23. Dante
Chapter 23
Dante
I sit down with my brothers for lunch, trying to push away the thoughts of the shipment of guns waiting for me. My mind is already a mess, but I know I can’t afford to make any mistakes. Knowing I need a clear head, I order iced tea instead of my usual whiskey.
“Good to see you’re still alive,” Salvatore greets with a smile as he sits down. He’s the last of us to arrive, with Niccolo and Luciano showing up ten minutes ago. “Did this guy tell you he fucked the girl he was trying to kidnap?”
Having a drink might numb my senses, including the newfound hatred I feel towards my brother. “Say it a little louder next time. I don’t think the people on the street heard you.”
“You want me to scream it?” Sal leans back in his chair, his head tilting to the side in a confrontational manner. His dark hair falls slightly over his face, obscuring his sharp features. His lips curl into a sly smile, showing off a dimple on one cheek. “I’ve been loud since birth, brother. Just say the word, and I’ll make sure everyone in Manhattan hears me.”
I let out an exasperated sigh, but my lips curl upwards into a smile. My brothers have a way of annoying me and making me laugh at the same time. It’s a love-hate relationship that I wouldn’t trade for anything in the world.
Niccolo wears a frown as he shakes his head slowly in disapproval. “You’re kidnapping girls now? This is why I don’t want any part of the family business.”
I almost choke on my tea. If he thinks he’s exempt from the Terlizzi traditions because he’s chosen to be a professor at the university, he has another thing coming. You can distance yourself from family, but you can never escape them. “I’m not kidnapping girls,” I reply patiently. “I’m helping Father retrieve a debt.”
Salvatore stage-whispers, “He fucked the debt he retrieved for Father.”
Luciano snorts into his beer before tossing me a look. “Is that what we’re doing now?”
“I can’t fucking stand any of you.” Having siblings is a blessing and a curse. There is never a moment of peace or quiet with four of them. They always have something to say about the choices I’ve made, making me doubt my own decisions. But at the same time, they are family, and I couldn’t imagine going through life without them.
“I’ll be honest, I don’t understand any of this,” Niccolo announces with a shrug. “And don’t feel like you have to explain. Plausible deniability and all.”
A long time ago, Niccolo begrudgingly married to appease our father. Despite his insistence that he wanted nothing to do with the family business, he married Caterina Lucatello as a show of respect. Tragically, his wife passed away just last year, leaving Niccolo to raise a teenage stepdaughter. I know he wants to be on the outside of things, but that isn’t always possible.
“The Martinellis owe Father a quarter of a mil. I had a sit down with Tommaso a few months ago, and it was clear he had no intention of paying it back,” I explain despite Niccolo asking me not to.
Luciano’s eyebrows raise as he lets out a low whistle through pursed lips. “Shit, that’s one hell of a debt to welch on.”
“He won’t be welching on anything now that I’m in charge. I don’t know why Father let it get this bad, but Tommaso will pay one way or another.” I don’t care if I have to tear Tommaso’s life apart, strip him of everything he owns, and grind him into the dirt until he is nothing but a broken shell at my feet. I would relish seeing him suffer and die, even if it means only getting back a fraction of what he owes my father. Revenge is worth more than any amount of money.
The waitress chooses this moment to walk up to the table. She flashes us a bright smile and asks for our order, briefly interrupting the flow of conversation. After she departs, Niccolo’s eyes betray his curiosity as he leans in closer to continue our discussion. “So what does this have to do with some girl you kidnapped, exactly?”
I gesture at him with a sharp snap of my fingers, drawn back into our earlier conversation. “Yes, that,” I nod. “So, Martinelli has a daughter. Ordinarily, she would be off-limits. You never involve the wife or kids.”
Salvatore and Luciano mumble their agreement. There is an unwritten rule in our world that you never threaten or harm someone’s family. Those who dare to defy this rule are met with a merciless fate—buried alive and left to slowly suffocate in a desolate hole in the barren wasteland of western Kansas. The fear of this punishment alone is enough to make even the bravest think twice before crossing this boundary.
“But Martinelli has a track record of abusing his daughter.” As soon as the words leave my lips, everyone at the table stills.
None of us are innocent. We’ve all done things we regret and aren’t proud of. But there is one line we will never cross–harming a woman. We may be flawed, but we will never stoop to such despicable acts.
I carry on with my story. “Tommaso treats Adalina like a toy, and when a child is being naughty, you take their toys away and punish them. That’s what I’m doing.”
“But you fucked her,” Salvatore points out.
“She’s twenty-one,” I glare at him. “She’s a consenting adult. And she wanted it. I am nothing if not accommodating for a pretty woman.”
Niccolo shakes his head before fixing his eyes on his phone, trying not to betray his expression of disgust and horror. “I know too much. I know the girl’s name. If the cops question me, I’m going to have to tell them everything,” he mumbles to himself.
“Oh, shut up.” Disgust curls on my lips as I look at my brother, the epitome of weakness and cowardice. He has no idea what true desire feels like, the burning hunger that drives you to do whatever it takes to achieve your goals. But one day, when he’s faced with a real challenge, he’ll come begging me for help. And I’ll be there to do whatever needs to be done, no questions asked. “She’s safe and sound. I have her locked in Lucia’s room, actually.”
Salvatore’s laugh fills the room, drawing attention toward us. “You dumbass. You didn’t lock her in the dungeon?”
“No. Enzo and I installed locks the other night.”
“Instead of putting her in the dungeon?” Sal repeats, his jaw dropping in shock. “Was the pussy that good?”
I don’t want to think about Adalina’s pussy around these assholes; I get hard any time she’s on my mind. “That’s not the point. I’m not sending her back to that monster. Martinelli thinks he’ll get his daughter back after he pays his debt. But frankly, he’ll get a bullet to the head before I ever put her in a place like that again.”
A hush falls over the table. My brothers stare at me, their expressions unreadable beneath the weight of their silent judgment. They want to say something, but no one wants to be the first to speak. So we sit there in silence, waiting for someone else to break the ice. Then, finally, after a long pause, Luciano asks what they all wish they were brave enough to ask. “Is this wise, Dante? I feel like you’re projecting.”
“Fuck you.” Projecting, my ass.
“No, I’m serious,” Luciano continues. As the youngest of the Terlizzi family, he is a bold and confident presence, unafraid to stand his ground and make himself heard. “You were mom’s only protector for years. And now you want to be this girl’s protector.”
A prickly sensation spreads across my arm, sending the hairs standing on end. I can’t deny that he’s right. “I didn’t ask you to play therapist, Luc.”
Luciano doesn’t ask me what I want, though. He presses on regardless of my growing rage. “This is personal for you, Dante. Admit it.”
“It’s not personal. It’s business.”
“Yeah, okay,” he rolls his eyes at me in a dismissive gesture. “You can call it whatever you want, but you’re not fooling me. You’ve got a savior complex, and you’re going to bite off more than you can chew with this girl. When you’re ready to admit that, you come right back.”
Niccolo jokingly adds, “And I thought I was the one with the doctorate in Psychology.” It isn’t enough to break the tension. Nothing is. Because Luciano isn’t wrong.
Adalina isn’t only a means to an end; she’s my mother all over again, and being around her makes me want to relive my childhood. I can save her like I saved my mother.