CHAPTER FIVE; Don't force her....

Dante…

“ It's been reported that the death of Mr Lacroy occurred the night before and the police are still investigating this sad news”

“ It's been reported that the over thirty investors from other cities and towns have been murdered alongside Mr Lacroy, with the killer not leaving any trace”

The television had been all about Lacroys death and I was sick and tired of it. The man had it comic already; the investors were just at the wrong place.

“ what the hell have you done Dante? “ Dylan storms in, anger evident in his eyes.

“ What?”

“ the men tell me you didn’t go according to plan and just went on a killing spree”

“ yes I did “

“ why the hell would you do that? What is wrong with you?”

“ Because I am the king and I do what I want”

“ do you know what this could do to our reputation?”

“What reputation, Dylan? I handle the Mafia business and you handle the family business, no one’s reputation is ruined here,”

“ Our reputation? The King family's reputation”

“ you don’t know what I’ve been through to be where I am now, so you shut up when it comes to my business “

“ you killed because of a girl Dante “

I dropped the pen and turned to face him.

“ Do..not.. attempt to speak of something you don’t know about “

“ of course I know, your men told me “

Making a mental note to fire all of them I ignored him and picked up the pen to write.

“That is none of their business”

“ you even killed one of your me…”

“ ENOUGH… Dylan”

He paused and moved to sit on the sofa.

“ Mom is worried about you, Dante “

“ tell her I’ll be fine”

“ they were thinking of coming to visit “

“ make sure mom nor Diana steps foot here in Preston” I stated.

He nodded.

“Who is she.?”

“ aren’t you and Damien supposed to return to Spain today? “

He sighed.

“ Dante I’m only trying to make conversation with you “

“ After these years, I’ve been fine alone Dylan, now hurry up and leave before night”

I got up to leave.

“ And oh, I’m getting married on Friday, you and Damien are invited, if Mom or Diana hears about it, you’re dead meat”

He obviously had a lot of questions, but even I didn’t have answers to some.

Why the hell did I want her here so bad?

I left Dylan hanging and walked back to my room.

Ever since my dad died because of his unnecessary trust for friends, I’d been forced to take up his role as the Mafia King by his employees, deviating me from my dreams. My relationship with my family had disappeared into thin air as my anger towards them had not diminished completely. Damien and Dylan being the eldest had decided not to take up Dad’s role and Mom had forced me into it instead, deeming me as the ‘soft one that needed some hard training ‘

★★★

“ Why did you not go according to plan Dante ?”

I’d become a subject for an earful at my own meeting, irritating me to the core.

“ Answer me, Dante! “ Claude repeated. As my trainer and personal advisor, Claude was the only worker allowed to chastise me for my wrongdoings. Mostly because he’d been one of my dad’s most trusted employees since I was born.

“ I am sorry, I let my anger get a hold of me “ I lied. Well my anger did get a hold of me, but I wasn’t sorry.

“ You’re sorry??? Important men are dead, and you’re sorry?”

I nodded. Ignoring him, I called the meeting to order.

“ Five of the cargos are in town, I have five dealers coming from Three different countries, so I’d need you to go check all out, One is not to be trusted so I’d have Carlos go along with you he can hack into his system “

“ and where would you be Don?” Justin blurted out. What an idiot.

“ that’s none of your business, Justin”

“ I would also like to know where you’d be,” Claude stated from beside me, and I swear I would rather watch monkeys dance than reply to him.

“ I’ll be around Claude, would you like to go with them ?”

“ seeing that you’re a bit distracted, for reasons known to only you, I’d go with them to oversee it”

I could hug him right now.

“ Thank you “

“Now you go right now, take twenty men with you; not all the dealers are Mafia men; some are just businessmen, so you tell them to hide their guns when you see the business ones.”

Justin nodded, giving me a side look. I knew we had a lot to discuss since the night of Lacroy’s death and like Claude, I wouldn’t escape it either.

“ you may leave “

The men left, one by one, leaving me with Claude.

“What did you say you’d be doing again, Dante?”

I couldn’t escape this.

“ I would be watching from the camera connected to the vans and communicating with the dealers on where the meeting would be”

He nodded, unconvinced.

“All alright, I’ll call you if there’s any problem”

“ Okay”

He turned to leave and turned to me before walking out

“ And Dante….”

“ Yes, Claude?”

“ use protection please, I don’t think you want to be a father now”

What????

“ Damn you Claude”

Before I could reply, he was already out, laughing so loud I could hear it echo.

What a way to be misunderstood!!

★★★

9:30pm.

From her side of Preston to mine, , was a twenty minutes drive. Guess he couldn’t hide her so far from me then.

The driver was there at exactly 9pm, and by now, she was supposed to be here.

“I'm done, sir. Are you sure you wouldn’t want me to do anything for you?” Jane said, adjusting her apron with unease.

“ No Jane, that’s all for today “

She nodded, happy to be dismissed from my presence.

“ thank you, sir “

She left, leaving me seething behind the phone.

I decided to call the driver myself.

“ Erm…h..e.lo sir… erm sorry Don,” he stammered, obviously scared that he hadn’t done what I had asked him to do.

“ Where is she ?”

“ she’s still inside sir, I’ve been knocking for the past thirty minutes and there’s no answer “

“ oh really “

The anger boiling upwards, caused me to get up and pace back and forth.

“ Yes, sir, there are hushed noises, so I know they’re in there. “

“All alright, John, come back home”

“But sir..”

“ come home John, she’ll come by herself.”