BIA Ch. 141

“You crazy bastard! Wh-what grounds do you have to spout such bullshit! Why would Father, why me!”

“Why? Just looking at your state now makes it obvious.”

Isaiah brushed his leg off with irritation. He had only brushed it off lightly, but perhaps because Chester had no strength, he was sent sprawling at once. It was clearly an action meant to tell him to get lost, but seeing him collapse so limply and sob didn’t sit right with him. If he had just shot him dead, it wouldn’t have felt this bad.

Isaiah deliberately looked away from Chester and asked Bran.

“Are you sure? What does Cedric gain from doing that.”

“A lot. If it means all the power and wealth of the Kalisz organization.”

Bran said, still with his arms crossed.

“He already passed that down to Chester.”

“He might have regretted it later. He’s a bit young to retire, isn’t he?”

Bran was right. Considering other prominent organization bosses held their positions well into their seventies and eighties, Cedric, who was only sixty, announcing his retirement was quite unusual. But there was a sense that the decision was pushed by the internal atmosphere and opinion that the position should be quickly handed over to the capable Bran to grow the organization further… If he now regretted that decision, yes, that could be possible.

“But he couldn’t take back the words he already spoke about stepping down. So he planned to hand over the Boss position to the practically useless Chester, remain as the godfather of the organization, interfere in various matters, and wield practical authority.”

“True to form.”

Sly old fox. Isaiah clicked his tongue. Acting all dignified and sensible, only to resort to such base backroom scheming.

“A mafia boss acting dignified is still a mafia boss.”

Bran laughed as if asking what Isaiah had expected.

“Well, that’s true, but.”

It seemed Isaiah had inwardly thought well of the old man who used to praise Bran profusely whenever he saw him, showering him with compliments like ‘Having you here is reassuring.’ Of course, the moment he decided on Chester as the successor despite all that, it was clear what he was about, but still, he didn’t expect him to stoop this low. Leaving aside Bran, who was a complete stranger, to think he’d abandon his own son Chester’s life.

“But…, I kind of thought so.”

“What?”

Hearing the faint mumble, Isaiah frowned and turned around. Chester, still lying on the floor, sniffled and spoke.

“It was strange from the start, when he said he’d give the Boss position to me, someone like me, instead of Bran.”

“……”

“If he made a decision that obviously made no sense, then the conclusion is clear, it’s one of two things… Either Father’s gone senile, or… he has some ul-ulterior motive…, some scheme.”

Chester really seemed to have lost his mind. Otherwise, there’s no way a guy who could never grasp his own place his entire life would suddenly be like this. This was the guy who criticized Bran every time he opened his mouth and boasted as if he alone was the true Boss material.

“He even, even told me, outright. That becoming the Boss… didn’t mean I could run the organization as I pleased. Because I’m still inexperienced, I should always consult with him, and even though he stepped down as Boss, I had to respect him, meaning, him, Father, the godfather…”

“Well, that’s only natural.”

“Shut up! You goddamn bastard!”

Chester, who had been sobbing like a child, shot up at Bran’s remark. Isaiah quickly kicked Chester in the chest. Chester let out a near-death groan and fell back onto the floor.

“Stay still.”

Isaiah aimed the gun between Chester’s eyebrows. Perhaps recognizing the object before his eyes even in his crazed state, Chester suddenly stopped his groaning and became quiet. In that moment, Isaiah asked Bran again.

“Then couldn’t he have just let Chester live? If he planned to set him up as a puppet boss and hold the real power himself, there wouldn’t seem to be a need to kill him.”

“It wasn’t about intending to kill him. It was that if he died, it couldn’t be helped.”

Bran emphasized the difference between the two expressions, as if to avoid confusion.

“Cedric probably used his head to try and save Chester in his own way. That’s likely why he had Pastor Benjamin evacuate him here. Even making up the excuse of a blessing, conscious of his subordinates’ eyes.”

“Ah.”

No wonder. For a plan by Chester, it seemed excessively concerned with appearances. So Cedric ordered it.

“Just that he didn’t think of any further rescue measures. From Cedric’s perspective, it wouldn’t be too bad if both I and Chester died in this incident.”

With both the Boss and Underboss absent, voices calling for Cedric, the godfather, to return would inevitably grow louder. Besides, since many executives who followed Bran and Chester would have died in this incident, it would be easy for him to pick members he favored, promote them to executive positions, and rebuild from scratch.

“Not just anyone can be a Mafia Boss.”

Isaiah ran a hand roughly through his hair. At this point, Cedric was one thing, but Isaiah resented himself even more for losing his memory the day before the successor announcement. If he hadn’t lost his memory then, Bran wouldn’t have needed to kill Aunt Angelina, and the successor announcement would have proceeded as planned. Naturally, Cedric wouldn’t have had a reason to change his mind later either.

“So, in the end, this happened because of me?”

As if hearing the words muttered under his breath, Bran stated firmly, “That’s not it.”

“Because what was supposed to be announced then wasn’t the Boss, but the successor. Even if I had been named successor that day, the Barone family would have invaded the moment I was promoted to Boss.”

“You think so?”

“Yes. At least by the time he summoned me to the mansion, the plan was already underway.”

“When did Cedric summon you to the mansion?”

“Ten days ago. The successor announcement was originally scheduled six days before that.”

True. One could change their mind in six days, but rewriting a will and meeting with the Barone side immediately after changing one’s mind seemed like a very tight schedule.

“Then it’s certain he planned to use the Barones to strike you down from much earlier. With the thought that if Chester also died in the process, he could opportunistically return to power.”

Simultaneously with Isaiah’s words, Chester, who had been lying on the floor, abruptly sat up. Was he shocked by the fact that his father had intended to use him as a pawn for much longer than he thought? Chester, looking between Bran and Isaiah with a face of disbelief, finally opened his mouth.

“But you two…”

He still looked shocked, forcing his tongue to move as he stammered.

“Why are you two… so close?”

“What?”

“D-don’t tell me, you joined hands? Did you?”

…Is that what’s important to this bastard right now?

Next to the dumbfounded Isaiah, Bran said calmly.

“Just joined hands? We’ve done more than that.”

“Y-you crazy…!”

Chester stood up, furious. He abruptly grabbed Bran’s collar, but perhaps because he had no strength, he just slid down and collapsed.

“You traitor!”

Chester, collapsed at Bran’s feet, suddenly yelled not at Bran, but at Isaiah. Then he began to wail loudly.

“How could you do this…!”

“Crazy, what do you mean, how could I?”

Isaiah, both flustered and baffled by Chester’s accusation, spoke defensively without realizing it.

“Snap out of it, you junkie bastard. Did you think playing the fake lover made you something real?”

“I, I still believed! Whatever Manny said, I believed you, you, until the end…!”

Chester wailed, repeating his usual lament.

“But you, you, backstabbed me like this! And then you, huh? You cursed me out, saying I joined hands with the Barones! When you yourself joined ha-hands with Bran! And did even more than that!”

“That’s because I’m his real lover.”

Not a fake one like you. Before Bran could finish, Chester howled like a beast, shaking his head, “Noooooo!” He looked even more like a beast, sprawled on all fours on the floor.

“You said you’d let me do it too! You even acted like you’d let me do it first, so why…!”

“Hm?”

Hearing Chester’s words, Bran arched an eyebrow slightly.

“What do you mean, ‘acted like he’d let you do it’?”

“What do you mean? It’s nonsense.”

Isaiah clicked his tongue. As he asked if Bran believed a junkie, Chester abruptly yelled, “No!”

“It happened in Virginia…! When Manny went out to buy pizza, no, hamburgers, don’t you remember what we did on your bed in your room! You had that henna or whatever, like a tattoo on your body, and I even said I’d never seen it before…!”

“Oh.”

Bran smiled, arms still crossed.

“For a junkie’s nonsense, the details are quite specific.”

Isaiah was suddenly reminded that this place was a crypt beneath a church. An unknown chill wrapped around his entire body to that extent.