Chapter 8 - The Shadow of the Family
"You were supposed to be dead!" Julian screamed, raising his revolver with shaking hands. "Aldo said you lost your mind! He said you were a cripple begging in the streets!"
Dante kept walking toward him, unhurried, step by cold step, his dark eyes locked onto Julian like a sight on a rifle.
"My uncle lies, Julian," Dante said softly. "He told you this town was empty. He told you no one was standing here to protect it."
"Stay back!" Julian yelled, pulling the trigger.
BANG!
The gunshot echoed wildly off the brick walls of the bakery. The bullet whipped past Dante’s shoulder, embedding itself in the wooden fence behind him.
Dante didn't even flinch.
Before Julian could fire a second time, Dante closed the distance with terrifying speed. He grabbed the barrel of Julian’s revolver, forcing it upward as another shot discharged harmlessly into the night sky.
With his other hand, Dante grabbed Julian by the throat, lifting the grown man three feet off the ground and slamming his body back against the cold brick wall of the bakery.
Julian dropped his gun, gasping frantically for air, his feet dangling off the snow.
"Please..." Julian choked out, tears of terror streaming down his pale, scarred face. "Please, Dante... I was just following orders! Aldo... Aldo promised me ten percent of the mining rights!"
Dante leaned in, his face inches from Julian’s, his dark eyes filled with an ancient, unyielding darkness.
"You came into this town to burn a young woman and her sick father in their sleep," Dante whispered, his voice vibrating with pure, terrifying fury. "You touched the only good thing I have seen in twenty years."
"I'll leave!" Julian sobbed, his hands clutching at Dante’s iron grip. "I'll never come back to West Virginia! I'll tell Aldo you're dead! I swear it on my mother's life!"
Dante looked at him for three long, silent seconds.
Then, with a cold, smooth motion, Dante threw Julian onto the frozen ground like a bag of trash.
Julian scrambled backward in the snow, coughing violently, clutching his throat.
Valen stepped out from the shadows at the end of the alley, holding a pair of heavy steel handcuffs and a satellite phone already connected to federal law enforcement.
"Julian Vane," Valen said flatly. "Federal marshals are currently raiding your private estate in Boston. You are being charged with multi-state racketeering, attempted arson, and corporate extortion."
Julian looked up at Dante in total disbelief. "You... you turned it over to the feds?"
"I don't need to kill you, Julian," Dante said, looking down at him with dry contempt. "In federal prison, Aldo won't be able to protect you. And when my lawyers are finished, you won't have a single dollar left to pay for protection."
May you like
Two federal agents emerged from the storm, hauling Julian to his feet and dragging him away into the night.
Dante stood alone in the quiet alleyway, listening to the wind die down as the snow began to soften into a gentle fall.
