by Lana Cameo
They moved down a dim hall until they found the door marked “Private.” This was Lorenzo’s office. Anton’s crew raised their guns and Marco gave the signal. They slammed the door open and stormed in, guns ready.
Inside the room, they found Lorenzo sitting behind a large desk. Several men stood around him, and they all snapped their attention toward the door when it banged open and the DeCalvos came in with guns aimed at them. Lorenzo’s men pulled their guns and aimed back in defense.
“What the hell do you think you’re trying to pull?” Lorenzo got to his feet from his seat behind the desk.
Both families had guns trained on the other, but the DeCalvos outnumbered them two to one. Anton thought he saw fear in Lorenzo’s eyes. That was exactly what Anton wanted. Make him feel like there was no way out except to do what Anton was about to force him to do.
“Put your weapons down,” Anton said to him.
Lorenzo glared, but his men did not move. Anton lifted his own gun and pointed it at Lorenzo. This made him finally comply. Lorenzo nodded to his men and they lowered their guns.
Anton’s men moved forward, pushing Lorenzo’s men aside, searching through the desk’s drawers.
“We’re not here to kill people,” Anton said. “In fact, you’ll find that in all the attacks on your warehouses tonight, not a single one of your men was killed by mine.”
Lorenzo looked over at one of his men, who nodded. Lorenzo crossed his arms. “Then what is this about? You know we want you dead for what you’ve done to this family.”
“And my family wants you dead for what you’ve done to my family,” Anton said. “It’s a pretty little circle, isn’t it? You kill one of mine, I kill one of yours. That makes you kill one more of mine, so I kill one more of yours. You took out our boss, now I have to return the favor. Where does it end?”
“With your head on a stake.”
“That wouldn’t end it and you know it,” Anton said. “But I do have a way to end this feud.”
Anton reached into his back pocket. Lorenzo ducked in response as if Anton were going to pull out another weapon. Instead Anton held up a book, then tossed it onto the desk in front of Lorenzo.
Lorenzo pulled his eyebrows together, then flipped open the cover of the book.
“Those are our books,” Anton said. “The real ones. All the comings and goings of our business, legal and otherwise.”
Marco handed another book to Anton. This one had come from inside of Lorenzo’s desk. It was the book for the Romano business. Anton held it up with a smirk. Lorenzo glared at him.
“What is this?” Lorenzo demanded. “Why not just shoot me and get this over with?”
“There are three ways this can go down,” Anton said. “One. I turn both books over to the FBI.”
“Why would you do that?” Lorenzo asked.
“If that’s what it’ll take to stop the killings, I’ll do it,” Anton said. “I’ll let the government end this—dismantle both families, stop our businesses, stop the killing, put us all in jail so we can’t attack each other again. But the second option to end this feud is for me to kill you right here, right now. Then let my men finish off your family. We’d have to kill you all to make sure you didn’t kill us back and keep the payback deaths building up. We’d have to make sure you couldn’t retaliate.”
Lorenzo’s glare hardened. “And what is the third option?”
“The third option?” Anton pulled his mouth into a half smile. “It’s my favorite. And it goes like this. I walk out with my men. No one dies. No one goes to jail. DeCalvo Shipping goes legit and faces no further trouble from the Romano family, or any other family for that matter. We leave the crime to you, and you leave us alone for good.”
“You want out of the mafia?” Lorenzo scoffed.
Anton nodded once. “We have a legitimate business that makes good money. I’m sick of the killings and of having to watch my back all the time.”
Lorenzo laughed. “You’re serious?”
Anton nodded again, then pulled back the slide on his Glock. “Unless you prefer one of the other options.”
Lorenzo held up his hands. “I don’t want my men to die any more than you want yours to. Killing people is a hassle. Bodies to dispose of, crime scenes to hide, people to pay off. If you’re going to let us take over the city and run it as the only family, with no competition, then I’m all for it.”
“But,” Anton said, his gun still pointed at Lorenzo’s head. “The deal is, you leave us alone. If you want to ship something somewhere, we’ll give you a good deal. If my men want some entertainment, they’ll frequent your strip club without a second glance from your men. No more killings. No more feud.”
“We do have one small problem that’s getting in the way of your nice and tidy little plan.” Lorenzo held up his forefinger and thumb, just a quarter inch apart, and smiled.
“What’s that?” Anton asked.
“Tonight, you burned down four of my warehouses and stole quite a lot from me. Do you expect me to just let that go?”
“The burnings were payback,” Anton said. “You did take out my grandfather—who was our boss—and come after me. We had to retaliate in some way. Lucky for you, breaking and entering and arson is obvious and covered by your insurance. You’ll have four nice, new warehouses in no time. The goods themselves… they’ve insurance. We hold it all to make sure you keep your end of the bargain, should you agree to option three. Option one or two, it won’t matter. We’ll turn it over to the FBI with the books if we go that way, or we’ll sell it all ourselves and makes a few bucks if we go with option two.”
“And if we go with option three? You’ll just enjoy my guns as a nice little gift from my family to yours?”
“I’ll sell it all back to you for a real good price.” Anton smiled again at that.
“You want me to literally pay for what we’ve done to pay you back for what you’ve done?”
“I didn’t kill anyone,” Anton said. “I’d think paying a few grand for some weapons would be more than a fair trade. Unless you don’t put that high of a value on your men’s lives.” Anton looked at the men beside Lorenzo pointedly, as if to show them that they were not worth much to their boss.
Lorenzo thought for a long moment, looking from Anton to his men and back again. “Okay, DeCalvo. So long as no one runs to the police or FBI, I’ll agree to that. But, anyone talks, and all bets are off. We come after you and don’t stop until you’re all dead.”
“Agreed,” Anton said, finally lowering his gun. “Same goes for your men. Anyone talks or decides to come after one of men, then we go with option two.”
Lorenzo glared at him for a moment, then stuck out his hand. Anton shook it.
“You’re an idiot,” Lorenzo said. “But it’s your life.”
“It is now,” Anton said. “Best of luck to you and your family.”
“The same to you,” Lorenzo said, half chuckling.
“Call me when you want to make a deal to get your goods back.”
Lorenzo nodded once.
Anton and his men turned and walked out. They headed back to the cars and waited. Eventually, all the men made it to the rendezvous point.
“Men,” Anton said, facing them. “Today we made history. The DeCalvo family is officially no longer part of the mafia, and no longer conducts business in an illegal or questionable manner. Should any of you not be happy with the new arrangement, you’re welcome to leave and join another family. I won’t stop you or harm you.”
Marco shook his head. “I can’t believe you really did it. You know, I didn’t think he would go for it, and I didn’t think you’d go through with it. I don’t think I get it at all.”
“I have a family now,” Anton said. “I grew up poor and hated every second of it. All I wanted was to have money. When my parents died and I came to live with my grandfather, I had all the money I could want. And women, drugs, whatever. My life should have been perfect, but I was miserable. I hated seeing
people die and families destroyed. I knew how much it destroyed me to lose my parents. I wanted it to end, and once I became the boss, I had the power to do it.”
“You got balls, that’s for sure,” Stefano said. “You just better hope your grandfather doesn’t come back as a ghost to haunt you. He’d shoot you in a second.”
Anton laughed. “I know it. But he’s dead. Another man dead because of all this. Was it worth it? He made a lot of money, but it’s not doing him any good now. He could be alive, getting to know his granddaughter and living a happy life. But he chose the mob life, and it cost him everything in the end. I don’t want that for me or any of you.”
“So, now what?” Marco asked.
“Now, I go find my woman and let her know I’m okay. Anyone who wants a job, I’ll see you in the office bright and early Monday morning. We have a business to run.”
Chapter 20
Hannah was out of her mind with exhaustion. She’d tried to lie down and sleep, but instead kept flipping through the channels, watching the TV for hours to see if there was any hint of trouble on the streets. A mass killing would surely get immediate media coverage. When it hit, she didn’t want to miss a moment of it. What if they showed or mentioned Anton? It might let her know if he was okay. Or if he wasn’t.
As the hours dragged on, the ache in her heart grew stronger. He wasn’t going to call. Too much time had passed. He should have called by now.
The bottle of wine was empty, and she felt slightly tipsy. Not enough to numb the pain or stop the horrible thoughts running through her mind.
The worst thought was this. If she knew that Anton was responsible for killing a bunch of people tonight, even if that meant he was okay and made it through unharmed, she didn’t know if she could forgive him for that. If she could live with knowing that the father of her daughter had ruined all those lives.
Was he truly that heartless? If he was capable of that, was else was he capable of? Maybe they were safe having him around since he could hire bodyguards and had weapons, but if he could murder multiple people and still sleep at night, maybe they weren’t safe being with all the time. What if he grew angry with Hannah or Melody? Would he be able to keep whatever was in him that allowed him to kill ruthlessly squashed down when it came to his everyday emotions?
When she thought of life without him, though, it sent a shot of pain through her heart that was strong enough to bring tears to her eyes. She loved him. Melody loved him. She wanted him to be part of their lives. To be there for his daughter. To have a family. How in the world would both things exist at once? How could she sleep at night beside a killer, yet still want him more than anyone she’d ever wanted before? The back and forth, twisted, tangled thoughts and emotions were more than she could take.
Hannah picked up her phone and tapped the screen. No missed calls. There was no reason to think her phone had rang and she’d missed it—it hadn’t been out of her sight all night—but she checked anyway, wanting desperately for this night to be over.
She sat down to flip through the channels again. There was a knock at the door and she turned to look at it, wide eyed. He’d said he would call. Call, not come over. And if he knew she was waiting for him, and there had been strange cars at her home and work, then why would he just show up without telling her first if he knew it would scare her? He wouldn’t. This had to be someone else.
Hannah gulped and walked slowly to the door, her heart racing and tears forming in her eyes. When she looked through the peephole, she couldn’t see anyone.
“Who’s there?” she called through the door.
“Open up,” a gruff voice said.
“Who sent you?”
“Anton.”
She stood tall and sucked in a breath. So he’d sent someone to her apartment to tell her in person. It must be bad. Good news would not be delivered like this.
She pulled open the door. There in front of her was Anton. He was on one knee, looking up at her.
She sucked in a breath. “You’re—you’re—”
The tears broke free and ran down her face. The sobs racked her chest. He was here, and he was alive.
“I wanted to ask you something,” he said.
She wiped at the tears flowing down her cheeks. “I—I—”
She couldn’t stop crying. The long night, the wine, the hours and hours of worrying. It was all breaking free now, crashing down on her. He was alive.
He stood and took her into his arms. “Come on inside.”
He led her in and sat her on the couch, rubbing her back. He handed her a tissue.
“I just can’t believe it,” she said, starting to calm down. “I thought you were dead. You said you’d call and I thought if someone came—” One more sob escaped her lips.
“I’m here.” He took her hands and looked intently into her eyes.
Now that she could breathe again, something else filled her mind. Was he about to propose? He had been down on one knee. Was he asking her to marry him? She had to know the truth first. She couldn’t marry someone who thought nothing of killing people.
“How many people died?” she asked.
A smile took over his face. “That’s the best part. Not a single one.”
The answer shocked her. She blinked at him. “No one died?”
He shook his head, still smiling. “I never understood how my grandfather was okay with killing people or ordering them to be killed. It’s bad enough to commit crimes for a living. Smuggling illegal guns doesn’t really hurt anyone.”
She thought she could make an argument against that statement, but this wasn’t the time.
“Anyone who angered him or did him wrong,” he continued, “he would put a bullet in them and not think twice. One of the last things my grandfather told me was that I had to become more ruthless, like him. That if I couldn’t order hits when needed, I’d never make it. And you know something, he was right. The killing bothered me, and that means I can’t be a good mob boss. People tried to kill me. The same people who killed my grandfather, yet I can’t bring myself to want to shoot them back.”
“Really?” She couldn’t believe he was saying this.
“I tried. I tried to justify it. They killed our people, so it was only fair to kill theirs. They did us wrong, so we do them wrong back. The problem is, it never ends. If I killed the man who tried to kill me, they’d kill another of my guys to make up for it. Then I’d have to kill another of their guys. It’s a horrible cycle of death that never ends. I can’t do it.”
“So… What does that mean?”
“I didn’t tell you before because I didn’t know if my plan would work. But it did. DeCalvo Shipping is officially legit.”
“Legit?”
“No more illegal business. No more killing. No more mafia.”
Okay, now he was sounding crazy. “People don’t just leave the mafia.”
“When you’re the boss of a big family, you can. When you hand over business to your rival in exchange for them leaving you alone, you can. When you reach the point that you’d rather turn yourself and everyone else in to the FBI than to keep killing people, you can.”
“You’d really rather do that?” she asked.
“How can I face you and Melody knowing that I ordered my man to put a bullet in some other father’s head? In some other husband, causing his wife to become a widow? It’s not worth it. And it meant I would always be in danger, too. I had to do something drastic. Something that would keep you safe, that would mean I wouldn’t have to kill people. And, luckily, I learned the important things from my grandfather. For all the bad he did, he was good at one thing. Running a business. He taught me a lot. Turns out, there’s plenty of legal business in the shipping industry. We might not make as much money or as easily, but it’ll pay the bills. As long as you’re okay with our lifestyle becoming a little less…”
She threw her arms around his neck and kissed all over his face. “I love you! I don’t care if we’re broke. If it means
you’re safe, and you’re here with us, and you’re not killing people, I’ll work four jobs to pay the bills if I have to.”
“Oh no.” He laughed. “Nothing like that. It’ll take some time to get things really running well. Money will be tight for a short time. But once we get everything switched over and cut ties with the illegal stuff, we’ll be in good shape. If you can give a few months, you’ll be able to quit your job and become a stay-at-home mom if that’s what you want. That is, assuming you’ll say yes…”
He slid off the couch and knelt in front of her. This time, he pulled a ring box from his pocket and opened it. “There is nothing I want more in this life than to be a husband to you and a father to Melody. To take care of you both and give you the best life I can. Will you marry me?”
“Yes!” she exclaimed and fell into his arms.
“Mommy?” They both turned at the sound of the small voice. Melody rubbed her eyes, her hair tousled and her expression confused. “Daddy!”
She ran for them and they enveloped her into the hug.
“Melody, I have something for you.” Anton took out another box. This one was a longer box, thinner. He opened it to reveal a gold bracelet with a charm. The charm was a heart with Melody’s birthstone and engraved was the word, “DeCalvo.”
“I’ve just asked your mother to marry me,” he said. “And now I ask you. Melody, will you let be your father forever, living with you and Mommy to have a real family, all of us taking the DeCalvo name?”
Melody looked wide eyed at her mother, then nodded her head enthusiastically. Anton slipped the bracelet onto her wrist.
“This night has turned out to be everything I could have dreamed of,” he said, pulling them close again. “I will never let go of you two again.”
Chapter 21
One Year Later