A Dangerous Gift

Chapter 47

The shrill tone of his phone ringing cuts Kieran off mid whistle and he drops his head in annoyance at being deviated from his current task at hand.

"Yeah," he answers, as he drops the hack saw and runs his blood soaked fingers through his hair, moving the stray pieces out of his face but also unknowingly giving it a red tint.

"Calm your tits. I'm finishing up with some last-minute things, tying up loose ends." He chuckles as he pulls out a cigarette and lights it. "Unlike you, I don't intend on leaving anything to chance. Now get off my phone with all that bass in your voice like you run something. I think you keep forgetting I don't take orders from you." he states abruptly as he hangs up the phone muttering Fucking Prick before he takes another drag.

"Looks like daddy dearest is getting impatient." Bending down he grabs Paolo's severed head and starts to the van with Mick in tow. "He's starting to get antsy." He snickers, eyeing Nico who is glaring at him. "Apparently, Mr. Gomez, you're a hard man to keep track of."

Placing the head into the box he gets inside of the vehicle. "Wonder why he's so worried about you?"

"His union with Jada means nothing as long as I'm alive." Nico's gaze trailed over to Jada—who was lying in a van with River. "She's never showed any interest in the Cartel once she turned 18, but in the event that I were to die, Jada understands that she would be the next in line to take over, at any rate he knows that as long as she wants no part of the business I have controlling power and even if she were to become a partner he would still have to run all decisions through me."

"Interesting," Kieran rubs his chin like he's deep in thought. "Mick, get us back before Frankie boy blows a gasket."

"What about the dead bodies littering my building?" I gesture to the headless body in the parking garage.

"It's already taken care of," Carlo says before Kieran can answer and begins to gear up.

Strapping the Kevlar vest around my waist, my eyes trail over to my parents. The worry is clear in my father's eyes as they speak in hushed whispers as he helps mom with her vest. My mother trained for moments like this the moment she knew she was going to spend the rest of her life with "Lorenzo" Bandini, never wanting to be Princess Peach waiting for Mario to rescue her. But that didn't mean my father still didn't worry about her.

She lets out a bout of laughter and rests her head against my father's chest. Just seeing them makes my chest tighten, I never thought I could have the kind of love that my parents exuded, so when Jada came crashing in I was shell shocked at how fast this was moving, but now I wanted nothing more than to destroy the man who dared to take it all from me.

My thoughts were interrupted as I noticed that River was no longer lying next to her mother. My heart kicked up as I scanned for her only to find Nico holding her as he paced back and forth next to the van. He was whispering something in Spanish as he cradled River, while she held onto his finger staring at him intently as if she understood every word.

"I know my son comes across as cold and impulsive but family means the world to him." Carlo spoke as we watched Nico. "Jada and Nico may not be blood siblings but they have a bond not even I understood. So let me be clear on this Ryder, I'm not ready to lose either one of my children tonight, because if we lose Jada I will have to take Nico down."

"I can assure you that both of your children will come home tonight, Sir." There were no more words to be spoken between Carlo and I, we had a clear understanding that failure was not an option. Carlo walked over to his nephew, clapping him on the back as he stared down at River.

"How are you doing sweetie?" my mother asks, walking over while buttoning her blindingly white suit, Kieran, Damien Blaise and Nico give me a nod as they walk away giving my mother and I some privacy. We were going over some finer details of the plan so that we can get rid of Frank once and for all.