It was like my blood pressure bottomed out when I heard those words. I was suddenly weak and I couldn’t stand as he gripped my shoulders and slowed my descent to the couch, “Wha-what do you mean?”
“Micah called me this morning.”
“Why would he call you?” My emotions rose mid-throat and locked in place. My tears welled over my lower lids and I knew something terrible was coming, “What’s this about? Ryan, please, please-don’t let this be something bad.”
“Leese, when the two of you came to see me, Micah and I left for a while because he needed my help with something. He told me he was going to call me the day he went after D’Angelo.”
“No-no, he didn’t-he wouldn’t have,” I was starting to shake as I began to cry.
“He said he’d let me know when it was almost over,” Ryan’s tears had started to slide down his cheeks. “I was on the plane here when I got the second call, he’s there now.”
I covered my face with my hands and wept. The mob wouldn’t forgive his actions this time.
“He took me to an attorney’s office. He wanted me to be a witness to his will,” he said as he removed the envelope from under his arm, “and he wanted me to have his bank account information-for you.”
“Shut up, Ryan! You’re lying-if he did that then he was planning on… Tell me you’re lying,” I said, gripping his shirt in a feeble grasp, “Please… Tell me you’re lying.”
“I wish I was, baby girl. He wanted me to be the one to break this to you because he said you’d never let him go if you knew what he was doing. He said I was the only person he would trust to watch over you-and the baby. He doesn’t want you leaving Florida and trying to find him.”
I was so weak that I swayed as I stood from the couch, “Do you really think you can keep me from going to him?” I threatened.
“Yeah-I’m sorry, but I can.”
I started to push my way around him, but the attempt was pitiful. He gripped my shoulders, but he was wide open as I jerked my knee up to try to hit his groin. He must have known I’d try using force because he moved his hips backward as my knee glanced off the front of his jeans.
“Aaah!” I screamed, my hands dropping to my right side. I felt the muscle spasm as soon as I made the rapid movement. My sobbing began as he put me back on the couch.
“Shit, Annalisa, don’t do stuff like that! Are you okay? What hurts?”
“My side,” I whimpered. It would have been a great ploy to catch him off guard if it hadn’t been the truth. I crumbled into his arms. I wasn’t going anywhere and I knew it. I had no idea where Micah was at, so flying to Louisiana was a moot point. “They’re going to kill him, Ryan. I didn’t realize last night would really be my last night with him. Would you pray with me, please? I can’t lose him, not now, not like this… Please help me,” I begged.
He clasped my hands as we bowed our heads and the prayers began going up for Micah Gavarreen.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Micah walked calmly into D’Angelo’s office, surprising the young lady at the desk because she hadn’t been told that he was coming in.
“Shhh,” he whispered with a soft smile, his finger to his lips.
That threw her off for a moment. For one thing, she’d never seen him smile.
He came around the desk beside her as she gathered her wits and tried to get to the intercom button, but he was too fast. The rag was over her face and before the inhaled breath filled her lungs for the scream, she was out cold. Micah laid her down on the floor and then quietly placed her chair underneath the door knob to D’Angelo’s conference room. He’d seen the cars in the parking lot and he knew he wasn’t alone. He pulled out the real appointment book that he knew was kept inside the desk away from prying eyes, and laid it on top of the fake one that was sitting out.
“Damn it,” he whispered.
Two other capos were meeting with D’Angelo. Most likely, they were discussing all the reorganization made necessary when Micah and David brought in the drug lords from South America. That and the people here in the States that needed replacing since he’d had Micah going around privately killing them off.
Micah couldn’t kill the other Capos with any justifiable reason, although the mob would see little to no reason for the death of D’Angelo. His family knew what he was doing and they had plans to meet after he finished D’Angelo and approach the Boss, requesting clemency for his actions.
It was a long shot and Micah recalled telling Ryan that he would be lucky if he had a one percent chance of surviving the Bosses judgment. But it was the only option his family agreed he had. They wanted him to go before the Boss without D’Angelo’s blood on his hands, but Micah refused. D’Angelo was too vindictive and cunning to remain alive. Micah knew he’d been secretly working with another family and, in the event of possibly escaping before the Boss got to him, he knew D’Angelo would simply change sides; a very bad thing to happen since he knew the inner working of this family so well.
With the door to the conference room secured, he pulled the iPod from his pocket and carefully hooked it into the phone system. There was no other exit from the conference room and for a few terrified moments, D’Angelo would know who and what was waiting for him beyond the door. He hit the button for the music to start and drew his guns.
The sound of electric guitars filled the room as ‘Breath,’ by Breaking Benjamin began to pound through the intercom system. Every speaker in the office was pouring out the warning that D’Angelo had sent to Annalisa. He deserved the terror he tried to inflict on the only person Micah would willingly lay down his life for. Annalisa was the only thought on his mind as he watched the door being kicked from the inside as the men worked to break out of the room.
He was ready, and he knew the coward would be the last to come out, hoping the bullets would be spent on the men before him.
Micah smiled.
He was no such amateur. Even if D’Angelo used the other men for a shield, Micah could shoot a fly off a man’s head leaving only a part through his hair. D’Angelo was about to pay for everything he’d ever done to make Micah into a monster. Now it was the monster’s turn to destroy the man who had been his master.
The door splintered, the chair was knocked away and the shooting gallery opened up. As he guessed, D’Angelo was trying to escape by cowering behind one of the other Capo’s, his head and chest well hidden, so Micah simply took him out at the knee. D’Angelo hit the floor cursing and screeching as the other Capos ran from the building.
He normally was so swift that the person never knew what happened, but Micah would delay his bullets for an instant as he stood over D’Angelo. “You hurt the wrong person this time-and now you’re going to pay for what you put her through. You want to know the funny thing? Annalisa would have sent mercy. I’m only sending this.” It was over in an instant as the Glock went off and D’Angelo went limp.
He pressed the release and let both clips drop to the floor. Micah laid down his guns and dialed his father. “It’s done,” he breathed. “I don’t know if we’ll have time for things to go as planned-he was meeting with two other capos and they just ran out of here. No, Sir, I didn’t.”
He stepped outside with his hands away from his body to make sure anyone who might be waiting could see he was unarmed. He got to his car without incident and drove to where his family was waiting. They were on their way to meet with the Boss, but word had already spread. Giorgio’s phone rang within five minutes; the Underboss wanting to know if it was true; had his son killed D’Angelo?
“Yes, and we are on our way to let him plead his case before the Boss. Tell him to expect us within the hour. No, he’s not armed-none of us are. Yes, you have my word.” The phone was closed and they continued to what would most likely be the end of Micah’s life.