“You old fools,” Tony said suddenly. I looked up at him. “You’re so out of touch. When do you ever leave your office?”
“Tony,” the older man said. “You need to calm yourself.”
“No, fuck this shit. I did what I had to do to protect the familia.”
“You young idiot. You’ve brought the police down on us. And now you have a kidnapped girl. This is a fucking mess.”
“It was going to be worse. I saved it.”
The older man stepped up to Tony and for a second, I thought Tony might hit him.
“Listen to me. You’re going to leave this place and go home. We will handle it.”
“No,” Tony said.
“Do it now, or I will have to take serious action.”
Tony stared him down then turned away, frustrated and angry. I could tell that he was fuming. I’d seen him that way once or twice in our time together, and he never could keep himself under control when he got that angry.
Tony walked over to the far end of the room. My heart suddenly started beating fast as I realized that Gates was right above him, waiting.
Tony turned back to the other me. “You’re all idiots. I’m the future of this mafia, me. I’m the future!” Tony was ranting like a child, fuming and turning red. “I’m the one that will save this group! You need more men like me, men willing to do the dirty work, men—“
Suddenly, a shadow dropped from the balcony and landed directly on top of Tony, smashing him into the ground.
There was a stunned silence. Gates got to his feet and dragged Tony up with him, holding a knife to his throat. Nobody moved. Gates had a wicked smile on his face.
“Who’s in charge?” he asked.
The older man stepped forward. “That would be me.”
“What’s your name?”
“Matteo,” he said. “Underboss of the Barone Familia.”
“Matteo. I’m Gates, and you have my girl tied up to a chair.”
Matteo glanced back at me then looked back to Gates. “You’re here for her?”
“I’ll let you have this scumbag. Untie her, let us leave, and I won’t cut his throat.”
Matteo shrugged. All of his men had guns trained on Gates. There were two left, three including Matteo. Tony wasn’t moving and I could see fear in his eyes.
“Kill the boy. He’s a liability,” Matteo said.
“And what about the General?” Gates asked him.
Matteo raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”
“Your boy here murdered a four-star General today. He left a little girl orphaned.”
Matteo’s eyes narrowed. “Tony. You did this?”
Tony grunted. “He was helping them.”
“Fucking Christ, boy.”
“It was clean. The cops will never know.”
Gates pressed his knife closed to Tony’s throat, drawing a small line of blood. “Shut up, shithead.” Gates looked back at Matteo. “I’m sure I can find some proof if I try hard. Plus, that girl probably saw something, definitely heard something, that could implicate your group. Now maybe you kill everyone here, but you won’t get to that girl.”
“So what do you propose?” Matteo asks.
“You let me and Piper go. You forget about everything. In exchange, I’ll make sure the girl never talks.”
“Interesting,” Matteo says, stroking his chin.
“This is a four-star General,” Gates said. “There will be a serious investigation. I can help steer it away.”
“You have a deal,” Matteo said.
“What?” Tony said, anger.
“But there’s one more thing,” Matteo quickly added. “You must take care of that for me.” He waved his hand at Tony.
“No,” Tony said.
“Gladly,” Gates answered.
Gates drew the knife along Tony’s throat, cutting it open. His blood gushed forward and he fell to the ground, choking.
It didn’t take long. The blood came out, fast and thick, and Tony choked on it. His eyes were wide as he slowly passed out.
Gates tossed away the knife. “Done,” he said.
Matteo sighed. “I was hoping for something cleaner, but okay, fair enough.” He snapped his fingers and nodded at me. One of his men walked over and untied me.
Gates held his gun ready. Matteo smiled at him.
“Relax,” he said. “I don’t make deals without following through. You and the girl are safe so long as that murder never comes back to bother me. Understand?”
“Understood,” he said.
“Otherwise, we’ll find you. But I’m sure I don’t need to say that.”
Gates nodded again.
The goon finished untying me. I stood up, rubbing my wrists, and then ran to Gates.