When I’d proposed the idea to Franco a few weeks ago, I wasn’t really sure it would work. Kidnapping a person was difficult, kidnapping a mobster was damn near impossible. And if that wasn’t difficult enough, we had to get a mob boss to negotiate with us.

Sal may have never cracked, but his wife, Camilla, had called us a few hours after we’d allowed Dante to call her. I’d been in Franco’s office when the phone rang. It had caught my attention because Franco’s demeanor had changed. I would go as far as to say he was nervous, but something was definitely off.

“You know I can’t do that Camilla…” I heard him say. His tone was similar to the way he talked to Annalisa or his wife, soft and understanding, yet you knew he meant business. “Well, I am that kind of man...its business.”

There was silence for a while and I could hear a female voice talking. Franco just let her speak. Finally, he said, “I am a man of my word. If Sal holds up his end of the bargain, you’ll get Dante back.” There was a brief pause. “Yes, back alive. I want what’s mine. He took a lot from me, and he’s been taking ever since. I want my dock back and I want that shipment. Camilla, make it happen. End this like only you can.”

There was something new in Franco’s voice. I’d heard him in business meetings before negotiating, but this was different. He seemed to really be torn with what he was saying. I had to wonder if there was a history between the two of them. It was very unlikely since he hated Sal, but there had also been a time when he and Sal were best friends, business partners. They’d called each other brothers. If she was from that time, maybe they’d known each other. I sure as hell wasn’t going to ask.

When his call was over, we went over the rest of our business dealings. We took a ride and checked out the construction at Annalisa’s. Only one person was still in the hospital.

Despite what was going on between the two families, things on the street were relatively calm. There was little activity and nothing much to report. Things were going well. We were just waiting on word from Sal. The fact that he hadn’t said no, seemed like a good sign to me.

I’d expected to hate Dante, but the longer he was in the basement, the more I liked him. He was sarcastic and a bad ass. We’d never kept anyone as long as him, but usually, the longer we kept someone, the worse they got. Not Dante. His mood seemed to improve every day.

We’d decided not to keep him chained to the bed. It was as much for our sake as his. He didn’t want to piss and shit in a bed pan, and no one wanted to clean one either. He’d complained that he was bored and needed a clock. I’d given him an old watch of mine. I’d bought it when I’d first been a made man. It was a knock off Rolex. I soon learned that you get what you pay for. Two of the numbers had fallen off as did the little diamond that was the 12. It still kept good time, but I didn’t want to walk around with what looked like a shit watch. Dante didn’t bitch about it. I figured at least he knew what time it was anyway.

I’d take him breakfast most days. Some of the time, it was Felix. He’d make some smart ass comment, but it seemed like he was in a great mood. Often, I’d take him lunch and we’d banter back and forth. I’d make excuses to stay. It was hard not to like him and I could see why girls would fall for him.

Annalisa took him dinner most nights and checked on his shoulder. She said it was starting to get better. The fact that we were concerned about it amused me. It amused Dante too. One night, after Annalisa finished, he made a joke about it being like that scene in The Princess Bride, where they fixed up the guy so they could torture him to death. I was shocked he’d seen the movie. It was pretty much a chick flick. I’d seen it because Annalisa had made me watch it. What was more shocking was that Annalisa hadn’t seemed surprised at all that Dante had seen it. For a moment, I wondered if something was going on between the two of them. Had it been anyone other than Annalisa, I’d have been concerned. She was clever, level headed and not about to fall for some guy trying to get into her pants.

She did seem to like him though. She stuck around and talked to him like I did. She also brought him books to read saying that it would help his recovery. I wasn’t sure how, but I didn’t see how having copies of romance novels would hurt anything. One day, I joked about her smuggling a file into him and her face got all red. I backpedaled, worried I’d offended her. She shook it off and we didn’t talk about it again.

A week and a half after I’d shot Dante, I was in Franco’s office when the call came in. It was Sal and he said he wanted to talk. He wanted to meet at a neutral restaurant and he wanted us to bring Dante.

First of all, there was no such thing as a neutral restaurant in Chicago. Even if we left the city, we’d have no guarantee that it was neutral. Second, there was no way we were bringing Dante. He was safe where we were keeping him. We weren’t about to bring him out in public.

We settled on a video conference meeting and we’d have Dante included. It was the first time we’d be allowing Sal to see his son. He’d asked for pictures, so had Camilla. Franco had denied them with the belief that their imaginations would run wild as to how he was being treated and what he looked like. He insisted that they, specifically Camilla, would be conjuring up images of Holocaust prisoners rather than a guest at the Hilton.

I walked down to Dante’s room after lunch with a laptop. I set it on the dresser and opened it.

“Making porn?” he said. “Prison rape scene type?”

I laughed. “You wish.”

“Fine, fine, I’ll do it,” he continued. “Just get some lube and I’ll hold you down and fuck your ass.”

“Yeah right, you’re the prisoner,” I responded, opening up Skype.

“So you’re saying you want to fuck my ass?” Dante appeared to be terrified, but I could see the corners of his mouth turned up in a smirk.

“You know, you’re a real funny guy,” I said. “Shame it looks like I’m not gonna get to shoot you.”

“How’s that?”

“About to do a conference call with your father and Franco. Looks like a deal is about to be made.”

Dante’s face was hard to read at that news. He seemed relieved but also a bit upset. “I didn’t think he’d negotiate,” Dante said more to himself than anyone.

“I guess we’ll see,” I said, opening up our chat and then sitting on the bed waiting for the others. “If it doesn’t go well, I get to shoot you. If it does, you live to get shot by me another day.”

“Not if I shoot you first.”

He’d been laughing, but we both got really serious. The truth was, he would be trying to shoot me and in theory, I would be trying to kill him. We wouldn’t necessarily be out to kill each other, but we were in a war, and there were casualties.

Once again, I thought about what it would be like to work with him on the same side and what it would for Franco and Sal to mend fences. It seemed impossible as the two of them had been fighting for decades, but it was always in the back of my mind.

Franco was the first one to call in and Sal joined less than a minute later.

“Dante!” Sal exclaimed. I knew him as a ruthless businessman, but in that moment, he was a father. “How are they treating you? Do you have food and water?”

“Yes Dad. I have food and water. They are treating me well. Please tell Mom that I love her and that I’m sorry for all of this. I’m sorry Dad.”

I was a bit surprised at his apology. He didn’t seem the type to offer them.

“We can talk about that later. We’re here to negotiate terms for your release. Franco, are you ready to be reasonable?”

“I was being reasonable. I caught a thief trying to steal my things. You remember our days together. What was it you said we should do if we caught anyone stealing from us?”

“This is different,” Sal said.

“Different how? I had a shipment coming in. Dante and some men showed up and tried to take it. That’s stealing. By your rules, we should cut off his hands, cook them, make him eat them and then put a bullet between his eyes.”

Dante’s face paled.

“Would you like to have a dinner show?” Franco taunted.

“ENOUGH!” Sal said. “You made your fucking point. What is it you want? And don’t give me some bullshit about wanting to make things even. Let’s leave the past in the past. What do you want now?”

Franco kept his cool. “I want that shipment that’s coming in the end of the week. I don’t want to steal if from you. I’ll pay for it, but I get to move the guns.”

I knew that even paying for it, there was a huge profit to be made.

“It won’t cost you anything, just money not made.”

“And what else?” Sal questioned.

“The dock. It was my territory. You have the docks on the Northwest side.”

“And if I agree to this, then Dante is allowed to leave?”

“Yes, once we get the shipment in our hands, we’ll release Dante. We’ll leave him in a location and call you then tell you where he is. We’ll take your word on it that you’ll give us control of the docks.

“And I have your word?” Sal asked.

Dante looked upset. He knew he was costing his father a lot of money, and so much more.

“Yes, you have my word.”

“I’ll send you the details, Frankie, and I’ll see you Friday Dante.” Sal ended the call.

I turned to Dante. “Guess you’ll be checking out on Friday then?” I joked, relieved that it was all working out.

“Yeah,” he said.

I was shocked there was no snarky comment. I thought he’d be happy to be getting out of here. He wouldn’t be the first to leave alive, but he was the first to leave alive and all in one piece.