Page 16 of Dirty Behavior

But they didn't see that. All those fucking assholes could see was Bane the boss, Bane the quiet voice of death, Bane the front page story.

As the priest finished his speech, the crowd of family and friends all tossed single roses down onto his casket. Passing by me, each person sent their soft apology my way. Some were genuine, others were spoken out of fear.

But I didn't listen. I couldn't listen, there was no way for me to focus.

I felt like a fucking robot. My head nodded on reflex, short words of thanks came out without me trying, but I wasn't really there.

The only thing on my mind was revenge.

I saw Remo in every face that stood before me. Every hand that waved through the air made me think of the only reason I came back to this fucking city to begin with. I'd spent years channeling every death at my hands into a figment of my imagination that didn't exist.

But when it was his turn, when Remo was begging for me to forgive him and let him live. . . I wasn't going to force that memory away. I wanted to remember it.

“Excuse me, Dante Pisani?” A voice chimed in, breaking my thoughts as a heavy hand landed on my shoulder and squeezed.

My muscles stiffened, bracing and ready to fight. But I stood still, I didn't jerk away or spin around to grab his throat. The need was there, but I held it in, bottling it up. Turning slowly, I nodded at the man, looking him up and down.

Who the fuck is this?

Yanking a badge from the inside pocket of his blazer, the man said, “Dante, I'm Detective Jones with the Hoboken homicide unit, I'm really sorry for your loss, but I need to ask you a few questions.”

He looked young, a lot younger than I would expect for a detective. His hair was cut short with a little puff spiked up on the end. He didn't have the aged appearance of a man who hunted killers and saw dead bodies on a regular basis.

Relaxing, I said, “Now's not a good time.” Turning, I swept his hand off my arm, and started for the limo.

“I understand, but we've been trying to reach you in regards to your father's death, and well, you're a hard man to find.”

“Maybe that's because I didn't want to be found.” Keeping my pace, the detective stayed right beside me, still rattling off his reverberated cop speech.

“We really need to talk to you, Dante. If you could—”

“We?”I asked, interrupting him and glancing around over his shoulder. “It looks to me like you're the only one here asking.”

Forcing a smug grin, Detective Jones cleared his throat and rubbed the back of his neck. “Look, I know you're familiar with how this stuff works, so let's make this easy, come with me and let's talk.”

“Sorry, I have someplace to be.” Holding the handle to the door, I started to open it.

The detective threw his hand on the window hard, keeping it closed. “Look, we can do this now, or I can get a warrant for your arrest and we can do this cuffed.”

Smirking, I yanked on the door, and pulled it open. “See you when you get the papers then.” Climbing into the limo, I gave him a wave and shut the door.

I don't talk to the cops. Never have, never will.

I wasn't like Sesto. They could try and scare me, they could wave their fucking guns in my face and threaten me all they wanted to. I would never talk to them, they didn't have shit on me.

And I wouldn't leave Ivy.

Interrogations take hours upon hours. I could end up there all night. No fucking way. There was no way in hell I would leave Ivy to wonder where I was, worried that something happened, afraid I might be dead.

She came first, above all else. Ivy was the most important thing to me.

And no one would get in the way and jeopardize my promise to her.

I was saving her.

The limo was quiet. My uncle had his car pick him up at the cemetery and I was happy he planned it that way. There was a small gathering going on at a little pub my father used to love downtown called The Thirsty Glass.

The place had been open for years, it was a regular hangout for my father and our family since he was young. It was the birth place of Bane Pisani, where his entire legacy had started. It was only fitting that it ended there too.

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