2. Dante

Chapter 2

Dante

I heard the gunshots over the phone.

And everything inside of me went cold.

The intruders would be professional killers with silencers. That must be Marco Leone, either he was just shooting warning shots, or wildly shooting at the intruders. Either scenario meant bad news for him. Instinct told me he was probably already dead, but he would have hidden his daughter though. A few seconds passed, but it felt like an eternity.

“Boss? Boss?” Luca called.

I gripped the phone hard. “Are you inside?” I barked.

“Yes, Boss. We're navigating our way through the living room.”

“Head straight to his study,” I instructed. “That’s where they are.”

“Yes, Boss,” he said.

“Take a left when you get out of the dining room,” I told Luca.

“We just did,” he replied, his tone low and cautious.

“Go into the living room on the right … you’ll see a door at the end of the hall. That’s where they are.”

“Yep, I see it.”

“Be careful and precise in your movements in case the intruders are still there. And you must protect the man … if he is still alive, and his daughter at all costs. Do you hear me?”

“Yes, Boss,” he replied.

I sat back to wait and hear every word they said, how they interacted, and how all of their actions were purposeful.

The worst feeling of dread imaginable was already affecting every single cell in my body. I was worried, furious, and frustrated all at once but I had to remain calm.

“We see his office-”

“Any signs of a struggle?” I interrupted impatiently.

“Yes,” Luca replied softly. “Someone is crying?”

I tried my best to remain calm, but my blood was boiling. “Get ready to kill on sight. No hesitations. If it’s not Leone himself or his daughter, take them out. Don’t waste a fraction of a second.”

“Yes, Boss,” he said, and I listened as they continued in.

I heard the first shot fired, deafening as it rang from the receiver and echoed through the confines of the private airplane. Then the sound of the door being broken down. A few shouts. Another gunshot … and then another. A window shattering … shouting … and what seemed to be a pursuit. Instructions were shouted, most of which were too urgent to decipher.

The moment things seemed to quieten down a little, I called out to Luca. In the background was the unmistakable whimpering of someone who was absolutely terrified.

“Is she okay?” I asked. “What of her dad? Where is he?”

There was a moment of silence and then I heard her heartbreaking scream.

Luca exited the room then and everything was even quieter. In the distance, I could still hear her scream or perhaps it was now just etched into my mind.

Either way, I waited until he was ready to speak.

“She seems to be alright, Boss. A bit bruised because the attacker was trying to pull her out of an escape hole under her father’s desk. We walked in just in the nick of time. He had his gun facing her head, but we startled him and he turned the gun on us. We took him out.”

“Her father?” I asked. “Where is her father?”

And he spoke a single sentence that would hurt me like nothing else ever could in my lifetime.

“He’s dead, Boss. We saw him lying in a pool of his blood before we entered.”

I felt cold inside, icy cold with fury. Revenge was like a poison inside me.

“And his killer?”

“We couldn’t get a good look at him,” he said. “He fired at us and escaped through the window. His bullet hit Aldo in the shoulder.”

“Where are the others right now?” I asked quietly.

“In pursuit, Boss,” he responded. “I’ll update you if they catch him when they return.”

“And the girl?”

Before he could respond, however, I heard sirens in the distance.

“The cops are there?” I asked.

“Yup. We’ll have to leave now, but what about the girl? Do we take her with us?”

“No, leave her with her father and get out of there quickly,” I instructed. There was nothing further that they could do except protect themselves.

As I cut the connection, regret came over me. I shouldn’t have listened to him. I should have followed my own instinct. In my mind, Marco Leone’s voice echoed convincing me that he didn’t need protection.

“Look, Dante, why have you got your men watching and protecting me around the clock? They’re not interested in me per se. I’m just a lawyer with inflexible morals. Less valuable than a used condom to them. You should be diverting all your resources to protecting the whistleblower. We really need him. Without him, we’re cooked. I don’t know how else I can tell you, but he is absolutely pivotal to us winning your case.”

He had sounded so confident, so utterly sure in his conviction, I’d taken him at his word. I’d decided to listen to him this one time and now I was too late. My men were too fucking late. Inside, I was raging, but there was nothing I could do. I was still forty-two thousand feet in the air. Impotently, I slammed the phone to the floor and watched it smash into pieces.

No one said a word or even attempted to come around me. I couldn’t lose control. Not yet and not now. I needed to be clear-headed so I could stay on top of things and make decisions as needed.

“How much longer till we get to New York?” I growled.

One of the air hostesses who was standing in the corner with her head slightly lowered responded. “Forty-five minutes, Sir,” she said.

I unclenched my fist, took a deep breath and leaned back against the seat. There was pain in my chest. With my eyes shut I thought of the man who, from the time I was a kid, had treated me with concern and dignity. He had believed in me and helped me when no one else would, and I had failed to protect him.

“How much longer until we land?” I asked and the response soon came.

“Forty minutes, Sir.”

Only five minutes had passed, but it seemed like forever.