ROUGH RIDER (14 page)

“
M
y shoes are fucking ruined
, Rizzo!” I yelled as we trekked through the stifling heat of the fuckin’ Jersey woods. Rizzo shuffled alongside me like a sick horse.

“Si cammina lento come un cavallo malato!” I sneered.

“A sick horse?” he asked. “My Ma used to say that to me and my brothers all the time. ‘You walk like slower than a sick horse, Rizzo’, she’d say.”

“Yeah, well it didn’t help did it? Walk faster!”

Rizzo had been with me for five years, and he was the most loyal of all of my men. Even the ones that had been with me longer weren’t as loyal as him. They all had an angle. They all wanted something from me. Rizzo? He just wanted to be near me. To make me happy.

His dad was a part of the family, and together we’d been part of Giannetti’s family back in the day. Rizzo’s dad died a long time ago. So long ago it seemed like another lifetime really, even though it must have only been about fifteen years or so.

I could remember it like it was yesterday, though I tried hard to forget it most of the time. I’d done a lot of things I wasn’t proud of. But like the Don before me, I’d made sure to balance it all out with doing good. Like the 101st Street block party every Fourth of July. I’d continued that tradition, with no thought for how much it cost, just like Giannetti.

To some of the kids in the neighborhood, it was the only fun they got to have all year. You think their deadbeat parents were taking them to Coney Island to see the fireworks? No fucking way. I brought that to them, so they didn’t have to. Just like the good man before me.

We weren’t monsters. We didn’t see it that way. We did what needed to be done to take care of the neighborhood, to make sure people were provided for. If that meant we had to knock a couple of heads together in the process, so be it.

“Not for nuttin, Boss, but it sure is fuckin’ hot out here today,” Rizzo said.

“No shit, Sherlock,” I said. “Why don’t you just shut up? You’re gettin’ on my last nerve, Rizzo.”

“Sorry, boss, I was just trying to make conversation,” he replied.

“Make conversation quando troviamo mia stupida figlia!”

“We will find your stupid daughter - I mean, Gabriella. We will find her, Leo,” he said, continuing to talk no matter what I just said.

“Yeah, yeah,” I muttered. “Sooner than later, I hope. And when I do find her?
Ho intenzione di chiudere la sua via per sempre
!”

“You can’t lock her away forever, can you, Boss? She’s legal now. She can do whatever she wants, right?”

“Maybe according to the police, but not according to my rules!” I exclaimed. I was beyond pissed off at my daughter. I was furious. Making me look for her like a fucking stupido idiota!

I loved my daughter with all my heart, no matter how angry I was right now. She was my life. Nothing else in this world meant anything to me if I didn’t have her. And if I came home without her, her mother would have me killed.

I was certain of it.

My wife was even more terrifying than I ever aimed to be. She was one of those people you never expected to do be violent, and then she came out of nowhere one day when you were fucking your mistress in an Uptown apartment, thinking you were safe and nobody would ever find you, but no…there she was standing over you with a twelve-inch butcher knife with her eyes glazed over like a fuckin’ heartless serial killer!

My wife was that kind of woman. Chilling. Calculating.

“Find Gabby and don’t come back till you have her! Don’t trust your fucking goomba’s to do it this time, either, Leo!” she’d said. “They always fuck everything up! This is Gabby we’re talking about, not some fucking back alley deal between a couple of hit men, you understand me Leo?”

She had that same look in her eye as she did when she was holding that knife over my dick that day, and I knew not to argue with her.

They don’t call us wise guys for nuttin’, you know. Part of that wisdom was knowing when your old lady meant business.

Not that I wouldn’t have searched the entire fucking country for Gabby if I had to. But her mother’s attitude compelled me to do so personally.

So here I was. Traipsing through the woods, ruining my finest custom made Armani Collezioni suit, looking for my rebellious daughter.

After Bella told me why she’d gone to Otto’s, and then knowing my daughter had gone there and been a victim of such brutal violence from those fucking savage bikers, I was furious. And now they were saying she’d killed someone. Well, what the fuck else was she supposed to do? Just let them touch her like that? Hit her like that?

Nobody hit a Loprinzi and got away with it. I’d taught her that, and I was proud she’d fought back.

I’d called my friend in the Prosecutor’s office on the way over, and he assured me she wouldn’t face charges, they just wanted her to come in for questioning so they could let her go, he’d said. Of course it was self-defense, he’d said. The murder charge was just a formality and would most likely be dropped later, he’d said. They had to blame someone to get the media from breathing down their necks.

If only she would have called me, I could have told her all of this and we could have put her in a car with one of my lawyers, she could have gone down to the station, and had everything cleared up in a matter of hours. Badda bing, badda boom. Done.

Of course, I wouldn’t go to the precinct myself, what was I, crazy? No fuckin’ way.

If I didn’t spontaneously combust from walking in the door, I’d never get out alive. There were some cops that would love to see cuffs on me. But if I had any say in the matter, that would never happen. Not over my dead body.

But Gabriella hadn’t called me.

Instead, I’d followed Bella, figuring she’d be stupid enough to lead me right to her. I didn’t believe her for a second when she said she didn’t know where Gabriella was. When we followed her right back to Otto’s, I knew she’d been lying the whole fuckin’ time.

When I saw that she’d jumped on the back of that bike like she’d done it a million times before, I knew I was close to finding my daughter. We’d parked on the side of the main road after they pulled off onto the dirt road, and walked the rest of the way. Of course, I wasn’t counting on having to watch Bella get the bottom dropped out of her first. I thought they’d never stop fuckin’, and I made Rizzo look away the whole time. Luckily, the biker shot his load pretty quickly, so it was over before too long.

I made a mental note to move Gabby out of that little slut’s apartment and we continued following down the road they drove down and now here we were, walking through the woods like a couple of cafones.

“Look, Boss!” Rizzo whispered, stopping in front of me. I ran into his back and then slapped him out of the way.

“For fuck’s sake, ya fuckin’ idiot! Don’t stop like that!”

“We found it!” he whispered, pointing ahead.

Indeed we had and it was about fucking time.

A rundown cabin was visible through the trees, and we watched silently as an equally inappropriately dressed woman snuck around the side of the cabin, peeking in the windows like a fucking pervert.

When I saw the bikes, I knew they were all in there together.

I pulled my gun out of my inside suit jacket.

“Let’s get her. Looks like we’ve found what we’ve been looking for, Rizzo.”

She went down fast and easy, just like they always do when they don’t see or hear you coming. I smiled at the sound of her body hitting the ground. It had been a while since I’d done the dirty work myself, and it felt just as natural as it always had.

Like riding a bike
, I thought to myself, as we pulled her up and carried her towards the front of the cabin. She woke up quickly, stunned into silence by my gun pressed into her temple.

“Who are you?” I asked.

“L-l-auren O’R-r-roarke, from Ch-ch-ch-channel Eight News,” she stuttered, her voice shaking with fear.

“Well, Lauren, you look like a smart woman. Stay quiet, don’t fight, and you won’t get hurt,” I said. “You got it?”

She stared at me with wide eyes, her mouth open in shock.

“Nod your head that you agree,” I whispered. Slowly, she nodded her pretty little head, and I leaned forward, kissing her on the forehead.

“Good girl. Now move!” I shoved her in front of me.

We barreled through the front door together, the cheap wood splintering at my feet.

“Nobody makes a move, or this broad gets a bullet in the head!”

F
irst
, we heard the breaking door. Then, I heard the unmistakeable voice of my father.

“Fuck! It’s my father!” I whispered to Dante, breaking free from his embrace.

“Stay here!” Dante ordered, heading towards the door.

“No!” I cried, moving for the door myself.

“Yes, Gabby!” he said, blocking my way. His eyes flashed with concern and stubbornness. “Just fucking please do as I say, will you? Stay here until I know everything is safe. We don’t know what the fuck is going on out there, just wait!”

“I’m so fucking tired of you telling me to wait! It’s my father! I can fucking handle him. He’s not going to hurt me!” I moved around him, heading for the door.

We both jumped at the sound of a gun firing. Dante threw me to the ground, landing on top of me, the bed shielding us from the door. He pulled his gun out from his pants and kissed me hard.

“Fucking stay here, goddammit! I won’t take no for an answer!” he demanded, his voice hard and determined.

“Alright, shit!” I whispered, my heart pounding. He disappeared and I stayed laying on the ground, listening to the raised voices in the other room. I could make out my father’s voice, and Bella’s screaming, and what sounded like another woman’s voice, but I couldn’t understand anything anyone was saying.

This was all my fault. All of it.

If only I’d never walked into Otto’s, none of this would be happening. Dante wouldn’t be throwing himself in the face of danger yet again for me. My father wouldn’t be all the way in the middle of nowhere looking for me, putting his freedom in danger.

There wouldn’t be two dead bikers in the morgue.

I’d done all of this, and for what? To get laid? What kind of woman was I? Who had I become?

Tears of frustration began running down my face. I was so sick of all of this. I was so tired of being a Loprinzi. I wanted to just run away, but I had no idea where to go.

My eyes landed on the open window next to Dante’s bed and goosebumps ran down my spine.

Dante’s truck was right outside this open window, just waiting for me to start it up. And the world was right down the road, just waiting for me to disappear into it, to leave everything I had ever known behind.

A new life.

A fresh start.

I crawled out of the window, heading for the truck as my thoughts raced through my mind. All I had to do was start up the truck and be on my way.

I could vanish into thin air.

I could leave behind the Loprinzi name.

Leave behind my father and everything that came with his fucked up legacy.

Leave behind everything I’d ever known about who I was and where I came from.

Leave behind Dante.

All of that sounded very tempting, except that very last part.

How could I leave him behind when I’d just found him? I’d just have to figure it all out some other time.

The urge to flee was so strong, I couldn’t resist. I still had the keys in my pocket. I ran to the truck and flung open the door and climbed in.

The key slid into the ignition easily, my heart beating a mile a minute. Dante’s face haunted my thoughts.

I’d gotten him into this and now I was just going to leave him when everything blew up?

Tears of confusion began drifting down my face and I placed my head on the steering wheel.

What did I owe him? My life? He’d saved me so many times. I never imagined for a minute the person that I’d thought about, fantasized about, wished so many times that I could have just one moment to thank, would actually walk back into my life.

Everything seemed like one big mistake, and yet at the same time, it was almost like it was just a cruel twist of fate. Dante was meant to be in my life. He wouldn’t have been thrown in my path again if that wasn’t true. I had to accept that.

There was no other explanation.

And if I left him now, what did that make me?

A coward. And a fool.

A big, ungrateful fool.

“I can’t do this,” I muttered, lifting my head and wiping the tears from my cheeks. I pulled the key from the ignition and jumped out of the truck. I shoved the keys back in my pocket and turned to go back inside. I’d just crawl back in the window and wait like Dante had begged me to do.

I reached the window and was just about to heave myself up to jump back in when I felt the barrel of a gun push into my temple.

“Don’t make a sound.”

I
rounded
the corner of the hallway with my gun drawn, ready for anything, my military training coming back like muscle memory. The sound of gunshots had a tendency to cause me flashbacks, but I suppressed all of that and pushed it far into the back of my mind.

I pushed away all my feelings for Gabby, because they made me vulnerable.

I pushed away all my fear of never seeing her again, because that made me weak.

I pushed away thoughts of Maggie, thoughts of my Ma, the club, my own mortality…because all of those things only served to incapacitate me.

I was a soldier, with only one thing on my mind. Survival.

When I rounded the corner, I saw Leo and another man by the front door. Leo had a gun pointed at a woman’s head and another man was pointing his gun at Romeo. As far as I could see, nobody was bleeding.

“Don’t make me fucking shoot you,” Leo’s man growled, his finger on the trigger, his gun pointed straight at Romeo’s heart. Romeo didn’t flinch, his gun pointed steadily at the man.

“Don’t shoot!” I yelled as I rounded the corner, my gun pointed right at Leo’s head.

Like Romeo, he wasn’t fazed either, in fact, a slow smile spread across his face, tightening the wrinkles around his eyes. He looked almost exactly how I remembered him from the day at the carnival. A little more grey hair around his temples, but he was still strong, still almost youthful.

“Who are you?” he asked, his voice calm as a rippling stream. He had a reputation for being unflappable, and apparently, it was true. He pushed the woman to the ground, and she crawled away into the corner looking frightened as a child as she began sobbing loudly. Bella ran over to her and pulled her into her arms.

“It’s alright, shh, don’t cry…,” she whispered.

“Shut the fuck up!” Leo yelled, before turning back to me. “Now, again. Who are you?”

“My name is Dante.”

“You look familiar,” he said, his eyes looking me up and down. “You Santoro’s boy? The one that went into the service?”

“Yeah,” I muttered, wincing at the mention of my dead beat father.

“I knew your old man. Good guy. Hard worker.”

“He was a piece of shit,” I growled. “Left my mom all alone to raise me and my sister.”

“Yeah, yeah, I remember that, too. Ran off with Cynthia from Yonkers, right?”

“Yep,” I snarled. “Like I said, a real piece of shit.”

“You’re the one from Otto’s,” he said, nodding slowly. “The one who took my Gabriella.”

“I didn’t take her,” I replied. “I saved her.”

“You also caused her to be in the middle of a huge bar brawl.”

“That wasn’t my fault,” I replied.

“Cut the bullshit. Where the fuck is my daughter, Santoro?” he asked, waving his gun at me.

“She’s safe.”

“Yeah? Safe, huh?” he said, “Is that so? Where is she safe at, Dante? In your bedroom back there?” he asked, gesturing behind me with his gun, taking a step in the direction of my bedroom.

“Don’t move, Mr. Loprinzi,” I stepped in front of him again.

“Look, Santoro, I don’t want no trouble,” he said, peering into my eyes. “I came to get my daughter, that’s all. If I go home empty handed, it’ll upset my wife. And I don’t like to upset my wife. You can understand that, right?” he asked, taking another step towards me.

“I said, don’t move, Mr. Loprinzi,” I extended my arm, my gun pointing right at his face as he closed the distance between us.

“What are you going to do, Santoro?” he asked, shrugging.

“Please don’t make me shoot you, Mr. Loprinzi.” I blocked his way. I wasn’t about to let him near Gabby. I didn’t know what my plan was. I didn’t have a fucking plan. I was hoping my guys would get here before any of this went down, and now here I was in a fucking stand off with Loprinzi, the most feared mafia Boss in the country and trying to keep him from his daughter. I wasn’t even sure why anymore.

“How about you just answer some questions for me, then? Eh?” He was inches from me now and I took a deep breath, doing my best to calm my racing mind. I had to figure out a way out of this and I needed to buy some time to do that.

“I’ll answer your questions, but don’t come any closer,” I said, taking a step back.

“Okay, fine, fine, Dante. It’s all good!” he said, holding up his hands, with a smile. “Relax! We’re all friends here.”

“What’s your question?” I asked, my face drawn tightly. I wasn’t about to fall for his friendly banter. I knew he’d rather shoot me than ask questions, and I knew he’d probably shoot me eventually, but I figured my only chance at surviving this confrontation was putting off the violence until my guys arrived.

“Tell me Dante,” he said slowly, his smile turning to a sneer. “What’s a man like you want with my daughter, huh? You’re from two different worlds. Probably don’t have nuttin’ in common, you know?”

“I was just protecting Gabby, Mr. Loprinzi. That’s all.”

“That’s all, huh? Come on, now. A strong, virile man like yourself. You sure you weren’t, well, you know…enjoying her company?”

I cringed, and took another step back from him. I needed space. Room to move. Room to think.

“She’s an adult,” I replied, instantly regretting my answer which was basically a confirmation that I had indeed been enjoying his daughter’s company, as he so eloquently and creepily put it.

“That’s true, she is,” he said. “She still has a knack for getting herself in trouble, though. Did she ever tell you about the time she and Bella snuck out of the house when they were fifteen and went to try to get into one of my clubs in Manhattan? The bouncers recognized them once they jumped up on the bar and all the guys started trying to grope them.”

“No, she didn’t tell me about that.”

“Of course she didn’t. Because you just met her, right? You’ve spent, what? One day with her? Two? And yet here you are, putting your ass on the line for a girl you just met.” He whistled, then chuckled again. “Does this mean it’s love, Dante?”

“We didn’t just meet. I met her a long time ago.”

“Oh, yeah? I had no idea! Tell me about it,” he said, with feigned interest.

The words flew out of my mouth before I could stop them. I didn’t like Loprinzi, in fact, I thought he was an arrogant asshole and I wanted to put him in his place somehow, but I hadn’t meant to do it this way.

“I met her the night you killed Paulie Paradiso in the tent at the 101st Street block party. I saved her from your stray fuckin’ bullets, Loprinzi. If it wasn’t for me, you would have killed your little girl when she was five years old.”

“What!” he exclaimed, his eyes filled with disbelief. “What are you saying? That can’t be true!”

The man standing next to him jumped at the mention of Paradiso and his eyes widened in shock. Slowly, he turned to look at Loprinzi questioningly.

“That was YOU, Dante?!” Bella exclaimed from the corner. “She told me all about that! You were like her fuckin’ knight in shinin’ armor! Oh, my gawd! How romantic!” she gushed.

I
rolled my eyes
, shaking my head.
Of course Gabby told her,
I thought. Just because Gabby said she hadn’t told anyone didn’t mean she didn’t tell her best friend.

“Boss?” Leo’s guy asked, his head cocked, his gun still pointing at Romeo. “What is he talking about? Why is he saying you shot my old man?”

The room filled with tension so thick you’d need a chainsaw to cut through it.

Leo looked shocked, his eyes wide as he turned to the man.

“Rizzo, we’ll talk about this later. Now isn’t the time, son.” I glanced at his hands and saw they were shaking. Earlier I thought he looked youthful, but suddenly his age was showing. His eyes looked tired, worried - and guilty.

“I want to talk about it now, Boss,” Rizzo said, turning the gun on Leo. We all watched in awe as Leo’s man turned on him.

“Rizzo, for fuck’s sake, what the fuck are you doing?” Leo turned his head, his gun still pointed at my chest.

“Did you kill my father?” Rizzo demanded, his voice shaking. “Is that why you took me under your wing? Because you felt guilty about it?”

“Rizzo, I —,” Leo began.

“Is it true, you fuckin’ asshole?” Rizzo yelled, his eyes wild, filling with tears.

“Rizzo, goddammit, not now!” Loprinzi yelled, his eyes darting back and forth between me and Rizzo.

We were in a standoff and nobody was budging. Rizzo’s gun was shaking wildly, his voice becoming shrill and hysterical.

“My Ma, Leo! Do you know what my father’s murder did to my Ma? To our family? All these years, you said you were taking care of us because that’s what my father would have wanted. How could you do that, Leo?” Rizzo screamed. “You murdered him! In cold blood!”

“Rizzo, fuck off! We’re here to save Gabby now, not deal with this bullshit. Dante’s fuckin’ lying, for fuck’s sake. Pull your shit together!”

“No,” he muttered, shaking his head. “No, I don’t believe you. I saw your face when he said it. I saw the guilt in your eyes. It’s true, isn’t it?”

Leo shook his head, and took a deep breath, before taking his gun off of me and turning it on Rizzo.

“Yeah, it’s true, you little shit. And if you don’t fucking chill the fuck out, I’m going to shoot you, too!” Leo sneered.

Rizzo’s eyes widened in shock.

“You bastard,” he whispered, as he released the safety on the gun, the clicking sound of it echoing in the room.

We’d all frozen, holding our breath as we watched the intense scene play out in front of us. I was sure Rizzo was going to shoot him, if Leo didn’t shoot him first. They stared at each other, a tense contest of wills.

I looked over at Romeo and swelled with pride to see him on full alert. Even if the other guys weren’t here, I knew Romeo had my back no matter what. I caught his eye, made a slight movement with my chin to let him know I was going to take out Leo first and he nodded back.

I took a deep breath before striking and just as I started to move, the front door burst open.

I gasped as I watched the President of the Iron Godz barrel in with his gun pressed against Gabby’s temple.

She looked over at me apologetically.

“Gabby!” I called, my heart sinking.

“I’m so sorry,” she mouthed, shaking her head.

“Everyone drop the fucking guns or the girl gets it!” he bellowed.

Angelo Bandini, the infamous President of the Iron Godz MC. I knew exactly who he was.

He towered over everyone in the room, his heavily tattooed face the stuff of nightmares. His huge bald head topped a body the size of a bison. Scars littered his flesh - sharp cuts across his forehead, deep crevices left behind by bullet holes that had torn into his meaty forearms, and the ugly shiny skin that was the result of vicious burns stretched across his neck - and those were only the scars I could see.

His eyes were pure evil - no remnants of a human soul left behind in them.

Bella and the other lady screamed and burrowed into the corner, trying to hide behind my couch.

Fuck
, I thought. Adrenaline was racing through my veins, and it felt like my heart was about to explode. But I wasn’t thinking about any of that. I was barely even aware of it.

Assess. Prepare. Strike.

I would deal with this just like every other battle I’d been faced with. Assess the situation, prepare myself for every possible scenario, and strike with confidence.

Assess the situation - this man had Gabby. I loved Gabby. I fucking loved Gabby. It was crazy, but since when does love make sense? This man was holding a gun to the one person I loved more than anything else in the whole world. Despite all the other threats in the room, this man was the biggest.

Prepare myself for every possible scenario - that included death. Gabby’s death. My death. Romeo’s death, Leo’s death, anyone else in the room. Death at Angelo’s hand, sure, that was a possibility, but I was confident I would be the one doing the killing. There was no way in hell that ape of a man could move faster than me. Only problem was he was closer to Gabby than I was. But losing Gabby was a scenario I was unable to accept, an outcome that I had no skills to contemplate. I’d lost one love already, I wasn’t about to lose another. So, I didn’t linger on that. All possible scenarios pointed to me killing Angelo, or Leo, or Rizzo, or even Gino.

Strike. I braced myself for the gunfire that I knew was about to explode in my home.

Everything seemed to move in slow motion.

Rizzo’s gun was still pointed at Leo; he seemed unaware Angelo had even burst into the room. His eyes were glued to Leo and he was shaking his head and muttering to himself.

Romeo, Leo and I turned our guns on Angelo.

“You’re outnumbered, Angelo. Put your gun down first,” I growled with anger.

“Fuck you!” he spat, digging the gun into Gabby’s temple. “Looks like a situation of quality over quantity here. I don’t think you’re going to shoot me while I have this pretty little girl in my arms. Especially when this is the girl you’ve all been looking for. She’s a hot commodity, isn’t she?”

“What do you want?” I barked.

“I want you to untie Gino first. And I’ll give you the girl back,” he sneered.

“That’s all?” I asked.

“Fuck no! I’ll give you the girl in exchange for you,” he said, pointing at me. “You killed one of my guys. In fact, you killed two of them. So, I’m taking you back to my clubhouse so my whole club can kill you together. We like to feast like that. It makes the revenge so much sweeter, you know?” he asked, a sick smile spreading across his hideous face. “But I don’t like killing women,” he snarled, pushing the gun into Gabby’s temple harder. “I hate seeing them cry, you know? It just kills me, all those endless tears, the sobbing, the whining…” he said sarcastically, putting the hand that wasn’t holding the gun over his heart. “So!” he barked. “I’ll just kill
you
to pay for both of them. Consider it a sort of buy one, get one free kind of deal. I’m feeling charitable today.”

“Okay,” I said, dropping my gun and holding my hands up.

“Dante, no!” Gabby cried.

“Shh! It’s okay, Gabby, I got this,” I said. “Let her go, Angelo.”

My eyes drifted over to Bear lying by the fireplace. He’d been on full alert this entire time, but he hadn’t moved an inch. His ears were sticking straight up and the muscles in his neck were straining.