Chapter Fifteen #3
“A pawn. Nothing more. He couldn’t just give you the docks and you wouldn’t make an offer for them, so he had to get them to you somehow. As a wedding present, ha. I imagine she knows the truth now, eh, cazzone! I can just see that snotty bitch—“
Before he could utter another word, I punched him in the mouth.
“Careful, testa di cazzo. That’s my wife you are talking about, and no one disrespects Vittoria. Where are they hiding her?”
Donatello kept his head dropped, silent.
I whipped out my phone and showed him a picture of his pregnant wife, and the car parked outside of his brownstone. “Talk!”
“How the hell should I know? Do I look like I’m with them?”
I punched him again. “You knew the plan. Now talk!”
“For what it’s worth, the boss was at an abandoned slaughterhouse at the edge of town while the plan was being carried out here. As for your brother…” The fucker had the audacity to smirk at me. “Taking him wasn’t in the plan. I have no idea where he is.”
“I do. They took him to the east docks.” I punched him again. “Any idea why?”
He spit blood on the floor, then glared up at me. “I don’t know.”
“Not good enough.” I punched him again. “What’s waiting for me at the east docks?”
“I don’t fucking know! It wasn’t part of the fucking plan!”
“Then why the east docks?”
“Because they hate you and want to humiliate you! I’m telling you, I don’t know. All I can guess is, killing your brother at your place of business, where you obviously no longer have control would be like the final nail in the coffin for your family.”
Shit. Time to change tactics. We needed three teams. Mine would have to be the smallest, it had to be a surprise attack.
“Last question before you meet your maker. How do I get into the slaughterhouse without being seen? Don’t lie to me. Your woman will be riding in the car with me.”
He licked his bloody lips. “Don’t take the main road in, they’ll be watching. A mile or so further down is a dirt pathway, just wide enough for a vehicle. It will take you behind the building and then you can sneak in through the side door.”
I pulled my gun from my waistband. I was going to leave him for one of the soldiers to finish off, but I wanted to watch the light go out of his eyes. I can be a vindictive bastard when the occasion calls for it. But he’d sealed his fate when he helped those who took my wife and brother.
I pressed the gun against his forehead.
He was ready to die. Then fear flickered in his eyes, not for his own life, but for another’s.
“And m—“ I fired and sent him to Hell wondering what would happen to the woman and child he’d left behind. I heard scrambling outside and the door flew open. “Boss?”
“Clean this up.” And send his ring to his woman so she knows he’s not coming back.” I paused, then added in a rough voice, “Tell her he died protecting the family.”
“Yes, sir.”
I wiped my hands off and returned to the war room. “Simon, stop what you’re doing and start looking for an old slaughterhouse.”
Simon frowned and started typing. “Looks like a lot of these fields were once part of the Cooper cattle range, and… about ten years ago, this bit here was auctioned off.”
I studied the map where he indicated, but of course, all it showed me was a bird’s-eye view of an L-shaped building in the middle of overgrown nowhere.
“It used to be the Cooper cattle processing plant, but it hasn’t been in operation for thirty, forty years. Like I said, they auctioned it and some surrounding acreage off ten years ago to a company called…” More typing. “NARDO Development,” Simon said triumphantly.
Massimo and I exchanged glances. “Leo,” I said grimly.
“He sure does like the sound of his own name,” Massimo agreed.
“Massimo, we’re hitting them three ways. You will take your best short-range shooters with you to the Cooper place. Make enough noise to draw attention, but don’t overplay it. I want someone in the trees, behind cars, capiche?”
“Yes, boss.”
“Tano, we’re close enough in build to fool them.
You go with Simo, wearing my clothing, and be me at that location.
Act like a husband who’s lost his mind when you break through the front door, but keep your face covered.
We need to make this look legit and if Massimo is there, they will expect me to be as well.
I’ll take Tony, Fausto, and the best of the long-range shooters with me.
Everyone else goes to the docks to bring Vinny back.
We only have one chance to take them by surprise. ”
“You realize this is all about you,” Tano said.
Others may find my surgeon brother dark and aloof, and he was with most people.
But he was also a strategist both on the operating table and for our family.
“They’re trying to lure you out and you’re letting them.
” Murmurs of assent from the rest seated around the table.
“Those fuckers broke into my house and took my family. I will not be staying home. I will be the man making holes in the chests of men who betrayed me.” I stood, propelled to my feet by the anger thrumming through me. “Not even God will keep those fuckers safe from me!”