26. Dante
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
dante
“ W e were assigned a job. We don’t ask questions. You know how it works, Bianca. We were to infiltrate a shipment at the docks by any means necessary. I don’t know any details. They don’t tell us shit, just go there and do this. What is going on?” I answer as honestly as I can.
“What’s going on, Dante, is that it was a Russian shipment of weapons that you intercepted. The men you killed were my men. My fathers men I mean. They were his favorite men and when he found out it was the Italians, he proceeded to the docks to retaliate before more of your men smashed his organs to pieces and left him for dead.”
“Your dad’s dead?” Gio asks.
“No. Of course not. He’s Russian. He’ll survive.” Saying it didn’t convince me that it was true like I had hoped.
“Bianca, I’m so sorry but you can’t pretend you didn’t know we were rivals, I mean isn’t that why this whole thing has been so messy?” I try to reason with her. She knows as much as I do that we have no choice on these things.
“Fuck! I know that Dante. But here we are and you know what my fucking assignment is, now? Do you know what it is Dante?” She presses her finger into my chest.
“I have to bring my father the heads of the men that lead the assault… that would be your fucking heads Dante. What the fuck and I supposed to do with that? Huh? We have no choice in what we do right? So I have to fucking kill you and your brother-lover? Do you understand that?” She screams in my face before collapsing to the ground.
She sobs, on her knees and I drop down to meet her. I grab her wrists, pulling her hands away from her face.
“Bianca, we can figure this out. Gio, get some tissues please.” I ask nicely, maintaining a calm tone.
“For what?” Gio snarks.
“Gio, just get the fucking tissues.” I insist, shaking my head.
He leaves the room, and I lift Bianca’s head to look at me.
“Hey, we are going to figure this out. Unless you want to kill us- if that’s the case, I can’t promise we’ll make it easy, but I don’t want to go that route. Do you?”
She shakes her head, and her lip quivers.
“Dante, I don’t know what I am supposed to do. I’ve never said no or refused a mission from my father. I can’t just not do it but I can’t kill you. Gio, maybe.” She laughs and I smile to help release the tension.
“What do you need for him to believe you followed through? Do you need to actually take something to him, or will he believe you?”
“I quite literally have to take him your heads, Dante.”
“Does he know what we look like?” I urge.
“Well, not exactly, but he…”
“So he doesn’t know what we look like and he’s going in and out of consciousness right?”
“Well, ya, but he…”
“Bianca, you gotta work with me a little here. Can we convince him if you bring heads of men that look like us? Other option is we go to Helsinki and start a new life together.” I smile.
She looks at me, considering the Helsinki plan.
“Yes, I think we can probably do that. But, Dante. If we do this, I can’t risk being seen with you after. You’re asking me to lie to my father. Not only is he my father but…well you know who he is. He is not a man you want to cross, even if you are his flesh and blood. I’ve seen him cut a man in half for lesser crimes. If we pull this off… that’s it for us. We, or whatever we could have been… it’s over.” She starts to cry again.
“What’s the alternative, we kill each other? I understand, Bianca, and as much as I wish it were different, we both knew this was never going to work. Too good to be true, right?” I kiss the top of her head as I stand.
“Now, you can stay here until we make a plan but I need to get ahold of my guys if we’re really going to do this.” I say with trepidation.
She stays on the floor as I get my phone out.
Spencer I need a favor.
Anything you need boss man.
First, I need you to confirm this request stays with us. If I find out otherwise I promise you will wish you were dead.
Of course. What can I do?
Are there any men in your camp that resemble me and Gio? Doesn’t have to be exact but convincing. Maybe if we bloody them up a bit?
Uh, I can run a screen on them but what do you need them for?
No questions.
Let me know in the next hour if you have anything for me.
Okay. You got it!
“Here you go!” Gio hands me a box of tissues.
“Alright, I have my guy looking at possible matches in our captive camps. I should know in an hour.” I tell them both.
“Wait, Spence? You really trust that idiot?” Gio asks.
“I have to, Gio. We don’t have a choice. And I’m going to need you to get along if this is going to work.” I point at both of them.
“I’ll behave if she will,” Gio says sarcastically.
We all sit quietly in the living room, the tension making the air thick and awful. After about forty minutes, my phone goes off.
Got a few for you boss.
Incoming.
“Okay, Spencer sent some pictures. What do you guys think?” I ask, passing the phone to Gio and then Bianca.
“I think I’m much better looking on a bad day, but I guess I can see the resemblance.” Gio shakes his head.
“Then let’s get going. It’ll take about an hour to get out there, but I will have Spencer start working on them. The more unrecognizable they are, the better our chances of pulling this off are.”
“What did these guys do? Do they deserve to be beheaded?” Bianca asks.
“In this world, B. Does it matter? We have orders, we follow orders, right?” I respond.
She shakes her head, and we all pile in my Charger, headed for Bluffton. If there was one place on Earth that I hated the most, it was our camp in Bluffton. It was like a Guantanamo fever dream but worse in every way. It was disgusting and horrible. It was also our only option. Why couldn’t I have been put in foster care and sent through shitty families instead of one where I fuck my brother and my girlfriend is sent to cut off my head?