by Reilly, Cora
We sat at the breakfast table one morning, almost done with eating and ready to drive to Pietro and Ines when Dante’s phone rang. He always had the tone turned on nowadays and every time it rang everyone around froze, gripped by dread, fearing bad news.
Dante glanced at his phone resting on the table and the way his mouth set in a tight line told me it was one of the Falcones.
I got up. “Why don’t you grab whatever you want to take with you today? We’re heading out in fifteen minutes.”
Neither Leonas nor Anna reacted to my words, their gazes fastened to their father. Slowly he looked up. My belly clenched.
“Upstairs, now,” he ordered.
Anna’s eyes widened. She pushed her chair back and stood then gripped Leonas’ hand who stared at his father with an open mouth. “Come, Leonas.”
He stood and Anna dragged him out of the kitchen.
I rounded the table. The look in Dante’s eyes scared me. “What is it?”
“Remo made his first demand,” he said in a deadly voice that told me he was fighting for control. He rose and peered down at me. “He wants Minneapolis.”
I huffed. “That’s ridiculous. You would never give him part of your territory, much less one of the most important cities!”
Dante smiled darkly. “Oh, he knows. He fucking knows.” He glared down at this phone. “He’s mocking me. He doesn’t want this game to be over now so he demands the impossible.”
I touched his shoulders. “Will you tell Pietro and Samuel?”
Dante looked into my eyes as if he hoped to find the answer to all his questions there. I wished I had them, wished I could help him. Everyone looked at him for answers, for actions, for salvation. It was a good thing his father was already crippled by dementia no matter how cruel that made me sound. But that man would have only made things worse.
“I have to. Serafina is their responsibility before she’s mine. They deserve to know, even if it’ll complicate things for me.”
“You think Pietro and Samuel would agree to Remo’s demand?” I asked surprised.
Dante raked his fingers through my hair. “They’d do anything to save Serafina.” He smiled as if he understood them only too well. Naturally I would give Remo every last inch of Outfit territory if Anna’s or Leonas’ life was on the line. I’d give him anything, absolutely anything to protect my children. But men had been brought up to always consider the Outfit first. Duty and honor came before anything else. Losing your territory and with it your honor was the worst imaginable fate in our world. Yet, looking into Dante’s eyes, I wondered if he’d hand everything over to Remo if Anna was in his hands, and I was fairly sure he would ultimately.
Anna and Sofia went into the garden to sit on the swing while Leonas slinked about the house. For him, this was hard because he didn’t even have his friends to play. Anna had Sofia and they managed to distract each other on occasion. Leonas had to play alone most of the time.
Dante took Pietro and Samuel aside shortly after we arrived at the mansion and told them about Remo’s demand while I sat on the patio with Ines, drinking coffee. She didn’t know about Remo’s text yet, and I wondered if I should tell her. Dante and Pietro kept many details from her for her protection, but imagining I were in her stead, I would have wanted to know every detail about my daughter’s situation.
Ines glanced my way. I must have watched her for a while. “There’s news that Dante doesn’t want to share with me, isn’t there?”
Anna and Sofia huddled close beside each other on the wide swing, talking. Girls were meant to be protected from all evil in our world, but often our world brought true evil down upon them. Bibiana had suffered in her first marriage and only now found happiness with Dario and her children. Serafina now suffered for the sins of men. “Remo made a ridiculous demand in exchange for Serafina’s freedom. It’s a fluke.”
Ines set her coffee cup down on the table. “What did he want?”
“Pietro’s territory.”
Ines turned her head away, lost in thought for a moment. “He can have it.”
I leaned over. “Ines, he knows Dante won’t ever give him part of his territory. Handing over an important city to the enemy would endanger everyone.”
“You mean it would endanger your children,” she said fiercely.
I sat back, surprised by the venom in her voice and eyes.
Ines bit her lip. “I’m sorry. This was uncalled for. I—” She swallowed and pressed her hand over her eyes. “I feel so helpless. I always told my children I’d keep the monsters at bay. And here my daughter is in the hands of a monster and I’m sitting here having coffee, unable to help her, to protect her.”
Tears prickled in my eyes. “Nobody could have foreseen something like this.”
Ines smiled bitterly. “I don’t know. Things have been escalating more and more. There’s so much hatred between the famiglias. How will all of this end?”
Peace was even less an option after what Remo had done. Dante would rather make another peace treaty with Luca than ever agree to a truce with the Camorra.
“Do we even have any options? The Camorra and the Famiglia work together. They’re against us.”
I didn’t say anything. Things looked bad for us. Luca wouldn’t work with Dante, not after the photo incident and not when it meant having the Camorra as his enemy. Who else was there? The Corsican Union in Canada, but they kept to themselves. We didn’t share the same cultural or linguistic background. They didn’t trust us and had little to gain from a cooperation. They wouldn’t risk a conflict with the Camorra and the Famiglia. And the Bratva? The Pakhan in Chicago who ruled over most of the Bratva in the Midwest had some sort of non-aggression pact with Remo Falcone.
Ines let out a choked sound. “It’s even worse than I think, isn’t it?”
“No,” I said firmly. “The Outfit has gone through crisis before and we’ve always come out of it because we stood together. Remo is trying to drive a wedge between us, which is why he asked for Pietro’s city. He wants to sow dissent in our family, but we won’t let him. We won’t allow him to destroy our bond because Serafina will need a strong family when she returns.”
Ines smiled weakly. “Dante’s right. You’d be a great Consigliere.”
It was easy giving advice when you didn’t have to suffer the backlash. I could give Dante my opinion because ultimately he was the one who’d be judged for it. He had to carry the weight of responsibility.
Sensing that Ines wanted to be alone, I went in search of Leonas to tell him we’d have all dinner together. Danilo would be there as well. He’d decided to commute between Indianapolis and Minneapolis as often as possible. For someone as young as him, he had to carry plenty of responsibility. A sick father, a disabled sister, ruling over Indianapolis, and now saving his fiancée.
“Leonas!” I called.
“He’s with me,” Dante said from a room down the corridor I’d never paid much attention to. The moment I stepped inside, I froze. It was weaponry. That explained the barred windows and heavy door. Knives, machine guns, and pistols lined the shelves.
Dante sat on a chair and Leonas stood beside him. In front of them on the table was a gun. It was in its separate pieces and Dante showed Leonas how to put it back together. Then he explained how to unlock the safety, aim and shoot. Leonas listened with a look of utmost concentration. Dante handed the gun to our son and my heart stopped. He was only seven. He was too young for this.
“Dante—” My voice shook.
Dante looked up. “It’s not loaded.”
I swallowed. “Can I have a word with you?”
Dante held out his hand and Leonas handed the gun back to him with a proud smile. Dante ruffled his head then stood. “Now go to the dining room.”
Leonas rushed out, grinning as if this had been the most fun game. I closed the door for privacy.
“He’s too young,” I whispered harshly.
Dante loaded the gun calmly then put it into one of his ho
lsters. He shook his head. “If the attack proved anything, then that no one is safe. Not even children. We can’t coddle Leonas. He needs to learn what’s necessary to survive in this world.”
“Why? You and your soldiers are here for his protection. Anna and I aren’t wielding guns either.” For which I was glad. I hated them, even if they were a necessary evil in our world. Yet, I didn’t want Anna to have to carry one, not even now. Even with a gun, she wouldn’t stand a chance against someone like Remo because she lacked what those men had: no scruples and cruelty.
“Because I need to prepare Leonas in case I ever don’t return to all of you.”
I took a step back. “Don’t plan your death, Dante. We’re trying to have a third baby and you’re considering dying? What am I supposed to do without you? And what about the Outfit? They’ll be thrown into chaos. Who’d lead them if not you?”
Dante came toward me and pulled me against him, but I didn’t soften. I was angry and scared. “Val, I don’t intend to die any time soon, but death lurks at every corner. I need to prepare Leonas so he could take over at a young age.” Seeing my horrified look, he kissed me gently. “Not now, not in five years, but I want him to be strong and ready to lead the Outfit once he comes of age.”
“Could you have led the Outfit at only eighteen?”
“Maybe. Not the same way I do now. I would have made mistakes but I would have learned from them. Hell, I’m still making mistakes, even age doesn’t protect you from error.”
I shook my head. “He’s just a boy.”
“He’s the future Capo of the Outfit. He can’t afford to be a little boy.”
I closed my eyes, pressing my forehead against Dante’s suit. “When… when will you induct him?”
Dante touched my head and pressed a kiss to my hair. “At twelve.”
I shuddered. “How will you prepare him? How will you make him strong?” I opened my eyes, searching Dante’s face. His blond brows pulled together. “He’ll learn to fight. We have our fight centers for a reason. He’ll fight with older boys who won’t take pity on him. He’ll learn to shoot. Eventually he’ll have to be present at interrogations… at killings.”
“You won’t torture him to make him strong,” I said firmly.
“I won’t torture him.”
I pulled Dante’s head down to me and kissed him desperately.
Samuel and Pietro looked horrible. Dark shadows spread under their eyes. Pietro had started smoking again. A habit he’d abandoned for Ines.
I joined Pietro outside on the patio. He stared up at the sky, blowing smoke out. “When you first told me about Falcone’s demand, I would have agreed without hesitation. I’m still not convinced I’d say no if I were face to face with him.”
“He won’t give her back to us even if we promise him Minneapolis. He knows it can’t work. A territory can’t be gifted. It has to be conquered with sheer brutality. He’d have to kill every Made Man in your city to really own it. Remo is someone who wants to conquer. He’d never accept a territory that he didn’t bleed for. This is his game, Pietro.”
Pietro took another deep pull from the cigarette then threw it to the ground and stepped on it. “I swore to Ines I’d never start smoking again. She didn’t even comment when I did. Seeing Ines suffer… fuck, this is torture.”
When I talked to Remo next time, my suspicions were confirmed. Despite his played disappointment over my refusal to answer to his demand, eagerness rang in his voice. He had more planned. He loved his audience’s reaction more than the game itself. Maybe he’d lose interest in his game and Serafina if we didn’t play the game by his rules, if we acted level headed.
We didn’t have many other options at this point.
Samuel approached me a couple of days after the call, and I could tell from his expression that he hadn’t accepted my decision like Danilo and Pietro had. “Can we talk?” he asked, an edge to his voice.
“Of course,” I said and followed him toward my make-shift office in a former guest bedroom. Now that I had to do most of my business from Minneapolis and not Chicago, I needed an office. I’d returned to Chicago only twice since Serafina’s kidnapping. Val, too, mainly stayed in Minneapolis with the kids to support Ines.
I closed the door and turned to Samuel.
His blond hair had grown, brushing his ears, and he hadn’t shaved in a couple of days, so a dark-blond stubble covered his chin and cheeks. Despite his lack of sleep and refusal to rest, his shot wound had healed surprisingly well.
“We need to attack Las Vegas. Every day that Serafina stays with that asshole, he destroys another part of her. We can’t just sit back and wait.” His tone set my teeth on edge but I cut him slack.
“Between Las Vegas and us wait many hundreds of Remo’s loyal followers, men willing to die for him. They’re between us and Serafina, and even if we reach Las Vegas without any of them finding out, which is unlikely considering we need an army to walk into Vegas, we’ll be in Remo’s terrain. He knows Las Vegas, and our informants tell us it’s close to impossible to get past the security measures of the Falcone mansion. That is, if Serafina is even still there. Dozens would die.”
“I don’t give a fuck. They can all die as long as I get Fina back,” Samuel snarled.
“But I can’t send my men into a death mission that’s bound to fail. They have families. They trust in me to make wise choices and not act out of emotionality.”
Samuel brought his face close to mine, his eyes burning with anger. “I bet you’d be the first to walk into Vegas with a fucking army if Anna was there and you wouldn’t give a flying fuck if every man died.”
I cared about Serafina and about Ines, Pietro, and Samuel, but I had to admit my love for my children and Val was on another level, and I couldn’t deny that my reaction to Anna’s kidnapping would have been less restrained. If it would have saved her? I doubted it.
Samuel nodded as if I’d answered his question then he turned around and stalked away.
“Fuck!” I snarled, my control slipping. I wanted to walk into Vegas and rip Remo’s balls off and feed them to him. I wanted to show him that I could do every atrocity he had committed even if I usually chose less flashy forms of torture.
The Outfit was becoming more and more torn by the day, between the people who supported my cautious approach, wary of a war at another front, after all, we were surrounded by enemies. But there were also the others, many of them from the younger generation who screamed for blood, who wanted to walk into Vegas with blazing guns. Samuel was one of them, Danilo too, even if he wasn’t as vocal about it.
“When can we return to Chicago?” Leonas asked as we sat at the breakfast table a couple of days later.
Val gave him an understanding smile.
I’d considered sending Val and our children back to Chicago and staying in Minneapolis by myself. After all, their presence wasn’t required but I wanted them close. I needed to know they were safe. “I don’t know,” I said. “But hopefully soon.”
Leonas pushed his food around on his plate. “I miss my friends.”
“How about we play basketball?”
There was a basketball hoop in the driveway. Leonas sometimes played with Rocco and Riccardo back at home and I had played for a while when I was a teenager. Leonas’ eyes widened with eagerness and he nodded.
Anna frowned then looked down at her plate. After breakfast, I took her aside. “Why don’t we take a look at the new online gallery of the Met?”
Anna grinned. She’d wanted to visit the Metropolitan Museum and the Museum of Modern Art for a while now but as they were both in New York that wasn’t an option. Luckily, both museums had good online presence. Anna hugged my middle, and I touched her head. “Thank you, Daddy.”
Val kissed my cheek. “I know you’re busy but I’m so glad you try to make time for them. This is a difficult time for them as well.”
“I know,” I said quietly. I wished my children didn’t have to witness so much of the stark b
rutality of mob life.
Pietro called me around midday. I’d already played with Leonas, showered, and managed to sit down with Anna for an hour. She was still pressed up to my side, staring down at the laptop when my phone rang.
“Pietro, any news?” I’d told him I’d meet him, Samuel and Danilo in the evening.
“Samuel and a few of our soldiers have set out to Vegas to save Fina,” he said.
Tension shot through my body. “What?”
The fury in my voice made Anna look up with wide eyes. I gave her a tight smile and gently untangled myself from her before I stood.
“I didn’t know. One of the soldiers, he asked informed me just now. I can’t reach him or any of the men with him.”
“Goddamnit, Pietro. That’s a suicide mission! They won’t return alive, much less with Serafina. Remo will be furious over this new infringement of his territory!”
Pietro didn’t say anything for almost a minute and I was trying to get a grip on my rising anger and worry. If Samuel got killed trying to save Fina and if she was killed by Remo to pay us back… Ines wouldn’t survive that.
“Fuck!” I growled, realizing too late how close Anna stood.
I tried not to curse in front of her but had failed repeatedly these last few weeks. I lowered my phone slightly. “Go find your mother. Tell her I need to head out to your uncle and aunt.”
“Okay,” Anna said hesitantly but didn’t move. I touched her cheek and gave her a strained smile.
Finally, she turned and left the living room in search of Val.
“Ines doesn’t know yet,” Pietro said quietly. “I didn’t tell anyone but you now.”
“Good. I’ll inform Danilo. He needs to come over ASAP.” Danilo had only left for Indianapolis yesterday but this new development required his presence.