Dinner on Friday

3. Dante

ENJOY HER

The second threat came almost a year after we were married, and the timing couldn't have been more suspicious.

After having Carla's friend, Jenna, tailed for six months, I decided she wasn't a threat to us. I still didn't know who left the first note, but after months of not knowing, I almost wanted to believe it was a prank.

Until now.

This time, I found the sinister piece of paper sitting unconsciously on the bar of the restaurant as I was closing for the evening. All the waiters and cooks had gone home and I was the only one left.

My sous chef, Twan, had been the last one to leave. Too bad I didn't have any cameras mounted to capture the interior of the restaurant. The ones that were there were placed to monitor the entrances and exits only.

Just like before, I scanned my surroundings and saw nothing out of the ordinary. I unfolded the familiar parchment, and the crinkling sound of quality paper filled the quiet in the room.

In the dim lights hanging over the bar, the handwritten note looked innocent enough until I read it.

'You had three years to enjoy her. Your time is up.
The countdown begins now.
3...'

I frowned. What the hell did this person want with us?!

Were the rumors on the street about my sister wanting revenge true?

My father and my uncle finally retired as Dons of the clan, and my sister who I hadn't seen for three years was the one taking over.

After turning down the position three years ago to focus on building a life with Carla, I guessed my father and uncle were left with no other choice.

Annabella was unpredictable and in a lot of ways, that meant she was dangerous. I knew my sister and knew what buttons to press to tick her off.

Killing her boyfriend was certainly number one on the list of things to do to piss her off. She loved hard and deep, and she tended to fall for men who were no good for her, and I couldn't blame her.

Our father and uncle were classic examples of the kind of men she was attracted to. Dangerous men with criminal histories. Men who kept guns hidden in their bedside drawers. Men who commanded and demanded. Men who wouldn't hesitate to kill another man if it meant keeping his family safe.

Men like me.

I reckoned when it came to me, the apple hadn't fallen far from the tree. I was the man I am today because of my father and my uncle. They taught me how to assassinate from a young age, and by the time I was fifteen, I knew the ins and outs of every operation that took place within the clan.

The Galician clan wasn't Europe's largest and most ominous mafia based on sheer luck alone. My father and my uncle worked meticulously hard. They were ruthless and disciplined with cool heads on their shoulders.

Annabella was the opposite of cool-headed. With an army as large and invincible as the clan at her side, she could wreak serious damage to any man standing in her way.

Even if that man was her brother.

I pocketed the letter and then locked up the place on my way out. The restaurant was in a safe neighborhood but as I stood there, under the blanket of stars and clouds, I couldn't help but feel like the peace I had worked so hard for was crumbling before my eyes.

Once in the car, I pulled out my phone and messaged Schipper, my head of security, and told him to have the guards do more rounds around the house and to keep their eyes on the cameras at all times.