene foot!” he spouted angrily. “If the only reason you called was to see if I’m still alive or if you’re able to cash in the rest of my will, you can fuck off. I’m still breathing. My girl is going to keep me alive until I’m a hundred. I’m hoping to spend it all before I go. Leave you with nothing!”

The man hung up on him and Rin pulled the phone away in surprise. He knew it had been his ego which told him he was his grandfather’s favorite however considering the man had never once raised his voice to him and had just now told him to fuck off, he felt appropriately chastised by the man. He had neglected him. He had used the excuse of taking over the entire operations on his own, but the truth was, Sonny had been prepping him for years for exactly what he’d done, and he’d always thought the man would hold onto his title until the day he dropped dead.

He would have to go check on him in person in the morning. He sent a text message to one of his guys to find out about this place called Gina’s. If some barista were taking advantage of a lonely old man thinking she was going to swindle him, he would nip it in the bud. Perhaps if he paid a bit more attention to his grandfather, he’d stop looking at baristas and tainting his grandmother’s good name.

He gave a loud sigh and was about to walk back to the wedding reception when he caught sight of a tall blonde man with the bluest eyes, he’d ever seen in his life crossing the lobby and he gave a wide grin as the man noticed him at the exact same time.

“Sacha!”

“Rin!”

The two men embraced fondly and then shook hands.

“What are you doing slumming it in this hotel?” Sacha laughed at him. “Don’t you own several in this city alone?”

“My cousin has a wedding here and mine cater to more upper-class events,” he motioned smugly to the ballroom. “I’d rather be in Siberia.”

Sacha laughed, “I can make it happen, my old friend.”

“Old? You’re older than I am, by three years if I’m not mistaken.”

“You turned forty nearly two years ago. How was it?”

“Can’t see a fucking thing.” He laughed, “but my dick still works so I’m not going to complain.”

Sacha threw his head back and laughed, “I had Lasik in my twenties only for me to need fucking bifocals now.” His phone buzzed in his pocket, and he pulled it out, glared at it and then shoved it back in his pocket.

“Trouble?”

“Daughter. Making me fucking nuts. Doesn’t want protection. Doesn’t want to work for me. Doesn’t want to give up her independence and continues to ignore every fucking word out of my mouth, Rin. I swear to God I am this close,” he held his fingers an inch apart, “to shaving my head bald so nobody sees the grey hair she gives me.”

“She’s what eighteen, nineteen now?” Rin laughed at him.

“My friend, we are much older than you remember,” Sacha laughed, “she is twenty-nine this year. You’ve lost ten years.”

“Holy fuck,” he covered his mouth with his hands. “Where did the time go?”

“I don’t know. Today’s message is to tell me if I don’t get off her back, she’s going to find a vagrant on skid row and turn him into her project and make babies with him after she fixes him.”

Rin frowned. “What? Why would she say this?”

“Because she is a god damned bleeding heart, Rin. She has a friend right now who is going through a rough time so what did she do? Sold her condo and moved in with him.” Sacha ran his fingers through his hair, “someone made an offer on her condo, and she took it and moved in with this guy until she can find a place of her own. In her words, ‘Dad, it’s a win-win situation.’ The man she moved in with is apparently unemployed and his own family can’t stand him. Left him to die all alone so she jumped in.”

“Drag her out,” Rin shook his head. “Send an army, drag her out and lock her up.”

“She’s twenty-nine and as my wife says, she needs to make her own mistakes to grow as a person. What a load of horseshit. I have half a mind to send her to my father in Russia and let him put her to work there.”

Rin made wide eyes, “you just said she’s a bleeding heart. He would eat her alive.”

“Are you kidding? He thinks she is the best thing to ever happen to any of us. As much as he can barely tolerate my wife, he dotes on her. I called him an hour ago to complain about what she was doing, and he told me to leave his little boo-bear alone. Boo-bear. Made me kill a fucking man before I was twelve and he called her and asked if she and her friend needed food delivered. What the fuck?”

Rin laughed loudly at the man’s frustration, “I thought my family was fucked. My grandfather was in the hospital two weeks ago and didn’t think we needed to know. Tells me ‘his girl’,” he made air quotes, “is taking care of him. I didn’t even know he had a girlfriend. My grandmother must be rolling in her grave.” His phone pinged and he groaned as he looked at the message, “I think I just beat you. I thought perhaps his girl was a barista. Turns out she’s a stripper. He has a stripper taking care of him. Eighty-something-year-old man. Tell me she doesn’t think he’s got one foot in the grave and is changing his will for her.”

“I think I will take my issues with my little girl over fighting with a gold-digging stripper for my grandfather’s bank balance. Suddenly my problems seem small.” He looked past Rin. “Ah, my wife is flagging me down. I better go before she rains hellfire on me. We came here for dinner for our anniversary and the waitress slipped me her number. My wife dropped her to the floor with a punch to the mouth.”

Rin blinked in surprise, “what?”

“Yes, I had to have my security take her to the car while I paid a handsome amount to the manager and the girl. My wife is the jealous sort and” He grinned suddenly as he slapped Rin’s shoulder and whispered in his ear, “it’s because my dick also still works.”

Rin laughed and patted his friend on the back. “I should get back too. Have a good night.”

He waved at his friend and hadn’t taken four steps in the direction of the ballroom when his sister came rushing at him, “oh my god, one of mom’s cousins just punched the groom’s father right in the face and he landed on the wedding cake.”

“I missed it?” He grinned excitedly.

“It’s not funny,” she was yanking his arm. “Mom said to get you so you could get them off each other.”

“Viv, I’m not stopping two grown men from fighting. This wedding was boring as shit.”

“Mom’s cousin is a woman,” she hissed furiously. “I guess they hooked up last night after the rehearsal dinner. Groom’s dad just toasted his beautiful wife and said there was nobody in the world he could ever see himself with and wished a marriage as wonderful as theirs for the bride and groom and mom’s cousin came out of nowhere with a right hook.”

“Fuck, I hope someone has it on video.”

“I got you brother,” Marcello approached with a shit-eating grin. “I could see the broad moving across the room and knew shit was gonna happen.”

“You didn’t stop it?” Vivian glared at him.

“I’m here as security for Rin not the groom’s dad,” Marcello jerked a thumb at Rin. “Speaking of, where did you go?”

“Called Sonny,” he looked to his sister. “When’s the last time you called him?”

She looked away sheepishly.

“Not once since he cut you a check for five million dollars?” Rin asked with a cocked eyebrow. “That’s cold, even for an Allegretti.”

“He called me a lazy ass influencer who needed to stop blowing anything with a dick.”

“Was he wrong?” Rin lifted an eyebrow

“You’re just like him!” she stomped a foot.

“And you are just like your mother. Lazy, selfish, and entitled. Get a job.” He adjusted his coat, walked into the ballroom, and took great delight in the chaos and carnage. His date rushed to him followed closely by Marcello’s date.

“Where did you go? This is so scary,” she twisted her hands in front of her and her hazel eyes looked tearful.

He cocked his head as he considered he liked the teary look on her face. “Let’s get out of here.”

“Where will we go?” she blinked in confusion as he pulled a card out of his wallet.

“Go to the desk over there,” he pointed to the lobby, “and get us a room. A nice room.” He watched her scurry away.

“Oh my god, you’re going to go have sex with her?”

“No,” he shook his head at his sister. “I’m going to let her blow me. Then I’m going to give her an orgasm, make her fall asleep and she will have a good sleep in a nice hotel room, and I will go back to my condo, have a shower, and go to work.”

“You’re disgusting.”

“Why? Do you recognize yourself in the little girl running across the lobby Viv? How many times has a man done this to you just so they can say they fucked an Allegretti?”

“You’re such an asshole.”

“And you are a hypocrite.” He bopped her on the nose. “I happen to know you are screwing two men in your condo building. One on floor six and one on floor twenty-two.”

He laughed as she stormed away angrily. Marcello shook his head, “she’s right. You are an asshole.”

“I am.” He looked around, “where did your date go?”

“Sent her to get a room,” Marcello laughed. “Not as nice as the one you’ll get though.”

Rin rocked on his heels as he watched the two families in the room tearing each other apart and shook his head. He let out a loud piercing whistle and the noise came to an abrupt stop. “This stops now. Clean this fucking mess up. Sort your shit out and without causing any more embarrassment to the Allegretti name. Am I clear?” While he barely raised his voice, it carried through the room as if he had a megaphone in his possession. He looked to his sisters who were watching him curiously, his mother and father at their side. He walked to them and stood a few feet away, “be at my office at nine and don’t be late.”

He saw the glimmer of excitement in his father’s eyes, and he fought the irritation. The man thought he was going to get money from him. He was wrong. They were going to go pay their respects to the man who provided their lives of luxury to them. They had all done a disservice to Sonny, and it was time to make restitution before some bimbo stripper ruined their name more than it had been.