Page 18 of Killer Daddy (Fendi Mafia Daddies #2)

Michael

Michael and the band of fellow Fendi men and loyal allies parked their cars a whole mile away from the Fendi House.

It might have been dark and cold, but there was going to be no leaving anything to chance.

The security at the mansion was set up to spot oncoming cars from over half a mile away and along the way Michael and his men would need to ensure to take out the increasing number of security cameras that they encountered.

‘Clear,’ Michael said, pointing his black gloved hand forward. ‘Faustino, you cover the right flank. We should have two cameras about one hundred yards apart.’

‘Got it,’ Faustino said, crouching and making his way along the twisting, heavily wooded path.

‘Matteo, all good?’ Michael asked, holding his satellite phone to his ear. ‘All clear on our side.’

‘All good,’ Matteo replied, his voice crisp and clear, the low hum of interference not affecting the sound quality in a meaningful way. ‘We’ll hit the helipad first. Make sure everything is clear. Any word on Tassimo’s whereabouts?’

‘Nothing,’ Michael responded, knowing that the second Kable heard anything he would no doubt be in touch. ‘But call it a hunch… I can sense he’s in the mansion.’

Michael fixed his satellite phone back in his belt loop and continued along the gravelly track.

To his left and right sides were some of the most deadly men that Michael had ever worked with.

Between them, they would have been able to lay claim to well over one hundred and fifty bodies.

It was nothing to be proud of, Michael knew that.

But at the same time, Michael felt eternally grateful that these ruthless, sometimes vicious men were on his side rather than against him.

All this wasn’t to say that Tassimo’s men would be a pushover.

Far from it. Tassimo had risen to the top of the family, despite being to some extent an outsider, by knowing how to pick his generals and soldiers.

In fact, Tassimo was no slouch with a gun either.

The stories of Tassimo’s most ruthless and brutal executions were the stuff of legends in the Fendi family – and out on the streets too, where people feared Tassimo and knew that he was so ruthless that a single wrong step could see him take the ultimate, most final course of action at the drop of a hat.

But for all his reputation as a killer, it was Tassimo who was about to meet his doom.

Michael wasn’t going to leave the Fendi House until Tassimo and every last loyalist of his was dead.

There was no other way. People outside of the criminal world would never understand such things, but when it came to a family takeover, this was the only realistic option to keep the suffering and killing to a minimum.

‘This way,’ Michael said, bringing himself right back into the present moment as he spotted another camera, just as predicted in the security blueprint that Kable had put together. ‘Now cut back and take the wires out.’

Michael knew that the closer they got to the mansion, the more likely they were to trigger security. And with each passing security camera that was taken out, the clock was ticking on how soon it would be before the mansion security knew that something was seriously wrong…

‘Speed it up,’ Michael said, his voice low and serious as he spoke to both Faustino and Matteo via his satellite phone. ‘I’m going to say that from here on out, we’re shooting on sight. Try to keep it quiet, but don’t hesitate to kill.’

‘Don’t worry, hesitation is never a problem for me, brother,’ Faustino said, his raspy laugh coming through loud and clear.

‘This is what we’ve been building toward,’ Matteo said. ‘All these years. Even when we didn’t dare bring it up with one another. This is our destiny. Let’s fucking do this.’

With that, Michael put his phone back in its loop and marched forward with his men alongside him.

Soon, there would be gunshots, blood, and certain death.

And as much as taking the mansion and Tassimo out by any means necessary was the priority, Michael couldn’t help but think that what he truly wanted was to be the man to pull the trigger and remove Tassimo Lorenzo Fendi from the picture for good…

Michael and his men entered the mansion via the most direct route…

by blasting through the central gates and then marching toward the front door.

It was the most dangerous line of approach, but Michael knew it would allow Matteo and Faustino’s squads some time to make inroads at the rear and over on the westerly side.

And as expected, it wasn’t long before Michael and his allies were met with a hailstorm of bullets…

‘Cover! Move forward! Cover!’ Michael hollered over the sound of semi-automatic fire and furious calls from Tassimo’s men.

Michael took a moment to reload his weapon as he crouched behind a marble statue. He knew that some of the men in the Fendi House could well be amenable to joining his side. But it was too much of a risk and practically impossible to figure out who this could be during a gunfight.

‘Give me some cover,’ Michael said, turning to the marksman next to him as the bullets continued to rip through the air.

Michael took out his cell phone and tapped out a message to Kable…

MICHAEL: If you can hack the mansion security, I want you to let them know who is attacking. Anyone who wants to commit to our new regime should put down their weapons and lie on the floor until this is over. Amnesty guaranteed, on Fendi honor.

KABLE: On it. Should only take a couple of minutes. Until then, keep shooting.

Michael smiled wryly. But he knew that there was no other alternative but to keep on firing until Kable had hacked into the mansion’s speaker system. Whatever. This wasn’t the time to cry over possible collateral damage. It was kill or be killed.

With his gun fully loaded and the rest of the squad advancing fully inside the mansion’s sprawling ground floor, Michael knew that it was time to lock in and focus his thoughts.

And if he so happened to spot that asshole Tassimo, then that was all the better…

It didn’t take long before both the ground floor and the first floor of the mansion were secure. Blood splattered walls and multiple dead bodies lay strewn across the rooms. But there was still no sign of Tassimo.

‘Michael, you’re safe,’ Matteo said, striding forward from the basement floor. ‘All secure down there. And we’ve got a bunch of converts from Tassimo’s side too. Good men. Loyal Fendi men who have no real love for Tassimo.’

‘Good,’ Michael answered. ‘And we’ll reward their loyalty to the family too, once this is all over. Any word from Faustino?’

‘No, but there’s a firefight between the westerly wing and here which I can only assume is your brother,’ Matteo said, a smile on his face as he no doubt imagined Faustino with an Uzi in each hand and a trail of dead bodies in his wake.

Michael was about to suggest joining them when his satellite phone trilled. It was Faustino, and it turned out that he had some very important information…

‘It’s Tassimo,’ Faustino said, breathless. ‘The sonofabitch is on the run. I’ve taken a bullet to the thigh. I’m fine, don’t worry about me. But that asshole is going to make it out of here unless we follow him.’

‘If he escapes, we’ll never see him again,’ Matteo said, a concerned look on his face. ‘Sure, he won’t be a threat to us. But we don’t need him lurking in the background, waiting to make some kind of move.’

‘I’ve got this,’ Michael snarled, knowing that this was his moment. ‘Faustino, tell me where he is…’

Michael listened carefully to Faustino’s instructions as the satellite phone’s reliable signal momentarily faltered.

But there was no time to wait for Faustino to go over the details.

With Tassimo on the run and headed in the direction of the mansion’s extensive car garage, it was more than clear what his plan of action was.

Without waiting a single second longer, Michael sprinted out of the mansion and began to run toward the car garage.

There was still intermitted shooting and minor gunfights going on as the last of Tassimo’s loyalists fought until the death, but Michael knew that in this moment all he needed to do was get to Tassimo before he escaped.

‘Fuck!’ Michael said, his breathing heavy as he caught up with Tassimo and saw him jumping into a two seater sports car and firing the engine up. ‘Always doing things the hard way…’

With a selection of cars to choose from, Michael opened the door to a powerful coupe and duly found the keys already in the ignition.

It was a common theme that mafia cars were so well protected that bosses would always leave the keys in the car as a sign of how powerful they were – and it was also good for practical purposes too should a fast getaway be required.

Michael fired up the engine and before long found himself powering down the road, the sight of Fendi House getting smaller and smaller in his rearview mirror.

With Tassimo’s sports car ahead of him, Michael suspected that he would have one chance and one chance only to force Tassimo off the road – it was simply a matter of remaining patient and waiting for a sharp turn or driving error on Tassimo’s part to give him that opportunity.

As Michael continued to slowly but surely gain ground on Tassimo, he thought back to the death of his father.

For so long, it had defined Michael and filled him with anger and a level of suspicion that had spilled over into paranoia at times.

But now that he was on the cusp of forming the new triumvirate of family bosses with Faustino and Matteo, Michael felt like he could finally let go of the hurt that his father’s murder caused him.

Michael’s father was dead and he wasn’t coming back – but from this day onward his memory would be cherished and put back front and center of the family’s history.

With the dark road devoid of streetlights, all Michael had to guide him was the lights at the rear of Tassimo’s car. And even though he wasn’t quite in striking range yet, Michael felt an instinctive sensation running through his body that the moment was growing ever nearer.

It’s close.

Be ready.

Shoot to…

Michael held the steering wheel in one hand and reached for his pistol.

With a cold, calm feeling in his body and mind, he held the pistol aloft and aimed it toward Tassimo’s rear wheel.

The bullet would need to go through his own windshield and then would need to be accurate enough to take out the tire.

These weren’t business cars so hadn’t been reenforced - and while this meant that bulletproof windows didn’t need to be considered, it didn’t change the fact that an accurate shot was absolutely vital.

‘This is the shot,’ Michael said, his words chillingly emotionless. ‘Wait for the corner. Slow down. Take the fucking shot.’

Michael knew that if he got the shot wrong, he would in all likelihood lose ground on Tassimo and this could prove disastrous.

After all, with the highway looming, there was no way that Michael could keep up with Tassimo’s turbo-charged two seater.

It was only the dark, winding nature of the current road that was making it a contest at all.

Tassimo’s break lights signaled that he was entering the corner.

Michael pushed forward, made up the ground, pumped his break and…

‘Got him,’ Michael said, his laser-focus keeping him from celebrating the successful shot as Tassimo’s burst tire flapped and shuddered.

With Tassimo’s top speed shot to pieces, all that was left to do was pull up next to him and bump him off the road. And with Michael’s car carrying the significant weight advantage, this was every bit as easy as he’d hoped.

A look of panic and fury met Michael as he got out of his car and approached Tassimo, stuck inside the sportscar with no escape route.

‘You piece of shit!’ Tassimo screeched, winding his window down and spitting his words in Michael’s direction as he slowly walked toward him, gun aimed directly at his head. ‘Traitor!’

‘Really? That’s all you’ve got?’ Michael growled, shaking his head.

‘You’re the traitor. We know all about your Inzaghi plan.

And just so you know, you’ll go to your grave full in the knowledge that the family will be back in the hands of true Fendi men now.

We fight for the family, for its honor, and for its history. ’

‘Fuck the family history,’ Tassimo said. ‘And fuck your father too. Ever wondered who really killed him?’

Momentarily, Michael was totally stuck in his tracks. Was Tassimo saying what it sounded like he was saying? Michael wasn’t going to let this moment pass without finding out the truth.

‘You?’ Michael asked, his heart racing and his trigger finger twitching. ‘It was… you?’

‘And I’d do it all again in a damn heartbeat,’ Tassimo said. ‘So hurry the hell up and shoot me. You won’t see out the year. Just know that. They’ll all come for the Fendi family now. I had a plan. I was going to secure our future. I was…’

But Michael didn’t give the murderous traitor a chance to finish.

With a single shot, Michael put a bullet squarely between Tassimo’s eyes. Another bullet followed to the heart. It was all over. In removing Tassimo, Michael had not only put his family back on the right track, but he had finally resolved the one issue that had plagued him his entire life.

‘You can rest in peace now, father,’ Michael said, solemnly but with a feeling of real hope inside him. ‘But this motherfucker can rot in hell…’

All it took was a shot to the fuel tank, a match, and some lighter fluid and Tassimo’s dead body was ablaze. There’d be nothing left of him soon – and that was just the way it deserved to be.

As Michael walked back to his car, he knew that when morning came, it would be a new dawn for him, the family, and perhaps most importantly… for him and his darling boy Benjamin too…