Love and Liquor

A Deal with the Don

II.
A Deal with the Don

Grace felt eight pairs of eyes, all carefully trained on her. The Don lowered his hand painstakingly slowly. The gun followed the movements of the Boss.                                                        

“I have a proposition for you, Sir,” she said, cautiously.                                                                       

The man that had pulled her from the steps earlier eyed her with an intense fury, something she would have been more afraid of if the Don wasn’t wearing a look of curiosity.                  

 “What did you have in mind, Grace?”                                                                                              

“I’ll do anything you want, in return for my father’s life.” Grace held her chin high, in what she hoped was confidence, and not cockiness. She didn’t want to offend him.                                    

There was laughter in his eyes, about what she didn’t know.                                                      

“And what, pray tell, am I going to do with a little girl, such as yourself?”                                                                   

“I’m not so little. I am seventeen after all.,” she mumbled under her breath.                                                                         

“Boss?” one of the younger men in the corner said, “Little Venzetto was talkin’ about a wife the other night.”                                                                                                                                         

The Don stood in contemplation for a while before turning back to Grace.                                     

“Looks like you’re going to be the wife of a Venzetto,” he said, just loud enough for her to hear.                                                                                                                                                  

Venzetto. The very sound of the name brought bad thoughts to the forefront of her mind. Grace’s eyes fluttered closed with fear, and she suddenly felt as though she could no longer support herself on her own feet. She reached over for the corner of the couch to steady herself.                       

The Don stepped away from her, calling out orders to his men. Before she knew it, all but three were gone, leaving her father in a broken heap on the floor.                                                             

One of the two guards helped the Don slip into his black overcoat, and put his hat on his balding head.                                                                                                                                                         

“I’ll send someone over to get you tomorrow morning. If you try and run away, or call anyone for help, I will find out, and I swear to God, I will kill you both. The only thing I haven’t decided yet is if I will make you watch me kill your father, or if I will make him watch as I kill you first.”