Age:64
Address:754 Brestal Lane, Chicago, Illinois
Death Wish:Sodomy / Hanging / Disembowelment
Timeline:3 Weeks
Status:Accepted
I wish we could have left the cameras up in Dante’s house. It would have been helpful to know what time his body was found.
And a secret part of me wanted to see Vincenzo’s reaction. His true reaction, not the mask he wears for the public. The same fucking public that believes he’s just a wealthy businessman. A good-looking, single, wealthy businessman.
It’s no secret many Italian mothers have shoved their daughters in his face, hoping for a good match. I wanted to scream at them to open their eyes.See what he did to my mother! He’s evil, a stain on this city!
No one would believe me if I tried.
I pass the kill order on and run through every snippet of information I’ve gathered over the years. This doesn’t make sense. Why would he go after the Martinellis now? He knows I’m gunning for him. Is it a setup? Has he figured out I’m working with the Bannermans? Does he know Nate is his son?
As we’re getting up to leave, Ryan clears his throat. “I’d like us all to meet for dinner at six in the dining room. There are a few more things we need to discuss.”
Why does that make me feel uneasy?
Chapter 35
Vincenzo
Iknewsomethingwaswrong when Dante didn’t show up for work on time. He’s so punctual you could set your watch by him. All morning I had glanced at the clock, over and over again, but I kept dismissing it in favor of more important things.
Like the fucking Martinellis.
Forgive me for thinking they might honor the terms of our truce. Ricardo believes he can take me on. Me. Maybe he had a stroke and isn’t thinking clearly.
In the early hours of the morning, some of my men found several of his close to one of my apartments. One I keep as a last resort, one very few people know about.
The irony of it being located in the neighborhood known as Dutch Kills in Queens doesn’t escape me. What does though, is how Ricardo could have known about the apartment.
A select group of men is in charge of keeping tabs on my numerous properties across New York. Escape plans only work if safe houses are, in fact, safe.
I spent a good part of the morning in Cesare’s basement, the two of us interrogating Ricardo’s men before dispatching them. The only information we could get out of them was that Ricardo had sent them to discover what they could.
It was only luck that they saw my men in a diner and followed them to Dutch Kills, locating one of my apartments.
Once Cesare and I are finished with them, we call in my team. The ones stupid enough to not notice they had a tail. The ones that led them to a safe house I now have to abandon.
By noon I’m drenched in blood, four members of my team tortured and dismembered, along with the five men of Ricardo’s. After we’ve called the cleaning crew to dispose of the bodies and we’ve both showered and changed, Cesare and I meet in my office. We begin to discuss what we’ll do about Ricardo’s treachery when Cesare comes up with a plan I’m down with.
“We can’t spare anyone right now to send to Chicago. Not with Daniella on the warpath. There are assassins on the dark web we could hire. It’s fucking expensive, but I’d suggest it. We’re stretched thin as it is, and this would save us time and manpower we don’t have.”
He shows me the hidden website, takes me through the list of death and torture ideas available.
For thinking he could fuck me over, sodomy—an eye for an eye, right? And for daring to betray me, he can have the traitor’s death—hung and drawn. Too bad quartered isn’t offered, but I suppose tying his limbs to four horses and tearing him to pieces isn’t feasible in this day and age. Pity. The thought of displaying his dismembered body around my kingdom to warn others of their fate should they attempt the same fills me with envy that I can’t do so. I would have loved living in the Middle Ages.
It doesn’t matter that I had no intention of keeping to the truce myself. Ricardo had no clue that as soon as I dealt with my errant daughter, I had plans to finally remove any trace of his DNA off the planet and take over his territory.
There isn’t room for more than one king in this country.
Now my plans have changed, the timeline bumped up just when I can’t afford it to. His son will take over, and for now, I shall have to let it be.
