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I'm on my third glass of whiskey, man spread on Dante's large black velvet couch. Natalia hasn't checked in once all morning and it's driving Dante insane. To anyone else he looks perfectly calm and collected, but I know better. His jaw is flexed so tightly that the vein in his neck looks like it's going to burst. He's also been playing with his lighter, opening and closing it, over and over again. To everyone else he may even look bored, he's not though. My big brother is on edge, I can't blame him though. Natalia isn't just on another errand mission. This is a big deal, she has to pull it off, there's no space for error. I know all he cares about is Royce, meanwhile here I am, self medicating and hoping she's okay. I swear if Dante doesn't hear from her in the next hour I'm going to shoot someone. Finishing my drink I decide it's time to take a walk, if I sit here any longer I'm going to lose my mind.
I don't even make it five feet down the hall outside of Dante's office when my phone starts ringing. My body instantly relaxes when I see her name on my screen.
" Thank fuck Talia I was starting to worry, Dante is on edge because he hasn't heard from you. Why haven't you called with an update?!" I rush out.
" Hello Dom, yes I'm fine thank you for asking."she says sweetly.
Only she can make me feel relief and irritation all at once.
"I got news Dom, and it's not good. I know I'm supposed to call him but I think it'll be better delivered coming from you, so I need you to be the one to tell him" all sarcasm gone from her voice.
What's so bad that she won't tell him herself? Running my hand down my face and releasing the breath I didn't know I'd been holding, reluctantly I respond, "Okay Talia...lay it on me."
" Remember how you guys sent Ricky to the Warehouse District to find out why the drug shipment never made it to the port? And he said when he got there it was empty, not a man in sight?"
" Yes...."
" Well I found your missing men Dom. All of them. They're working for Royce."
Fuck...all of them? There's no way Dante is going to let that slide. He put out the BOLO for Royce himself. They knowingly switched sides.
" Hello? Earth to Dom, you still there?"
" Yeah...still here. Hold on, I'm going to go get Dante."
Sticking my phone in my back pocket I walk the short distance down the marble hallway and take a deep breath before knocking on the double doors of his study. I'm not going to lie. I'm nervous to tell him, he may be my brother but I don't put it past him to pull out his gun on the first person he sees when he's mad. The first person in this case being me. I'll gladly take a bullet for the guy and do it with a smile on my face, but fuck if he doesn't scare the hell out of me sometimes. Knocking twice I wait for his reply.
"What!",Dante booms from somewhere inside his study.
"It's me idiot, don't shoot", I take his lack of response as my cue to walk in.
"What do you want Dom",he says with that blank cold look in his eyes.
"I have Natalia on the phone, she says she found the missing guys from the Warehouse District..."
I stop to asses his reaction and sure enough there's that damn vein in his neck about to burst again.
"Put her on speaker",he says calmly and walks over to me.
Grabbing my phone from my pocket I hit the speaker button.
" Hey Talia, you still there? I'm with Dante, you're on speaker"
"Yeah I'm still here. Did you tell him?"
"Yeah I told him..."
"Natalia, start talking baby"he says stoically.
"Yes sir, as I was telling Dom, I found your missing men. They are working for Royce, sir."
"Okay, so handle it Natalia" He says emotionless. He pulls his lighter out of his pocket and lights the blunt he's been carrying around all day behind his ear.
" I was just wondering how you wanted me to proceed sir"
"And here I thought you were more than just a pretty face Talia, but since you're having trouble I'll dumb it down for you. Kill them. I want Vance and Vance only."
Irritation oozing from every pore in his body, it's obvious the weed isn't doing anything to calm him down. He's always a dick but never to her. I know he doesn't care about her, or so he says.
"I'll have Joker meet you, he's still in town. I know you like to fly solo but back up on this one won't hurt.", I interject quickly before she opens her smart mouth and pisses of Dante even more.
"Fine, I'll meet him on the edge of the road. I'll just be here, twiddling my thumbs until your crazy best friend shows up",she says reluctantly.
"He's not crazy silly, he's a diagnosed psychopath. There's a difference." I say proudly and hang up the phone.
Dante looks like he's about to combust, anger rolling off of him in waves. I write Joker a quick text telling him to meet Natalia and brief him on the details. With that done I leave Dante's office, I know better than to be around when he's this mad. I barely make it five steps down the spiral staircase before I hear crashing and breaking; better his fancy furniture than me.
I know I shouldn't worry, with Joker by her side Natalia couldn't be safer. Even so, I still feel responsible for her and Isabella. I'm glad she took the deal, Izzy would be long dead by now if she hadn't. For that I admire her.
I had no idea Dante would make her an assassin. I thought he would offer her a job at one of his casinos or something similar, but when he told her she'd make him better profit as a service girl and she slapped him...I thought he'd take her hand. Instead the crazy bastard trained her and covered Izzy's medical bills and even enrolled her into Diego's fancy private school.
Izzy has no clue Diego has been assigned personally by Dante to be his insurance against Natalia. If she makes one wrong move or tries to run, my baby brother was instructed to kill Izzy. She knows, Talia knows, so she keeps her head down and does as shes told. Never faltering, never showing any weakness.
That's part of the reason I like her so much, not that I'll ever tell her that. The fire that burns in her big brown eyes is enough to bewitch me, I'd do anything for her, but so would Dante no matter how hard he tries to hide it. I've seen how his cold eyes come to life whenever she's around, his perfect mask of indifference cracking the tiniest bit. She makes him feel. There are times where I can see glimpses of the old Dante. The one who was my brother and not my capo. The Dante that used to joke around and laugh. The big brother who taught me how to drive and shoot my first gun. The big brother that took care of us after mom died.
