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Dino

Dino

S he’s trying her best to push me, but she will get nowhere. If I haven’t given away any secrets to the Feds despite their best efforts, I’m hardly likely to confess to a live TV news show.

Corrado thought it was a bad idea, said it was too risky. But he’s my advisor, not my master. His job isn’t to tell me what to do, it’s suggesting things.

I decide.

What I say goes.

I’m happy to be interviewed. It’s child’s play flirting with this one, unlike with Rose Silver, who seemed weirdly immune to my charms. Just made me want her all the more. This one I know what she’d be like.

The same as all women. Rose? She is something new. Something innocent. Something for me to corrupt. To inject with my brand of darkness. I know she would love it. I also know it is a bad idea to fuck an outsider. So I sit here and answer questions instead of breaking into her place to run off with her .

The station wants to know if there’s any truth behind the rumors. I could have sued them into silence, but I’m going to sweet talk them onside. It’s how I’ve got to my position. Charm. Needed nothing else.

She sits opposite me. Carol Thompson. Anchor of the evening news. “I’m surprised you said yes to this,” is her opening statement while the cameras are still getting set up.

“Happy to do it.” My winning smile, the one that gets panties melting wherever I go.

She’s wearing a suit that doesn’t fit her as well as she thinks. It also doesn’t look as expensive as she hopes. Her makeup is overdone. Jewelry that smacks of desperation. She wants to impress me, maybe get me relaxed with the way she’s unbuttoned the top two buttons of her blouse.

Sure, I can see her cleavage, but it does nothing for me. She’s not my type. I think back to Rose laying under the wrecking ball this morning.

She is my type. Mouth on her and not afraid of anything. Willing to stand up for what she believes in. Suspicious of other people’s motives. An excellent trait to have in my line of work.

Far too young, though. I’m on the wrong side of thirty and her file said she was eighteen. Doesn’t stop me thinking about fucking her though.

When she was laid out in front of me, her tits sticking up, I had to take a moment. She looked like I put her there. Those legs in tight little shorts. Her sulking pout that made me want to spank the hell out of her.

That’s what I’m thinking about while Carol takes a seat opposite me, her microphone getting sorted out.

“So,” she says when the camera rolls. “Dino Gianni. You’re a hard man to pin down. ”

“Always busy,” I reply, ramping up my smile. “Never stop for a minute.”

“Got time for this interview and channel twenty-seven is grateful.”

“A pleasure.”

“There’s been a lot of talk here in Gordon’s Cove about the mansion. Care to tell us about that?”

“There’s not much to tell. I wanted a coastal property, and I found a decent piece of land to build on. Your mayor has been very accommodating.”

“I’m sure he has, Mr. Gianni. What about the animal shelter, though?”

“What about it?”

“In order to build your mansion, you’re demolishing the town’s animal shelter, correct?”

I hold up a finger. “One, I’m rebuilding it twice as large as before, with a significant donation from my business dealings. Two, I went through the proper channels with the owner of the shelter who approved fully of my blueprints before we made any deal.”

“What about the other rumors?”

“What rumors are they?”

“There are some who have suggested you bribed the mayor to get the permits to build and that your assets come from mob affiliated businesses.”

I let a note of surprise come into my face, following it up with irritation. “Mob affiliated? The things my rivals will suggest to run me out of business.”

“So you’re saying they’re not true?”

“I am a legitimate business owner who pays my taxes and supports our great country. As for the idea that I would stoop to something as low as bribery? I am shocked to even be accused of such a thing. I followed all the proper channels at all times. The contracts are available for anyone to observe in the town hall whenever they like.”

Of course, I bribed the mayor. Bribery makes the world go around. But I will not tell her that.

My cellphone vibrates in my pocket. It’ll have to wait.

“So there’s no truth to those rumors. Is what you’re saying here on record?”

“I’m saying anyone who would like to suggest such things to my face is welcome to do so. I will happily see them in court. I do not fear the justice system of this wonderful country of ours.”

We continue in this vein for another couple of minutes. She tries to probe. I rebuff. She doesn’t get anywhere. No one ever does. I know what I’m doing.

When it’s over, she shakes my hand and gets to her feet. The camera crew takes things down.

“Dinner?” she asks. “I’m starving.”

“A rain check,” I reply, digging out my cellphone. “I need to play catch up.” I listen to the voicemail. It’s Larry. I don’t let it show in my expression, but I’m furious. Why the fuck has Santo Belucci gone to Gordon’s Cove and walked into one of my bars? He knows the rules.

“Always busy,” she says with a smile. “I know the feeling.”

“I’ll show you out,” I say, walking with her to the front door. The TV vans outside line up neatly on the drive. I watch her heading down. She’s swaying her hips, hoping I’m watching. I’m busy thinking about the phone call. Looks like the time of peace is over. Belucci piece of shit walks into one of my bars and expects to live?

I go back inside, heading upstairs. I take a shower and then get something to eat. The kitchen has excelled itself this evening. Lobster that’s so fresh I’m surprised it doesn’t pinch me when I eat it. The wine goes down crisp and light, not too heavy.

By the time I’ve finished my meal, it’s time. Corrado is standing in the doorway of the dining room, coughing politely. I turn to face him. “Is he here?”

“Downstairs.”

“What kind of shape is he in?”

“Messed up, but he can still talk.”

“Good.”

I follow him to the bookcase in the study. Yanking out the copy of The Godfather, I step back and wait. The bookcase rolls along its silent runners to expose the door behind. I open the door and walk down the wooden steps into the basement.

It’s on the same floor plan as my house. Divided into rooms. I’ve kept people down here for different reasons, sometimes for a while. There’s a bathroom, a kitchen, a bedroom. That’s over to the left. To the right, through another door, is the interview room. It’s where I find out the truth. Every single time.

They all crack eventually. It’s just a matter of hitting the right buttons. Everyone’s got a breaking point.

In the chair in the middle of the interview room is Santo Belucci. He’s moaning through his gag. His nose is bloody and his left eye’s swollen. On either side of him are two of my men. I nod and they walk away, heading through the far door that leads, eventually, to the parking garage.

It’s just me and Corrado. Santo looks from me to him and back again. He looks pissed off, more than afraid. That’ll change soon enough.

“You know the deal,” I say, cracking my knuckles, flexing my fingers as I stand in front of him. “We’ve been good to you since the war. You’ve stayed out of our territory and we’ve let you all live. I’m going to take the gag off you in a minute, and you’re going to tell me what the fuck you thought you were doing in Gordon’s Cove. But before you do, I want you to think. Each lie you tell me will cost you a break. Fingers first. Then legs. So think carefully if you want to get out of here alive.”

I nod to Corrado. He pulls the gag from Santo’s mouth.

“Talk,” I say, taking the chair opposite him. “Make it fast.”

“You think you can do this to me?” Santo says, tugging at the bonds holding him in place. They tied his wrists and ankles the right way. He’s going nowhere until I release him. He’s still snarling at me, even as he fights to free himself. “I’m a fucking made man, you son of a bitch. You won’t get away with this.”

I tap my foot on the floor a few times, trying to keep from snapping his fucking neck. “You broke the rules,” I say. “You went to Gordon’s Cove, and that’s out of fucking bounds. I’m giving you one chance to tell me the truth. What were you doing there?”

“Fuck you, Dino.” He goes to spit at me. I turn my head, but it still lands on my cheek. I’ll make him pay for that, but not yet. First, I need answers.

I take a silk handkerchief from my pocket and mop my face. “You don’t want to answer,” I say, getting to my feet and crossing to the toolbox. “That’s fine.” I reach inside and bring out a pair of pliers. “He left or right-handed?”

“Left,” Corrado replies.

I grab hold of his left hand and wrap the pliers around his little finger. One quick tug, a snap, and then he screams. “Still got nine left,” I say. “And I can spend all fucking night getting answers from you, if that’s what it takes. You want to walk out of here alive, talk. What were you doing there? ”

He’s turning pale. For the first time he seems to realize his made status won’t save him, not down here where his screams can’t travel beyond the solid walls around us. My reputation isn’t bullshit. He might have thought it was smoke and mirrors, but I’m not afraid of anything or anyone.

He’s grasping how close he is to death. No one’s coming to save him. He’s only leaving if I let him go, and there’s only a slim chance of that happening.

I wrap the pliers around his ring finger, and he stutters. “All right, all right,” he says when he gets himself together. “The chip activated. I went to go get the girl.”

I let go of his hand and step back. “Did it now? You know I’ll be checking, right?”

“Let me go, Dino, please. I swear I won’t go back there.”

“Your Don swore none of your famiglia would ever go there again after what happened. What was the plan? Snatch her and marry her off? Who to?”

Santo nods, groaning as he does so. The pain’s getting to him, his eyes are going. I’ve not got long before he’s useless. I slap him back to life. He blinks and focuses on me. “Marry her off?” I ask again.

“Yeah,” he replies.

I take out my phone and call Timmy. He answers at once. “Yes, boss?”

“Has the chip activated?”

“The Feds are running through my place. Got a tipoff I had two kilos of blow in there. I can’t look at anything until they’re done.”

“Get back to me soon as you have something.”

I hang up and turn to face Santo. “You snitched to the Feds, didn’t you? Kept my IT geek busy while you went to get her and the chip?”

Santo manages a laugh and I want to break his teeth, yank them out with the pliers. I haven’t got time. The chip activated. I need to get to it and to the woman who holds it. She will become my wife whether or not she likes it. The only way to get right to the top is to marry the chip holder. That’s all that matters. Nothing else.

I step back, turning to Corrado as I pull out my gun. He mutters under his breath. “You know what it means to kill a made man?”

I turn around and put one in Santo’s face, firing right through the mouth. His body slumps forward in the seat, blood dripping to the floor.

“I know what it means,” I say.

“Do you want a war?”

“I want them to know I won’t put up with this kind of shit. Don Belucci thinks he can just send his men into my town and snatch up whatever woman has the chip? Thinks I won’t notice?”

“Maybe he thought he could get her before you heard about the chip.”

“He’s a dumb fuck is what he is.”

“So what are you going to do?”

“You really think it’s activated?”

“I doubt Santo would lie. He maybe thought you’d let him go if he told the truth.”

“Made man. Got cocky.”

“You killed him without his Don’s permission. That’s a declaration of war, Dino.”

I shake my head. “Might be. Unless I get the chip, get the girl, and marry her myself. Then I get the Capo dei Capi post when the big guy steps down. I become Don of Dons. I rule over all the families.”

Corrado glances across at the body, still dripping blood. “ So you become Capo dei Capi and you expect the Beluccis to suck up the fact a made man just got whacked?”

“More than that. I shut them down. Ricardo’s been up to his old tricks. Two more bodies washed up not long since. And you know they’ve been trafficking kids this last year, right?”

“I know.”

“Babies, some of them. Keeping them off the radar but I got eyes and ears everywhere and I hear things. The Beluccis need putting down for good and getting the chip gets me one step closer to doing that.”

“So what’re you going to do to the girl who activated it?”

“I go get her. I marry her. I take the post of Don of Dons. I go from running the state to running the fucking country, Corrado.”

“There’s something you haven’t thought of, though.”

“And what’s that?”

“What if she doesn’t want to marry you?”

“She will.”

“You going to make her an offer she can’t refuse?”

“You could put it that way,” I say, putting my gun away. “Get that piece of shit back to Don Belucci with my compliments. While he’s frothing at the mouth and putting a crew together, I’ll be going to meet my new bride.

“Get Timmy to give me the co-ordinates where the chip activated as soon as the Feds are gone from his place. Shit, I should have got Santo to tell me her name before I offed him.”

“Maybe Larry will know. Might have seen who he was looking for in the bar.”

“Ask him.”

I walk back upstairs. The chip has gone live. The chip that changes everything .

It has a GPS in it. As soon as it goes live, that’s the signal for all the families to get moving. The Capo dei Capi is stepping down as soon as the chip activates.

Whoever marries his daughter takes his post, becomes Don of Dons. King of the fucking country.

That’s going to be me. I will marry whoever has the chip, whether or not she likes it. She’ll walk down the aisle crying her eyes out with my gun in her back, if that’s what it takes to make this happen. Nothing will stop me from having her. Nothing will stop me from taking over.

Not a single goddamned thing.