Page 16 of Claimed By The Devil

“Things change,” I reply.

“Easy for you. You’re still young. If you get lucky and live to be my age, you’ll understand. That brings me to the point of this meeting. Are you gonna live to be my age? After what happened yesterday, I wouldn’t bet on it,” he lights a cigar and coughs as he inhales the thick smoke.

“I’m still here without a scratch,” I say, holding my arms up in demonstration.

“But one of your best guys got hit and the shooters got away. Take it from me, nobody wants to work in an unstable crew and crews that get shot up without retaliation are unstable.”

“I appreciate the words of wisdom, but I’ll get retaliation. Isn’t that why we’re merging our interests? To put this third party out of business?”

“My daughter didn’t come home last night. I can only assume that she spent the night with you. I wonder if maybe you're distracted by her, and I don’t want you on my team if you’re gonna be dead weight for me to carry.”

“Dead weight? Do you think I’m dead weight? My crew brings in a bigger take than yours every week. If it wasn’t for your ‘history’ here, we might have taken over the whole enterprise,” I snap back.

“But you couldn’t because I have connections that reach farther than your imagination,” he boasts.

“If that’s true, why did you strike a deal with me in the first place? Why not use your connections to wipe out both my crew and the other?”

“You’re smart,’ he snorts when he laughs and I wonder if that’s why they call him Bobby the Bull. “I wouldn’t expect a boy who was raised to be a soldier to be that smart.”

“True, I wasn’t raised to be a leader. Everything I have, I earned. I fought for it and if anyone stood in my way, I removed them. I’ll remove this obstacle, too, with or without you. It would be easier with you and if you backed out of our deal, well, you and I would be enemies again. I don’t think either of us wants to see that happen, do we?”

“You are enterprising but you’re not immortal. You should’ve had that whole street covered and cleared before you showed up at that restaurant. You were sloppy and spontaneous and your right-hand man paid the price for it,” he takes a long breath and continues, “That girl that you’re so fond of? She wasn’t meant to be here. She was a mistake that I made with a woman that I could never marry. Her mother was beautiful, just like her. I lost my mind every time I picked up the scent of her. When she told me that I got her pregnant, I fired her. I gave her money to do whatever she needed to do to handle our mistake. She decided to keep her and then got herself killed in a car crash. I thought about sending the girl to the nuns for adoption, but by then, everybody knew she was mine and I have a reputation as an honorable man so I did what was right. I took her in and raised her. She’s had everything that she could have wanted…”

“She wanted you to love her and keep her safe,” I growl.

“I have kept her safe. The first time bullets flew over her head was with you, not me,” he grins.

I grit my teeth and dig holes in my palms with my fingernails, “You let your boys grope her, threaten her, and attempt to assault her. You never once tried to stop it. To me, it looks like you condoned it. From the minute I met her, I’ve done more to protect her than you’ve done her whole life and you’re her father. Yeah, mistakes were made yesterday, sure, but they were made by the guy who took the bullet, not by me. Keeping your daughter safe was my first priority, and I did that.”

“And that’s my point. If something happens to you, your crew goes rogue. Some of them might come to work for me, but maybe the other guy makes them a better offer and they all go to his side. Now, I got a bigger crew that I’m up against all because you got yourself killed protecting her. She’s a liability to you and that makes her a liability to me,” he proclaims.

“I claimed her and you agreed,” I stare down at him.

“That’s right. So, if you want her that badly, marry her and lock her in the house. Sit a couple of guards by the front door and get your head back in the game. The devil doesn’t stay the devil by being sentimental.”

“And one day, even the strongest bull gets put out to pasture.”

“Be careful, Diavolo. Now’s not the time to make more enemies,” he warns me. “That girl connects us now. If I wanted to make a move that hit both our crews, I’d take a shot at her. For all we know, she might have been the real target yesterday. If you want to keep her safe, we have to take down our mutual enemy together.”

As much as I’d like to rip him out of that chair and drown him in his own pool, he’s right. It’s very likely that Deirdre was the target of a hit yesterday. A hit like that would earn them instant fame. It doesn’t matter that Bobby has no love for his daughter. She’s still his flesh and blood, and I made sure everyone knows that she’s mine. Killing her is the only way that they could hit both of our crews with one shot.

“She can’t stay here in my house anymore. I won’t have a gang war on my front lawn. I’ve worked hard to keep the police off my tail. I can’t risk that kind of attention.”

“I’m gonna put her somewhere safe and keep her guarded. Once that’s done, you and I have to make a plan. This guy goes down and he goes down fast,” I tell him.

He nods and we seal the deal with a handshake.

“I’m gonna tell her to pack a bag and get her moved out of here. Her location will remain secret until the threat is neutralized. I doubt you have a problem with not knowing her location. Am I wrong?”

“No, I don’t need to know where you put her,” he unfolds the paper and begins flipping through the pages.

I try to compose myself as I march up the stairs to find Deirdre. I don’t know which room is hers so I put my ear to each door until I find the one with the sound of movement inside. I tap lightly, hoping Bobby’s new wife doesn’t come to the door.

Deirdre opens the door just a crack and peers out. When she sees me, she throws open the door and smiles. She looks relieved that my meeting with her father didn’t end in violence.

“Is everything okay?” she asks me.

I kiss her and say, “Yes, but I need you to do something for me.”

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