by K. J. Dahlen
While it bothered me that she might be standing alone on the dock thinking I’d stood her up, the realization that she was likely not alone nearly drove me insane. I knew what he did to his wife. What the fuck would he do to my girl?
It was 12:05 when I got to the dock. I wanted to run screaming for her, but I knew I’d have to be smarter than that. If Jimmy were here, he’d be armed. I cut my headlights and coasted into the lot, parking a bit away from the water. I moved on foot across the pavement and toward the dock. I scanned the area and saw them standing by the water and I crept towards them.
Jimmy held a gun on Annalisa with one hand and his hand was in her shirt.
I wanted to kill him with my bare hands. I thought about shooting him from where I was, but as good of a shot as I was, they were really close. What if I missed? I had to get closer. I ran full on now, counting on the sound of the water hitting the dock and Annalisa’s crying, which I could now hear to muffle my footsteps.
“Please don’t hurt me,” she begged.
He pulled his hand out of her bra and started unbuckling his pants with one hand, the gun still in the other. “Oh, this won’t hurt. It’s going to feel really nice...yeah...real nice.”
I moved more slowly now. I had to get a clean shot before he could shoot at me or her.
“You know the funny thing?” he said to her as I moved through the shadows. “Dante really was going to come here tonight. I texted him from your phone telling him you weren’t coming. Probably broke his heart. Don’t worry though, he won’t suffer long. I’m going to kill him in the morning.”
Annalisa sobbed loudly.
Again, I used the noise to move even closer.
“Shut up or I’ll kill you too and make this a true Romeo and Juliet story. Two dead lovers.” His pants dropped to his ankles and he reached into his boxers. “Now, be a good girl and show me what’s so special about that pussy that made Dante Ranetti go legit.” He’d pushed her against the building and was standing between me and her.
It made it impossible for me to shoot. I couldn’t wait for a better shot, he was about to rape her. I had to make a move. “Fucking touch her and you die,” I said stepping from the shadows, my gun trained on him.
He spun around, and pulled her tightly to him using her as a human shield. “Come any closer and I’ll shoot her.” He had the gun pressed against her side.
Where the fuck was Marco? I’d let my emotions cloud my judgment and I’d lost the element of surprise. “Let her go. This is between you and me,” I said walking closer to him. His gun was still pressed against Annalisa. If I got him to point it at me, I’d take the shot. She’d be safe. I continued on my path forward. “Leave her out of it.”
I heard the car screech into the parking lot. I knew it had to be Marco. Jimmy looked to see what it was. Using the distraction, I fired a shot. The shot rang out through the silence. “POP-pop” I’d hit Jimmy in the chest. He lay on the ground motionless.
At first, I thought the second pop I heard was an echo of my shot, but as I watched Annalisa crumple to the ground next to him, the blood seeping through her shirt, I knew he’d gotten off one last round.
Rushing to her, I ripped her shirt open to have my worst nightmare confirmed. She’d been shot in the abdomen, on her right side. There was blood pouring out of her stomach, running onto the dock. It couldn’t see her back to see if the bullet had gone all the way through or not. I didn’t want to move her to check.
She looked up at me. “Dante. Help.” Her voice was so soft.
“Shhh, you’re gonna be okay Babygirl. He’s gone now and he won’t hurt you.”
She looked up at me, and spoke in a raspy whisper, “I need a hospital.”
“I know Baby girl. We’ll get you one.”
“Not me, the bab…” she said before closing her eyes and going limp.
“Annalisa!” I shouted, but her eyes didn’t open. I had no clue what she’d been talking about. Her bab? Did she mean her back? “Annalisa!” I shouted again out of fear and frustration. She didn’t answer but to my relief her chest still moved up and down.
“Drop the gun fucker!”
I recognized Marco’s voice. I knew what it must look like. I was holding a gun over Annalisa and she was shot, but I didn’t have time for this shit.
I threw the gun and spun around, still on my knees. “If you’re gonna shoot me, shoot me fast. Cause my girl needs an ambulance. So stop dicking around, shoot me already and get her help.”
“Marco! JESUS CHRIST!” Lina yelled running down to the dock. “What the fuck is wrong with you?”
“He shot her!”
“The hell I did,” I said spinning back around to hold my girl. The fucker could shoot me in the back if he wanted. I wasn’t leaving her alone any longer. I guess he was convinced because the bullet never came.
“Please call 911 Lina,” I said, looking down on Annalisa.
She looked so pale. I felt the tears prick at my eyes. This was all my fault. I pulled off my own shirt and pressed it to her stomach.
Marco knelt next to me and helped put pressure on it.
I heard the sirens before I saw the lights. I’d never been more grateful to hear them in my life. It had probably only been five minutes, but it felt like a year and the dock was already stained with her blood.
“What the hell happened here?” a paramedic yelled rushing down the dock and over to us.
Marco looked up. “These two were just walking on the dock and this guy attacked them.” He pointed to Jimmy. “He shot that woman and then…”
“And then this other guy shot him. I have no idea why and then he ran off with the gun,” Lina chimed in.
I looked at the dock where I’d thrown the gun but it wasn’t there.
“Yeah, that’s exactly what happened,” Marco confirmed. It was pathetic that Franco’s men were more loyal to me than mine were. They could have easily turned me in, said I shot Jimmy and Annalisa. I was covered in her blood and had fired a gun.
“Sir, did you see anything?” they asked me, but I was still looking at the dock where the gun had been. Had I lost my mind?
“He’s in shock,” one of the paramedics said. “Call him an ambulance.” He turned to me. “Sir, can you please go sit over there so we can help your friend here.”
I stepped back and let the paramedics work on Annalisa on the dock, then load her onto a stretcher. They seemed to think it was urgent.
I watched as they put Annalisa on a stretcher and started to load her into the ambulance. “I’m coming with her,” I said, running after them. They were locking the stretcher in place and closing the doors.
One paramedic looked out. “Sir, are you hurt?”
I looked down and saw that my bare chest was covered in blood.
“No… it’s hers.” I said, pointing as they were locking the stretcher in place. “I need to be in there. I need to go with her.”
“She needs to go now,” he said. “Another ambulance is on its way.”
I wanted to argue, but I wanted her to get to the hospital, so I let them go. Not more than ten seconds after they left the second ambulance had arrived along with three squad cars.
“Let’s go,” Marco said, pointing to his car that was only a few steps away.
The officers jumped out and rushed over to the scene. The paramedics rushed down to Jimmy, but after a moment, there was no urgency. “He’s not breathing,” the paramedic shouted to the cop.
It was no surprise to me. I knew I’d killed the fucker, and I’d do it again.
We rode in silence for a while, before Marco finally spoke, “Why were his pants down?” It was clear he was trying to control his voice to keep it calm. “Had he—did he…”
I knew what he was asking. He wanted to know if Jimmy had raped her. “No—he-he touched her, but I got there in time.”
Again, there was silence for the rest of the ride. When we pulled into the parking lot of the hospital, he turned to me. “You were rea
lly going to run away with her?”
I looked him square in the eyes. “Yes, I was trying to get her away because I wanted her safe. Some good that did me.”
We got out of the car and started to walk inside. There were a few police cars.
“They’re going to question us in a lot more detail than the paramedics did,” Marco said quietly. “You and Annalisa were walking on the docks and he came out. He pulled a gun and said that he wanted your wallet and her purse.”
“And her phone,” I added. “He probably has it on him.
Marco nodded. “That’s good. Then he wanted more. He started to take off his pants. Annalisa refused, he shot her and you shot him.”
“That’s what I saw,” Lina said.
We walked into the hospital. I started to walk up to the nurse’s station but Marco walked off toward a doctor. “Elena. Did you see that Annalisa is here?”
She nodded and started to talk then saw me. Her eyes went wide.
“It’s alright, Elena.”
“Yes, she was brought in. They’re evaluating her now. I’m heading back in to check her status. I already called Franco.”
We went to the waiting room. I stepped off to the side to call my father. He didn’t pick up, which wasn’t a surprise. I was calling from my burner phone. “Dad, it’s me, Dante. I need to talk to you. I’m at Our Lady of Mercy hospital. There’s a lot to explain. Don’t believe anything you hear and don’t trust anyone.”
I was mid message when I saw Franco walk through the doors. He walked right up to Marco and Lina.
“Marco, what the hell is...”
I closed the phone figuring I’d call my father back when I could so I could listen.
“I got a call from Elena that Annalisa was here. I thought she had to be wrong, so I went to check her room. She wasn’t there, but there was a note. She said she was in love with some guy and was running off with him. What fucking guy?” His voice was loud. He was looking from Marco to Lina. He stopped talking when he saw me. “THE FUCK?” He looked from Marco to me then back to Marco. Technically, I was supposed to still be chained up in his basement. “YOU?” he growled. Franco walked over to me. “Was she talking about you?” He thrust a piece of paper in my face.
* * *
Dear Mom and Dad,
I’m so sorry, but I love him. I hope you can understand and one day you’ll forgive me. Please don’t try to find me. I’ll contact you when I can.
Love,
Annalisa
* * *
He didn’t give me a chance to respond. “So let me get this right...you somehow seduced her, tricked her into releasing you and then, get her to the dock alone at night so your boy can shoot her?” He leaned in. “I’m going to kill you so slowly you’ll be begging me to finish it off.”
The police came into the waiting room and Franco backed off a bit, but he was still shooting daggers at me.
There were four of them. They looked shocked to see us all in one room. I knew that they knew who I was, who Franco was and who Marco was. Hell, I recognized one of the cops, Williams, who was on our payroll.
“We need an official statement,” an officer with a badge that read Santanelli said.
“Can we do it here?” Marco asked. “We were witnesses, and he was a victim.” Marco had pointed at me.
Franco looked shocked and Officer Santanelli’s eyebrows rose. Clearly, he knew the connection between our two families.
Santanelli and his partner looked over at Williams and his partner and nodded. “I guess. If we need more, you’ll have to come down to the station.” Marco nodded and so did I. “So, what happened?”
“Well, I was taking a walk on the dock with my girl.” He pulled Lina closer to him, and we saw this guy, Dante here doing the same thing with his girl.”
“His girl being Annalisa Morelli?” the cop asked with his eyebrows raised, clearly not believing the story.
“Yes, we’ve become very close lately,” I chimed in. “We were taking a walk by the water and this guy comes out of the shadows and asks for my wallet and Annalisa’s purse. He got her phone. I didn’t want her hurt, so I handed over my stuff. But then, he wanted more.”
“Yeah, he pulled down his pants,” Marco added.
“And I called 911,” Lina said.
“I went to help, to stop it, but Annalisa slapped him and the next thing I knew, there was a shot. The guy had shot Annalisa.”
“And then I shot him,” I finished. “I shot the fucking asshole who was trying to rape my girl and who had fucking shot her and yeah, I’d do it again.”
Franco stared at me. It was as if he knew I was telling the truth.
The one cop wasn’t buying it. He piped up. “So wait, you’re telling us you want us to believe you’re a couple with Annalisa Morelli and that a guy robbed you, a guy who happens to be one of your closest business associates?”
“It was dark,” I said.
“And he had on a mask,” Lina said quickly. “I was standing there and saw the whole thing. It was just like Dante said, only he forgot the part with the mask.”
“He wasn’t brought in wearing a mask and the paramedics didn’t put it in an evidence bag,” the officer said.
“Then I guess it’s on the dock still,” Lina said. “Maybe it fell in the water. He only took it off at the end, when he was taking off his pants.”
“That doesn’t make sense.”
“Does any of this?” Marco asked.
The cop turned to me. “So you want me, us, to believe that you didn’t know that the guy robbing you was one of your closest business associates?” I nodded. “And you want me to believe you’re now with Annalisa Morelli?”
“Why is that so hard to believe?” Lina asked. “I mean, she’s having his baby for fucks sake.”
Everyone’s jaw dropped, including mine. We all stared at her. I didn’t even notice the doctor come into the waiting room.
“For Annalisa?” she said.
I turned to the cops. “Look, we gave you our statements. Annalisa will confirm we’re together when she can. Check Jimmy’s stuff. You’ll find he has her phone on him, unless that’s in the water too. I’m gonna go hear about my girl. If you need anything else, arrest me and talk to my fucking lawyer.”
The cops left and the four of us walked over to their doctor friend. “She’s stable they are doing a few tests and prepping her for surgery. The bullet is lodged against her liver. I’d expect her to be in there for a few hours. I’ll keep giving you updates.”
After she left, we all went back to the chairs and sat down.
“Thank you guys,” I said to Marco and Lina. “Great story.”
“How much of it was true?” Franco asked, appearing a lot calmer.
“I did shoot Jimmy after he shot her.”
“But why the fuck did he shoot her?” Franco asked.
“Boss, there is a lot more to this,” Marco said. “I only learned about it an hour ago myself or I would have told you.”
Franco looked at me then Marco. “Well?”
“I’ll tell you, Sir,” Lina said. “I’m the one who told Marco.”
“Go on then,” Franco said, sounding impatient.
“So, well, the other night Annalisa was in the kitchen when she heard Vito outside talking on his phone.”
I noticed that she left out the part about having just come from my room.
“Well, he was talking to some guy…”
“Probably Jimmy,” I interrupted.
“Yeah, probably Jimmy,” Lina continued. “So Annalisa said she heard Vito saying that he never thought that the deal would work and he was mad. He was going to shoot Dante when the deal was going through anyway. He’d tell you he was escaping. Then he said that Dante’s father, Sal would be mad and it would be war. He’d order a hit on you, and he’d let the guys in to do it.”
Franco’s jaw clenched.
Lino started to tear up. “And he said that Donnie and Marco would avenge your deat
h. The plan was to let them kill Sal then kill them. Vito and this other guy were going to unite the families and run the city together. There were lots more guys.”
Marco looked surprised. “You didn’t tell me they’d planned to kill me.”
Lina hugged him tightly.
Franco looked at me for more information. “So then the plan was for you two to pretend to be together to draw out the traitor on your side? To use her as bait?”
I could see how it looked that way, but that wasn’t it at all. “No, that’s not what happened. Annalisa told me they were planning to kill me. She didn’t want to see me die or start a war.”
Franco’s expression didn’t change.
“She wanted to come with me, but I was worried it was too dangerous. I was going alone and she was supposed to meet me there. That’s when things went bad.”
“So you made up the part about you two being together?” he asked, perhaps not wanting to believe his daughter was with me.
“No, that part is true. I fell for her, big time.”
He looked at the letter again. “She says she loves you,” he said, more to himself than me.
“I love her too.”
He stared at me for an eternity, perhaps trying to stare me down.
I held his gaze.
Eventually, he looked away and sat there in silence.
We all did. The television show playing in the corner of the room was the only sound in the room. I looked over at Lina who was holding Marco’s hand.
“So in essence, you saved my life,” Franco said out of nowhere.
All three of us turned to look at him.
“My life, Marco and Donnie’s life, and your father’s life,” Franco finished.
Marco nodded. “It would have played out like Vito had said. They’d have killed Dante and Sal would have been so pissed he sent Jimmy to take you out. Normally, I’d say he’d never get to you, but if Vito handed you to him on a silver platter, yeah, he’d have gotten you. And then of course, Donnie and I would have gone there to avenge you.”
“Where is Vito now? As soon as they tell me Annalisa is all right, I’m going to go find him and kill him.”