Chapter 24 Teo
twenty-four
Teo
The trap house was secluded.
No windows. No traffic. And most of all no unwanted attention from outsiders. It was the perfect location for a strategy meeting with the two people who helped me keep things in check — Keem and Sophia.
While Sophia couldn’t be here in person, she could bring me up to speed the old-fashion way.
“Word’s already spread that you got a price on Isabella and Orlando’s heads.” Her voice floated through the other end of the speaker, and the distinct buzz of city traffic drifted in the background.
Bash was here but not for strategy. His business with me was more personal.
Mostly about his sister, but updates about his father as well.
However, at the sound of Isabella’s name he froze near the front entrance as he was leaving, his back muscles tensing through his shirt.
Anytime her name came up, all he wanted was vengeance.
But I couldn’t blame him. She had made herself an enemy.
Turning toward the table he tuned in. He listened intently.
“You want me to smoke out whoever’s still loyal to her?” Sophia rattled on.
“Yeah, but do it without making a lot of noise.”
She was silent for a minute, and I knew she was shaking her head in agreement.
“Anyone bite yet? On the bounty?” Keem cut in, asking from his position across the room with one eyebrow raised.
“Nah, not yet. But even if they don’t, I got eyes. Anybody thinking about hiding her? I’ll know.”
“How?” I asked curiously.
Sophia was good at planting people where they were needed.
Good at concealing her motives, and great at getting results.
I didn’t doubt her. But this was different.
It wasn’t like Sophia could just waltz into the Vitale territory unnoticed.
Or even make demands like anyone in her family would extend grace when I was openly and loudly looking for Gianni’s daughter.
"I got a few men posted up in the Bronx, Yonkers, and New Rochelle. Discreetly. If she even shows her face on any of her family’s turf. I’ll be the first to know. But I doubt she’s even back in the state. She’s been M.I.A. since the wedding.”
“I agree. She’s still in Atlanta. Laying low. She wouldn’t chance coming back to New York until she has secured whatever leverage she thinks she is going to get from Orlando.” I dragged my hands down my tired face. “She’s your friend Soph, where would she go? Who does she know down here?”
Sophia exhaled softly. “See that’s what I don’t know.
She kept a lot of secrets. I didn’t even know she knew Bianca and Orlando.
Let alone working with them. Apparently, I didn’t know my friend at all.
” I could hear the sarcasm in the word friend, but she continued.
“We have a much bigger problem, though.”
“And what’s that?” I sighed, already feeling the vein in my forehead begin to throb. “What’s bigger than this bullshit with Isabella and Orlando?”
“Gianni,” she said flatly. “His grip on his family is slipping fast and it is affecting business. Two of his shipments that usually clear through our docks, they were late picking up. Payment was short last week. Of course, I handled it. Personally making a trip to one of his warehouses in your absence. But Teo.” She paused for a split second.
“Without Gianni here to keep his men in check, they’re moving however the fuck they want.
Some even think it’s okay to test the Donatelli name. It’s fucking with our money.”
My jaw flexed just as my personal cell buzzed in my pocket. I wasn't intending to answer it, but I hadn't talked to Yanna since I left her this morning and didn't want to miss her call. While Sophia kept talking about docks and shortages, I glanced at my phone.
An unknown number.
And five words that nearly snatched all of my breath from my body.
404-555-2001: I got your precious Yanna.
It was as if my worst fears had come to pass.
“Sophia, I’ll hit you back.” I ended the call not even waiting for a response.
The words were haunting.
“The fuck...” I trailed, my eyelids blinking rapidly at the message, filling the pit of my stomach with a deep sense of dread.
Those five little words were enough to unravel me. But also bring out the monster inside of me.
I’d been a menace for the majority of my life. And even been a little more... unhinged this past week. Blood was on my hands, and I had no regrets.
But this is why I was hesitant to let Yanna roam freely. Orlando was still a threat I hadn’t neutralized. And Isabella was still hiding.
My thumb pressed against the green callback button before the murderous thoughts I had swirling in my head had a time to fully take shape.
The line rang once, then twice, each ring seemingly longer than the last one.
By the third ring, my rage had grown from a small simmer to a full-blown raging fire.
I could feel my blood boiling, and my patience wearing thin with each passing second.
When there was no answer my teeth ground so hard together that I almost cracked my bottom molars.
“FUCK!!”
My hand hit the table, damn near breaking it in half, and shifting the few items that lay scattered across its area.
Quickly I dialed Ayanna.
No answer.
Then I tried Arlo... then Sham. All with the same outcome.
Abruptly, I stood, knocking my seat over in the process.
The pacing was almost manic as I tried to make sense of the situation.
I hadn’t even wanted her going out this morning, not without me and definitely not by herself.
But I settled for my top security accompanying her. And this is what compromising gets me.
My mouth opened to explode but no sound came out; only a silent breath of frustration and the overwhelming urge to burn the city down. Keem and Bash’s discussion about Isabella’s possible whereabouts came to a screeching halt. Their eyes were on me, but I was somewhere else entirely.
With my eyes locked on the screen, I quickly responded to the text.
Me: Who the fuck is this?
Keem and Bash were speaking, but I hadn’t registered one word. Yanna was my only priority at the moment. I stared at the phone knowing whoever it was, was too pussy to respond immediately.
“Aye, yo.”
“You good?”
Keem and Bash both spoke simultaneously, their eyes watching me as I walked the length of the room... back and forth.
Keem nodded down at the phone clutched in my hand. “Who is that?”
I couldn’t answer. Didn’t have time to answer.
Leaning forward slightly, the palms of my hands rested on my knees. I had to gather myself. I was spiraling, I could feel it. The blood rushing through my veins felt like molten lava. The rapid breaths... shallow. And the spinning room...
Amore mio
“We gotta move.” I barked, this time storming toward a hidden compartment in the moderate-sized stash house. It’s where I keep extra weapons for moments like this.
Punching in my code, I pulled open the large double doors revealing a plethora of firearms and small weapons. Small pistols, large automatic firearms, and plenty of blades lined the walls. I snatched the large machete hanging from the side rack along with a small hunting knife.
My heart slowed as I grabbed a double holster with two Glocks, a full pack of bullets, and an extended clip. After strapping the holster around my shoulders, I grabbed the Smith and Wesson semi-auto rifle hooked against the wall, before sliding the strap over my shoulder.
I couldn’t promise I would make it out of this day alive, but I could promise one thing... there would be destruction in my path. People were about to die, and not in a pleasant way.
“Teo,” Bash called again, stepping toward me. This time with a little more bass in his voice.
My eyes snapped to him with what I can only describe as a volatile mix of rage and a bit of madness. I knew when I looked at him... when he took one look at me... that there wouldn’t be any need to exchange words. Not when it came to his sister, at least
He always knew.
Bash spent most of our youth and a good portion of our adulthood watching me love his sister from afar. He knew the lengths I would go to see her happy. To protect her. He watched me defend that woman for much lesser offenses, and this one was the most egregious.
“Ayanna?” His whole demeanor shifted as realization washed over him. “Nah, see I just talked to her.” His head shook like he was trying to dispel something we both already knew.
Something had happened. And it wasn’t good.
He pulled out his phone and went to call his sister like that wasn’t the first fucking thing I’d done. Of course, he received the same result as I did. No answer.
“When she called, she said she was going to see some bitch named Karley. And was asking about this bird I fuck with from time to time.”
His focus immediately shifted from me and their last conversation to making another call. A few minutes later his voice boomed into his receiver interrogating the person on the other end.
Meanwhile, my phone buzzed again, snapping my attention back to the screen.
404-555-2001: Don’t be dense. I heard you were looking for me.
Isabella
My fingers tightened around my device, nearly cracking the screen. Not even a second later, two more messages came through.
404-555-2001: We could’ve been a power couple. But you wouldn’t listen. Instead, you chose the weak.
404-555-2001: If you could see her now. She’s not so mouthy now...LOL... Look at her.
Attached was a picture of Yanna badly bruised, blood staining her clothes, and her face swollen beyond recognition.
Crying was never an option for me, not even when my grandfather passed away.
And I loved that man dearly, but this was different.
The sight of the woman I love nearly brought tears to my eyes.