Page 56

Dante

Watching the lot from a distance, I saw several guys go in and out of Remo's. I knew most of the faces, but a couple of them I didn't recognize.

Which was a big'no, no,'in our agreement. He was supposed to run all of his guys through us first. We had to make sure they were who they said they were. That was the rule, and right now I could see he wasn't following it.

Two of the guys looked shifty. Their eyes scattered around the yard, looking a little too closely at things that weren't their concern. My family owned four of the containers they were studying.

I didn't like that one bit.

Picking up my phone, I took a couple pictures of the guys, trying to zoom in as best I could. They weren't looking in my direction at all, so I wasn't worried that they spotted me.

Hitting send, I sent the images to my dad.

'You know these guys?'

Resting the phone on my leg, I waited for him to respond. Scrunching my face, I leaned in over the steering wheel to try and see what the hell they were doing.

One of the guys was standing with his arms crossed, his head glancing around in every direction. He was wearing a black leather jacket, his hair slicked back tight. Bobbling on his heels, he twisted his waist to look over his shoulder.

Ducking my head lower, I kept my eyes just above the rim. But he didn't linger very long where I was parked. He didn't see me.

His head flicked to the entrance as the door cracked open. Nodding his head at the other guy, the two started walking towards the door, disappearing behind the thick metal barricade. I sat puzzled and pissed off. It had been opened for them to go in without question.

They were invited.

But I didn't have a fucking idea who they were or what the hell Remo was doing bringing in guys we didn't authorize.

My phone buzzed, picking it up, I read the message.

'No. Who are they?'he asked.

'Fuck if I know.'

'Take care of this, Dante. Get him to understand we're serious. And don't take no for an answer.'

'Done.'Tucking the phone back into my pocket, I cracked my knuckles and stretched my arms across my chest.

The game was on.

Ivy had disappeared from his home long enough for him to start looking, to start wondering. And we knew from our inside informants that no one had reported her missing. Which was good.

Really good.

That meant no one other than her handler was looking for her. The cops weren't involved, there were no news stories about her going missing, no articles in the papers about the petite copper-colored-hair woman who had vanished into thin air from her living room.

And that was exactly what we needed to happen.

If the world was looking for this innocent lost soul, it would make things much more difficult. We didn't need things to get any more complicated.

Closing the door softly, I walked casually across the street and into the lion's den. It was time to let Remo know what we wanted, and what would happen if he didn't take care of his end.

Gripping the gun in my pocket, I stood outside the door and knocked.

One knock, two knocks, then three rapid taps in one procession. It was our calling card.

The Pisanis are here.

A beady eyed little man, who went by the name Del, opened the door and stuck his face out. “Mr. Pisani, Remo's in a meeting right now, you'll have to come back later.” His square glasses were two sizes too big for his head, turning his tiny eyes into giant popping disks.