The Gambler(18)

He had a lot of shit to do before the day was done. He had no doubt that  Bonata knew about the hit and rescue by now and he wasn't about to wait  for them to come after him again, he was taking the fight to them. Now  he had to deal with the fact that his woman is talking to, and seeing  his dead sister. And he still didn't know what she was trying to tell  him about the senator.





His boys were waiting for their orders when he made it back downstairs,  and to fill him in on what they'd found. While he'd been busy looking  after her and dealing with her fuckwit mother, they'd been trying to  find Petridis' hideout and where the Bonatas were at this moment.

A hit like this had to be carried out simultaneously; he wasn't planning  to just end the head of the family. His aim was to wipe out every  member, from capo to the fucking pizza delivery boy. Anyone who had any  part of fucking with his baby was living on borrowed time.

"Okay, please tell me you found that fuck."

"Uh you're not gonna like it boss."

"What, he skipped?" Lily livered fuck, even if he went to hell he'd go find his ass.

"Nah, it's worst, somebody got to him first. We think Bonata finished him. Word is it was because of your … Jenna."

"How'd they do ‘im?"

Garrett made the sign of a shot to the head.

"Fucking slackers, he got off too easy." He personally would've cut his  throat and pulled his fucking tongue out of his neck the fuck.

"What about the others, where they at?"

"Senior is holed up at his place in The City, Junior's at the beach with  his wife, and the others are pretty much bunkered down planning their  next move."

"Why the fuck would he have all his goons on one job?"         

     



 

"Uh boss, I think they think you're nuts."

"Your point?" Garrett hid a grin as his boss moved on.

"We leave the best here with Jenna and gramps … "

"I'm coming with you boy."

"No I need you here."

"Stef … "

"She's here, you're here. I would leave Garrett and Jameson here but I  know you'll never agree, you hired them to do a job, trust them to do  it." He knew the old man would have a hard time with this, letting him  go into battle alone. His fear has always been outliving his son and his  grandson.

Andros walked over to the old man and clasped him behind the neck so he  could whisper in his ear. "I trust no one else with her, I need to do  this, please stay here. I'll be safe, I won't take any chances." Five  minutes it took the old man to nod; stubborn fuck.





"Okay boys, who we got on the middlemen and the son?"

They rattled off the crews that had been dispersed; everyone pretty much  knew that Bonata senior was his. He'd missed out on Petridis but he  wasn't gonna miss this one. He still had no idea where her father was.  Hopefully he'd be with her godfather and he could kill two birds with  one stone. Literally.

He went to the kitchen next, to order Sue back upstairs to sit with her  after he left. Next he told Vito to make sure the mother didn't leave  the room where he'd had her sequestered. Gramps was in charge while he  was gone, so he had no worries that his orders would be carried out. He  made sure Sue took a shit load of chocolate upstairs with her before he  left.

He headed back upstairs where she was still asleep. Standing over her he  smoothed her hair away from her beautiful face. His heart felt lighter  now, not as constricted as before. He accepted the love that he felt for  what it was. Fate, destiny, redemption! Bending low, he kissed her lips  softly, before kissing her forehead. With one last look of longing, he  turned and left the room.





Chapter 15





"The plane ready?"

"Yeah, the boys got back a little while ago."

"Who we got on the ground?"

"Sal and Lou got the place covered in case there's any movement."

He gave himself a minute to think about the girl he'd left in his bed,  as he sat back in the car. A girl he'd only met a few short days ago,  but who'd been a part of his life for much longer; if only as a specter.  Her mother's words played over in his head.

She'd known him from a picture, but how? Alice? Whatever, however, she  was his; he got a strong sense of peace with the realization. A peace  he'd never felt before, along with a certain joy that he suddenly had  something to look forward to. Could it possibly be that life had finally  decided to cut him some fucking slack after dicking with him for so  long?

His heart ached at what she might've faced before he found her. How  often had they used his little flower? And what the fuck else did they  make her do? To take such advantage of an innocent such as she was the  lowest thing he could think of. It took a black-hearted asshole to do a  thing like that. That's why he was going to cut the heart out of the  fuck that'd been responsible, right after he dispatched him to hell.

He had the mother in his house and he still wasn't sure what he was  going to do with her. He knew he wasn't of a mind to let her anywhere  near her daughter ever again, but would that be best for Jenna? Maybe  he'd let them spend some time together, under his careful watch of  course; and see how they interacted with each other. Any sign that she  was anything but fucking motherly and he'd send the bitch to meet her  bastard of a son.





"We're here boss." He looked out at the tarmac where the plane sat  waiting. Hopefully this shit would be over by the end of the night. He  wanted it out of the way so he could concentrate on just her. He had so  much to learn about her; what she liked besides chocolate. He started to  smile at her obsession and then he remembered her mother telling him  how they'd paid her with chocolate. Maybe he should just gut the bitch  and be done with it after all.

He put home and hearth out of his head as he took his seat on the plane.  Everything about him changed in that instant. His two shadows saw the  change and said nothing, just a shared look passed between them. They  knew what that look meant, this shit was gonna be up-close and personal.         

     



 

Which meant they had to be on their toes, because when Andros got like  this, there wasn't a leash strong enough to hold him. This was the kind  of job that made sure they earned their pay. It didn't happen often, but  when it did, it was a fucking nightmare on their end. Hopefully the  fact that he had the girl back home waiting for him would calm him down a  bit, but there was no guarantee of that.

Andros meanwhile, was organizing his play in his head. As soon as he hit  the ground he had to move fast. He didn't want word getting out that he  was in The City. He didn't want his enemy getting even a whiff of his  presence until he was standing over the fuck. Shit, he couldn't remember  if he had a change of clothes on the plane. He couldn't go back to  Jenna with blood all over his shit. And he had no doubt it was gonna get  bloody. He intended it to.





No one spoke as the jet touched down on the helipad atop the hotel  casino. Their target was in the penthouse suite. The Intel said he had  four inside with him. They were using some kind of thermal gadget to  find where each body was located inside the room.

Another one of gramps' deals that he'd somehow hoodwinked from his buddy  in the pentagon. If the government ever knew just how much of their  high tech shit fell into the old man's hands, it would turn into a  national security event. Whatever!

"Call the others, let them know we're in place. Radios off." He wanted  the father and son to meet in hell at the same hour. They made their way  down the stairs that led from the roof. He wasn't going in blind, but  there was no telling what these fucks were prepared for.

He couldn't very well shoot down the door; the other patrons might get  antsy and fuck up shit. Instead he was going to release something under  the door into the room, and hope it worked in time for them to make  entry, before the security cameras picked them up loitering outside in  the hallway.

He had a very narrow window of time in which to get in and out, someone  had been paid off to tamper with the cameras for that short space of  time. Still, he didn't want to risk anyone catching a glimpse of him  there. He wanted to be able to live out his golden years with his  flower, not rotting in the cell of some stinking hellhole on account of  this piece a shit.

He stopped Garrett with a hand on the shoulder. "Only enough to daze him  I want him awake and aware when I do him." The other man nodded once  before opening the door and walking through. The hallway was empty at  this time of night. Most people were downstairs at the tables. Too bad  the noise from downstairs didn't carry all the way up here, but there  was a good chance the place was sound proof anyway.

He watched as Garrett walked past the door looking casually around,  around the corner and then back again. He took what looked like a rolled  up note from his pocket and slipped it under the door before walking  back to where the others were waiting. Andros checked his watch. He'd  been told it would take less than two minutes to do what he wanted. It  was a long fucking two minutes standing there, twiddling his thumbs.