“How do I know you won’t give me to him either way?”
“I would prefer you help me kill him, something I am guaranteed you want as well and Dace will do as long as he stays motivated.”
“Ettore, I don’t know where Dace is. He made sure not to tell me so I wouldn’t follow him. You know how he is, and you know that would be exactly something he would do.”
He lets go of me and adjusts his tightly-fitted jacket over his barrel of a chest. “Maybe I believe you. What I will do with that information, you’ll just have to see. For now, I wouldn’t leave this room or make a sound because I can’t help you once Michael knows you’re here. Unfortunately, he stills holds the key.”
Ettore leaves me, and I finally take a breath, but it burns.
Chapter 19
Dace
I arrive at my actual father’s cabin, a place Antony and I visited often. There are pictures of my mother and us together everywhere, pictures I had never seen before. The one that strikes me to the core is a picture of him with her; she’s smiling like I have tried to recall for years in my mind. She was happy, and so was he.
“I put that box under the ground, and I need to get my shovel. So, if you don’t mind entertaining yourself for a little while?” John says, looking awkward when I, still holding a picture of him and my mother, nod towards him. He is a rugged looking man, even more so than I remember. I am not sure who the man is that is pretending to be my father, but I need to get back to Austin and get her out of there as soon as possible. John comes back in with a box, kicking his boots on the rug before handing it to me. “That man saw me at her funeral and somehow knew. He handed me a note to meet him at this out of the way restaurant. I thought he was going to have me killed, and to be honest, at the time, I was kind of hoping he would. Then, he started talking about you and Antony and I … well, I begged for your lives like I never thought I would beg. I offered up myself to be tortured for a lifetime if he would just not harm you boys. I pled with him to give you to my sister, anything. I think he was actually there to find a reason to kill me, but something changed in him. Instead, he decided to take me up on my offer, torture me by hiding my sons from me and never allowing me to see them again. He assured me you would be okay as long as I never tried to find you. My only reason for living since then was the hope that I would get to see you again.” He pauses. “I thought I would never see that man again, and then, out of nowhere, he presses me for another meeting. To be honest, I had no idea what he wanted, but I was curious enough to go. That was when he told me his days were numbered and he wanted to make right what had been wrong for too long. He told me that you were the future, and he wanted to insure that you were protected. He said the only way to do that was to give me …the key, as he called it.”
“The key?” I vaguely remember overhearing a conversation my two older brothers had, but I brushed it off, thinking they were using a term for all the accounts my father had hidden.
“Yeah, that’s what I asked too. He handed me this box, and in it was this …” I look down into John’s hand and see a key. “Apparently, this key holds the leadership responsibility of the family. It has never been given to anyone outside the family, but Dominic made a decision that no one could question or go against. He gave it to me so I could protect my sons the way a father should.” I shake my head, not understanding at all what he is saying. “Oh, so you were never told. Probably best. It would only have scared you, I’m sure. You may never have come back here.” I take a step back and ignore the outreached hand with the richly crafted metal key. “Don’t worry. You are old enough now, and I promise you it’s not as scary as it may sound, but it is a large responsibility to take on.”
I still avoid the key but instead wander about the room, looking over the other pictures hanging up. I am not sure why I feel the need at this moment, maybe to reassure myself that I can trust him, but I have to ask. “Why have you never reached out to me or Antony?”
“You died, remember? I was hoping you would stay that way, stay safe.” I spin around on my heels towards him. “Shocked that I knew you were alive? Hell, I had informants inside making sure you stayed that way. That house explosion was on a delay. You would have never made it out as slow as you three were going. You took a hell of a beating, but as you will find out, the family secret has to remain secret as much as possible, and I couldn’t okay a rescue for you unless it was dire. So instead, I kept you safe until your brother and friends could save you,” he says as I try to comprehend what he is saying.
“Wait! Were you the one shooting at Nidia?” I ask, and he laughs.
“She was a temptress, wasn’t she? No, it wasn’t me personally, but it was … the family. As always, we kept you safe until you were out of trouble. Austin, I like her. She’s a lot to handle, but I think you made an excellent choice for a wife. And the candles were a nice touch to the church.” He smiles. “If you need to sit down, feel free.” I nod, doing just that. “And now your brother is a senatorial candidate. I am loving that. I get to see him almost every day now. He’s a good looking kid. Your mother would be proud, of you both actually.”
“You don’t even know me,” I snap, feeling angry about my life, about him, and about Dominic keeping my father from me.
“I know enough, Dace. I promise you.”
“Thank you for the box, but I am afraid I need to get back. You can keep the key to nowhere.”
“Dace, I don’t think you should leave just yet.”
“Sorry, but the man pretending to be you is looking after my girl. I am afraid he may hurt her if I don’t get back soon. I have no idea what his intentions are, but I am sure they aren’t good if he went to this much trouble pretending to be you.”
“Alright. Just let me gather a few things, and we will get going.”
“We? No, I can do this. No sense in you getting involved.”
“Involved? I have been involved since before you were born. Try and stop me now, and I guarantee you, it will get you nowhere.” I see the determination in his eyes, and I finally nod and agree to him coming with me.
Fifteen minutes from pulling into the old warehouse, I get a text from Austin, and it’s not good. “They have her. But I don’t know who they are,” I say simply. “I need to get in and see if I can find out anything about them.” John nods, and we move forward with caution.
When we pull in close to the place, John stops the car and breathes uneasily. I would ask what’s wrong, but I am getting the same feeling. “Why do I feel like a lion that’s about to have a net dropped on him? Maybe we should go at this a little more discreetly. I have a feeling they are hoping you come back here,” he suggests, and I agree. I never got the chance to ask him; I guess I just assumed he was FBI. How else would he have met my mother and known how to be discreet? And now I can see that he has instincts like I do. I watch him move and communicate with me as any other member of my old crew. If my mind wasn’t so overwhelmed with thoughts of fear for Austin, I might be more interested in watching him more, but right now, it’s only keeping me distracted from my fears. I notice the camera watching for us, and I motion to John to follow me. If whoever set this up thought I would just accept it without inspecting every inch of it thoroughly, then they don’t know me very well. I know exactly where to disrupt the cameras and the motion detectors. “We have fifteen minutes to get what we need to,” I tell John.
“Then let’s move quickly. The family is watching our backs, but they can’t do much once we are inside.” John blasts through the door, and I show him the only other way to get in besides the elevator. Since I disrupted the power, the elevator is out of the question. We go up the side of the building and down through the roof access and tunnel our way into the cave home as Austin and I affectionately called it. No one is there, and it’s clear Austin didn’t go without a fight. “Gather what you need, and I’ll search for any answers I can.” I get all the information, flash drives we hid and grab a couple of computers. “You don’t need
those. We will have everything we need. Just get the information.” John motions to me to get Austin’s things and mine, and we head out. He follows me out, and we rush back to the car. Before we drive away, he dials a number, and the place explodes. He nods towards me, and I look back at the burning building. “Let’s not give the world any reason to come looking for you.”
“I am going after them! I am not leaving Austin!”
John stops the car and turns completely to look at me. “So you’re in love, huh?” He starts the car back and smiles.
“Why are you smiling?”
“I am just happy to know that you found someone. After what you boys have been through, I am very happy to know that you have found some happiness.”
“There won’t be any if I lose her.”
“Don’t worry. We’ll get her back safely. It’s something I’m very good at.”
“Exactly what do you do?”
“Trust me, I am able to find anyone, anywhere, at any time. I found you, didn’t I?”
“I believe I found you,” I remind him.
“Oh yeah, it took you long enough,” he laughs.
“What did my mother see in you?”
“Ah, the woman who wanted nothing more than to get lost. I thought she was nuts until I figured out who she was. I wasn’t sure she was worth the risk, but then she said I must be the most spineless piece of shit she had ever met to not help her. We got into this huge argument, and before I knew it, I was in love. Crazy woman wanted to run with two kids.”
“So why didn’t she?”
“She was set to, but something happened. I am not sure what exactly. She met up with me and said she couldn’t leave right then, she needed to wait and verify some things first. Time went on, and we would manage to find time to spend together, falling deeper for each other, and then you and Antony came along and made matters more complicated. I am still not entirely sure why she wouldn’t leave with me that night. She was the one that asked to leave in the first place. I suspect it has something to do with your older brothers. She must have seen something in them that scared her. Michael I suppose. That fucker was charming one minute and then wouldn’t hesitate to put a knife in you, just to see how your blood would drip from your body, the next. She couldn’t run with them, and she wouldn’t leave them. A horrible dilemma for a mother. The stories I found out after I got the key.”
I sigh, not wanting to hear any more about this damn key. I am getting the feeling he is trying to sell me on it, but I am not buying. I told Dominic I wasn’t interested in leading the family, and I have no problem telling John that too. “I couldn’t find anything that Austin might have left for me to find her with, and I am not sure where to even start.” John laughs to himself, my subtle way to change the subject wasn’t so subtle I guess.
“Yes you do. Who would have something to gain by protecting you and helping you go after Michael? Who would have the resources to intercept your messages to me?” John glances my way.
“Ettore?”
“That’s what I’m thinking. Those two older brothers of yours are both psychos, just like their grandfather. Their father was a much better man, unfortunately for him, because it made it easy for his sons to run over him.”
“I never met … my supposed grandfather.”
“Be thankful. He gave new meaning to psychopath. No one could stop him, and everyone was afraid of him. Your father, Dominic, according to rumors, slipped him poison in fear that he was about to have him killed. His older brother had already been found butchered, and for some reason, they think Grandpapa Colletto did it. Kill your own child and in that way, takes a special kind of lunatic.”
“Michael is just like him. Ettore is less psycho and more concerned with power. He’s still a psycho, just a more controlled one. It’s all about business with him.”
“Then you have your answer. Ettore has Austin. That’s better than Michael, isn’t it?”
“Ettore is only a step away from Michael, too close for comfort. I have to get to her.”
There is no sense hiding from Ettore. He obviously knows I am alive, and he clearly wants something from me, or he would have told Michael by now. My plan is to confront Ettore head on, find out what he wants and what it will take to get Austin back. Our only back up plan is John. I claim that it isn’t much, but he boasts otherwise. I purposely break into Ettore’s house and wait for him in his office where I know he comes to go over his books and money deals before bed. The man has been obsessed with power and money since he spoke his first word, “mine”. Sitting in the dark of his office, I consider searching for Austin, but I don’t dare risk her life by being stupid. When Ettore turns on the lights and enters his office, I watch him until he notices me and nearly jumps through the ceiling.
“Fuck! You son of a bitch! I swear! You know I hate that shit. You used to do that to me as a kid all the time, and I never liked it,” Ettore screams.
“I know, but I am trying to make a point.”
“I think I am the one that’s made a point, a better one than you scaring the shit out of me.”
“I actually enjoyed scaring the shit out of you.” I smile.
“Oh! That damn smile again.” Ettore sits down at his desk and folds his hands in front of him. “I assume you’re here to check on your beloved?” I don’t say a word, but I lose the smile. “Yeah, I guess that changes things, doesn’t it. Do you mind telling me where you disappeared to?” I remain silent. “I could have you both killed, you know?”
“Go ahead. You have clearly been in such a hurry to do so. I bet you can’t wait.”
Ettore rolls his eyes. “You’re exhausting, I would have thought death would have made you more fun.”
I sit forward, startling him a bit. “Listen, I am in no mood for this bullshit. Tell me what you want, and I will tell you what I am willing to do, if anything.”
“You know damn well what I want. Michael has been a thorn in my side since birth. I am tired of him preventing my business from prospering. I’m tired of him telling me what to do and when to do it. He has control of everything I need, and I can’t make a move without his say so. I was hoping you would come out on top before, but you screwed it up and fell for that woman. You couldn’t just listen to me and stay gone, could you? If you could have only waited, I could have helped you get in and do the damage you needed to do. Now, it’s way more difficult.”
“Fuck, Ettore! Just tell me already!” I hate his dancing around the subject.
“I need you to break into the system he has built and change all of his accounts to me. Bankrupt him. Give me the names and information of all his contacts. I want it all, the code numbers to our family’s history and anything else that will make him wither away and want to cry in some corner.” He pauses and leans forward to me. “What I need is … the key.” I nearly swallow my tongue at the mention of the key, but I keep my poker face frozen. “That key is everything. Michael acts like he doesn’t have it. ‘Still searching,’ he says. Who the fuck else would Dominic have left it to? You and Antony are not even family. And the key is all about family.”
This subject is making me ill. I need to get back on track. “Is that it? That’s all you want me to do? I would have thought you would want me to kill him or something?”
“Dace, if you do all that I have asked you to do, you will kill him.”
“And if I do this?”
“I will release your precious and let you two ride off into the sunset. Come back to life or don’t, I really don’t care.”
“How do I know she’s still alive or that you won’t kill us both soon after I accomplish any of this?”
“Well, that is a good question. I would say because of brotherly love, but I suppose my credibility on that matter is shot to hell. Then, let’s just say I am going to give you a fighting chance. I am going to give Austin over to Michael at approximately 2:00 P.M. on Friday. He will come over and be gleefully excited to see her. He’ll take her back to his place, distr
acting him from the outside world long enough for you to do what you need to do, and if you overachieve, you might be able to save her from some torture and get away together. If you’re able to do what I need you to do, you will be able to destroy Michael for good, and you will have no issues with him. Neither will I. Trust me, getting into his system before then or after then will be virtually impossible. Ever since someone broke in a few days ago, Michael keeps a watch on his wrist that signals him if anyone breaks through to the system, and somewhere on his system is the location of the key. You know I need that key to take over, and once I get it, you will have no problem out of me.” He leans back with his less than a smile and a tenacious glare that penetrates right through my skin.
“Why should I believe you, Ettore? Why shouldn’t I go after you first?”
“Because you need my people to help you. There is no way you can pull this off by yourself. Who are you going to get to help you? Antony? Even then it won’t be enough. That place is a fortress. The man has become paranoid. He won’t even stay at the governor’s mansion anymore because it’s not secure enough. And it doesn’t have a torture chamber below it.”
“It would help if I had Austin.”
“No way. I have people who can help you all the same.”
“Doubt that.”
“Good enough then. Dace, you and I both know you are the only one that knows how to get in there. Help me do this, and whatever you want is yours. You want a piece of the empire, it’s yours. You want to walk away, change your name, live on some deserted island, and raise some mutts with your girl … done. I’ll never come looking for you or make any contact. With my help, you will have all the supplies, men, and whatever else you need to make this happen.” Ettore flips a switch, and his monitor flips onto a camera showing me Austin still alive and still waiting for me. “So Dace, what do you say? Are you up to the task?”