I Tried

xvi

The boy sat in his masters office for maybe 30 minutes before Antonio arrived. Antonio walked around Andre to sit in his desk chair. Not a word leaving his mouth as he went through some paperwork silently.

"Dante is it?" He asked still not looking up from his desk. But the boy nodded "Yes master." Antonio hummed but nothing else. After a while of silence Antonio stood up and walked around his desk to stand in front of the poor boy who couldn't be more than 19.

"You know, I promised my wife that I would reassign you to a different location so no one would have to get hurt for a simple accident, what do you think of that Dante?" Antonio asked slipping off this suit jacket.

Dante nodded slowly saying "Mistress is a kind innocent woman who all of us in the house respect." Antonio chuckled as he sorted through a small box on his desk only he could see what was inside of it.

"Funny choice of words, don't you think Andre? After what Dante here just saw in my wife's bedroom." "I suppose so sir." Andre spoke in a monotone voice not making eye contact with either of the men in the room.

"Andre?" Antonio asked as he pulled out a small shotgun from the box he had been looking through. Along with a cleaning rag. "Yes Sir?" Andre asked quickly. "What's one of the first rules the men and women learn before being excepted to work in my wife's household?"

"To learn to knock before entering into the presence of the master and mistress of the manor, sir." Andre spoke watching Dante shrink into his seat. Antonio nodded along placing the gun back into its box.

He then stood from where he had been leaning and walking to the painting hanging in the wall of him as a baby being held in his father's arms. "Now Dante, you said it best." He paused opening the painting allowing Dante and Andre to see a safe behind the frame.

"My wife is a very kind, innocent, and naive woman. She doesn't understand what it would mean, letting a boy leave the manor after seeing her in such ways. The tales he would tell."

Dante shook in fear as Antonio typed in the code for the safe "Master, I would never debase you or Mistress in such a way." "Oh hush." Antonio said turning around with another black velvet box in his hands.

"Do you know why my wife is so naive, Dante?" Antonio asked bringing the box back to the front of his desk. His back was facing the boy as he waited for him to respond. "No sir, I'm sorry." Antonio nodded before he began to slowly remove what was inside the box.

"It's because Dante, I have shielded her from certain things that I am skilled in. While she knows some of the certain businesses I am affiliated with she doesn't know all I do. Now Andre why is that?"

Waiting for the next man to answer he began to removed knife after knife from the box. Dante watched in fear as Andre answered with no emotion in his voice "If Mistress knew what all you did she would-."

Andre stopped immediately when Antonio raised his hand to silence him "She would be not only scared of me like she is now, she would lose all hope in me and in her personality. She would become a zombie."

Antonio chuckled once again "Why else do you think I gifted her with that small bundle. It certainly wasn't to distract her and pull her away from me." He continued to laugh inspecting all the different options of knives in front of him.

When he finally picked the perfect one he turned around. He began to role up his sleeves as to try and not get anything on them. "Now Andre, which one first. His tongue so he can't tell anyone what all he saw of my beautiful, innocent, naive wife, or his eyes so he can never see her again?"

"Both good options sir." Andre nodded and Antonio hummed. "Let's see, what should I do?" Antonio sung to himself yanking Dante's head back as the poor young boy began to silently cry as he excepted his fate.