Gabriel Vitalio whipped his head towards the Boss, his eyes angry, his men on edge and their fingers on their weapons. “Is this why you invited me here, Lorenzo? For this?”
The Boss laughed. “You know exactly why I invited you, Gabriel. We’re done.”
“You really want me to air our dirty laundry here? I’ve got you by the balls and you know it, Bloodhound.”
The Boss leaned back in his chair and chuckled even as his eyes remained dead. “Look around you, Viper. You’re in my city. My territory. My house. Surrounded by my men. With your inner circle here.”
As though on cue, all the Boss’ men trained their guns on Vitalio’s men. Tristan swallowed, watching.
Gabriel Vitalio breathed in deeply. “Even if you break our deals, you can’t kill me. I have my own territory and fail-safes in place.”
“I know. I may not kill you, now,” the Boss said. “But I can do to you what we did to Reaper.”
Gabriel Vitalio went silent.
“You fucking bastard.”
Tristan’s eyebrows went up on his head. Who was Reaper and what had they done to him?
“As I said, we’re done, Viper. That means my head of security can roll you in the mud for all I care. If you’re not the ally, you’re the enemy.”
“You’re stupid to think you can threaten me into silence, Bloodhound,” Gabriel Vitalio said in a low voice. “I can burn your empire with the things I know.”
“Then be ready to burn with me.”
Quiet.
Tristan didn’t understand what they were talking about but he held his breath as he took in the whole room. The two men glared at each other across the table, the tension so heavy in the air Tristan felt goosebumps on his arms. He rubbed them softly, trying to cool himself down.
Maybe he should leave. Just let the grownups talk. His father was there. He would find out whatever he could about Luna.
But Tristan didn’t move.
His eyes kept returning to the little baby smack in the middle of the men, the baby who had perhaps been the last of them all to see his sister. The baby who was curiously inspecting a spoon she’d grabbed with her hand.
Biting his lip, he stayed put.
It was his father’s voice that broke the silence, his harsh words directed at the bad man. Viper.
“Where are the girls?”
Viper grit his teeth. “How the fuck should I know?”
His father didn’t like that answer.
In the blink of an eye, his father pulled out his gun and pointed it right at Viper’s head, while the Boss sat back, watching the show.
Viper’s hand inched towards his pocket. His father shook his head.
“Don’t move an inch.”
Tristan held the pillar with his hand, his muscles tightening instinctively. Without moving his eyes from the scene, Tristan quickly bent down to his sock and took out the Swiss knife he’d stolen from his father’s stash one day, just in case he had to protect Luna. The knife felt slightly heavy in his small hand but Tristan held it, ready to fight if need be.
His father turned to the bad man and spoke in that loud tone that made Tristan flinch, the knife slipping in his hand, cutting across his palm. The pain exploded on his skin but he bit down on his lip, not wanting to give away his presence to anyone, wiping the tears streaking across his cheeks.
“I know you know, Gabriel Vitalio. I know that you know something. Spill it now, or I won’t be responsible for what happens.”
Viper chortled. “You poor bastard, you have no idea what’s going on, do you?”
Tristan wanted to punch the man in his face. Forget his bleeding wound, he wanted to hit the man and break his nose. His sister had disappeared and the man was laughing? When his own daughter had just returned?
Tristan hadn’t known men like this. He never wanted to know men like this. Men who could laugh with such evil.
He shuddered.
His father shoved the gun deeper into the man’s face. “Tell me! What do you know?”
The man chortled. “You want me to tell him, Bloodhound? Want me to tell him why you want to break the Alliance so bad?”
Tristan looked at the Boss, who’d stilled.
“Remember Reaper every time you think of opening your mouth, Viper.”
The other man bared his teeth but stayed silent.
Tristan’s father snapped his fingers. “What does that have to with my daughter?”
Viper shrugged.
And then Tristan’s father moved.
Before Tristan could blink, his father pulled his hand and shifted the gun, pointing it right at a small, chubby face and bright hazel eyes studying the gun in fascination.
Tristan couldn’t breathe.
His father’s shaking hand steadied, his eyes becoming completely black.
“You don’t tell me what I want to know,” his father said quietly, “she dies. Your daughter for my daughter.”
Tristan could only watch the scene in horror but stopped himself from thinking bad thoughts. His father was just bluffing. He was trying to find everything about Luna and playing the other man. Yes. That was it.
Maybe, Tristan could help him if Viper did something.
Swallowing down his nerves, stepping out from behind the pillar, Tristan stayed in the shadow, looking around.
His eyes landed on the gun lying towards his right on the small table against the wall. Without any thought, Tristan placed the knife gripped in his bleeding hand quietly on the wooden surface and picked up the gun. He didn’t know what kind it was, or how many bullets it had. But it was heavy in his small, shaking hands. It was heavy.
Yet, Tristan raised up his thin arms, pointing the gun at Viper, unlocking it like his father had taught him to do. He was ready to shoot the bad man who didn’t realize what a miracle he’d received when his daughter had come back to him. He would do anything, give anything away to have his sister back with him.
He wanted his sister back so much.
His father missed her too. That was why he was bluffing. That was why he was trying to get information in any way he could. Tristan understood that.
He just kept his hands steady even as they started aching, the bleeding gash on his palm throbbing.
Gritting his teeth so he wouldn’t make any noise, Tristan kept his eyes on the scene from the shadows. He saw the Viper’s eyes move to the Boss, saw the Boss shake his head ever so slightly, saw the man lean back again.
“I can’t tell you anything,” he said aloud, his voice controlled. “Do what you want to do.”
Blood rushed through his ears. The Boss’ men kept their guns on Viper’s men while his father kept his own gun pointed to the head of the little girl. Tristan understood his father’s motivation but he was unable to understand how these other men could do what they were doing, and why nobody else standing there did a thing to stop them.
How could a man do that to his own daughter?
Tristan swallowed, waiting for his father to lower his weapon and do something else.
He didn’t.
His heart started thudding, the gun shaking in his trembling hands.
Why wasn’t he putting his gun down?
Why wasn’t he moving away from the baby?
Why wasn’t anyone else doing something?
“Last chance, Vitalio,” his father said softly.
Viper shook his head.