Dante loaded the gun calmly then put it into one of his holsters. He shook his head. “If the attack proved anything, then that no one is safe. Not even children. We can’t coddle Leonas. He needs to learn what’s necessary to survive in this world.”
“Why? You and your soldiers are here for his protection. Anna and I aren’t wielding guns either.” For which I was glad. I hated them, even if they were a necessary evil in our world. Yet, I didn’t want Anna to have to carry one, not even now. Even with a gun, she wouldn’t stand a chance against someone like Remo because she lacked what those men had: no scruples and cruelty.
“Because I need to prepare Leonas in case I ever don’t return to all of you.”
I took a step back. “Don’t plan your death, Dante. We’re trying to have a third baby and you’re considering dying? What am I supposed to do without you? And what about the Outfit? They’ll be thrown into chaos. Who’d lead them if not you?”
Dante came toward me and pulled me against him, but I didn’t soften. I was angry and scared. “Val, I don’t intend to die any time soon, but death lurks at every corner. I need to prepare Leonas so he could take over at a young age.” Seeing my horrified look, he kissed me gently. “Not now, not in five years, but I want him to be strong and ready to lead the Outfit once he comes of age.”
“Could you have led the Outfit at only eighteen?”
“Maybe. Not the same way I do now. I would have made mistakes but I would have learned from them. Hell, I’m still making mistakes, even age doesn’t protect you from error.”
I shook my head. “He’s just a boy.”
“He’s the future Capo of the Outfit. He can’t afford to be a little boy.”
I closed my eyes, pressing my forehead against Dante’s suit. “When… when will you induct him?”
Dante touched my head and pressed a kiss to my hair. “At twelve.”
I shuddered. “How will you prepare him? How will you make him strong?” I opened my eyes, searching Dante’s face. His blond brows pulled together. “He’ll learn to fight. We have our fight centers for a reason. He’ll fight with older boys who won’t take pity on him. He’ll learn to shoot. Eventually he’ll have to be present at interrogations… at killings.”
“You won’t torture him to make him strong,” I said firmly.
“I won’t torture him.”
I pulled Dante’s head down to me and kissed him desperately.
Dante
Samuel and Pietro looked horrible. Dark shadows spread under their eyes. Pietro had started smoking again. A habit he’d abandoned for Ines.
I joined Pietro outside on the patio. He stared up at the sky, blowing smoke out. “When you first told me about Falcone’s demand, I would have agreed without hesitation. I’m still not convinced I’d say no if I were face to face with him.”
“He won’t give her back to us even if we promise him Minneapolis. He knows it can’t work. A territory can’t be gifted. It has to be conquered with sheer brutality. He’d have to kill every Made Man in your city to really own it. Remo is someone who wants to conquer. He’d never accept a territory that he didn’t bleed for. This is his game, Pietro.”
Pietro took another deep pull from the cigarette then threw it to the ground and stepped on it. “I swore to Ines I’d never start smoking again. She didn’t even comment when I did. Seeing Ines suffer… fuck, this is torture.”
* * *
When I talked to Remo next time, my suspicions were confirmed. Despite his played disappointment over my refusal to answer to his demand, eagerness rang in his voice. He had more planned. He loved his audience’s reaction more than the game itself. Maybe he’d lose interest in his game and Serafina if we didn’t play the game by his rules, if we acted level headed.
We didn’t have many other options at this point.
Samuel approached me a couple of days after the call, and I could tell from his expression that he hadn’t accepted my decision like Danilo and Pietro had. “Can we talk?” he asked, an edge to his voice.
“Of course,” I said and followed him toward my make-shift office in a former guest bedroom. Now that I had to do most of my business from Minneapolis and not Chicago, I needed an office. I’d returned to Chicago only twice since Serafina’s kidnapping. Val, too, mainly stayed in Minneapolis with the kids to support Ines.
I closed the door and turned to Samuel.
His blond hair had grown, brushing his ears, and he hadn’t shaved in a couple of days, so a dark-blond stubble covered his chin and cheeks. Despite his lack of sleep and refusal to rest, his shot wound had healed surprisingly well.
“We need to attack Las Vegas. Every day that Serafina stays with that asshole, he destroys another part of her. We can’t just sit back and wait.” His tone set my teeth on edge but I cut him slack.
“Between Las Vegas and us wait many hundreds of Remo’s loyal followers, men willing to die for him. They’re between us and Serafina, and even if we reach Las Vegas without any of them finding out, which is unlikely considering we need an army to walk into Vegas, we’ll be in Remo’s terrain. He knows Las Vegas, and our informants tell us it’s close to impossible to get past the security measures of the Falcone mansion. That is, if Serafina is even still there. Dozens would die.”
“I don’t give a fuck. They can all die as long as I get Fina back,” Samuel snarled.
“But I can’t send my men into a death mission that’s bound to fail. They have families. They trust in me to make wise choices and not act out of emotionality.”
Samuel brought his face close to mine, his eyes burning with anger. “I bet you’d be the first to walk into Vegas with a fucking army if Anna was there and you wouldn’t give a flying fuck if every man died.”
I cared about Serafina and about Ines, Pietro, and Samuel, but I had to admit my love for my children and Val was on another level, and I couldn’t deny that my reaction to Anna’s kidnapping would have been less restrained. If it would have saved her? I doubted it.
Samuel nodded as if I’d answered his question then he turned around and stalked away.
“Fuck!” I snarled, my control slipping. I wanted to walk into Vegas and rip Remo’s balls off and feed them to him. I wanted to show him that I could do every atrocity he had committed even if I usually chose less flashy forms of torture.
The Outfit was becoming more and more torn by the day, between the people who supported my cautious approach, wary of a war at another front, after all, we were surrounded by enemies. But there were also the others, many of them from the younger generation who screamed for blood, who wanted to walk into Vegas with blazing guns. Samuel was one of them, Danilo too, even if he wasn’t as vocal about it.
* * *
“When can we return to Chicago?” Leonas asked as we sat at the breakfast table a couple of days later.
Val gave him an understanding smile.
I’d considered sending Val and our children back to Chicago and staying in Minneapolis by myself. After all, their presence wasn’t required but I wanted them close. I needed to know they were safe. “I don’t know,” I said. “But hopefully soon.”