Page 14

Della

We were escorted outside and back to the limo. I hadn’t ever seen Dante angry. I suppose he didn’t have a quick temper but he sure as hell snapped to it when it came to Luca. Yes, I’d been nervous about Luca, but when he started to question me, I simply focused on his questions. I ceased to feel like I needed to impress him.

Sliding into the soft seat, I waited for Dante.

He stood a few feet away talking to Rocky and Tito.

Suddenly, I heard a squealing noise like someone peeling rubber in a car. Next thing I knew, I was flying forward and thrown onto the bar counter in the limo. I heard crunching metal, shouts and then as I tried to sit up, I heard shooting. I grabbed the bar counter and yanked myself up in a panic. Dante! Looking back, I saw Tito and Rocky shooting their guns at something.

Again there were metallic noises and then the sound of a crash.

When I looked sideways toward the open limo door, I did see something incredible.

Dante took aim at something with the gun he held in his hands and he let off a few shots.

I gaped at this image. I didn’t know he even wore a gun and who was he shooting at?

“Get down, Della,” he shouted.

I instantly did what he said and laid flat on the seat. What the hell was happening? It sounded like a battle being fought in the echoing garage. I smelled smoke and wondered why I was smelling it here.

Someone grabbed me and I struggled with them.

“Della!” Dante spoke from above me.

Looking up at him, I asked, “What happened?”

Tugging me up, he held me tight and patted my back. “Someone got in and attacked us. Are you okay?” he asked as he pulled back to study my face. “You got a real bump there,” he whispered, raising his hand to gently touch my forehead.

I winced a bit. Then I saw blood on his sleeve. Gasping, I searched his shoulders then looked down his arms spotting a rip on his sleeve that was blood soaked. “You’re bleeding!” I exclaimed in panic.

He glanced down at his upper arm. “Oh, yeah. I must have gotten hit.”

“Must have…” I shook my head at his calm demeanor and yelled out the door, “Tito, Dante has been shot!”

“He’s busy,” a voice came from beyond the open door.

Looking up, I saw a man, aiming a gun at me.

Reaching forward, he grabbed my wrist and tried to tug me out of the car.

Dante nearly roared as he raised the gun he still had and shot the man in the face.

Blood splattered over me and the seats as I screamed. Everything spun around me as things got dark and I slumped over.

The next thing I knew Dante was talking to me, “Baby, come on, talk to me…”

I opened my eyes and blinked rapidly. I had to be laying on his lap as I looked up at him. “What just happened?”

“It was a hit on us, looks like?” he replied.

“A hit?”

“Yeah, Tito and Rocky killed the driver of the car that rammed the limo. Then while they searched the ramming car, that fucker came out of nowhere and tried to take you.”

“Wait! You were shot!” I exclaimed as I tried to sit up.

He kept me down with his hand on my chest. “It is just a graze, I’m fine. It even stopped bleeding. So calm down.” He smoothed my hair with his other hand.

My face felt damp and then I remembered why. “Oh God, blood.”

He shook his head. “I used a pile of wipes cleaning you up.”

“Is she awake?” Tito asked as he leaned in through the door.

“Yeah,” Dante answered.

“Luca says we have to go back up,” Tito informed us. “You cannot be out here.”

Dante let out a long breath. “Yeah, ok.” Gazing down at me he said, “Let’s see if we can get you to the elevator.”

I realized I was just lying here being a burden probably while we did need to get back into the building. Sitting up, my head spun. “Whoa,” I said with a short laugh.

Dante scooted out of the limo and scooped me up into his arms.

“Wait!” I said. “I can wal—”

“No, you can’t for now,” he countered.

I spotted Tito in front of us as he looked around and then saw Rocky walking closely behind us, also looking around. This was far different from the first time we headed to this elevator.

Rushing us in, the men were all in then Tito tapped the button for the top floor.

As the door closed, I wondered what would happen now. I also wondered if Deacon had sent those men and were they after me in particular. But why would be the question.

“Della,” Tito spoke up. “Rocky and I apologize. We failed you.”

I blinked my eyes and replied, “No, you didn’t.”

“We did,” Rocky said.

“Me and Dante are alive and you two are alive. That is not a fail.” My breath caught in my chest as I realized I’d missed a person. “Is Oscar…”

“He’s fine, they seemed to be aiming for you and Dante,” Tito informed me.

I looked up at Dante. “Deacon?”

He shook his head. “I’m not sure.”

The elevator door opened so I looked over to see Luca and Amadeo.

Luca gave us a nod. “Private lounge.” He motioned for us to follow him.

“You can put me down now,” I told Dante.

He shook his head as he carried me down the glass encased hall. “Humor me.”

I tisked and waited for us to get to this lounge.

We finally entered a room. From my perch in his hold, I could see luxury at its finest.

Several plush couches with side tables and coffee tables. Suede easy chairs and two large wall mounted flat screen TVs. Plants, paintings and a bar. Even a mini kitchen and full appliances.

“Um… wow!” I exclaimed.

Dante laughed as he set me down on one of the couches. “More fancy shit, I say.”

I sunk into the plush sofa with such softness, I even closed my eyes in satisfaction.

He shook his head as he sat down next to me and again placed my head on his lap.

“I can sit up,” I told him.

“No, not until you see the—”

“Is this the patient?” a voice cut Dante off.

Looking upward, I stared at an older man.

He gave me a nod. “I’m Dr. Giseppe.”

“I don’t need a doctor,” I said.

He chuckled. “Most of my patients say that same thing.” He looked over at Dante. “Lei è bellissima, Dante.”

“I know, I know,” Dante replied. “She is beautiful.”

“Si, si. So sit her up, per favore.” Dr. Giseppe nodded at me.

Dante tugged me up a little then I was sitting upright.

The doctor wore a stethoscope and he listened to my heartbeat. “Good, good. I see there’s a pink bump on your forehead.”

I shrugged. “Is there?”

He chuckled. “Si, there is but it seems to be small. Do you have a headache? Dizziness?”

I shook my head and winced a bit. “Not unless I do that.”

He chuckled again. “So don’t do that.” He looked over at Dante. “Call me if anything changes.”

“Like what?” I asked.

“You get dizzy, nauseous, or start having headaches.” He patted my knee then looked over at Dante again. “Need to see your arm.”

“It’s just fin—”

“No, you let him check it,” I interrupted Dante. “Two can play at this game.”

“I like her!” The doctor laughed and turned to look at Dante. “You need to get rid of the dress shirt.”

Dante sighed then unbuttoned his shirt.

I now wondered where his jacket went.

The doctor examined his wound and nodded. “You lucky son of a gun. It just grazed you.”

Dante nodded at me. “Like I said.”

“Yes, yes, Dr. Dante,” Dr. Geseppe teased as he dug into his bag. Finally, he took out a package, opened it up and swiped Dantes cut. He then put some cream on it. He smiled and handed me the small tube of cream. “See that he gets this twice more in the next 24 hours.”

I nodded and took it from him.

He then bandaged the cut and stood up. “Anyone else?”

“No,” Tito replied. “Just a little scrape or two.”

The doctor picked up his bag and looked over at one of the easy chairs and said. “All is well, Luca.” He then left the room.

I looked from the door to Luca as I wasn't even aware he was even here until now.

He stared at Dante. “We watched the camera footage in the garage. This was deliberately aimed at you and Ms. Granger. The fact that you shot your attacker in the face makes it harder for us to do facial recognition.”

“Sorry about that, but he was not going anywhere with my girl,” Dante growled.

Luca said nothing about this comment as he gave him a nod. “Yes, you made sure of that. We do have the driver of the SUV that rammed the limo though.” Luca glanced over at the bodyguard cousins. “They killed him but we do have his face. Amadeo got a snapshot and he’s looking for a match now.”

“And Amadeo found him too,” someone announced from the doorway.

Looking over, there stood Amadeo.

He came in and handed Luca a printed piece of paper.

Luca took it and looked down at it. He froze and asked Amadeo, “Are you sure about this?”

“I wish I wasn’t but yeah, that’s him.”

“Who is he?” Tito asked as he looked extremely curious and stepped over to Luca. Gazing down at the page, he whispered, “Dinelli?”

“Yeah,” Luca growled.

“No way!” Rocky came over to look at the page.

“Who is he?” Dante asked.

Tito just kept shaking his head. “Gino Dinelli, he’s one of the Famiglia.”

“What?” Dante asked in puzzlement.

“He is a part of the Famiglia,” Luca repeated.

It even sank in for me as I asked, “Your mafia put a hit out on us?”

Luca slowly shook his head. “Someone within the Family did. Not the entire group.”

“So it wasn’t Deacon?” I asked.

Luca swung his gaze up and stared at me. “It appears that it wasn’t.”

“Then who would do this?” Dante asked as he looked angry.

“Fillippo Grazzi,” Stephano stated as he walked into the lounge.

“You mean Pippo?” Luca asked.

“That’s him.” Stephano nodded.

“How do you know?” Dante asked.

“I don’t really.” Stephano shrugged his suited shoulders. “I got news about an hour ago that Talon and Liz, along with my soldiers, stormed the Hilton this morning where this meeting was to take place. Deacon wasn’t there, but Pippo’s nephew was. My men have him now. I believe Pippo knows that and wanted to exact retaliation.”

“Damn,” Luca swore. “So now we have an inside war.”

“It seems so,” Stephano replied as he went over and sat in a chair. Looking over at me, he asked, “Are you alright, mia cara?”

I smiled at him and nodded my head then winced. I needed to stop doing that for a while. “Because of your son, I am.”

Stephano gave me a nod then looked over at Dante. “I hear you finally became a made man, son.”

Dante glared at him. “I did what I had to do. So don’t give me any medals, Father.”

Stephano shook his head. “All I’m saying is you did well.”

Dante didn’t look pleased at the compliment.

I wondered at the animosity but I think I knew Dante well enough by now to guess at it. He didn’t like taking a life and didn’t feel it was something to be celebrated.

“The question is…Will there be more?” Luca asked.

“I believe there will be,” Stephano replied.

“How do you know?” Dante asked.

“Because I got a look at the man you shot and I know who he is.”

“He has no face, Papa,” Dante reminded him.

“No, he doesn’t but he did have this Grazzi signet ring on his pinky finger.” Stephano raised it up.

“Oh shit,” Tito rasped.

Stephano nodded. “Pippo’s son, Renzo.”

“Fuck,” Luca swore as he threaded his fingers through his dark hair.

“But they attacked us,” I defended.

“It might not appear that way,” Stephano countered.

“We have the video footage,” Rocky said.

“Yes,” Stephano replied. “But there’s also the Hilton video footage which makes it look like we committed the first offense.”

“Oh wow,” I whispered.

“There will be a Council meeting tomorrow,” Stephano announced. “We will need the four of you there to give your accounts of what happened here.”

“Already?” Dante asked.

Nodding, Stephano replied, “I called for it. The sooner we show that it was just a misunderstanding, the—”

“Wait,” Dante cut him off. “A misunderstanding? I thought Pippo was breaking some rule for going after us by dealing with Deacon?”

“We don’t know why he was meeting Deacon,” Stephano explained. “We did however allow Talon and his men to know where the meeting was.”

“Then Deacon never showed,” Luca stated. “That’s where I was all morning. Waiting for that motherfu…” He paused to look at me. “Sorry for the language.”

I smiled. “Not offended, he is a motherfucker as far as I know.”

“So, I am prepared to turn in Paulie, Pippo’s nephew,” Stephano said. “I can’t do anything about Renzo though.”

I snorted a little.

Everyone looked over at me.

I shook my head. “Sorry, I know it is not funny. Maybe it’s the trauma. But Pippo, Paulie and Renzo? I mean are those their real names? Cause to me they sound like muppet names.”

Dante smiled at me and leaned in to kiss my cheek. “Damn, I am so proud.” He smirked at me.

“Proud of what?” Luca asked.

Dante looked over at him. “See now, that is why you are known as a jackass, brother. You have no imagination or a sense of humor.”

Luca glared at him.

“Uh-oh,” Rocky muttered.

“It’s better to be a hardass rather than a clown in a suit,” Luca groused. “Taking nothing serious, just counting the dots and making jokes. Useless endeavors and a good time.”

I sucked in a deep breath and stood from the plush couch. “He is not a clown, asshole. And you know what? I think you're just jealous. He lives a better life than you do. I bet if you ever laughed, your face would fucking crack!”

The room fell silent as all the men there stared at me.

I refused to be embarrassed as I sat back down.

Dante looked at me and grinned then turned to warn Luca, “Just keep your mouth shut brother or prepare to have it smashed in.”