If there was another way, I might have considered a less bloody path - but Musetti had his chance to give up and leave Frankie and my son alone; he chose this. He chose violence, forcing me to choose it too.
Lorenzo yells my name, and I turn to see a man running towards me with a knife. I duck low and aim high. The bulletshatters through his skull, exploding out of the top of his head in a rain of blood and brains. Wiping my face on my sleeve, I keep going, ignoring the death and destruction surrounding me. It is not the first or last time I will be in a bloodbath like this one;, this is part of who I am.
Focused on my single goal, I need to find Musetti before he tries to make a run for it. He might think he still has a chance to get out of here, but I've got other plans for him.
Crews at the back of the house are waiting, blocking every exit, but he might have alternate escape routes we don't know about. I'm an expert on tunnels and secret hiding places — he will have a plan.
Inside the house, men move from room to room. The staff are all restrained and moved outside; the guards are not so lucky. We can't trust they won't attack. The order is to kill them on sight, no questions asked._Anyone who fights back dies.
We clear each room, but Antonio is nowhere to be found. He's here; we just need to keep looking.
"Are you sure he was here?" I ask frustrated it's taking this long.
"He's here. I know he's here. We will find him." Lorenzo snarls, continuing to move forward. "Flush the rat bastard out." He says to his top soldier.
The entire upstairs of the house is empty, and we are halfway through the ground floor when one of my men screams my name. "Dante - he's in the basement garage." Of course, he is hiding in the dark like a cowardly dog.
I don't hesitate. I run straight through the house, leaving my crew to continue the house check.
In the kitchen I yank open the door to the basement stairs and find Musetti standing behind two young girls, using them as a shield. They're terrified, tears streaming down their cheeks, shaking. What a weakling! He has to hide behind a woman.
"Come any closer and they die." The girls whimper.
I shake my head. "You've killed enough innocent people, Musetti. Let them go." I don't want to kill him; we have other plans. I won't hesitate to hurt the fucking bastard.
"Fuck you, Russo. I'd rather die than give up." He growls in anger.
He presses the knife to one of the girl's throats and she sobs louder.
Behind me Lorenzo arrives, his gun aimed at Musetti, but hesitant in his stance.
"What do you want to do?" He asks.
"If he hurts her - put a bullet in him."
"Don't we want him alive?"
"Yes, but not at the cost of those girl's lives. They deserve to walk out of here and go back to their families. Besides you can aim it where it'll hurt but he won't die."
Lorenzo moves around the edge of the basement, positioning himself behind Musetti. Musetti keeps his eyes locked on me as he steps toward the door, glancing at his car, as if I'd let him get out of here that easily.
"You aren't going anywhere. Just give up." I snarl.
To emphasize the point, Lorenzo puts two bullets in the back tires, leaving the car undrivable.
Musetti's anger gets the better of him, and he pushes the blade harder against the girl's skin. The man is losing control, and he's close to snapping. He shoves the second girl away from himself and she falls to her knees with a thud.
"Get her out of here," I say to the man standing next to me. He rushes forward and lifts the girl over his shoulder, carrying her to safety.
Musetti is cornered. The fear in his eyes as he searches for a way out of this reveals the feral monster beneath his calmexterior. He is an animal, trapped in a corner. He's going to bite or run.
I can sense he is about to do something stupid before he does it. His fingers tighten around the handle of the blade; he's daring us to kill him.
He will murder her to provoke us into attacking him -- he wants to die. The humiliation of being defeated would be worse than death.
So, instead of taking the risk, I drop to the floor and fire two shots at his knee.
One hits him where I want it to - shattering his kneecap. The other hits the girl in her ankle and she drops to the floor screaming in pain.