Page 23 of From Dust To Don

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We walked down the stairs to the social level of Battaglia Manor, hand in hand, ready to take on the world. I couldn’t hide my astonishment at how imposing this damn place was, how far it was from anything I could afford to give the queen guiding me towards her father’s study.

Knowing I was everything she should stay away from pulled my mood down from cloud nine to face the reality of our predicament.

Never in my thirty years of age had I thought I’d be plotting to protect a Battaglia, but right now, both Elena and her father were easy targets to a fucker who had no morals or honor.

This world of ours was lawless. There were no consequences to those who broke the oath and pissed all over what the title ‘Man of Honor’ meant. There had to be a way to fix that.

I was no hero or vigilante. If I ever had a cape, I’d use it to hide the trail of bodies piling on my list of killings. Still, there had to be consequences for fuckers like him.

Voices echoed down the hall as we hit the landing, faint footsteps coming closer. I stilled, clutching Elena’s hand and doing what Toni had taught me to do. Settle. Listen. Quiet until you can feel the sounds in your chest.

“It’s not your breathing and heart rate buzzing in the background in the face of danger. It’s your thoughts. Your fears. The murmur at the back of your head is you. So quiet them and listen.”

I counted each step, knowing the exact moment they turned that corner, that I’d have at least three guns in my face.

It was like I had a fucking crystal ball. “What the hell are you doing in my house again?” Don Battaglia roared, his gun the closest to my nose out of the three.

By his side, Don Bartolini held his brows furrowed and a black Beretta in his right hand. I didn’t know the other man, but by the easy way he clutched the weapon in his hand, he could only be Don Battaglia’s second. It was clear he was used to handling guns and sensitive situations.

“We had a deal, and you broke your word.”

“I came to offer a new one.”

His eyes dropped to my right hand, where my fingers were laced with Elena’s, narrowing his gaze at our intimate proximity.

“There’s no more deals to make, boy. You had your chance,” he replied with a final tone. “Elena, you should be in your wedding dress already.”

“Elena’s promised to me. There’s nothing you can do about that.”

Elena squeezed my hand tighter, her other hand coming to grip my arm.

“Elena’s married, Sir.” I replied directly to Don Battaglia before turning to Don Bartolini, “Don’t test me. There’s plenty that can be done.”

“It’s been dealt with. I have given my word to Don Bartolini, and some of us still hold that as sacred.”

“That’s an easy fix.” Without another word, I drew my gun and shot the fucker right between his eyes, chucking my gun to the ground right after, showing I wasn’t here to start a war. “Problem solved. He wasn’t worthy anyway. He was working with Moretti.”

I held my left hand in the air in surrender, but the other never left Elena’s grasp.

Don Battaglia was stuck looking between the dead body bleeding onto the expensive carpet in his lobby and me, wondering how the hell he hadn’t seen my move coming. The other man, though, was on me in under a blink, kicking the back of my knee and forcing me to kneel, holding my hand behind my back and his gun to my skull.

I didn’t offer resistance. I was here to make him an offer he couldn’t refuse, and now the only obstacle was out of my damn way.

“They had a deal. Bartolini would marry Elena, kill you and hand over the keys to your reign to him. Sound familiar?”

“That can’t be true. Bartolini was a good man.”

“Now he’s a better man than ever.” I chuckled to myself.

“Are you suicidal, boy?” He came closer, grabbing my jaw, his gun burying so deep into my cheek I could taste it through my skin.

“Close, Don Battaglia. Your daughter is all I have left, and if I can’t have her, you might as well pull that trigger and end my misery.”

“What ever gave you the idea that you deserve my daughter?”

“Nothing. I didn’t say I deserved her. I said I loved her. I’m aware of the difference.”

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