Page 19 of Reign of Commotion

Me:They got Big F and more.

Alessio:Slow, but go.

I keep close to the side of the building and tread softly.I hear talking just outside the back entrance.They’re fucking punk-ass drug dealers.

“They give us what we want, or we kill ’em,” one says.

“Whadda we want?”the other idiot says.I peer around the corner.They have no clue I’m here.They’re so out of it, I could probably waltz right by them, although I’m not taking the chance.

“The street, stupid.This is our street,” the first one shrieks in his face.“And the girl inside.She’s a pretty little thing.”He licks his thin lips.His scraggly mustache looks like it hasn’t been cut since the ’70s.

“He ain’t giving you his daughter.”Maybe the stupid one isn’t so stupid, I think.

“Then I’ll waste him,” his friend returns.

The back door jerks open, and another head pops out.“What the fuck?When’s this going to get done?Creeps and me got shit to do.”This guy’s a skinhead and is tatted all over his scalp.I backtrack and text out another message.

Two inside, two at the back entrance.They got Big F’s youngest daughter.

Alessio:Men ready.We take care of the two out back.

I look up and see the building next to this one, and we have two men with guns aimed at the two potheads.I lift a hand to let them know I’m ready.Our soldiers shoot the two potheads; they drop simultaneously, and the back door is yanked open at the sound of gunfire.I nail the skinhead between the eyes, then run through the back entrance to see the last guy bleeding out all over the floor with a cleaver to the chest and Alessio looking pretty smug about his aim.

“You didn’t think I was going to let you have all the fun, did you?”Alessio lets out a roar of laughter.I scan the room and see Big Frankie holding his daughter close to his chest, her face buried in it.

“Don’t look, sweetheart.Eyes closed,” Big Frankie coos.It would be almost comical to see such a big man speaking so sweetly to his young teenage daughter if there wasn’t so much blood splattered around the room.Big Frankie catches my eye and jerks his head.“I’m grateful.I knew you caught on.I was just praying the loose cannon over there”—he points to the guy with the cleaver in his chest—“didn’t lose his shit before you came back.”

“Nah, you did the hard work.The second you mentioned my dad, I knew there was trouble,” I tell him.

Alessio interrupts.“This is all very nice, but I’ve got a lot of questions and no answers.”He turns to Jack, “Take his daughter home.Make sure she’s not alone.Call Eduardo, her brother, and make sure he stays with her and her sister until her father gets home.”He pauses for a second, then adds, “He’s a hothead.Tell him on my order, he does not go looking for trouble.”

“Yes, Capo,” Jack replies.

Big Frankie guides his daughter out of the room, continuing to shield her from the horror that lies before her.

“I heard them talking in the back.Nothing solid, but they wanted the street to peddle their stash,” I tell them.

“Anything else?”Alessio asks, bending over the dead man’s body and searching through his pockets.

“This guy, they call Creeps.Apropos, don’t you think?”I smirk.

“They’re all creeps,” he replies.

“They wanted to take Cora with them.She’s seventeen at most.I didn’t like that shit.”

Alessio’s head comes up.“They said that?”

“Yay, porn-mustache dude out back said they would be taking her with them.”

Alessio’s lips tighten and his jaw clenches.Il Destinoprotects their women.With two sisters of his own, he is overtly opposed to the sex slave business.He’s also still feeling the guilt of losing one of our women to the gang that destroyed her soul before killing her, and for the damage that it caused to Valentina.

“Who sent them?”he asks, not of me, but he lays it out there.“They’re not smart enough to pull this off.These are stupid, radical, senseless men so fucking high that they get caught.Someone’s fucking with the family, and I don’t like it.”I’ve heard that tone in his voice before, and it’s eerie.He’s reaching the breaking point.Soon, our army of soldiers will be policing the streets, and all the people we pay off on the force are going to be doing the same.

Big Frankie comes back into the kitchen.

“My office is clean, Capo, if you want to use it.I’m sorry, I wasn’t able to get your regular room ready,” Big Frankie offers.

“Do not apologize.Thank you for your offer, and I accept.”He lets out a heavy sigh.“Julian will arrange for a cleanup crew.Shut the restaurant down for a week.You’re renovating.Your daughter shouldn’t have to come in and relive the memory of today.”As he walks away with Big Frankie, he says over his shoulder, “Niccolo knows who to call.Get the number, make the call, then come find me.”

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