Arturo was on my right. He had a certain swaying power over my dad that was difficult to combat. If he insisted upon something other than the plan that I needed to carry out, and if my dad agreed, it could screw everything up.
It didn’t make any sense to share my plan, at least not at this level, with either of my siblings, so I looked at my dad and boldly said, “I need to speak with you alone.”
There was no telling which way my dad was going to go with that request. He watched me with a confused expression on his face before finally saying, “Calli. Art. Leave.” Callista stood up immediately, but Arturo stayed in place. My dad eyed him. “That’s an order.” Arturo opened his mouth to argue, but my dad pounded on his desk. “No! I’m the boss. I gave you an order to get out, and you will listen to that order.”
“Art, let’s just go,” Callista begged.
Arturo stood up from his chair and glared at my dad then me before storming out of the room with Callista right behind him. Before leaving the room, Callista turned around and looked at me, and we locked eyes for a moment. It was clear she was searching for signs of what I may have learned in my time away with Denise. I wished I could tell her that I knew and that she didn’t have to worry, at least not about me, but all I could do was stare back.
Finally, I settled for saying, “We’re good, Calli.”
The tension she was holding in her shoulders melted a little, and she nodded. “Good. I’ll deal with Art, so just take your time.”
“Thanks, pumpkin,” my dad said, and then Callista left the office, closing the door behind her. With that done, I turned to face my dad, and he leaned in. “She’s not dead is she?”
“On the contrary,” I said. “I married her.”
His eyes widened. “You what?”
“We drove up to Minnesota yesterday afternoon and tied the knot. Congratulations, you have a brand new daughter-in-law.”
My dad was entirely unamused. “That was a mistake, Ashton.”
“No, it wasn’t. It’s the only decision I’ve made that I’ve been entirely certain of. I’m in love with her, and I have been for a long time, and I’m not going to allow you or Arturo to hurt her.”
A smirk crooked on his face. “Oh? How will you stop it?”
“I’m going to offer you the deal of a lifetime—end Illiana Costa for good. Maybe even take out some of her underlings in the process.” My dad didn’t respond, so I continued. “Illiana got tipped off to Denise’s double-entendre. Illiana confronted Denise, and Denise had no choice but to come clean about everything. She told Illiana that she was going to set up an ambush for Wednesday night at ten, lure you to the location, and give Illiana the opportunity to take you out, but we’re going to show up fully stacked and take her out instead.”
He smiled. “It’s not a bad plan, but how do you know Denise isn’t lying to us as well?”
It was time to take a page out of Denise’s book. “Because Denise doesn’t know,” I lied. “I told her that I’m going to lure you to the location without telling you what’s going on there.”
“She just accepted that you were going to sacrifice your own father and brother?” he asked.
I shrugged. “You both want to kill my now wife. It wasn’t a hard sell.”
He sat back in his chair, considering the offer. “She has no idea?”
“None.”
“Why would you turn on her?” he asked. “If youloveher?”
“I’m doing itbecauseI love her.” I crossed my arms. “You get to take out Illiana, and in exchange, you’re going to let Denise and me go.”
“Go where?” he asked, and I started to chuckle.
“You and I both know I’m smarter than that, Pop. Don’t insult me.”
His nostrils flared, and he looked like a bull about to charge. “At least one of you got some brains.” He sighed. “Well, I’ll admit, I like this plan quite a bit, and being a man of my word, if it goes well, I’ll let you go. You wouldn’t be able to show your face around here ever again.”
“I’ll be living a happy, crime-free life with my wife. Don’t you worry.”
He sat in total silence for a long time. It was so quiet in the room that you could hear a pin drop. Part of me wanted to try and sell it more, but there was another part that knew that he was probably balancing right on the edge as it was. There was no need to tip the scales. We had plenty of time. So I sat totally still, tried to maintain the confidence I’d entered the room with, and waited for him to make a decision.
“What would happen after that point? The takeover?” he asked.
I nodded. “I’d have a full plan done for you before I left, and you could use it once I was gone.”
