Gabriel pretended to think. “Hmmm … Dante Steele has a nice ring to it.”
“I don’t think so,” Dante said with a frown.
Gabriel chuckled. “Then we hyphen?”
He shook his head. “Luciano will do for the both of us.”
He smiled. “Gabriel Luciano, Attorney at Law. Or District Attorney Luciano. Both sound good to me.” Gabriel liked the sound of that much better. He was ready to step away from his father’s last name anyway.
“Attorney, huh?” Dante asked. “So you figured out what you want to do?”
Gabriel nodded. He’d made the decision to become a lawyer about two months after he started college. Not for himself, or because he loved it, but for the people he loved. “I don’t trust anyone else to protect you, the guys, Nathan, and my sister anymore. I honestly think the lawyers that the Salerno Organization have are incompetent—”
“Incompetent?”
“To say the least,” Gabriel said truthfully. “I’ve worked very hard for the past two years, and because of that I’ll be graduating soon.”
Dante smiled. “I’m so proud of you, Gabriel.”
“Are you?” he teased. “Well, I’m pretty proud of me, too.”
“You’re too good to be true sometimes,” Dante whispered. “I love you …”
“And I’ll never get tired of hearing you tell me that.”
Dante brought one hand up to cup his face before he kissed him deeply. Gabriel closed his eyes and leaned forward, slowly becoming lost in the passion of his kiss. Suddenly, three booming pops obliterated the mood, causing Gabriel to flinch and Dante to abruptly pull back. “Dante—”
Dante urged Gabriel to the side. “What the fuck was that?” he muttered to himself as he went to the kitchen window and looked out.
Gabriel stood back and watched him survey the area outside, admittedly a bit shaken by the sounds of what he was sure had been shots fired from a large gun. “Do you see anything?” he asked just as four more shots were fired off, each one making him jump.
“Zio! Zoi!”
Gabriel quickly turned toward the sound of the twins screaming and ran out of the kitchen to them. He didn’t even look behind him to see if Dante was following him; he just ran, hearing their terrified cries intensify.
“Aleksandr! Maksim!” he shouted. “Uncle is coming!”
When made it to their playroom, they were both standing at the gate in tears. Gabriel let out a relieved sigh right before four more shots were fired off.
The twins screamed and wailed as they pulled at the locked gate. Gabriel ran swiftly to the gate and fell to his knees. When he opened it the babies came scrambling out of the room and into his arms.
“Shhh …” he soothed, rocking them in his arms. “Uncle is here. Everything will be all right.”
God, please let everything be all right
.
“Gabriel,” Dante called, making his way up the stairs.
“Dante, what on earth is going on out there? The twins are frightened!” He was too, but he’d at least pretend to be a badass champion in front of the boys. The reality was that he wasn’t a fucking superhero like their father, or a fearless warrior princess like their mom. He was their untrained, ill-equipped uncle that was pretty much just as confused and scared as they were.
But lucky for all of them, Dante was there.
“I have to go, Gab—,” Dante started to say, but was quickly cut off by Gabriel.
Gabriel shot up from the floor with the twins in his arms. “What
f-word
do you mean you have to leave? Am I the only one that just heard gunfire out there? Leaving us would be the worst possible thing for you to do!”
What the fuck was going on!
“Honey, I need you to trust me, okay?” He turned around and descended the stairs. “Just be calm. Follow me.”
Gabriel darted to follow behind him. “I have two frightened children in my arms, and my boyfriend is deserting me to go join a possible gunfight outside! How am I supposed to be calm?”
“The gunfire was a call from Lucca. The safe house is a few miles away, and that is where the threat is. This house is protected on all sides. I wouldn’t be leaving if I didn’t know for sure that all three of you are safe. Keep up, babe, we’re almost there …”
He took Gabriel through the house to a door that connected to a room he hadn’t even known existed. “What is this?”
Dante entered a code on a key pad that unlocked the door. Once the door was open, he unlatched something and the keypad just fell out of the wall. Gabriel frowned.
“Gabriel, I need you to do this for me without a fuss. Go down those stairs. You have everything that you need in this basement. Toys and supplies for the twins, and food and facilities if you are down there for an extended period of time. The only two people that can open this door are Nathan and Carter—”
“But you just opened it.”
“I can only open it once. Carter and Nathan used other methods to get it to open a second time. They’ll be here soon, I promise.”
“But where are they now? Why can’t I call them?”
Dante walked them down the short staircase into an area that looked like a small house. Gabriel looked around, wondering how they had it built without him noticing.
“Trust me, okay?” He kissed Gabriel twice on his lips. “I love you,” he whispered before he turned around and ran up the stairs.
“I love you, too,” Gabriel called after him. “Please be safe …”
However, the door had already closed.
Gabriel held the boys as their cries began to soften, and he examined the area they’d be staying during what he was positive was a war brewing outside. He closed his eyes and silently prayed for the love of his life, his mother, his sister, and the family that he’d come to love very much…
“Shh, it’s okay, boys. Everything will be fine …”
Hopefully.
~*~
Dante pulled up to the safe house and quickly exited the car into the pouring rain. The men were already armed and filing out of the house with a shouting Lucca following behind them.
“Get your French and Italian asses out there! Line the streets,” Lucca commanded.
Dante jogged forward. “Lucca,” he called.
Lucca turned his head at the call. “Finally! Where the fuck have you been?”
Dante fell into to step with Lucca as they made their way to the street. “What’s going on?” he asked, looking around but seeing nothing. It seemed as if the men were preparing for a war, but Dante didn’t see any threats. “They didn’t say anything over the phone, they just said something was about to go down over here.”
“We got a call from look out. They said a whole gang of black vans and SUVs are headed this way—”
“This way?”
“Yes. Why the fuck would a shit load of vehicles that are not with us be driving out to property owned by Nathan Salerno? I know it’s not the fucking Feds, CIA, SWAT, NYPD, and I damn sure know it’s not Nathan and Carter, Anastacia, or Angelo, so that only left one possibility.”
“You think it’s Silas?”
“A part of me does, but I don’t know. I thought Carter made nice with her dad. Then again, who the hell else would be able to figure out where they lived?” Lucca and Dante walked quickly until they made it out to the street where the men stood. “Listen up you sons of bitches,” he roared. “In about thirty seconds the enemy is coming down that road. They don’t know we’re here. They think it’s a straight shot to the gate. Now listen closely because I’ll only say this once.
They. Do not. Get. Past. This. Point!
Fight! Don’t be a fucking bitch. If any of those bastards get anywhere near my nephews, you fuckers won’t have to worry about dying at the hands of the enemy because
I’ll
kill you!
Let’s hear it!”
“Noi vivono liberi e muoiono liberi!”
The Salerno soldiers shouted the words at the top of their lungs.
“That’s right motherfuckers. Live free and die knowing you got a lot of pussy before
God Almighty
shipped your ass to hell! Whose law?”
“Salerno!”
“The law of the fucking people.
Fuck
this land,
fuck
the system, and fuck any son of a bitch that don’t like it!
We’re in the middle of nowhere, gentlemen, let’s make some fucking noise.”
The men released loud adrenaline driven howls over the thunder roaring in the sky. In the distance a line of vehicles came around a curved road, speeding toward the safe house. Dante stormed forward to the front of the army—grabbing a gun along the way—and stood next to Lucca.
Lucca looked over at him with a frown. “Tae, if you’re up front—”
“I know,” Dante whispered. “The twins are back there, Lucca … and so is Gabriel. I don’t care if I have to take a life. I’ll do whatever it takes. We can’t let them get anywhere near that house.”
He glance over at his brother, hoping that he’d gotten the message, and Lucca had. Their little nephews were in that house, and so was Dante’s future. Gabriel.
“All right!”
Lucca shouted as the cars neared and began to come to screeching stops.
“Let’s go to war, motherfuckers!”
The enemy poured out of their vehicles just as guns were raised and bullets began sailing through the air.
Chapter 30: Mr. & Mrs. Steele
“You lying, cowardice son of bitch!”
“Watch your fucking mouth, pet!
I am no coward.”
Robert caught Anastacia when she lunged for Silas again. This time she’d managed to nearly jump over his shoulder.
“Only a coward would assault his pregnant wife, Silas!”
“I have apologized for that countless times …”
“It’s not enough. It will never be enough. You betrayed me, you hurt me. You were supposed to be my husband.”
“What else can I possibly do, Anastacia?”
“Die! Burn in hell you son of a bitch—”
Silas stormed forward angrily and Robert pushed him back before he got to Anastacia.
“I’ve been in hell for over forty years, pet, trust me,” he shouted.
“Bullshit,” Anastacia screamed over Robert, who was now standing in the middle of them, preventing them from attacking each other. “You’re the fucking king of the goddamn
world
remember? The
great and powerful Silas
has
everything.”
“
I have nothing!”
“You
had
my son,” she screamed, emotion shaking her voice. “For twenty-three years, Silas! Twenty-three fucking years you prevented me from being a mother to my children. You threatened the life of your own daughter, a child that you and I made from love.”
Robert saw the moment her bottom lip began to quiver. No tears fell from her eyes, but the heartbreak was evident in her voice. Robert didn’t say a word. Instead he watched her, proud that she was finally standing up to the man that had once haunted her dreams every night. Robert hadn’t known it was possible, but Anastacia had noticeably become a stronger woman since the last time he’d been in her presence. She was finally being courageous and standing up to Silas without backing away in fear of him. Robert was proud of her.
She stopped charging for Silas and pointed her finger at him. “
You poisoned everything we had together…
”
“Me?”
“Yes you!”
“You hit me, too, Anastacia.
Numerous
times.”
“Well you hit me harder,
much
harder. Then you dragged me kicking, screaming, and begging down that hallway and threw me in a dark room for hours, sometimes days.”
Silas didn’t respond.
A pained expression fell over her face as hurt and betrayal flashed through her eyes. “Did you not hear me screaming for you? You say you loved your wife, but did you even care that I was suffering?”
“I was there, Anastacia, suffering with you. If you didn’t sleep, I didn’t sleep. If you starved, I starved. If you were soiled in your own filth, so was I. We suffered together. That was our punishment for hurting each other, our lesson! We had to learn, pet.”
“
That is not how marriages work!
That’s not how life works, Silas. Lessons are not taught by torture, arguments are not solved after suffering—”
“This is all I know,”
he shouted, slamming his fist on the counter. “I’m trying to change. I’m fighting against whatever demon is inside of me every fucking day
for you!
For Carter, for Gabriel, and Robbie and my grandsons.”
He bit his bottom lip as tears formed in his eyes. “I’m sick, Ana … my head is sick. I’m not right. Don’t you think I know that?”
Anastacia shook her head slowly. “Don’t do that. No more, Silas. I’m not a twenty-one-year-old child anymore. I know better now. I will show you no sympathy.”
“I do not wish for your sympathy—”
“Stop,” Anastacia yelled sharply. She couldn’t hear anymore. Silas was about to use her heart against her. He had always been so good at convincing her that he was so tortured, and so broken. In the end she’d always find herself back in his arms. No more. This argument was over. It was obvious that the spell he’d cast on her all those years back was still too dangerous to tamper with. “Why are you here? Tell me. What’s going on?”