Chapter 31
Chapter 31
Matt
“Jax!” I practically shouted into the phone as soon as I saw the caller ID on my screen. “Tell me you have good news for me!” A whole day had passed, and Francesca was still in the hands of that son of a bitch.
“Sort off,” He replied, not sounding very confident. “I found another warehouse upstate. But from the reports, it’s completely crowded. There’s a Yakuza man crawling out of every corner. There’s no way you can go in unnoticed. I just texted you the location.”
“I don’t intend to go in unnoticed,” I nonchalantly stated. My mind was set and focused. There was no persuading me from my path. “I intend to march right in through the fucking front door!”
“What the hell are you talking about? Do you have some kind of death wish?” He asked, outraged at the apparent stupidity of my suicidal plan.
“I know what I’m doing. Thank you for the info,” I replied back, ready to hang up the phone before he spoke again.
“I’m not letting you go alone. I’m coming to the club. Can you not do anything stupid in the next five minutes?” I could hear the engine of his sports car revving louder as he apparently stepped harder on the gas pedal.
“I’m leaving in twenty.”
“Gotcha. I’ll be there in five. I’m sure you’ll have that place filled with mafiosos. Would you be so kind as to ask them not to shoot me?”
“I’ll think about it.”
I hung up the phone, looking at Max’s disapproving expression in response to what he heard me saying to Jax on the phone.
“What?” I provoked, waiting for the thread of logical reasons as to why I should not be doing this.
“Nothing. I just don’t like or trust that motherfucker,” he simply replied, leaving me a little confused. “If that’s your plan, let’s do it. You know you are not going alone, right?”
“I was guessing you would say something of the sort. But my plan doesn’t include anyone else,” I stated, not leaving any room for discussion, or so I thought.
“Well, now it does.” Max grinned, showing me a small GPS device he held between his thumb and index finger. It looked like a piece of tape that I could easily hide somewhere they wouldn’t care to look for. “Jimmy borrowed it from the NYPD and reprogrammed it. We can have you located at all times, and we will be following at a safe, unsuspecting distance if they take you away from that warehouse. Our small army is eager and more than ready to take on whatever Hiro throws at us. We’ve got your back.”
“As always,” I said with the most honest smile I could give him while I felt like my soul was being tortured. Not knowing where or how Francesca was had me worried beyond measure. My chest was physically paining from the uncensored thoughts of the worst possible scenarios that were freely polluting my mind.
“As always, Boss,” Max replied, placing the small device in the palm of my hand, a suspicious look on his face. “I’m not leaving until you put it on.”
“I am not going to trick you, Max. I appreciate your help.”
“Yeah, I know. It’s just that, and allow me the candidness of my next words, you seem to never think straight when Francesca is the subject. We need Don Battaglia on this. She needs Don Battaglia. Be what she needs you to be. Alive is only one of the things that suddenly comes to mind.”
Max was right. I was moved by emotion every time I dealt with my wife, and this situation right here required a coldness that only logic and a collected state of mind could bring.
It was hard, though.
Isolating my heart from my mind, when my heart was the center of this whole equation, seemed an impossible task, but one I had to succeed in, nonetheless. She needed me to, and her well-being depending on me was all the incentive I needed.
I inhaled a sharp breath of courage after securing the GPS, gathered a couple of Glocks from the armoire, placing them both in my holster under my suit jacket. I threw a short-barrel shotgun at Max, followed by a couple of TEC-9 semi-automatics and a handful of round magazines for good measure. The rest of the crew would be armed already, and with these, Max, James, Jimmy, and Mike would be well-equipped, too. The rest of my men were already packing and would get the heavy machinery from our warehouse.
Some would stay behind and guard Dea Tacita. I wasn’t a fool. And if Hiro expected me to hit him today, he’d have his eyes on me at all times.
I gathered all the men in the center of the dance floor as I stood up high on the balcony, having them all silently waiting for me to speak. I gripped the metal bar in front of me as if I was transferring all my concern, frustration, and emotion onto it. These would all have to stay right here inside this club, as I embodied the cold, ruthless, and calculative Don Battaglia.
“Fellow Dons, soldati , and associates,” I started, capturing the attention of everyone from the higher ranks to the lower. “We are raging a war today against the greed of the Yakuza. Against the thirst they have for what is ours. Make no mistake. Today, they are here for my territory, taking away my wife, your Donna, but tomorrow, they will be knocking on your door, too. They will be trying to take away your businesses, using what you hold dear against you. These men have no honor, and they will not refrain from going down the dirtiest of roads to reach their destination. They do not abide by our code, by our conduct, and that is why we are stronger. We are a family. And today, we will make a claim on what is ours, leaving no doubt that we will protect, defend, and take back what belongs to us.” I paused for a minute, letting my words sink in as deep as they could before steadily shouting. “Are you with me?”
I watched them roar in response.
I am the boss. I am the law. I could have commanded them to do as I said, but speaking to them like equals, pulling on those strings of pride, and appealing to their hearts was the only way to ensure the right spirit.
The crowd was rallied and hyped for the job at hand. Max made sure to debrief every Don and their sottocapi as to exactly how this would play out.
Hiro was off-fucking-limits. He was mine.
This was my chance to avenge my grandfather at last, but most importantly, get Francesca away from those dirty fucking hands.
I saw Jax arriving before I spotted Don Amato and Francesca’s brother, Tommy, from my high position, nodding their heads as they were completely in the game right alongside me. I met them at the end of the stairs for a word before we left to wreak havoc wherever Hiro was hiding.
“Tommy, I presume?” I steadily spoke, somehow not managing to shake that stupid thought I had back at the hotel about him being with my wife when I had no idea who he was.
“You presume correctly.” He replied, standing straight and rigid with his hands behind his back, just like a soldier would.
“I want to apologize for my behavior the other night and also thank you for being here with us today.”
“No need to apologize or thank me. She’s my sister, of course I would be here. I would go to hell if that meant having her safe.” That was music to my fucking ears. He might not be that bad, after all.
“Things might get a little crazy.” I tried warning him off.
“Crazy is exactly what I do, so I will fit right in.”
“Welcome aboard then.”
“I’ve taken the liberty of contacting a few of my scorpion brothers . They are hired mercenaries now who owe me their lives. They’ll tag along if needed.”
“Thank you. I appreciate it.” I extended my hand for him to take. “The situation today calls for numbers, but we still have to be discreet about your… line of work.”
“I understand,” Tommy said, shaking my hand in agreement.
“Don Amato, I get that you have your own gear? Do you need any of mine?” I had to make sure they were protected.
“We just need some vests if you have any.”
“MIKE!” I called out. “Get some Kevlar for Don Amato and his men. Make sure to have yours on, too.” We were walking straight into open war. We needed to cover our bases as well as we could. “Gentlemen. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to get going. I’ll see you all in hell!”
I took off alone, driving in my Hummer. A fucking huge SUV I hardly ever used, but it would hold the bullets a hell of a lot better than my skin.
I set the coordinates Jax had sent me, driving for a little over an hour upstate into fucking nowhere.
I smoked cigarette after cigarette, trying to get my heart back into its cage. That alone time with my thoughts had me imagining what my life would be like after this whole shit show was over.
What would Francesca have said to me yesterday morning if she had gotten the chance? Would she find it in her to forgive me? If she did, I knew what my next step was. It was a step down from my rank but a huge fucking step up into the dream that had been my life while she was in it.
I looked at my wedding ring, back on the right finger, twisting it unrelentingly. I had changed it before the meeting so that it wouldn’t arouse any suspicion, simply because I couldn’t find it in me to take it off.
On the day of our wedding, I had told Francesca that hers would be there for life, and I failed that promise, but at least mine would.
In my mind, it served as some kind of link to her, even if nothing more than a symbolic one. I spun it again, knowing that, came hell or high water, it would never again leave my finger. Technically, we weren’t married anymore, but that was, as I said, just a technicality.
I slowed down as I was finally arriving at the warehouse that Jax informed me to be crawling with fucking Yaks everywhere. I parked the car right in front of the entrance, provokingly.
Two armed men were standing on each side of the gate, looking straight at me, a suspicious glare in their eyes. This was just another normal Monday, or at least I acted as if it was. I calmly climbed down from the SUV and walked right up to them, with my hands clearly visible. They both assumed a defensive stance, as expected, as I walked closer to them. Their hands hovered above their weapons, showing just how uneasy they were with my presence.
“Good afternoon, gentlemen.” I calmly greeted. “Which one of you will be taking me to Hiro Naoki?” Both of them quickly made a move to draw their guns, pointing them straight at me, only to find that I had both of my Glocks in my hands, too, pointing directly at them.
In less than ten seconds, I was completely surrounded by Yaks and their tiny guns. But mine were bigger. My balls, I mean. I turned one of my guns from them to me, popping a bullet in the chamber and placing the barrel right against my temple.
“Take me to Hiro, NOW!” I ordered, watching them look around at each other, searching for permission to do something. Anything. Completely confused.
“DO YOU KNOW WHO THE FUCK I AM?” I shouted, being met with more silence and dumb faces. “I AM MATTEO FUCKING BATTAGLIA, DON BATTAGLIA, FOR YOU FUCKERS. NOW TAKE ME TO HIRO, OR YOU WILL HAVE TO EXPLAIN TO YOUR BOSS WHY MY brAINS ARE SCATTERED AT YOUR FEET, AND HE WASN’T HERE TO FUCKING SEE IT.”