Chapter 4: What Brothers Don't Say Out Loud
Dante let it ring.
He counted the buzzes — four, five, six — then set the phone face-down on the table beside his drink.
Caruso appeared at his shoulder.
"Javier's gone.
Car picked him up at the corner.
Not one of ours."
"I know."
"You want me to run the plates?"
"Already done." Dante picked up his drink.
"It'll come back clean.
Renzo's careful about that."
Caruso was quiet for a moment.
"What do you want to do?"
"Nothing yet." Dante looked at the gate again.
"Get everyone home safely.
Keep it quiet.
And find out who Javier has been talking to for the last two weeks."
"Done."
Caruso moved away.
Dante stood alone at the table.
The phone buzzed again.
This time it was a message.
He turned the phone over and read it.
*We need to talk.
Not like this.
Come alone.
You know the place.*
Dante read it twice.
Then he set the phone down and finished his drink.
---
Inside, Mia was sitting at the kitchen island with a glass of water she hadn't touched.
Leo was leaning against the counter across from her, arms folded, watching her face.
"You okay?" he said.
"I'm fine."
"You're not fine.
Your hands were shaking out there."
"They're not shaking now."
Leo looked at her for a moment.
"When did you see him?
Renzo.
What were you doing near the gate?"
"I went to get my jacket from the car.
I parked on the street." She turned the glass slowly on the counter.
"He was just standing there.
He didn't try to hide.
He looked right at me."
"Did he say anything?"
"No.
He just — looked." She paused.
"Like he wanted me to see him."
Leo pushed off the counter.
"That's not nothing, Mia."
"I know it's not nothing."
"He wanted you to tell Dad."
She looked up.
"I know."
They were both quiet for a moment.
"Why would he want that?" Leo said.
"I don't know.
But he sent Javier in first.
Javier was supposed to do something — start something — and Renzo was supposed to be the one Dad didn't see coming." She shook her head.
"Except I saw him."
"So you ruined whatever it was."
"Or I walked right into it." She finally picked up the glass.
"I don't know which one yet."
---
Dante came through the back door twenty minutes later.
The yard was nearly empty.
A few associates were stacking chairs near the far wall.
Someone was gathering plates from the barbecue table.
He looked at his children.
"Tell me exactly what you know about Javier," he said.
"Not what I know.
What you know."
Leo and Mia exchanged a glance.
"He's been working the south docks for the last eight months," Leo said.
"Brought in by Ferraro's crew.
But Ferraro's been quiet lately — too quiet.
Like he's waiting for something."
"And Javier?"
"He's ambitious." Leo's jaw tightened.
"He thinks he should be running more than he is.
He's said it.
Not to your face, but he's said it."
"To who?"
"To me." Leo met his father's eyes.
"Six weeks ago.
He said the organization needed younger leadership.
Said some of the old guard were holding things back."
Dante was very still.
"And you didn't tell me."
"I thought it was talk.
Men like Javier always talk."
"Men like Javier talk until someone gives them a reason to do more than talk." Dante looked at the table.
"Renzo gave him that reason."
Mia set down her glass.
"Dad.
What does Renzo want?"
Dante didn't answer immediately.
"He wants what he's always wanted," he said finally.
"He wants what he decided was taken from him." He looked at the gate one more time.
"And now he thinks he's finally found a way to take it back."
His phone buzzed again on the counter.
Leo looked at it.
"Is that him?"
"Yes."
"Are you going to answer?"
Dante picked up the phone.
Read the message again.
Set it back down.
"Not tonight," he said.
May you like
But the way he said it — flat, careful, like a door being locked from the inside — made Mia think that *not tonight* was not the same as *never*.
And that whatever came next, their father had already begun deciding how to meet it.
