Bennett Mafia(107)

“And that woman was?”

“Already said,” Levi huffed out. “Your mom.”

“And the man?”

He was quiet a moment. “Her lover. Randall Ritzo.”

Tanner’s eyes cut to the elderly man, and in a second, he had his gun out. Two steps and he brought the butt of the gun down on the back of the man’s head.

No one said a word. No one.

The elderly man fell forward, his head hitting the table hard, but he lifted a hand to the back of his head. “What the—” He pulled his shaking hand back, blood on his fingers. “Why the hell did you do that? Randall was my son!”

Tanner growled, taking the man’s head and grinding it into the table again. “My mother, you old fuck! You killed them, didn’t you?” He scowled at Kai. “You knew about this? THE WHOLE FUCKING TIME?!”

Kai didn’t respond, only turned to Levi. “Finish. Tell them the rest.”

Levi let out a long-suffering sigh. “You’re going to kill me after this, aren’t you? Don’t matter if Brooke loves me or not.”

In response, Kai pulled out his gun. He pointed it at him. “Tell them.” He cocked the gun. “Now.”

“Yeah.” He raised his voice. “Yeah, the order came down from the Ritzo family. It was his son. We didn’t get the purpose of killing your own kid, but whatever. Families have done worse, especially in our world. So yeah. My uncles killed ’em. Both.” He scowled right back at Kai. “That order came down from your dad too. Both your fucking families were behind it.”

“And one was already dealt with.”

Kai didn’t take his gun away. Instead, he stepped even closer, putting the muzzle right against Levi’s forehead. “Finish. Once and for all.”

Levi’s eyes closed then opened again. He looked tired, gaunt.

He stared past Kai, past the gun. “A deal was struck afterward. Your dad, Ritzo, and the other broad’s family all went in together with a side business. When you killed Senior Bennett, his end was scooped up by Dick Delaney there.”

The Richard guy scoffed, but he tugged at his shirt. “You’re lying now, Barnes.”

“You’re a rat.” The Rose woman seethed, but she was nervous too, shifting in her seat, still eyeing the guards closest to her.

The only one not raising an argument was the elderly man, who Tanner had let lift his head back up. Blood trickled down his forehead. He tried to wipe it away but left a smear across his entire face.

“What was the trade?” Kai narrowed his eyes. “I’m getting fucking tired of prompting you for this shit. You want to live, you spill everything. I won’t ask again.”

Levi’s eyes jumped to his. “You’re going to let me live? After all this?”

“I care about my sister.”

Renewed hope lit Levi’s gaze, and he straightened up in his chair. “Yeah. Uh. For all those up there who don’t know what our trade was, it was…” He chewed the inside of his cheek. “Sex trade. Illegal porn. All that shit. I was the pointman down here. My family didn’t want to deal with that, so yeah, I was creating openings in the family. All them up there on the council knew about it too. They were helping me turn evidence on my family so I could step into the leadership role and bring the sex trade down here. I also had to scope out the competition. There’s a big ring in Ohio, but we had plans to eliminate them. Just hadn’t gotten to that part yet, if you know what I mean.”

He stared at Kai for a second before continuing. “Those three were never going to bring the rest of you in on the trade. Too much money and too messy with the fact that none of them were cleared to be doing sex trafficking. Only one cleared for that was the Guaranno family, who…” He looked, then frowned. “I don’t see up there anyway.”

Kai pushed the gun against him again, just a slight pressure before stepping back. “Is that all of it?”

“Yeah.” He eyed Kai warily. “That’s all of it. Except, my family didn’t know what I was doing. Just me. They got their asses handed to them from another fight down here against a rival family, so after they did the hit, they got paid, and that was it. I’m the one who reached out, said I could help bring it all to Milwaukee. I targeted your sister, told that group I had power over your family. I was supposed to get some bad shit on her, then blackmail her to get to you. They wanted to take you down. Those three are ambitious fuckers, if you ask me.” He waved to them. “The only reason they let me in was to get at you, because I’d already started boning your sister.”

“Right,” Kai clipped out, turning to the council again.

Two guards now stood behind those three council members. Rose. Richard. Ritzo Senior. Tanner had moved back, his eyes closed. He was counting to himself, his chest heaving.

“You’ve heard enough,” Kai said. “I motion to execute Rose Montieth, Joseph Ritzo, and Richard Delaney immediately. Cora, you start.”

The last woman raised her right hand.

The man beside her did as well.

And again.

Again.

Tanner was the last, but in his right hand was a gun, and before Kai could say a word, he pressed it to the back of the old guy’s head and pulled the trigger.

I watched this time. I couldn’t look away.