“You know, Kyle, I don’t really appreciate being ignored. You got the whole fucking gang here, so why don’t we just go ahead and get started with this negotiating shit.”
“I’m not ignoring you, Niko,” Kyle finally replied to the man as he turned to face him. “I’m giving you time.”
“Bullshit. Time to what?”
Slipping his hands into his pockets, Kyle made his way back across the lobby.
“Time to think, of course,” he answered the man, giving him a small smile. “You turned down my offer.”
Niko frowned, then snorted. “Because the offer was shit.” He looked back to his men, then his father. “What the fuck did you expect us to do?” He turned back to Kyle with a shrug of his shoulders. “Let you take all of our shit.”
“I’m not taking anything from you, Niko,” Kyle said, walking to stand in front of the man. “You took something that wasn’t yours.”
“And you made the decision to turn a blind eye.”
“I changed my mind,” Kyle shrugged. “You asked for too much. Took too many liberties. You got greedy, a little too comfortable demanding shit from me. Now, you get nothing.” He smirked. “What did you learn?”
“Fuck you!” the man snapped.
Kyle burst into an uproarious laughter. “Oh, come on, Niko!” He gave the man’s shoulder a hard slap. “It’s a good deal. You’ll get to go back to Bonaducci business as usual in peace.” He took a step forward. “Take it.”
“I said,” Niko also took a step forward, “Fuck. You.”
Kyle’s mouth closed as his brows furrowed slightly. “Hmm,” he hummed in a small rush of breath. “Take the deal, Niko.”
“Fuck you,” Niko shot again.
And this time, Kyle had to take a step back, the rage inside of him beginning to become a bit painful. It felt like it was beating at his chest, begging to be released so that it could lash out on this motherfucker.
“Take the deal, Niko,” Kyle repeated, swallowing his rage yet again. “Take the deal. It’s a good deal.”
“And I said fuck you, you fucking prick,” he spat. “What happened to negotiations, huh?” he asked, looking at Kyle, then the rest of the group standing behind him. “What happened to the fucking negotiations, Salernos! What happened!” he shouted. Then he got back in Kyle’s face. “You lie about that, too?” He gripped Kyle’s shirt. “Fuck you!” he roared directly in Kyle’s face. Then he pushed him, sending both himself, and Kyle, a couple steps back.
And there it was, the last straw.
Abruptly, and probably to the surprise of everyone present, Kyle stormed away from Niko and headed in the direction of the Salerno Organizations accounting department located not too far from the lobby’s entrance.
“Hey! Where the hell do you think you’re going, Valente? We’re not done here! You said we would negotiate!”
Niko was shouting, but Kyle could barely hear him. He was past that part now. Listening. No more of that.
Once he finally made it to the entrance of accounting, Kyle swung the door open and entered. Used to surprise visits from the ‘executives’, the financial department employees said nothing upon Kyle’s entry. They kept their eyes on their work as they were taught to in their training.
Through the main office, down a short hallway where a small door led to a big room full of some of Kyle’s favorite toys. Why was it located in the financial department? Simple. Convenience. For when shit like this happened and weapons were needed. Having them close, on the first floor, made them easier to acquire.
Opening the door, and entering the room, Kyle went straight for his preferred weapon of choice.
A bright gray, cold steel bat.
Snatching it off of its stand, he stormed out of the room, back through the office, then out the exit into the lobby where Niko was still shouting. It didn’t take him long to spot Kyle’s return.
“Well, look who decided to rejoin the fucking party. What the fuck, Valente?”
Kyle’s heart was pounding in his chest. So much excitement, so much fucking freedom.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing? Huh? What the fuck is that?”
It was exhilarating. Letting go. The shit was like a drug, Kyle had never done it before, always with the … thinking about shit before he did it. How stupid he had been.
“Hey, dumbass. Can you hear me? You’re wasting your time if you’re planning on threatening me with that … what the fuck is that anyway? Whatever the hell it is, it won’t work. We’re not leaving until you give us our shit—”
You could hear it, if you listened closely, the sound of Niko’s jaw breaking the moment the bat connected with his face.
It was glorious. Fucking music.
And the symphony only got that much sweeter when Kyle reared back and hit the fucker in the face once more, this time sending his body flying backwards as blood and a few of his teeth went flying out of his mouth.
Before the bastard could fall to the ground, Kyle jammed the head of the bat in Niko’s stomach, making him crouch forward, then one last crack to his head sent him falling to the floor.
Around Kyle, all hell had broken loose. Both families had gone into defense mode, blood and bullets flying everywhere around him, but barely noticed it, barely processed what was going on around him. He was in his own little world now. He felt weightless, like he’d drifted into a world without gravity. Or maybe it was a rebirth. Kyle Valente, consigliere, finally doing shit his way. Not in the ways of his father, and no longer conforming to what he thought was expected of him. He was finally his own man.
Kyle Valente, the consigliere of the Salerno crime family, was not Cesare. Never had been. He wasn’t as patient, had never been as nice, and when it came to negotiation, Kyle didn’t particularly like arguing his point. He much preferred when people just did the shit he told them to do. That was better in his opinion.
He no longer had the patience to deal with bullshit, so he wouldn’t any more. No rants, no back talk, no fucking hesitation. Kyle was at the end of his rope and would no longer tolerate being fucked with. He’d only just figured out that it wasn’t in his nature to take such disrespect.
When he was finished, when his shoulders felt lighter, and that ever increasing rage had waned a bit, Kyle stood, the bat hanging at his side. Blood staining his shirt and spatters of it muddied his face and hair. He looked around, seeing for first the time what all of the racket around him had been. Bodies covered the floor. Blood. Brains. It was … a massacre. In front of him, Niko Bonaducci laid nearly unconscious, beaten, his body shaking as if he were in a room with temperature below zero. Right next to him his father laid, also beaten, nearly unconscious, his body shaking just as intensely as his sons. Kyle only just remembered that he’d lashed out at Don Bonaducci, too. He’d only just recalled that the man had tried to intervene, tried to stop Kyle from killing his son, thus turning Kyle’s wrath upon himself.
“Shit,” Kyle muttered to himself.
He’d had needed the Don conscious and able to sign the contract.
Digging into his back pocket, Kyle pulled out the peace contract from the meeting earlier. He’d taken it from Gabriel and kept him on himself as a reminder of his failures.
Oh, how foolish he’d been.
If only he’d known the that there was no such thing as failure in situations like this, it would have saved him so much stress.
“Alright, now,” Kyle sighed, patting his pockets as he searched for a pin. “Dammit.”
He hadn’t brought one.
But Kyle was nothing if not resourceful.
Walking past Niko’s limp body, Kyle made his way to Don Bonaducci and lowered himself to the floor, sitting down next to where the man lay.
“Alright then, Eric,” he smiled, pushing the man on to his back. “Wake up, buddy,” he smacked his face lightly. “Wake up.”
Eric’s eyes peeked open right as a moan of pain fell from his lips.
Kyle gave the man a nod.
“I have the contract, Don.” He waved the small bundle of papers in his hand. “Are you ready to sign them?”
Eric’s response to that had been to grunt and spit blood in Kyle’s direction.
Not a good decision.
Reaching out, Kyle caught the man’s obviously broken arm in a crushing grip and squeezed.
“Ahh!” Eric screamed in agony. “No, no, no, no!” he shouted when Kyle continued to tightened his grip.
“No what, Eric?” Kyle asked, leaning closer to hear the man. “I can’t hear you. Perhaps you didn’t hear my question?”
Eric coughed up blood before inhaling a loud gasp. “I heard,” he croaked. “I heard, I heard.”
“Then answer me,” Kyle commanded. “Are you ready to sign my deal, Don Bonaducci?”
“Y—yes …”
Kyle tightened his grip. “Yes?”
“Yes!” the man shouted. “Yes, yes, yes …”
Spit and blood oozed from his mouth as he wept the word yes over and over again until Kyle released him, nodding his head with a smile, satisfied that Eric had finally answered his question.
“Fantastic,” Kyle clapped his hands. Then he pointed at the man, giving him a stern look as he did. “Now, it’s important to remember that you have thirty days to return every penny of the money you stole. And in accordance to this contract, the Salerno Organization has the right to execute any man or woman in your organization that comes near any of our territories with the intent to cause harm without effecting the validity of this peace deal. Also, if your family so chooses to attack us again, the peace is automatically null and void, and we are free to burn your entire organization to the ground. Do you understand?”
“Yes,” the man answered breathily, giving a flick of his hand. “Yes …”
Kyle nodded, pleased with how quickly the man responded. “Very well.” Kyle opened the contract. “Now, I don’t have a pen, but,” he sighed, looking down at the blood covering the floor, “we can be creative. Here. Give me your hand.”
Bringing up his knees, Kyle laid the open contract on his leg, then reached over and grabbed Eric’s hand.
“There’s only one place that you need to sign your full name. Then two, where you can just initial.”
Dipping Eric Bonaducci’s finger in his own thick, red blood, Kyle began helping the man sign his name on to the contract. It was difficult. Kyle had never helped a man sign a contract using blood, but as they moved along, it seemed they both got the hang of it; Eric helping Kyle as he moved his hand, locking in the peace deal that would bring both of their families some rest for a long while.
“You know,” Kyle said as he continued to assist the man. “This little … confrontation we all had here today is a little poetic, don’t you think.”
Eric coughed up blood again, taking in another deep breath, then asked Kyle, “How so?”
Kyle gave a half smile, dipping the man’s finger in his blood once more so that they could move on from the initialing to the signature.
“Well,” he began. “Fifteen years back, you were in this same situation with our fathers, were you not?” Kyle chuckled at the man’s expression. “You were,” he nodded. “Back when my brothers and I were just kids, and Spook Steele’s daughter was a rumor.” He nodded again, dotting the last ‘I’ in the man’s name. “Now look at all of us. My brothers and I are men now, Spook Steele’s daughter is real, and you …” Kyle released a long breath, shaking his head, “you’re still here. Learning the same lesson that you learned fifteen years ago …” Such as sad, sad man that Eric Bonaducci. “Let’s hope the lesson sticks this time, huh Eric?”
More blood and saliva fell from Eric’s mouth as he groaned, slowly attempting to roll his body away from Kyle, before his body gave up and he fell unconscious.
Amusing, Kyle thought, standing up from the floor and wiping his hands off on his already sullied shirt. It had been a lot of work, but he’d done it, finally. Staring at the contract made his chest swell with pride. He felt proud. His first big responsibility completed successfully, and Kyle just knew that this was only the beginning for him. He was going to give new meaning to the title consigliere, change the landscape of the role, thus creating the title a new. Generations from now Kyle’s would be the name that all would try to live up to.
He smiled at his own thoughts.
Where was this ambition coming from?
“Kyle.”
The call from Nathan got Kyle’s attention immediately.
He lifted his eyes, staring at his family for the first time since all of the fighting began.
Holy shit.
They were a mess. All of them. Nathan was covered in blood that obviously wasn’t his own; as was Carterina, and Davina, and Mickey, each of them with large knives in their hands. Lucca had blood spatter on his disheveled shirt and a bit on his face as he held a gun at his side. And the rest of Carter’s girls just looked … tired. Clothing disheveled, hair lovely, but messy at the same time, and blood on their faces as if they’d been fighting.
“What the fuck, man?” Nathan said, sounding as if he were still out of breath.
Uh oh …
Kyle’s eyes widened, his brows raising at what he was seeing. “What happened?” he asked, genuinely lost.
He had no idea what had happened when he just kind of … blacked out. He didn’t remember.
“Are you serious?” Nathan asked, his nostrils flaring. “You didn’t notice that you started world war fucking three in here without even …” he shook his head, his features tightening, “signaling to us that you were going to do so!”
Kyle swallowed. “I …” his words trailed with a shrug, “You weren’t talking, so I just went with what I wanted to do. I had no plan, none of us even knew they were coming.”
Silence. Each of them were peeking at one another out of the corner of their eyes.
Kyle frowned. Was he missing something?
He waved his hand between them. “What was that?”
“We knew,” the thick Russian accented voice of one of Catsianna kutnetsova sounded as the woman sauntered forward, running her fingers through her messy curls.
“Cat!” Carter yelled.
Everyone looked just as angry that the woman had spoken.
She didn’t seem to care though, as she continued. “What?” she asked, shrugging then wiping the sweat from her brow. “He will find out soon anyway, no?” She looked back at Kyle before resting her hands on her curvy hips. “Your step-mother, the Anastacia Stone, tells your brother not to tell you when Dante called to warn us of Bonaducci’s coming while you were talking to your bride about the man hitting her …”
Both shocked and utterly appalled, Kyle’s mouth dropped. What?!
“Dante said they could not stop Bonaducci because there were too many coming. Would draw too much attention.”
“But why the fuck wouldn’t I need to know that they were coming?” Kyle asked angrily, looking over to Nathan.
But before Nathan answered, Catsianna began to tell Kyle the rest of the story. “She said you needed to learn. She told your Russian boss to say no words, and told your brothers and Carterina not to help you. That you needed to accomplish this on your own and that all of us needed to stand quietly and have your back—”
“Okay!” Nathan cut off the woman, raising a hand in her direction. “Thank you, Cat, but do you mind if I take it from here please …”
Smiling that sinister smile of hers, Catsianna nodded, “Конечно, вы можете, русский. I will be quiet now …”
Kyle spotted Carter glare at the woman before rolling her eyes when Cat gave her wink in response.
“Kyle,” Nathan called him, capturing his attention. “There’s nothing to be upset about.”
“I’m not upset,” Kyle said truthfully. “It just would have been nice if I was told what was going on beforehand.”
“I guess Anastacia wanted us to …” Nathan shrugged, “give you some space so you coul
d close the deal.”
“And you did,” Lucca spoke up, stepping forward. “And you did it rather well.”
Kyle’s brows rose in surprise at Lucca’s compliment.
“Really?” Nathan asked, gazing in Lucca’s direction. “You were not surprised by his aggression.”
“I wasn’t,” Mickey said, squatting down to pull a knife out of the neck of a body in front of him. “Niko was pushing. He was begging for a war.”
“And he got one,” Lucca nodded, a small …proud? smile on his lips. “You cannot lie and tell me that you didn’t enjoy that, cugino.”
Nathan nodded. “I did,” he admitted. “But even still, it would have been nice to have a heads up.”
Kyle snorted at the irony, even as he walked forward toward Nathan. “Yeah, like I was warned about them coming here in the first place?”
Nathan rolled his eyes. “Touché.”
Chuckling, Kyle handed the contract over to Nathan. “Here you go, brother. A signed peace agreement, just as I promised you.”
Laughing softly, Nathan dropped his knife and took the papers from Kyle’s hand. “A contract signed with blood.” He stared at the signature. “How very theatrical of you brother.”
Kyle smiled.
“You don’t mind if I use a pen for my signature do you?”
Snorting once again, Kyle waved a dismissive hand at his brother. “Fuck off, Nate.”
“I’m serious,” he laughed. “Seeing you like that,” he lowered his eyes, shaking his head at himself. “It just …” he lifted his eyes back to Kyle. “Reminded me that you’re a Stone.”
Kyle’s brows furrowed slightly. “A Stone,” he repeated.
Nathan nodded, his expression nearly the same as it had been when he’d hesitated to leave Kyle’s office at the beginning of the day. Like he’d wanted to say something else, but something was holding him back.
Nodding at … really nothing, Kyle swallowed, hesitating to say what he wanted to say next as well. “You sure it’s that that’s reminding you that I’m a Stone?” he asked, looking away from his brother as he did. “Or is it something else? Something that maybe happened this weekend.” He cleared his throat. “Something that could possibly involve Abrielle …”
Dangerous Beauty: Part Four: Beautifully Broken Page 48