Page 35 of Savage Roses
De Trolio looks up as I give the signal and a red dot appears on him and the other five guys he has with him. Right away, they’re looking around, scanning the many buildings surrounding us in the metropolitan jungle that’s Northam.
The red dot lingering on De Trolio’s chest glides up his body, traveling up his throat and then his face. It goes all the way up to his forehead, where it stops dead center, one squeeze of the trigger away from blowing his brains out.
Fear fills his bulging eyes and he stares at me, frozen, with his phone pressed to his ear.
I tilt my head to the side. “What’s the matter, Unibrow? You’re looking a little nervous all of a sudden.”
Lucius screams on the other end. I know this, because I can hear the muffled sounds despite the fact that the phone’s not on speaker.
“May I?” I ask, holding out my hand. “I’d like to speak to my father.”
With a shaky hand, De Trolio passes me the phone. The sniper that’s on him has more fun, waving the red dot all over his body some more, bouncing from the tip of his nose to the quivering Adam’s Apple in his throat.
I put the phone on speaker. I want everybody to hear our exchange. “Hello, Pop.”
“You fucking piece of shit!” Lucius rages. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing?!”
“I was having a peaceful afternoon before you sent your men over.”
“A peaceful afternoon, was it? You think it’s funny, hiring Armen?”
“Honestly, I’m shocked you know about it.”
“I know everything that goes on in my fucking family. My fucking city.”
…or you know because I wanted you to know and fed you the information.
“Regardless, I guess now would be a good time to tell you, your men are at my mercy,” I say calmly. My gaze meets De Trolio, who stands as frozen as a block of ice. The red dot’s settled between his eyes. “One quick word and they’re dead. So we should be clear—I’m no longer your concern. Not my club or my crew. You won’t be sending your little unibrowed minions over again.”
“You kill my men, and you’ll regret it. I’ll hit you back five times harder.”
“Maybe. But as of right now, you’re not in the position to make threats. I am.”
“This is a game to you.”
I laugh. “Not a game. Just revenge. You had your men roll up today, thinking they were going to control shit. I shut that down and showed them—and you—that’s not how this is going to go. Ask me nicely not to kill them. Then I might let them go.”
Hate has a feeling when it’s in the air. Even when it’s over the phone. The tension runs deep enough that I can feel Lucius's loathing from his end. His fat fingers must be clenched up into fists and his face red hot. If he could murder me on the spot, merely by his thoughts, he would.
I take morbid comfort in that—we’re a father and son who hate each other to the point of destruction.
“I won’t ask you for shit,” he spits. “You are an ugly stain on my life. I wish you were never born. If I could travel back in time to the day that bitch gave birth to you, I’d rip you out of the doctor’s arms and strangle you myself,pezzo di merda.”
“Suit yourself.” I glance up at one of the many windows of the building across the street and give the signal.
The soldier standing to the right of De Trolio drops dead. The bullet is silent but deadly and messy. He tips backward, crashing into the cement sidewalk in a fast-growing pool of his own blood. The other men in the crew shift uncomfortably in their stances, still held hostage by the red dots on their person.
“One down,” I say. “Either call them off, or they’re all ending up dead.”
Lucius speaks through clenched teeth. “Ray, get the fuck out of there. We’ll discuss the matter in further detail later.”
I grin. “Was that so hard? And, Pop? Don’t come to my territory unannounced like this again. Are we clear?”
“We’ll see about that.”
“You’re more than welcomed to try, but you’ll have to come harder,” I say. “This was pathetic. Even for you.”
I hang up on him and then toss De Trolio his phone. He hesitates for so long in catching the device that he almost fumbles and drops it.