Before You
folder
Original - Misc › -Slash - Male/Male
Rating:
Adult ++
Chapters:
57
Views:
20,053
Reviews:
556
Recommended:
0
Currently Reading:
1
Category:
Original - Misc › -Slash - Male/Male
Rating:
Adult ++
Chapters:
57
Views:
20,053
Reviews:
556
Recommended:
0
Currently Reading:
1
Disclaimer:
This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance of characters to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental. The Author holds exclusive rights to this work. Unauthorized duplication is prohibited.
Chapter Twenty-eight
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
A/N : Rewriting Denver history of organized crime as to avoid any of the real article taking an interest in me. ;)
*
Roth loaded up Adam and Joseph. They called ahead to make certain Nathan had either stayed in, or could return in time for the pow-wow. Nelson met them there, laptop and briefcase in hands, looking about as grim as Roth had ever seen.
Not good news.
They assembled at the bar, Nelson on the kitchen side, the rest of them seated across from him. Joseph had to sit on his man’s lap. Given they only occupied separate space upon necessity, they seemed more ‘normal’ that way anyhow.
Nelson opened his laptop, tapping keys, and began a slideshow as he narrated. “Quick history lesson,” Nelson continued. “A handful of lower-downs, some wise guys, but mostly characters who had ascended as high in rank as they’d ever be allowed, split New York and Jersey in the late twenties. They came out here, formed up equal shares as captains under an Ermanno Napolitano.”
Nelson had a gritty black-and-white for him. Small, trim and smartly, yet not flamboyantly dressed, he looked like an average,
successful businessman of the era. “This guy embodied pure ruthlessness and ambition under the likeable veneer of good family man and Catholic. The kinda guy who could make a great pasta sauce after stabbing a rival to death with his boning knife.
These crazy sons-of-bitches made their fortune bootlegging whiskey down from Canada through the Rockies with pack mules. Generations carried on the traditions while adjusting to the times.
The two dead guys caught on film in Chicago. Lenny “Knuckles’ Abbattista. As a matter of record, dead of multiple gunshot wounds about a week before the DA’s office finalized their case and obtained a warrant for his arrest.” A particularly cagey looking, wiry man with heavy brows appeared in the next image. “Marcello Pazzano, killed in a car crash a month later. Stephanie Rhimes handles both bodies. Gaps in info and missing files gave us a fit in research. Surviving info, including archived articles, point to Bradley Seavers as first officer on scene for the Pazzano wreck. Both a few months before Adam lost his family.”
Roth reached over to hold his lover’s hand. The other man’s face had lost all expression, and he did not return the squeeze of comfort Roth gave.
“I can’t listen to this,” Adam said, voice flat. He stood.
Continuing to hold his hand, Roth soothed, “No one’s making accusations. Just going over the facts so we can try putting this together and understand the situation.”
Nelson, assuming a less tutorial manner, defended, “We have to decode what happened all those years ago to figure what these people want with you now.”
More provoked than placated, Adam pulled free. “I can’t sit here listening to you telling me the only family I had for years consisted of a corrupt cop and dirty coroner whoring herself to mafia.”
Roth exchanged glances with Nelson, then gazed at Adam. “How’d you hear about that?”
“I jacked your email, remember? Saw everything.”
Nathan’s deep voice interjected, “Sometimes things look worse when you lack all the facts.”
“Then, leave me the fuck out of it until you have the hard ones.” He pivoted and strode into their bedroom. Joseph, clearly moved to forgiveness, hoped up to follow.
Deciding to give them a few minutes to allow the younger man to forgive and mother, Roth asked, “What’s your recommendation for the immediate?”
“Plain clothes security. Upgraded alarm.”
Before he went further, Roth spoke to Nathan. “You handle this, I bankroll?”
“Honored to.”
Rising, he shook Nelson’s hand. “I don’t want to upset Jason with his friend having trouble with her pregnancy, or ruin the weddings coming up soon.”
Shaking with him, Nelson almost winced. “Your family will not be happy about all this secrecy.”
“With luck, they won’t know until it’s all over.”
Roth woke slowly in the night, realizing that while Adam indulged him as a soothing place to drape himself, his lover did not sleep. He swept aside the long, cool silky hair and pressed his lips to his lover’s strong nape.
“Didn’t mean to wake you.”
“Just more time to enjoy you,” Roth murmured against smooth warm skin.
“Do you think it’s true about Bradley and Stephanie?”
“I don’t know. We’ll keep working on this until we know what happened.”
In a voice the more heartbreaking for its lack of emotion, Adam queried, “What if they even had something to do with what happened? Then, raised me out of guilt?”
Roth hugged his shoulders. “Baby, I wish I knew. Whatever we discover, no matter how dark their reasons, they sacrificed and did the right thing in the end.”
“Did they?”
Feeling a slight tremble in his lover’s body, he held tighter. “They made sure you had some people around you who knew your past. Bradley gave you a home.”
“He also introduced me to the man who recruited me. I seduced him before I even turned seventeen, and in the end, he was the man who put a sniper's rifle in my hand.”
A/N : Rewriting Denver history of organized crime as to avoid any of the real article taking an interest in me. ;)
*
Roth loaded up Adam and Joseph. They called ahead to make certain Nathan had either stayed in, or could return in time for the pow-wow. Nelson met them there, laptop and briefcase in hands, looking about as grim as Roth had ever seen.
Not good news.
They assembled at the bar, Nelson on the kitchen side, the rest of them seated across from him. Joseph had to sit on his man’s lap. Given they only occupied separate space upon necessity, they seemed more ‘normal’ that way anyhow.
Nelson opened his laptop, tapping keys, and began a slideshow as he narrated. “Quick history lesson,” Nelson continued. “A handful of lower-downs, some wise guys, but mostly characters who had ascended as high in rank as they’d ever be allowed, split New York and Jersey in the late twenties. They came out here, formed up equal shares as captains under an Ermanno Napolitano.”
Nelson had a gritty black-and-white for him. Small, trim and smartly, yet not flamboyantly dressed, he looked like an average,
successful businessman of the era. “This guy embodied pure ruthlessness and ambition under the likeable veneer of good family man and Catholic. The kinda guy who could make a great pasta sauce after stabbing a rival to death with his boning knife.
These crazy sons-of-bitches made their fortune bootlegging whiskey down from Canada through the Rockies with pack mules. Generations carried on the traditions while adjusting to the times.
The two dead guys caught on film in Chicago. Lenny “Knuckles’ Abbattista. As a matter of record, dead of multiple gunshot wounds about a week before the DA’s office finalized their case and obtained a warrant for his arrest.” A particularly cagey looking, wiry man with heavy brows appeared in the next image. “Marcello Pazzano, killed in a car crash a month later. Stephanie Rhimes handles both bodies. Gaps in info and missing files gave us a fit in research. Surviving info, including archived articles, point to Bradley Seavers as first officer on scene for the Pazzano wreck. Both a few months before Adam lost his family.”
Roth reached over to hold his lover’s hand. The other man’s face had lost all expression, and he did not return the squeeze of comfort Roth gave.
“I can’t listen to this,” Adam said, voice flat. He stood.
Continuing to hold his hand, Roth soothed, “No one’s making accusations. Just going over the facts so we can try putting this together and understand the situation.”
Nelson, assuming a less tutorial manner, defended, “We have to decode what happened all those years ago to figure what these people want with you now.”
More provoked than placated, Adam pulled free. “I can’t sit here listening to you telling me the only family I had for years consisted of a corrupt cop and dirty coroner whoring herself to mafia.”
Roth exchanged glances with Nelson, then gazed at Adam. “How’d you hear about that?”
“I jacked your email, remember? Saw everything.”
Nathan’s deep voice interjected, “Sometimes things look worse when you lack all the facts.”
“Then, leave me the fuck out of it until you have the hard ones.” He pivoted and strode into their bedroom. Joseph, clearly moved to forgiveness, hoped up to follow.
Deciding to give them a few minutes to allow the younger man to forgive and mother, Roth asked, “What’s your recommendation for the immediate?”
“Plain clothes security. Upgraded alarm.”
Before he went further, Roth spoke to Nathan. “You handle this, I bankroll?”
“Honored to.”
Rising, he shook Nelson’s hand. “I don’t want to upset Jason with his friend having trouble with her pregnancy, or ruin the weddings coming up soon.”
Shaking with him, Nelson almost winced. “Your family will not be happy about all this secrecy.”
“With luck, they won’t know until it’s all over.”
Roth woke slowly in the night, realizing that while Adam indulged him as a soothing place to drape himself, his lover did not sleep. He swept aside the long, cool silky hair and pressed his lips to his lover’s strong nape.
“Didn’t mean to wake you.”
“Just more time to enjoy you,” Roth murmured against smooth warm skin.
“Do you think it’s true about Bradley and Stephanie?”
“I don’t know. We’ll keep working on this until we know what happened.”
In a voice the more heartbreaking for its lack of emotion, Adam queried, “What if they even had something to do with what happened? Then, raised me out of guilt?”
Roth hugged his shoulders. “Baby, I wish I knew. Whatever we discover, no matter how dark their reasons, they sacrificed and did the right thing in the end.”
“Did they?”
Feeling a slight tremble in his lover’s body, he held tighter. “They made sure you had some people around you who knew your past. Bradley gave you a home.”
“He also introduced me to the man who recruited me. I seduced him before I even turned seventeen, and in the end, he was the man who put a sniper's rifle in my hand.”