by J. L Rose
* * *
“Lieutenant Lewis?” Dante asked to make sure he had heard Yasmine correctly. “Yasmine, you sure it was the lieutenant?”
Yasmine slowly nodded her head, but she was unable to meet Dante’s eyes after failing him and allowing Alinna to be taken.
“They were supposed to meet, my husband. The lieutenant said she had information about both Fish Man and the Cuban drug lord Garcia Francisco; and once we met, I allowed Alinna to join the lieutenant inside of her vehicle. Alinna was only inside with the lieutenant for a moment when everything began happening fast. Three cars showed up and blocked me inside my parking space while the lieutenant sped off!” Yasmine softly explained.
“Did you see which way they went, Yasmine?” Dante asked, trying to remain calm throughout everything but feeling the fire burning in his chest from the anger and even fear that was building inside of him.
“I didn’t see!” Yasmine answered as tears began falling down her face while staring down at the ground.
Dante shook his head and tried to think. He had to calm himself down more to finally begin to come up with a plan.
“Somebody give me a phone!” Dante ordered.
Dante took Melody’s phone and looked over at his mother as she stood with Dwayne.
“Momma, what’s the chief’s number? I’ve gotta plan that may work.”
* * *
“What exactly are you planning to do with her?” Lieutenant Megan Lewis asked her employer, standing inside the office at Garcia’s mansion.
“She’ll receive the same as the husband,” Garcia told her. “We will find and deal with Dante Blackwell. But before he dies, he will watch his wife die in front of him, and then he will die behind her, with her death new in his mind.”
“Mr. Francisco,” Lewis started, before she was interrupted by the ringing of her phone. She then held up her finger for Garcia to hold on as she pulled out her phone to see that her chief was calling her. “Yeah, Chief!”
“Lewis, where are you?” Chief Grant asked in a loud voice. “I need you for a case to back up Sergeant Jones! How soon can you get to 135th and Queen Bridge?”
“Give me twenty minutes, Chief!” Lewis told her boss, hanging up the phone and then walking back over to Garcia, who was now on the phone himself.
“You’re leaving?” Garcia asked the lieutenant, laying his desk phone onto his chest.
Lewis explained to him that she had a problem to handle, but told him that she’d return later once she was done. She then rushed out of the office.
* * *
Chief Patrick Grant called back the number that contacted him, once he hung up with Lieutenant Lewis. He sat at his desk and listened as the line rang.
“Yeah!”
“She’s on her way now. It should take her twenty minutes.”
“I’ll have $1,000,000 wired to your account by tomorrow morning!”
Chief Grant smiled after Dante Blackwell hung up the phone. He remained smiling when he thought about the $1,000,000 he was going to receive for giving up Lieutenant Lewis.
* * *
Lieutenant Lewis turned onto Queens Bridge exactly twenty-one minutes after leaving Garcia Francisco’s mansion. She looked around in a confused state, and saw nothing and no sergeant around. She slowed her Jaguar to a stop while she pulled out her cell phone.
Lewis called the chief back to find out where Sergeant Jones was. She heard the line ring only once, when she saw the streets light up. Two SUVs drew her attention away from the phone as they pulled up in front of her and blocked her in. She then looked back behind her to see two more SUVs block her off from the backside as well.
“What the hell!” Lewis cried out as she tried to turn back and face forward, only to freeze as her eyes locked on the guy who was climbing out of the Mercedes-Benz G-Wagen.
Lewis swung her head around to her door after it was snatched open. She barely got a scream off, when she was grabbed from the Jaguar and then slammed back against the car door.
“What the hell do—?” Lewis stated but quickly paused in the middle of what she was just saying when Dante Blackwell himself stepped in front of her.
“Where is my wife?” Dante asked in a voice just above a whisper, staring the lieutenant directly in her eyes.
“Dante, what are you—?”
Lewis was unable to finish her sentence. Dante kicked her right leg out from under her, and she felt herself falling back. She then felt a horrible pain explode in her face, after it was slammed into the driver’s side window.
Dante released the lieutenant and watched her as she dropped to the ground to her knees, holding her broken nose with blood pouring out.
“Get up!” Dante said with no emotion.
Lewis slowly rose to her feet, only to be snatched up and shoved back against the car door again. She cut her eyes over toward Dante’s best friend and brother, Dre, and met his eyes, which were as hateful as Dante’s. She then looked back to Dante.
“Where’s my wife?” he asked again.
“Dante, I don’t know!”
Dante grabbed Lewis’s face in his hand while she was talking again but not saying what he wanted to hear. He then slammed her head so hard into the driver’s window this time that he smashed her head clean through, breaking the glass window. He then heard her crying out for mercy, promising to tell him what he wanted to know.
* * *
Garcia was impressed with the strength and resilience of the young Puerto Rican woman as he stood watching her take and deal with as much as his bodyguard Pablo could give her. He first beat her with his fist, and then he switched to a leather belt after wetting her body all over. Garcia stood watching the beating a little while longer before he finally spoke up and told Pablo to stop.
Garcia then walked over to stand in front of Alinna as he called her name. He was a little surprised that she still showed signs of cockiness, even after the pain Pablo had put her through.
“So, Mrs. Blackwell, are you ready to tell me where your husband is, or should we continue?”
“Muthafucka! You can kiss my—!” Alinna started, but stopped in the middle of what she was saying as she and Garcia and his lynch man jumped in surprise at the sudden explosion and screams.
Alinna heard the sounds of guns going off, more explosions, and louder screams. She slowly began to smile when she realized Dante was finally there. She looked to the Cuban drug boss and met his eyes. “You was looking for my husband. Well, he found you!” she joked.
* * *
Dante moved through the mansion like death itself. He spared nothing and no one. Everyone he aimed his SK submachine gun at turned into fallen bodies. He followed the lieutenant’s directions as he continued moving through the mansion, aware that James, Gage, and Dre were all close by. He then turned down another corner just in time to see a team of three gunmen running in his direction.
Brrrrrrr! Brrrrrrr!
Dante chopped up the three would-be gunmen. After hearing the clicking that announced the SK was empty, he then dropped the gun and pulled out one of his .40s from his left holster, just as Dre caught up to him.
“You good?” Dre asked, looking down at the three bodies in front of him and Dante.
“Not until I get Alinna back!” Dante replied as he once again went on the hunt.
* * *
“Just pick up the bitch!” Garcia yelled as he started for the door as Pablo grabbed a struggling and fighting Alinna, who continued yelling.
Garcia led Pablo from the basement and back up the stairs. He then looked around before stepping out into the hallway and making it out front just as another young man and a huge muscular guy holding an AR-15 in his hands stepped out in front of the mansion.
“Dante!” Alinna screamed after seeing her husband and beginning to struggle and fight harder to get away from Garcia’s man.
“Put her down!” Dante demanded with a growl, all while walking toward Garcia. “Now!”
“So, this is the f
amous Dante Blackwell!” Garcia started but paused at the swiftness the young legend had when he pulled out his chrome and gold gun and pointed it directly at Garcia’s face.
“So, you plan on killing me? Pablo will kill your wife if you try!” Garcia said with a sinister smile.
Boom! Boom!
Garcia jumped in both surprise and shock at the sudden explosion from the cannon inside Dante’s hand. Garcia opened his eyes and quickly became aware of two things: One was that Dante suddenly had two chrome and gold guns in his hands, and the second was that Pablo was screaming in pain. He cut his eyes over to his bodyguard to see Pablo on the ground with both his knees blown out.
“Dre!” Dante yelled. “Get Alinna outta here!”
Dante stared directly into the eyes of the Cuban drug lord as Dre gently picked up Alinna after first untying her and then pulling off his T-shirt and putting it on her. Dante then waited until the two of them were gone.
“So, you was looking for me, and since you couldn’t find me, you grabbed my wife, huh?” Dante said.
“This was about—!”
“You should have done your homework better,” Dante continued. “You was better off coming after me than the woman you did. I will go up against Satan himself when it comes to that woman, and you’ve crossed the one line no man should ever cross!”
“It was my—!”
Boom!
“Agghhhh!” Garcia yelled out in extreme pain, hitting the ground and grabbing his right knee after Dante blew it off.
Dante ignored the yelling coming from both men laid out in front of him. He then looked at his custom-made Mickey Mouse rose gold and diamond-bezel watch and saw that he had five minutes left.
Boom!
Dante blew out Garcia’s other knee and continued to ignore the screaming. He then simply turned and left the room and headed toward the front of the mansion.
* * *
Chief Grant hung up the phone after receiving a call from the mayor about the war zone in the southeast side of Long Island. He was already watching the news coverage on the blown-up mansion and the large number of bodies that were all over the streets.
Grant reached for his personal cell phone on his left when it began ringing.
“Hello?” the chief answered when he saw who was calling.
“Everything’s finished!”
Chief Grant recognized Dante’s voice and then focused on the phone call.
“I’m looking at the news report now. Is your wife okay?”
“She’ll be okay!”
“I take it that Garcia Francisco isn’t a problem anymore after what was shown on the news, correct?”
“I’ll have someone wire the money to whatever account you want it sent to. Just let me know by tonight’s end; and I’m going to need a contact that you would trust yourself chief. I’m only asking because my mother trusts you!”
“I’ll take care of it!” Chief Grant told Dante, only to hear the call end with Dante hanging up the phone.
THIRTEEN
Dante relaxed with Alinna while she went through the whole healing process. They spent time away from the family after she was released from the hospital, and rented out a penthouse in a hotel in Staten Island. Dante waited on his wife hand and foot, taking care of her. They both enjoyed every moment of their time together.
Dante had received word from Monica through Vanessa that Angela had remarried a businessman in San Juan and that she had her own business. She was also doing surprisingly well as a private investigator. Dante sent a message back to Monica letting her know not to interfere with Angela just yet, but that she could either come back to the States or remain in Puerto Rico until he returned there himself.
After three weeks of just relaxing and allowing Alinna to get better, both Dante and she decided it was time to head back to the mansion with the family. Alinna was missing her son, only talking to him over the phone, and Dante wanted to get back to business. They left the hotel in Dante’s Bugatti and headed toward Buffalo. Alinna looked over at Dante, and for a few moments she just sat watching him.
“What’s on your mind, shorty?” Dante asked, noticing out of the corner of his eye Alinna was staring at him.
“Dante, I wanna go home!” Alinna told him. “I mean go home!”
Dante took his eyes from the road a brief moment to look at Alinna, meeting her eyes for that moment.
“A’ight! We can leave whenever you’re ready, shorty!” Dante said as he focused back on the road.
“Tonight!” Alinna told him.
“Tonight it is then!” Dante said with a nod of his head.
* * *
They arrived back at the mansion a little while later to find everyone home. Dante parked the Bugatti in front of the front door and then got out and walked around to open Alinna’s door for her.
“Momma!”
Alinna turned around when she heard and recognized her son’s voice. She broke out in a smile to see Dante Jr. rushing toward her. She braced herself since she was still a little sore, only for Dante to intercept his son, snatching him up off his feet and out of his charge at his mother.
“Slow down, lil’ man!” Dante told his son. “Your mom’s a little sore still, so be gentle with her.”
Alinna smiled at Dante in thanks, and then she turned to Dante Jr. and held out her arms to him. “Come give me a hug, D.J.!”
Dante smiled as he watched his wife and son. He then looked up as the rest of the family walked in. Mya threw her arms around her father’s waist in a hug.
“You two finally decided to come home, huh?” Vanessa said as she waited while Natalie and Yasmine hugged Dante, before she hugged and kissed her brother.
“Where are Wesley and Amber at?” Dante asked with a smile.
Dante then noticed his mother stepping out of the front door, with Dwayne following behind. Dante then left the group a second and walked over to hug his mother and kiss her on the cheek. He then nodded to his mother’s husband, who nodded back at him.
“How is she?” Brenda asked Dante, looking over at her daughter-in-law and seeing her face still had some bruises, but looking a great deal better than she had.
“She’s still a little sore around her body, but she’s a lot better than she was!” Dante told his mother.
Just then, Alinna looked directly at him and smiled. He winked his eye and smiled back at her.
* * *
Once everyone was inside the mansion and in the den, Dante noticed that not only were Wesley and Amber missing but also Lisa and Eddie.
“Where are Wesley, Amber, Lisa, and Eddie?” he asked out loud.
“Wesley and Amber went back to Phoenix, and they invited Lisa and Eddie to go with them,” Harmony told Dante while she was sitting next to Alinna.
“Well, we got some news also!” Dante stated to the family. “Alinna wants to go home. I’m taking her back to Miami, and since we’ve got control of both New York and New Jersey, we’ll switch up things a little with our plan. Vanessa and Dre can still get settled out in New Jersey, but I’ma need Tony T and Harmony out here in New York so I can get Alinna back home.
“What about Fish Man, fam?” Tony T asked Dante.
“I’ve been thinking about that!” Dante admitted. “I’m going to dead that issue for now, since the nigga’s punk ass is running again. But if he shows up at any point, I want to know. His ass is dead. Period!”
“So you’re leaving then?” Brenda asked her son, drawing Dante’s attention to her.
Dante stared at his mother and then said, “Momma, I want you, Dwayne, and Melody to come back to Miami with us. I can give you the penthouse or buy you a house, whichever you all want. I’ll even let you guys open another business in Miami. We already own a night club, so another business wouldn’t hurt.”
“Dante, we’ve allowed you to do enough for us as it is, Son!” Dwayne spoke up, when normally he remained quiet when Dante and Brenda dealt with one another. “As a man, Dante, I wouldn’t feel ri
ght continuing to allow you to do for my family and not repay you for it!”
“Alright, Dwayne,” Dante began, staring him in the eyes. “Momma told me you’re into driving trucks. You got your CDLs right?”
“Sure do!”
“Well, how ’bout me and you opening a truck business?” Dante asked Dwayne. “You’ll run everything, and I’ll be a silent partner. What do you think?”
Dwayne was surprised and not expecting the offer his wife’s son had just made him. He looked at Brenda and met her eyes and smiled. Dwayne then looked back at Dante and saw the young man waiting and watching him.
“You say I’ll run the business, right?”
“I’ll just be the silent partner!” Dante repeated to his mother’s husband.
“Alright, Son. You’ve got a deal!” Dwayne said with a smile and a shake of his head.
Dante smiled as he and Dwayne shook hands. He then looked over at his mother and saw her smiling and looking over in his direction. He winked at her and received a kiss that Brenda blew back at him.
* * *
Dante wasted little time packing up what they needed and wanted to take with them. They decided to leave Emmy for Tony T and Harmony to look after. Dante had Natalie arrange everything with having the G-Wagen, Bugatti, Rolls-Royce Wraith, and the BMW M6 shipped down to Miami. He was out front with James and Gage, talking with Dre and Tony T when Alinna and the others all exited out the front door of the mansion.
“Boy, you better give me a hug before you leave!” Vanessa told Dante, already tearing up as she rushed to her brother, throwing her arms around his neck and hugging him tightly.
“I’ma miss you, big brother!”
“Come on, baby girl!” Dante said as he held Vanessa and kissed her cheek. “You know where I’ma be at, and if you need me, I’m wherever you at. I promise.”
“I love you, Dante,” Vanessa told him, kissing his cheek and hugging him tightly again.
Dante, Alinna, and the others all said their goodbyes, and then Gage drove one of the Escalades escorting everyone out to the airstrip where the G-4 was waiting for them. They arrived at the airstrip five minutes later and parked, leaving the SUV for Tony T to have someone pick up later on. Dante walked with his family while security grabbed their bags. He nodded to their personal pilot, who was well taken care of by the family. Dante then led his family onto the G-4 jet.