34. Alessandro
ALESSANDRO
I watch Isabella finally drift to sleep, one hand resting on her belly, already behaving like a mother.
The sight fills me with emotion I've never experienced before, a primal fear that makes every other threat I've faced pale in comparison. The terror of losing something more important than my life itself.
My father taught me to eliminate fear, to see it as weakness.
But as I watch my wife sleep, our unborn child safely within her, I understand that this fear doesn't weaken me.
It fuels a resolve to make sure she and the child have everything they want and need.
Love. Safety. Happiness. Even if I have to give my life to achieve it.
I ease myself onto the edge of the bed, careful not to disturb her. I brush a strand of hair from her face. Her skin is still too pale, her wounds too red. I did this. Even if I live a hundred years, it won’t be enough time to make up for this.
Her eyes flutter open. “Are you leaving?”
I lean down, pressing my lips to her lips and then her stomach. "I'm going to make sure no one ever threatens you or our child again."
Her fingers thread through my hair, holding me there for a moment. "Alessandro, please be careful. If anything happened to you—"
"Nothing will happen," I say with the certainty I've always projected, even when I didn't feel it. But this time, the conviction runs bone-deep. "I'm not leaving our child fatherless or you a widow." I cup her face in my hands. "Rest now. When you wake, this will all be over."
The kiss I place on her lips is my promise.
As I turn to leave, I feel her hand catch mine. "Come back to me."
"Always.”
I stride into my office where Adriano and my five most trusted capos already wait, faces grim. They stand as I enter.
"Gentlemen," I begin, not bothering with pleasantries, "the Vitale family is planning to strike us in three days. They believe we're weak, divided. This is their final assault to take everything, our territory, our businesses, our lives."
I outline Isabella's intel on the plan.
Adriano leans forward, his expression troubled. "Alessandro, how certain are we about this information? The Vitale girl—"
"My wife," I correct him.
"Your wife," he acknowledges with a nod, "was locked up and starving. She could be confused, or worse, this could be staged, a trap to pull our forces in one direction while they attack from another."
The room falls silent. It's a fair question, one any rational Don would consider.
“You yourself have been torn—”
“I have clarity now.”
He blinks and then his lips twitch up slightly. “Alright, then. I’ve got extra security around us and our properties, but not as much as we need.”
"Boss, their plan seems to follow the same pattern as when the Russians breached our security to target Luca and Katerina," he says. “When the Bratva was trying to destroy you.”
I nod and smile with confidence. “Enrico is blinded by his ambition. He lacks vision.”
Adriano nods grimly. "Enrico thinks he’s smarter and braver… the big pussy."
"Which makes him predictable," I continue. "He wants everything that is mine. He wants to defeat me personally. To prove himself to Marco. It's why he poisoned Marco’s gift. Why he targeted our warehouse with my personal key. I can’t deny he’s gotten the drop on me, but never again.
In two days, we strike at them. We burn everything they have to the ground along with every treacherous bastard inside it. "
My men exchange glances.
"Don Alessandro," one of my older capos begins cautiously, "a direct assault on their fortress… we’ll need more men."
“I’ll get them.” I move around the table, meeting each man's eyes.
"Gentlemen, tonight isn't just about survival.
It's about sending a message that will echo through every family in New York. I suspect you have some doubts in my ability to run this family. I’ve allowed insults to go unpunished. That ends today."
I see the fire igniting in their eyes, their belief growing in me.
"Every man who stands with me now will be rewarded beyond measure. Your loyalty will be remembered for generations. In two nights, we remind New York why our name has been feared for half a century."
I give my men assignments and they leave with the same burning passion to end this feud with the Vitales.
Only Adriano sticks around. “You’re calling Luca, right?”
“Right.”
He salutes me and heads out to prepare for war.
I call Luca, and while I’d normally feel like a pussy asking for help, I’ll kneel in front of him and beg if that’s what it takes to protect Isabella and the baby.
"I need you.”
"How bad?" Luca is already planning to come to New York. As strained as things were between us, in the end, we’re Dantes and Dantes always have each other’s back.
"The Vitales are making their move in three days. We move in two.”
"And Isabella?"
I pause, wondering if he’ll see my change of heart as weakness or a concern that I’m being played. “I sent her home and they tortured her. She escaped to warn me.”
“Nice of her, considering what an asshole you can be.”
“I don’t deserve her, Luca, any more than you deserve your wife and children, but like you, I’ll destroy the world to save them.”
“All I need to hear. Cristian and I will be on a plane in a few hours. I can’t spare too many men… got my own battles, but I can bring a dozen or so.”
“I’ll be in your debt.”
“I’ll remember that if I ever need you.”
Two nights later, my study is a war room, maps of the Vitale estate and properties cover every surface. Surveillance photos are pinned alongside building schematics. Luca and Cristian arrived yesterday and immediately dove into planning.
“I have a few old contacts,” Cristian says. “Mercenary types who can help.”
“Whatever they want, I’ll pay.”
"Marco's overconfident." Adriano taps the map of the Vitale compound. "He's pulled security from these three points to bulk up his attack force for tomorrow."
Luca nods. "The east entrance is practically unguarded. That's our way in."
"The men are ready," Adriano confirms. "Thirty of our best, plus Luca's crew from Chicago. The rest are at the port, where they’re plotting our demise. We’ll be able to take out a good number of his men. We’ll take over the port as well.”
“Good.” I review the map of the house. “Marco will be here, and Enrico stays in the east wing."
"I'll take Enrico," Luca volunteers. "That little shit has been a problem long enough."
“I want Marco and Enrico alive. I have plans for them,” I say, salivating at the thought of torturing them like they did to Isabella. Or maybe not. I don’t have the patience. I’ll just put a bullet into each of their heads.
“What about Mrs. Vitale?” Adriano asks.
“Bring her with Marco and Enrico.” I haven’t figured out what to do with her. Isbella insists she’s too detached from the world to know anything. But old habits die hard. I might trust Isabella, but I don’t know that I can trust her mother.
"The Vitales believe we're fractured." I look around at my brothers and our men. "Tonight, they learn how wrong they are."
Cristian checks his watch. "Four hours until we move."
I nod, feeling the familiar calm before battle.
I talk to my house staff and then head upstairs to see Isabella. Her coloring has improved, but she’s still weak.
“It will be over tonight,” I say as I take her hand and sit next to her on the bed.
She gives me a wan smile, indicating she’s afraid. I talk a big talk, but I’m a realist. I’ve lived in this world long enough to know my life could be over tonight. That my men could fail. And if the Vitales win, Isabella and the baby are in danger.
“Elena is going to come in a little bit to pack a bag.”
Immediately, Isabella tenses. “Why?”
“It’s a precaution. If things don’t go well tonight, Georgio will come get you and drive you to the airport. You’ll fly to Chicago where one of Luca’s men will meet you and help you get a new identity and set you up wherever you want to go.”
“Alessandro, I can’t—”
“You will for our child. Promise me.”
“I don’t want to go without you.”
“This only happens if I’m dead or we lose. You understand, right?”
She nods. “Don’t lose.”
I smile. “The plan is to win.” And kill her family. But I don’t say that. I’m sure she knows that will be the outcome, so there’s no need to bring it up.
I lean over. “I love you.” Pressing my hand over her belly, I say, “And I love our baby.”
She clutches at my shirt. “You'd better come home to us, Alessandro Dante.”
Blood pools and spatters across the courtyard of the Vitale estate. I watch another of my men fall, a bullet catching him in the throat. Tomasso, who'd worked for my father.
The initial assault had gone according to plan. We'd breached the east entrance with minimal resistance, just as Cristian predicted. But it was almost as if Marco knew we were coming. Or maybe he suspected since they had to know Isbella escaped.
The reinforcements we expected to be preparing for their attack at port were instead lying in wait.
"They were ready for us," Adriano shouts over the gunfire, ducking behind a tree as bullets splinter the wood around us
“They guessed once they realized Isabella was gone.” But I’m going to win or die here. “I’m going in.”
“Fuck, Alessandro, wait for more men.”
When we realized the reinforcements were here, we called in my men from the port, but it will take them time to arrive. Time I don’t have.
“I’m going.” I run like hell, dodging bullets, firing at the front door knob until the door swings open.
“Go, go, go… ” Adriano comes in behind me with several other men.
We’re met with Vitale soldiers, and while I’m able to pick a few off, they keep coming.
I scan the grand foyer where we're pinned down. Two of my men are dead.
"Fall back to the second position," I order, hating to retreat.
“Did we get bad intel?” The question comes from one of my men outside. “Could Mrs. Dante—”
“Shut the fuck up and fight,” I order. Isabella didn’t set us up. I know that now.
“Oh, fuck.” Luca’s voice comes from the back of the house. “We’re surrounded.”