Chapter 77 Defend Your Honour
Dante's POV
“War?” One of them shivered from behind.
“War? We can't make it,” another muttered from the small crowd.
“Just us against all of them? That's suicide,” another whispered.
“That's the price to pay,” I replied forcefully.
“But Don, expecting us to go after Luca alone is foreseeable,” the one in charge said.
“I didn't send you people to be slacking off in the middle of your shift,” I shot back.
“Let's get more men, let's go in larger numbers. Then we'll bring them down,” he offered.
“Not happening. It's your fuck up, and you'll deal with it alone,” I responded.
“Don—”
“Get your men ready and be back here in 30 minutes. The only calvary you fellas get, is me,” I announced in a firm tone, dropping my gun to my side.
And the man in charge nodded once before turning around to his boys.
“You heard the boss. Get ready, we move in an hour's time,” he ordered and the boys reluctantly agreed, slowly filing out of the small space.
Then he turned to me calmly. “I hope you are sure of this, Don,” he said.
I nodded my head. “We'll get back at them the only way they'd understand,” I replied.
He nodded and walked off to probably get himself ready.
I took a deep breath and paced around a bit.
“I hope I'm not making a mistake,” I muttered.
I also wished Nico was here, it would make all the planning much easier and faster.
I knew it was impromptu, I knew it was more emotional than logical, but it felt like the best action to take at the moment.
I went towards my car, searching out my three favorite pistols for the mission.
I loaded each of them, putting one on either side of my trousers before taking one in my hand.
Times like this always bring me close to death. I had to remind myself why I do these things.
I reached out into a cabinet in the car and popped it open. In it was a picture of my late mother.
I held the picture firmly in my hand, taking a deep breath before placing it back and stepping back to where the crowd of men had begun to form.
I knew they were barely over 50 men charged over this premises and it was as good as a death wish to expect these men to conquer Luca's men.
But it was all I could afford at such a short notice. So it had to work.
I moved aside to a more private area where the leader of the small group met me.
“Are you prepared?” I asked him.
“Not one bit,” he replied.
“Good. Neither am I,” I said honestly.
“Are you sure about this, Don?” He asked.
“There's nothing to be sure about, we are doing this,” I replied firmly.
“We could lose lives out there,” he continued.
“We've lost men before, this won't be new,” I retorted.
“But this would be different. It's avoidable, from the beginning,” he started.
“What do you mean by that?” I asked with a raised eyebrow.
“Nothing, boss,” he replied calmly.
My mind went back to Nico's warnings earlier. But that's why this is very important.
“We need to do this. Luca has to know his place,” I said firmly.
“You've given me life, I'll follow you all the way,” he replied.
“Then let's do this,” I replied and gestured to the tab in his hand.
I took it and flicked through it till I brought out an overview of Luca's drug stores.
“From the information reaching us, Luca's going to be handling a delivery later this evening and over the night. That's our time to hit,” I replied.
“Yes boss,” he answered.
“The mission is clear, get in, shoot everyone at sight and burn it all to the ground,” I announced.
“When are we moving sir?” He asked honestly.
“We move now,” I replied. “We'll scout the area and wait for any openings. When we have one, we'll attack immediately,” I added.
He nodded without much fuzz, taking the tab from me and scrolling through casually.
“This looks like it could actually work,” he muttered, sliding through tabs.
I stepped towards him and put a hand over his shoulder. “Shaun, are you afraid?” I asked honestly.
He stared at me for a while without responding, then shook his head. “No, just worried.”
“You don't have to be, whatever happens tonight, we are defending our honour, our family. That's our job,” I said, patting him on the shoulder again.
“I'm with you all the way, Don,” he responded.
“Good. Now let's go teach those motherfuckers a lesson. Nobody messes with the Russo family and gets away with it,” I replied.
He nodded and I walked off towards the other group of men waiting.
They had gathered themselves together and by head count, they looked to be roughly 50 men.
I jumped onto a large stone that raised me higher than the lot.
“Men!” I screamed to grab their attention.
They stopped the bickering among themselves and gathered together under me.
Shaun strolled till he was beside the rock.
“Last night, the Moretti family stepped on our toes,” I continued. “They came into our territory, trespassed on our property and if that was not enough. They burnt down our fucking warehouse with everything in it,” I added.
“Now, they messed with our means of livelihood, they torched down what puts food on each of our tables! And if that's not enough to get you angry, then I don't know what would,” I charged on.
“Now, I know each and every one of you. You are all a Russo, I wouldn't call strangers to defend the pride of this great family,” I continued.
“If this could happen to one of our most secured structures, then imagine what could happen to your homes, your wives, your children!” I shouted.
“This isn't just a threat to me, it's a threat to us all. If we let them get away with this without any consequence, then we'll be opening ourselves to more attacks of this kind,” I added.
I paused for a long while, looking round at each face.
“Now, I know you all may be scared. I mean, we are just about 50 and there could be hundreds of them,” I announced and passed again.
I stared at the serious looking faces of the men I was about to lead to their possible death.
“But I'm going with you, and not as a leader, but as a brother in arms. I know that's no guarantee of life, but it's proof that we are in this together. We'll fight together and if it comes to it, we'll die together!” I yelled the last part and the men chanted in response.
“Now brothers!” I yelled. “Are you with me?!”
“Yes!” They shouted in agreement.
“Are you with me?!” I yelled again.
“Yes!”
It was getting to evening now as the sun had begun to leave its place.
“Then, my brothers. Let's go defend our honour. Let's make those bastards pay.”