“You!” Eldon screams at me; dagger pointed right at my chest. Poor, sad, deluded motherfucking idiot. “How could you do that?! You made me cut my son's fingers off!”
“In some countries, cutting a thieves fingers off would be the least of their worries. Maybe you should have taught your son not to be a fool, Eldon.” I tisk mockingly while shaking my head. “No one steals from me and gets away with it. No one points a weapon at me and lives either.”
His maddening eyes stare straight through me. Eldon wants to drive that dagger into my heart. He won't do it because he doesn't have the bottle. Men like him never do. “I know what you're thinking.” I fold my arms across my chest, and I sense Tony to the side of me with his gun drawn. He's never far away from me.
“Let my son go, or I'll kill you.”
I shake my head. “No can do. See when you stand in front of the Don brandishing a knife, you die. As for your son? I'm going to enjoy tearing his thieving body limb from limb.”
“You think you're so smart, don't you, Draven Vidal? Well, guess what? You ain't. One day soon, somebody is going to take that pretty little fiancée of yours – what's her name, Marnie? – and show her the meaning of pain!”
My nostrils flare. I can't show my hand too soon, but bringing Marine into this, my vision is turning red!
“I hope you have a son one day. I hope he finds himself on the wrong side of the enemy, and I hope they tear out his liver!” He lunges for me with a scream, I grab his wrist and twist his arm around his back. I snatch the dagger, and Eldon screams.
“Lesson number one: when attacking the Don. Don't.” I point the tip of the dagger to his throat. “Lesson number two: never speak my wife's name without permission.” Blood splatters everywhere, screams, gurgling all erupt from Eldon as I grit my teeth and slowly push that dagger into his neck. I push it to the hilt and sharp twist, hearing neck bone crack with force.
“Boss? Draven!”
I shake my head, turning to look at Tony. I must have spaced out for a moment. The fog is clearing from my eyes and mind. Eldon's body lies at my feet, eyes wide and glazed over. Prick! I look down at myself and groan. “For Christ's sake, this was a new suit!” nine-hundred dollars down the fucking drain.
“Suit aside; I've got to say that was fuckin' awesome.” Tony laughs.
I look at him for a moment. Tony is without a doubt the best friend I ever had. Not once have I been given cause to doubt his loyalty to me, nothing is ever too much, and he loves my little sister and her daughter like his own. Then there's the fact he thinks the world of Marnie. He's been her biggest supporter since I brought her into my life. In fact, if I'm totally honest, Tony was the one who told me not to be so stupid when it came to Marnie. He's the reason I came to my senses. If I was to die today, I know Tony would take care of my family.
He's finally met a woman who gets him. Amy is a sweet girl, fucking deadly as well. She's one of my soldiers, the woman in charge of making sure any child we find abandoned – kids on the streets is something that happens a lot in my town and the ones surrounding it of late – is found a safe place to live. Amy will also track down their families and eradicate them by any means possible. That was never her job. Of course, she was trained in combat like all my men and women are. She took the role of child protection seriously. Any child needed help brought to her attention got it. The finding families and making them pay for their part in that child's pain, she took upon herself.
It was brought to my attention a year ago. Amy had been working for me for about three months at the time. I asked her point blank what the hell she thought she was doing, and who gave her permission to do what she was doing. Amy held her own, showed no fear when she told me about the little boy with Down Syndrome that she found rummaging in bins down an alleyway in town. She took him in, bathed and fed him, dug around to find out where he came from.
The little boy, who told Amy his name was Gary, was four years old, and he'd been abandoned by his father who couldn't cope with his needs. Amy that night found the boys father and made him pay for what he'd done. She then went about finding a family for Gary. She kept an eye on things and enjoyed getting updates on the now happy little boy.
I asked her if she thought that killing the parents of these children was something I'd allow to continue. Amy looked at me, then she looked at Tony and smiled, and told me, ‘When I was a little girl, my dad walked out on me when I was two years old. My mother left me when I was five. She literally left me outside an old building and never came back. There was no one to take care of me, and I was frightened and scared. For days I wandered around looking for food. It was cold, and I cried all the time. Then one day, a woman in her fifties saw me. She told me her name was Glenda, and she handed me a sandwich and a bottle of water. She brought me food over the next couple of days, gained my trust. It must have been three days before she asked me if I wanted to go home with her. I did, and she took care of me until the day she died when I was twenty-one.’
Tony and I listened to Amy's story. Even then I could sense Tony felt something for that girl. We were both awed by her honesty and her strength.
‘All the while I was with my mother – that's who she was to me – trained me in self-defense, martial arts, boxing. For a woman in her early fifties when she found me, she was incredibly strong. By the time I was thirteen, I could fight a man twice my size. I was quick, smart, and no one stood a chance against me. Over the years, Glenda brought home seven other children she'd found on the streets. All between the ages of five and twelve. Five boys and three girls, including me.
‘Before she died, Glenda told me that those of us who had parents, two of my brothers and me, were now real orphans. I asked her what she meant. She told me that all the training she'd put me through was to help me when I was old enough to help children like me. Then she whispered how she'd found our parents and torn them apart.’
I asked Amy at that point how it made her feel. She shrugged like it was nothing at all to her.
‘I helped a few kids before I came to you for a job. When you saw me training, and you told me that I'd gotten the job, I knew it was my chance to carry on my mom's work. I know you didn't tell me it was okay to end those people, but I'm not sorry that I did. A child is a precious gift from God, and no parent should ever throw that gift back in God's face. If a parent realizes they can't cope with their child, then they should turn to child services for help. It's not hard!’
I gave Amy my blessing that day to do her thing; all she need do is run it by me first. A week after our meeting Tony came to me and asked if I'd be angry if he asked Amy out for dinner. I have a strict rule that none of my employees shall date. Shit gets messy, and people get clingy, even psychotic. I don't allow anything to come before my business.
However, Tony had never asked me for a thing in his life. So, I asked him if he felt more for Amy. He was honest and told me that he thought he was falling for her. I wasn't about to stand in his way of happiness. However, I did make sure he knew what would need to be done if it didn't work out between them. One of them would have to go, and it wouldn't be Tony.
Amy and Tony have been together ever since. Recently, they found out they're expecting their first child, and I couldn't be happier for them. Marnie and I will be attending their wedding next week, which means I'll be without my number one man for two weeks due to his honeymoon. I'll manage, I always do, but it won't be the same without him.
“You're a good friend. You know that, don't you?”
Tony narrows his eyes and nods. “Of course, I do. What's wrong, Draven?”
I clasp his shoulder and shake my head. “Nothing is wrong. Just want you to know that I appreciate everything you do.”
“What are friends for?”
I chuckle and hug the big fucker. I would not show physical contact like this to anyone else who works for me. That is not my thing at all. I think my brother is the only other man I hug, but Tony has been like a brother to me since we were kids.
After leaving Lorenzo in charge of cleaning up the mess I'd made of Eldon and his house, and making sure Chaz was dealt with, I made my way home. Of course, I changed before I went home, I couldn't have Marnie seeing me covered in blood. Tony sat with her while I went to shower. From the look on her face, I could tell she knew I'd done something terrible. However, she said nothing.
I've been listening to Marnie and Tony talking for the past five minutes. Marnie treats Tony like a friend, and she's always so polite to him. He returns that respect as he should. Best friend or not, he knows what I'll do to him if he dares disrespect my queen. No one is immune to my wrath. No one.
“I can see through the mask you have up, Marnie.” I watch Marnie from my spot in the hall, handing Tony a beer, then taking a seat at the kitchen table. “You can talk to me if something is bothering you. I promise to keep it between us. Unless it's life and death, of course, then I'd go straight to Draven.”
He'd tell me no matter what it was she said to him. Everyone knows you don't keep things from the Don, especially when it concerns Marnie.
“It's nothing,” Marnie sighs. “I don't want to seem ungrateful to anyone. Thank you for your concern, though.”
“It is something. I can see you fighting something in your eyes. Talk to me. Whatever it is, if you let it out, you might find it's not so bad.”
“I'm getting married soon.”