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CHAPTEREIGHTEEN
Angelo
“Any word from Leonardo?”
“Not yet,” Mike replied, looking at his computer.
I sighed and looked out the window of the room. It was an act of habit, although I was on the bottom floor of my building. Lives had been lost, and the police were getting agitated. If I did not handle things with Vasquez, it would all come crumbling down. Not just my family, but his as well. It was siege warfare, and if Vasquez did not get the control he wanted, he would burn down everything we have all fought to build.
Leonardo had met with Vasquez two days ago, and no one had heard from him since then. I had sent him because Vasquez knew that Leonardo was an important family member. It was a move that I hoped would show that we were not scared and trusted Vasquez with our family. But he had broken that trust, and I had every reason to believe that Leonardo was dead. Antonio was dead, and Leonardo was gone, along with others who were hurt or dead. As much as I hated it, Benny was right about Vasquez.
I had one more chance to try to make things right with him, but there was no telling what would happen. I turned to Mike, “Get Noah and his men, tell them to get weapons, and prepare to roll out at my word.”
“Yes, sir,” Mike replied.
“Reach out to whatever owners we still have and ask them to sell-off. Liquidate whatever we can and have the money put in the bank. Once it is all in, have it moved offshore, and make sure that I am the only one who knows where.”
Mike looked up at me, shocked at what I had said. I knew it was dangerous, but it was our only play. “Sir, why would we do that? I’m not going against your orders or anything, I just feel like it would be really hard to come back from that.”
“Vasquez is attacking all of our assets. If we leave things as they are, he will destroy everything we have, and we will be left with nothing.”
“Yeah, but still, Boss! We can protect them, maybe even get the cops to...”
“No, Vasquez wants a war. He killed a member of the Commission! He no longer cares about playing by the rules. He will kill officers to get what he wants, if it comes to it.” I paused and looked at the elevator, knowing that Maria was upstairs waiting for me. “He attacks our businesses because he wants to eliminate all of our income streams. He knows that once we no longer have the money to fund this war, he’s won. We need to keep what we have and make sure he can’t get his hands on anything.”
“Yes, sir,” Mike replied, pulling out his phone and calling our contact at the bank.
I turned and headed to the elevator, knowing what was coming next. I hadn’t seen Maria in a while, and I would have to let her know where I was going before I left. I had to end this war, and it might cost me everything I had, but I had no choice. To save my city and my family, I had to take care of Vasquez. The doors to the elevator parted, and I saw Maria standing by the doors to the balcony. She turned around and smiled at me.
“My lioness,” I began, heading towards her and reaching out to touch her cheek.
“Hey,” the smile faded from her face when she noticed my demeanor, and I instantly felt bad for being the reason she no longer smiled. “What is it? What’s wrong?”
“Antonio is dead,” I began. She looked at me in confusion for a moment, and I continued. “He was a dear friend, and a member of the governing Commission of the Mafia family on this side of the city. He was shot right next to me earlier and I-I… I couldn’t save him.”
“Oh my God, I’m so sorry... Are you okay?”
“I’m fine, but...” My voice trailed off, before I snapped myself back. “I have to leave now, because the man who is responsible for all of this is out there. He and his men are plotting more chaos, more ways to hurt the people I love. The only way for me to keep this family safe is to deal with him, once and for all.”
Maria searched my eyes, “What are you saying?”
“I have to go kill the man responsible for all of this.”
Maria wrapped her arms around me, hugging me. She locked me in an embrace so tight, it could have sucked the air right out of my lungs. “Angelo, there has got to be some other way. The other day you almost got burned in a fire, and now this?”
“It has to be me, otherwise people will keep dying, and this will not end. I am the only one who can end this before it gets even more out of hand. I’m sorry,” I replied. I looked out the window and realized that my forces had been spread thin. Other than Dorothy, there were very few people at the house, most of them only coming there for supplies or to drop off information. “I am going to have Mike take you and Dorothy somewhere safe. I don’t want you here alone.”
“Aren’t we safe here?" Maria asked, looking at the elevators.
“He knows this is my home, and I can’t have you here if he has the balls to attack me where it hurts most. I’ll have you two moved to a safe house where you can both stay until this is over.”
“Alright, but what about tonight? I heard Dorothy on the phone; you want to meet with him tonight?” Maria asked.
“Yes, but we’ll only talk for now. I’m taking some of my guys with me too. Leonardo is missing, and I need to find him. I can’t leave him at their hands, who knows what they could be doing to him if he is still alive.”
Maria nodded. I kissed her forehead and turned to leave. It was becoming one of the harder things I had to do. I wished I could just stay back and fall into her arms, stay with her warmth, and never have to bother with any of the things that were happening. I sighed, pressed the elevator's password in, and took it back down to the ground floor. I saw our men waiting, their guns out already I nodded at them and pulled out my phone to call Vasquez.
“Angelo,” he said.
