RAISE YOUR HAND

Chapter 19

Anger has been known to elicit the color red to the mind's eye. It was true. Anger was red, and he was seeing it. How could another family, one his father maintained peace with for well over twenty years, decide to upend all that work? To steal from his family? To steal, not just thousands, but millions of dollars worth of product? It blew Dante's mind.

A family meeting would have to be called. Immediately. A plan would have to be configured and implemented. No matter what the plan ended up being, there was going to be bloodshed. Loud or quiet, it didn't matter. Blood was going to spill, and it wasn't going to be his family's blood.

If Dante didn't regain control quickly, he'd lose not only his reputation and respect but his position within the state. His family controlled the state. His family decided who, what, why, when, where and how. He'd be damned if another family was just going to come in and take that away.

There was only one guess as to why this was happening. Vincent Luca, the head of the Luca family chose a successor. Meaning, the man was either retiring or dying. It was more than likely the latter. Vincent enjoyed his power too much to just give it away. So who did he choose as the family's new capo dei capi? His nephew, Nick Luca. And the young blood was already making decisions before the old man was in the ground. Foolish kid.

Dante found it all amusing the similarity he shared with Vincent. Nick was Vincent's closest male heir, much like Gio was for himself. The commonality didn't sway Dante's plans for Nick.

Gio did good coming to find him. Maybe he pegged him wrong. Maybe he was cut out for the job. While he was a jokester and seemed to have taken a deep liking to Trinity, it was that happy-go-lucky attitude which camouflaged the real reason for seeking Dante out. Gio's actions would be rewarded. The only thing the kid had left to do was learn how to take out the garbage. This was the perfect opportunity.

Dante headed into the restaurant where he found Gio back to that happy-go-lucky self, joking around with the girls. As much as they were laughing, Trinity's expression faltered for a brief moment. It was so slight had he blinked, he would have missed it. She was smart. She knew something was wrong.

Thanks to David Fallon, she was an expert at reading facial expression and mood. Too bad he couldn't use her talent in some of his meetings. It wasn't a bad thought. He could bring her in on some of his legit deals and ask her opinion on things to see her talents in action. He'd give it some thought on another day. Now was not the time. He smiled at his group.

"After lunch I'll have to drop you back home, Trinity. Gio and I have an emergency meeting at work."

"Do you need help with anything? I could go in with you," concerned marred her brow.

"Thank you, but no."

"I-if it's important, maybe we should have our food wrapped up to go. Bella can come home with me, and I could drop her off later," Trinity suggested.

"Oh! Yes! I want to do that," Bella bounced in her seat.

"Are you sure you don't mind, Trinity? It can wait."

"Not at all. Bella and I will have a lot of fun. I have new makeup we can try," Trinity turned to Bella with a smile.

Bella breathed in excited.

"No way. Bella is not allowed to wear makeup until she's thirty," Gio warned.

Trinity looked to her lap. "I'm sorry. I didn't know."

Gio's expression dropped. "Trinity, I was only joking. You girls do whatever it is you want to do."

"Yeah we will. Gio's not the boss," Bella stuck her tongue out at her brother.