Page 2 of Dane

CHAPTER 1

DANE

Seeing Gina laying on that motel bed with blood all over her face blinded me with a lust to kill everyone and anything. The filthy biker held a bloody switchblade, and Nolan put a bullet in his head the moment we stormed into that room. Brody and I pounded into Jimmy Caruso’s face, then took him down to the floor . I felt and heard his ribs cracking as I kicked the shit out of him over and over again.

When we got Gina to the hospital, Nolan told me the secret Gina had kept from me for five years - Nick and Jimmy had raped her. Gina never told me because she knew I would kill both of them and start a war. After all, that’s what they wanted.

I lost it, and my instincts took over when I smashed my fist into Nolan’s face . Gina was the only family I had left, and I almost lost her. All this time, I thought Nolan was waging war with the Carusos because they killed Gina’s friend, Rebecca.

My vendetta was set in motion to destroy the Caruso empire and all of my enemies. The Caruso family’s underbosses and capos were on the warpath from New York to Chicago to Vegas. I planned to tear their businesses apart, piece by piece. All their power and money would be divided among the three of us, Nolan, Push, and myself.

Rocky Demico, the muscle who worked for the Caruso family, had helped me and Nolan save Gina that day. Now, he was employed by me.

The next day I handed Jimmy Caruso to Osamu Takata, then I took a ride to see Aurora Owens. She owned an immense mansion in Rockville, Maryland. I remembered how beautiful Aurora was when I met her four years prior. It was a brief encounter, one night alone together.

I rang the doorbell as Rocky stood beside me, along with two men who drove up in a coroner’s van.

The door opened, and there she was. Her left eye and temple were swollen. But she was just as pretty as I remembered her. “Hello, Aurora. We’re here for Nick Caruso’s body.”

She shook her head and blinked, “Oh. Right… Uh, please come in.” she stammered while stepping back to let us enter.

I entered first as Rocky and the men followed. We smelled it immediately - a dead body. I turned back to Aurora when she closed the door and lifted her chin. “Who hit you? Nick or his soon to be dead son?”

She turned away. “Jimmy did it. He clocked me good. Nick’s body is in the living room.” She pointed.

We entered her living room to see Nick’s rotting dead body on the floor. Blood pooled underneath him. The two men got to work, putting him into a body bag.

I grabbed Aurora by the arm. “How long were you working with the Carusos?”

She yanked her arm out of my grip. “Does it even matter? Bringing Gina here was Jimmy’s idea, not mine! You’re going to do whatever it is you fucking want to anyway, Dane Neri. If not you, then it’ll be some other kingpin who will.”

I shook my head, clenching my jaw, with that rage burning me up inside. “You’re right. All this - your house, your business, even your life belongs to me now.”

Aurora’s dark brown eyes were filled with as much anger as mine.

The men walked past us carrying the body bag.

Rocky followed, halting in front of me. “Nick’s body will disappear tonight. I’ll get some men in here to clean up that mess. It’ll be so clean no one will ever know what happened.”

I slapped Rocky on the shoulder, “Thanks, Rock. I’m heading back to AC, packing up a few things and moving in here.”

“What?” Aurora said, crossing her arms over her chest and glared, “Oh hell no, Dane Neri! You are NOT staying in my house!”

I arched a brow, wanting to wring her neck and kiss her at the same time. “Yes, I am, so you better get used to it.”

That night, Rocky tossed Nick’s dead, bloated body into the Potomac River, weighing it down with cinder blocks. The death of Denji Ono was a massive loss for the Takata family, so Jimmy was handed over to Osamau and Push. They took him out to the river, then cuffed his hands behind his back and tied a cinder block to his ankle with rope. He begged for mercy, crying like a coward, then pissed himself. Push, stuck a long Japanese dagger into Jimmy’s gut, slicing him open, then shoved him off a boat.”

I went to Nolan’s house a few days later to see Gina. I hadn’t seen her since Nolan got her to the hospital. The guilt felt like a ton of bricks pressing down heavily on my chest when I saw the scar that ran along my sister’s cheek. I knew Gina’s long guarded secret now, and things just felt so different between us. I told her that the Caruso empire was no more and held her as she cried in my arms. Gina was my blood, and I was overwhelmed with relief that the only family I had left was still alive.

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