by Samantha Lee
***
A few minutes before two Antony was downstairs waiting on Gino’s car to pull up. This is how old school Mafia worked. You didn’t buzz in someone like Gino, you greeted him outside and walked him up. You showed respect to the elders of the Families. A black Mercedes pulled up to Antony’s building. A young man jumped out of the driver’s seat, and one of his capo’s came out next. The driver opened the door for Gino and the capo, watched the surroundings. Antony pasted on his welcoming smile, his goal was to impress Gino, if he could get Gino on his side now, when he took over the Family he would have support of another big Crime Family. He would be one step closer to his end game.
“Gino,” Antony said and moved in to embrace him. Gino reached up and lightly patted him on his cheek. “It’s Pio’s good boy. How you doing?” Gino asked.
Antony knew he meant after the explosion and shootout, “Fine, I am all healed up.”
Gino nodded, “Good, good, I would kill that Donato for you but Donnie has him all packed up in there.” Gino spit, “Piece of shit.”
Antony smiled at the bloodthirsty old man in a blue polo shirt and polyester pants, “Fuhgetaboutit,” Antony said. “It’s part of the business, right?” Gino nodded and Antony ushered him into the building.
***
Sandra watched Antony walk an old man to the elevator as she returned from her time with Donato. Antony was helping the old man, he held the old man’s arm supporting him. Look at that she thought, Antony was a regular Boy Scout. How in the hell did he survive being in the Family this long? She wondered. Sandra didn’t doubt one day someone really was going to kill him, and it would happen because he was too nice. She waited for him to get onto the elevator. She took the stairs to get to her desk, she didn’t feel like being around people at the moment. She wasn’t ready to become Sandra, Antony’s happy assistant, she wanted to kill something. The way Donato talked to her made it clear he was going to be a problem. What were the rules on killing your own family members? She was hazy on that subject. Once she made it back to her desk, she sat down, and settled into an afternoon of scheduling meetings for Antony, and entering in sales figures to remain in compliance with SEC regulations.
Sandra looked at her watch, it was six thirty everyone left a while ago, only she and Antony were still working. She was ready to leave so she packed up her iPad, phone, and shut down her computer. She went to say her customary goodbye to Antony. She walked up to his door, she partially opened it, and stopped because she heard something that piqued her interest.
“Yes, I can do that papa, you want it quick or dirty?” Sandra moved in closer and glanced quickly over her shoulder, nobody was here but it was good to play it safe, she continued to listen to Antony’s conversation. “What do I think? Well, it depends, are we trying to make a point that this shit should not be repeated? If so, then it should be dirty.” He paused to listen, “Papa, he took from the Family what wasn’t his and he didn’t pay the Family what was owed. That was a fatal mistake. No, I will be clean about it but it will serve as a lesson to others not to fuck with what belongs to the Family. I’ll leave here and get it done.” Sandra didn’t hear anything for a while. Antony was listening she could hear his “mmhmm’s” but nothing more then, “that just adds more reasons to the list of why I need to take care of him. Tell me the address…” Sandra quietly closed the door and stood from her low bend and raced to her car. She would follow Antony when he left. She hadn’t believed the pretty boy had it in him to harm a fly. He was always welcoming and nice to all the employees and customers. He would go out of his way to help some of the older buyers or sellers, like he did this very afternoon, who she found out wasn’t just any customer, but old man Gino. Growing up she hated that she was the unknown bastard of Donnie Belmonte, she wanted to tell everyone who her father was but he forbade her. Now, nobody knew who she was, but she knew everyone, and with her being the new heir, it was only a matter of time before everyone knew her as well.
It was dark when she walked through the skywalk to enter the garage. It was fall so the sun fell early, the moon was full and bright in the dark sky. It would be a perfect night for killing if that was the plan for the evening. Her heart raced with greedy anticipation at the possibility. She pressed the elevator button several times, she needed to get to the garage, and into her car before Antony came out. Finally the elevator arrived. She stepped off the elevator and ran to her car, she clicked the fob when she was within reach of the old Toyota Camry, she was using for this long con.
Sandra sped out of the garage and quickly went around the block. She parked in an alley that faced the exit of the garage, so she would see Antony’s car when he left. She cut the lights to her car and waited. It was seven when his car finally pulled out of the garage. Sandra followed him.
Antony came to a stop at the shipyard of B&E. He parked his car at the pier but he left it running with the lights on. Sandra parked her car far behind him. She got out of her car and ran toward them. She found a few large containers near the pier she could hide behind, she could see a man standing in the lights. The lights from Antony’s car illuminated their surroundings and cast shadows around them, the scene was set, Sandra thought. Sandra could see a man, he was shifting from foot to foot until he saw Antony. Sandra could barely hear their conversation. She edged closer to the end of the containers, she peeked her head out to stop the containers from muffling their voices. She was crouched low, balancing on the balls of her feet, it wasn’t a position she could keep for a long period of time.
“Antony what are you doing here? I was expecting Torre or Sal, not you.” The man said.
“Why not me?” Antony asked, his voice calm and relaxed, which only relaxed the muscular man. Antony pulled out a pair of leather gloves from inside his blazer, and began to put them on.
“Because I was expecting a fight to the death with one of those assholes. I know why I was called here.” He raised his arms up and looked around. “A secluded place where nobody can hear me scream?” The man shrugged. Sandra could tell by his body language he was confident he could take Antony, he wasn’t afraid. “But I wasn’t going to be the one screaming. It wasn’t going to end that way. I would have made them scream and threw them into the Hudson with the fishes.” He said with a barely noticeable Italian accent.
“You came alone?” Antony asked. The man nodded.
“Then you were stupid.” Antony punched the man fast and hard. When his punch connected it sounded like a thunderclap. The muscular man fell to the ground. Antony stood over him.
“You have the fucking nerve to steal from the Family,” he punched him again, “you have the fucking nerve to challenge my father,” he punched him again and again. On his last punch blood spurted from the man’s mouth. Antony ignored it and kept punching him. The way he crouched over the muscular man wouldn’t allow him to get his arms up to block any of Antony’s punches. He tried to push Antony off him but Antony was firmly rooted, and did not move an inch. “You fucking piece of shit.” Antony yelled. Antony stood up and moved back throwing his head back and baying at the moon. “Ahhhh!” Antony screamed into the darkness of the cool night. “This is not what I wanted to do tonight,” he said.
The man was scrambling to get up and onto his knees. He stumbled a few times losing his balance, “Don’t kill me, I promise I will give the boss every dime that I owe him, I will give him everything, just please don’t kill me.” The muscular man bowed low fervently pleading for his life. Antony’s face was highlighted by the beams of light from his car. Sandra saw the detached look in his eyes, and clearly saw his intent to kill. She knew two things, one was without a doubt this man would die tonight, and Antony was the devil in disguise.
“Shut up Bobbie, it would have been prudent for you to consider your life before now, unfortunately for you, your life has been over for days, you just didn’t know it.” Antony pulled a gun from his hidden shoulder holster, and shot him in the head without as much as a blink or hesitation.
>
Sandra waited a few minutes, in shock, the man who was nothing but nice, welcoming, and helpful was a cold blooded killer. “Piece of shit.” Sandra heard him mutter before he pulled out his phone and turned to walk to his car. She could see the puffs of air as he breathed in and out, “Come get this guy off the pier make sure he’s clean then put him somewhere he can be seen. He needs to be an example of what happens when you go against the Carbonaro Family, I-” something crawled over Sandra’s feet. She let out a scream, but smothered it quickly. It was too late, the damage had been done.
“Hold on,” Antony said into his phone. He took a few steps toward her and yelled, “Who’s there?” Sandra debated staying in the shadows, not blowing her cover, but what she just saw turned her on, she had to get closer to him. She walked out of her hiding place. He pulled his gun out and aimed it at her heart. “You don’t have to do that Antony.” Sandra said dropping the fake polite veneer she wore at the office, for something natural, something dark and sensual.
He grimaced and put the phone back to his ear, “Yeah, get it done. I have something else to deal with, yeah, okay.” Antony kept his gun trained on Sandra, willing to kill her, if he had to. “Sandra what the fuck are you doing here? What did you see?” he asked.
“Everything, and it was damned sexy. Who knew you had that kind of darkness hidden inside, underneath all of those smiles and your carefree nature.” She walked until she was within inches of him. She smelled the gunpowder on him, the smell of death wafted from the body behind him every time the wind picked up. It all turned her on. She ran a hand down Antony’s chest.
He pulled her hand off his chest. “Look, we have a problem now, and I am not sure how to solve it.”
Sandra pulled his hand with the gun up to her head. “You could kill me.”
Antony yanked his hand away, he put the gun back in the holster. “I don’t want to do that.”
Sandra stepped back, she walked over to the body, “What did he do?” she kicked him and took a moment to revel in the afterglow of death. The moment when death claimed another soul, leaving behind a shell in this mortal realm. She knew that wasn’t normal, that she wasn’t normal but neither was Antony. She saw the look of stone detachment, the slight dilatation of his pupils when he pulled the trigger, he got off as much as she did from seeing his victim’s eyes widen as he realized death was staring him in the face. He was like her, born to be in this life, a dealer of death. She licked her lips, yes, she thought, yes, she found a kindred spirit, her soul mate.
“No, you probably shouldn’t do that, because I am actually Donnie Belmonte’s daughter, and heir. I think he would take that personally,” she looked up from the dead body, “don’t you? That would be the second child lost to the Carbonaro’s. You’re a smart man you can figure out what Daddy will do.”
Antony sighed heavily, “I didn’t know he had a daughter,” she smiled, “I am not a daughter he had with his wife, so many don’t know, but some know me by my favorite name, Lady Death.” Antony knew the name Lady Death and that she was the Belmonte’s enforcer. She was known for her stealth and efficiency in getting things done. He did not know she was also Donnie’s daughter, and if she was Donnie’s daughter, then she had been betraying Antony for the last three years.
“So you have been reporting back to your Family all this time?”
She shook her head, “Not really, you hid this side of yourself well. I didn’t have much to report but I did give them opportunities that would not have existed otherwise.” She shrugged, “It is how the game is played Antony, you should expect betrayal if you live our life.” She paused, “But if I would have known you were so like me, then I would have done things differently.”
“I am not like you Sandra, or Lady Death, whatever name you are using. I kill when I have to.”
“But you enjoy it, I can tell.” She said.
“Get lost.” Antony said.
“I will, unless you want to get lost together,” she said.
“You said you know me, that I am like you, so do you think I will be happy or pained to kill another tonight?” Antony asked.
Sandra looked at him, she decided tonight held enough revelations and confessions. She leisurely walked toward him, “I’ll be seeing you later, but you will probably need a new assistant, my schedule just got busy,” she said in a singsong voice.
The cleaner showed up to take care of the body, and Antony drove away, the sting of betrayal held on to him tightly. He trusted Sandra, he thought he knew her, but he didn’t know her at all. He drove in silence thinking of all the moving pieces in his life, slowly putting together a puzzle that eluded him up until now, he was not liking the picture that was being revealed.
Sandra, must have been the one to put the bomb in his car, she had access to his car and judging from who she revealed herself to be, it was definitely within the means of Lady Death to do something like that. He knew Donato called the hit on him but was it because of Sandra? If she were capable of pulling such a con on him, she wouldn’t hesitate to do it to Donato. Had he been tricked too and took the fall for her actions? If so, he would be coming after her now that she had taken his seat.
Antony pulled to a stop and banged his hands on the steering wheel. Everything was going to hell just when he felt like he was getting his footing. The meeting with Gino went well and his father was hinting at letting him take over the Family soon, now, how would he tell his father that he had been conned for years by the Belmonte heir. He put his head on the steering wheel. He stayed like that for a while, thinking about ways to talk to his father, he looked around, he was at Daemon’s. That didn’t surprise him. This was where Yvette was and he yearned for her, like a reader yearned for the missing ending of a beautiful story.
He didn’t overthink it, he got out of his car and headed to the back entrance. He pulled out his phone and text Daemon to come down to greet him.
“What the fuck are you doing here?” Daemon asked.
“Where is Yvette?”
“She is probably asleep, we’ve been training hard. What the fuck is up?”
“I need her.”
“Not like this man, you look crazed. Talk to me.” Daemon ushered him into the building turning him toward his office. Daemon picked up a bottle of scotch from his desk drawer and two glasses. He poured himself and Antony a cup. He pushed the glass toward Antony. “Here, drink this and relax. What happened?”
Antony fucked up enough tonight by trusting the wrong people, he wasn’t going to do that shit again. “Family business.”
“Okay,” Daemon said.
“Is Yvette ready? Can she defend herself? The threat level of our original situation has changed.”
Daemon perked up, “Has it changed from nonviolent to violent?”
Antony nodded, “And I don’t know all the players, but I feel like things are about to come to a head.”
“Maybe you shouldn’t go to this event, or go with your main guards.”
“I don’t need fucking guards. If shit goes down, I can handle myself. I am thinking about Yvette…maybe she shouldn’t come.”
Daemon sat back and kicked his feet up on his desk. “No, she has a job to do.”
Antony’s jaw was set tight, “Then you better make sure nothing happens to her.”
“Of course.”
Antony stood and left, leaving an untouched drink behind.
Chapter Seventeen
Antony sat in his car and pulled out his phone, “Hey boss, no, that went fine, he was no problem, I have something else to tell you. Can I come over to talk to you about it? Okay, I will be there in thirty minutes.”
“Madre,” Antony said and kissed his mother on the cheek when he walked into his family home.
“I haven’t seen you since you left the safe house, you should be staying here with me and your papa, so we can take care of you.” His mother said and hit him affectionately on the butt.
“Luecette, how would that look for my son and heir t
o stay with his parents after a little accident, he is doing the right thing.” His father said and hugged him, “But he could stay closer to home, this I have told him many times.”
Antony released his father from his embrace, “And I tell you the same answer every time.” Antony could tell his father disapproved of his appearance, he probably looked how he felt, exhausted. His father never looked ruffled, or out of place. Pio had told Antony in the past, “A boss always looks confident even if the world is coming to an end around him. It is confidence that moves people to follow, and fear, which is how we keep our seat at the head of the table. If you look like someone got the best of you, then everyone else who sees it will lose faith in your leadership. Never let anyone see you down.”
“Luecette, bring tea to the study.” Pio said to his wife.
The leather couch in his father’s study moaned beneath Antony’s weight, “What happened son.” Pio asked him.
Antony ran his fingers through his hair, “Did you know that Donnie had a daughter?”
Pio shook his head, “No.”
“Well he does, and his daughter was my assistant for the last three years. You may also know her as Lady Death.” Antony watched his father, and the only visible tell was the slight widening of his eyes. “So, what does that mean?” Pio asked.
“Other than that I am an idiot? I am sure you can draw the same conclusions that I did.” Antony sat in silence while Pio thought through the events.
Pio nodded, “So she set the bomb?”
“I think so, I never thought that was something that Donato would do, the shootout at the hospital, yeah, he is stupid enough to do that, but not the bomb.” Antony said.
“What does she want?” Pio asked.
“Nothing, she followed me and watched me take care of that little shit Bobbie earlier tonight, then admitted her deception. I don’t know why she chose to do it tonight opposed to another day. That makes me wonder.” Antony said.