It only happened once, but it’s legit, God damn it.
“Now stop skirting my question…” Miles barked, becoming annoyed that Landon had still not told him who the acting Boss was.
Landon let out a sharp breath as his brow furrowed. For the first time today, Landon genuinely looked stressed out. Seeing that he was not getting anywhere, Miles began to think out loud again, “Who else could it be. Doubt it’s Dustin. He’s too damn mouthy for that shit. It’s definitely not you… you’re still wet behind the friggin’ ears… and Dad, he’s dying…”
Landon looked over at me when I talked about our father.
“Shut the fuck up…” Miles said as a look of shock crosses his face. “The Butcher? They made the Butcher acting Boss?”
Landon didn’t reply and just looked out his window.
Miles’s heart stalled as he considered the news he was given. His mouth gaped open in shock.
What the fuck were they thinking? I thought the Capadonnos were keeping a low profile in light of the criminal charges coming down on Uncle Leon? Apparently not. The news has been speculating whether an acting boss had been named. I had wondered the very same thing. It was worse than I expected. Much worse. There’s no way in fucking hell that I am staying at that house for more than idle chit chat. Fuck that.
“This is going to turn into a blood bath.”
CHAPTER SEVEN
LETTY DIDN’T MOVE FROM the edge of Michael’s bed for a full forty minutes. Shock swirled through her body as she tried to keep herself from launching out the dining room window, head first. Although her instincts were telling her to run, she knew that would be the death of her. It’s dangerous enough knowing too much about the Capadonnos. It was certain death to run.
The gentle swish of a mop pushing a pungent combination of ammonia, Clorox and blood across the cream marble floor of the foyer was the only sound that Letty could hear. Raine hadn’t re-emerged from her bedroom since Michael’s rampage. Her terrible heaves had echoed through the massive house for over twenty minutes, but when a series of hard knocks fell upon the front door of the Capadonno residence, the house had become eerily quiet.
When Dustin Capadonno, Dante Sabotino and Vinnie “The Fish” Moretta walked through the front door, Letty felt as if her heart had stopped. Dustin was the third born son of Michael and Andie Capadonno, and Michael’s driver. Dustin wasn’t a foot soldier. He never wanted to get involved… but somewhere along the line, Michael had hooked him into the lifestyle. Dustin was a strong man with solid street smarts and he was a good man to have on your side in a pinch. At age twenty-seven, he was ready to forge a path of his own, and break free of his family’s shadow.
Meanwhile, Dante and Vinnie “The Fish” weren’t the toughest guys on the Capadonno payroll, but they certainly had a reputation that was well known throughout Carrion. They were known as the Eliminators. When a made man created a mess, the Eliminators came in and cleaned it up. They were foot soldiers with a proclivity for bloodshed and they weren’t afraid to get their hands dirty. In fact, they looked forward to it.
Michael hadn’t uttered a word to Letty since he pulled the trigger, and she wasn’t sure if that was a relief or the very thing that would unnerve her completely. Michael sat on a chaise lounge in the dark of the hall, allowing his head to fall into his hands. The look on Michael’s face was not one of remorse or sadness. It was a look you might see on a child’s face when they were caught doing something wrong.
Dustin showed up with Dante and the Fish at his sides, each of them carrying a leather duffel bag and a few bright blue Walmart bags. As the front door groaned open, the badly mutilated body of Anthony Spinelli could be seen from the curbside, the right half of his face completely blown away.
“What the fuck, man!” Dustin yelled when he saw the body of Anthony Spinelli on the floor of the foyer.
“Shut up…” Michael said. “Don’t be a * about it.”
“Where is my sister?” Dustin asked in an angry tone of voice. His eyes zoned in on his father’s face with deep scrutiny casting from his soft brown eyes.
“Oh, you know her! Ran upstairs in a tornado of calamity!” Michael said, completely disregarding his daughter’s feelings over her now dead boyfriend.
“You’re cold as ice, man. I have no idea what my mother ever saw in you,” Dustin spat as he walked from the foyer into the hallway. Pausing in the doorway of the parlor, Dustin’s gaze fell upon Letty’s face as an understanding look crossed his face.
“Are you all right?” Dustin asked as his soft eyes met Letty’s frightened gaze.
Letty sighed heavily.
I like Dustin a lot. He has the same warm demeanor that Miles showed me during our time together. They were both decent men caught in a terrible war.