Phillip pulled his gun. “My father wouldn’t accept this. He knows what I am capable of.”
Dante smiled. “Pesci is the one who has said your family will be protected. Your wife, your son, and your two daughters will be safe. If your son shows any signs of following in your footsteps, he will be taken care of as well. As for you, it would seem Pesci has been waiting for the right moment to deal with you.”
“Where is my son?” Phillip asked.
“I believe he is spending some time with your father.”
Dante saw the twitch in his eye. “Is this sad news to you, Phillip? Your own father would rather spend time with your son than with you.”
Phillip raised his gun but Dante already aimed and tookout a knee. His next shot took care of his hand, so he wouldn’t be able to use the gun. He rose to his feet, rounded the desk, and perched on the end of it.
Much to his surprise, after the screaming abated, Phillip started to laugh. “Tell me, how did you get it? I had it locked up tight.”
Dante looked into Phillip’s eyes and smiled. “Aria got it for me.”
“No,” Phillip said. “She wouldn’t.”
“She wanted to be free of you and the only way to do that was to find the evidence you had on me.”
“And you’re going to kill me. Aria loves her father.”
This time, Dante laughed. “No, Aria hates her father. But don’t worry, Phillip, because I love your daughter, and while you’re rotting away in hell, I’ll take care of her.”
He shot Phillip right between the eyes.
The deed was done. He’d gone to Pesci, who stepped out of the shadows. “It’s done,” Pesci said.
Dante looked toward The Boss. Considering how old the man was, he looked … sprightly.
“Yes, it’s done,” Dante said.
Pesci had told him he could take care of Phillip, on one proviso—he was there to see it happen.
“Can I ask you a question?” Dante asked.
“You can ask. I may not grant you a response.”
“Why didn’t you take care of Phillip before now? If he was causing you a number of problems.”
Phillips obsession with blackmail and manipulation had started to cause the family many problems. The first being Constance’s husband. His family were not happy with the information that it was enemy fire, and with no retaliation, it had caused many waves, with the whispers of war coming far and wide.
Men and women that had been killed because of Phillip, cleaning up the messes. Phillip had long stopped being an ally, and instead became a problem that needed to be fixed.
Dante understood this.
“When you have a child of your own one day, you will understand the trouble that comes from having to make tough decisions. It is not always easy to do what needs to be done.”
A child.
He couldn’t help but think about his wife back home.
In the past week, he had left her alone to deal with this. After organizing a meeting with Pesci, it hadn’t been a quick meeting either. The man was constantly busy with family affairs and the like.
After Dante had brought him the evidence he needed, Pesci had been furious. To find out his own son had blackmailed and used his daughter like a whore. Pesci had wanted to kill him, but Dante was given that privilege.
Pesci set about dealing with Phillip’s family, and now Dante needed to go home to deal with his wife.
****