Page 11 of Fixate
I accepted the well wishes.
“I do as well. Sooner than later would be nice. But as it stands, we have more pressing matters at hand. Please explain your visit, Dante.”
Dante leaned closer as he spoke. “As you know, I’ve been planning to take my father down for years. It was never going to be a simple task, but I know it to be possible. As he’s aged, he’s become weak. He thinks everyone is loyal to him, when truly that’s not the case.”
“But why the rushed timeline? Last we spoke, you had more planning to do.”
He tilted his head towards his partner. “Things changed. My Daddy kidnapped me and now I’ve got to rush things.”
“Hey! I didn’t kidnap you. I was trying to reunite us. I thought your father was keeping you away from me.”
“Technically, he was. I was just playing along because it was easier than trying to rush things,” Dante agreed. “Except now we have no choice but to move up timelines. I can’t be off-grid too long or he’ll get suspicious. And since I can’t very well bring you back into the fold, Preacher, then we have to have things moving in the background for when the moment is right.”
“When do you think that moment will be?” I asked.
“I’m not sure, honestly. It could be a month, or it could be two weeks. I don’t think it will be long, though. I have a sneaking suspicion we’ll be found out before too much time passes.”
The other man nodded as if to agree with the evaluation. “He’ll get paranoid too. We could play into the delusion if we want to use mind games against him. He won’t suspect anything from you two, but from an outside source I’d bet. At least, if he’s the same as he was.”
Dante made a snorting noise that brought a grin to my face. It was the same sound he’d made while drunk and discussing his desire to return to his Daddy.
“He’s the same,” Dante said. “Fatter and balder, but the same.”
“Let me talk to the wife to see if she’s finally ready to get revenge on that asshole. Then I can let you know howmany forces you’ll have to help you with this project. If you’ll excuse me though, I have business to attend to. There’s always something going on in the city that needs my attention. Dinner is on me. Feel free to order all that you wish.”
With a quick nod their way, I stood and left them to be. They’d given me enough to work with. Plus, I had to convince my wife helping Dante would be worth our time and resources. Hopefully she’d agree.
CHAPTER 5
Ricardo
As it turned out,Stasia couldn’t mobilize the men as fast as we’d hoped. We had a much smaller force with us when it came time to infiltrate Romano’s place.
It was difficult being in the same space as them. While I knew Dante trusted them to help us with this mission, I had a strange feeling when it came to Pharrell’s wife. Something about her didn’t sit right with me. For someone who was so tough and strong, she came across as distracted and far too eager in the moment.
I almost told the team to stop, but pointing fingers without any evidence wouldn’t help us. Besides, we had to provide a united front if we were going to take down this man once and for all.
No more puppet strings.
No more outlandish demands.
We’d be free after this was over. Well, as free as one got when they inherited a mafia organization.
Dante would have to step into the role he was born to lead. Meanwhile, I’d have to figure out what that meant for me. WithPreacher in the picture, I couldn’t see myself being his second-in-command anymore. And really, I wasn’t sure if it was the right fit for me.
I’d been questioning a lot of things as of late.
Once we breached the perimeter, we split up to move through the compound. Dante and Preacher were headed straight to the elder Romano, while the rest of us were to take out the guards. We needed to clean up the place as much as possible to prevent anyone from coming upon them during the attack.
To add to the chaos, we had more than one organization here since Yamamoto was coming to avenge his wife as well. Couldn’t blame the guy after all the ways Romano fucked him over.
Thanks to the comms Memphis had us wearing, we could hear everything going on between Dante and his father as we worked through taking down the rest of the men we could find.
It was only as we finished up that I realized someone vital was missing.
“Where’s your wife?” I asked Pharrell.
He frowned as he searched the space around us. “She was just here…”
