Gael didn't hate J, but he was disappointed. It was already hard enough for him to stop himself from retaliating for what the Morellis had done to their family three months ago. But Gael had to sit tight as he wanted to do things right and end this war once and for all.
***
Gael met seventeen-year-old J when he came back to New York about nine years ago. He walked past the skinny kid and ignored him as he entered a small grocery store at the end of the street from his house. He was standing near the checkout counter when he saw J about to steal some bread. Gael knew the owner—an older man in his 70s—so he stopped J from doing what he was about to do. His family was mafia, but they didn't steal from people they knew.
