Prologue

New York 2013

Blaze

 

 

 

“It must be done tonight.”

Marco “The Blaze” Valentino.

That was my name.

This was my job.

I was over it.

  I stared at the man barking orders at me blankly-like it was the first time I had ever seen him-but it wasn’t. Counting to ten in my head, I reminded myself that I had expected this, that it was part of the plan. The mob was nothing if not predictable.

The dark room, the large burly man with the thick Italian accent casually twirling his mustache while he nonchalantly ordered a hit on his best friend, all of it felt so surreal. But it wasn’t. It had been my life for so many years, and if I didn’t go through with my current plan- it would never change.

The man in question-the one ordering the hit- was my own father- Legendary mafia hit man, The Ghost. If that wasn’t bad enough- he had killed his way up to the top and was now the Don. Which means they were in need of a new hit man. In The Ghost’s mind, it was an unspoken agreement that his son would take over for him.

I could have, and easily. My whole life had been training for this day.  I was well versed in the art of the kill, if you could call it an art.  My skilled marksmanship had earned me the nickname “The Blaze”.  I had even taken out a scumbag or two over the years. But this? This was too much.

“I’m not going to shoot Uncle Sal.” My voice was like ice. I set my jaw and narrowed my eyes into dark slits of anger, but my father was unfazed.

“So, blow him up then. Poison him, even. It makes no difference to me. Just get it done.”

His blasé attitude pissed me off, and I slammed my hand down on my father’s massive desk, making the ash tray jump, scattering ashes into the air. “It’s Uncle Sal! The man is my godfather for fucks sake! We are the only fucking family he’s got! I’m not going to take him out on a fucking whim!”

“If we’re his only family, there’s no one to mourn him. Such a sad little life. Easy come, easy go.”

I was steaming now, and it was all I could do to not go completely off script.

“I’m not doing it.”

My father’s eyes darkened and his jaw hardened. His answer came between gritted teeth. “There’s a lot of things going on that you don’t know about, son. And on top of that, there’s a hundred grand missing and Sal is the only one who had access to it. He’s crossed me one too many times. This isn’t personal, son, it’s business.”

I didn’t want to be in the business of killing people we had always considered family but I didn’t say that as I met my father’s gaze head on. “You can’t fool me old man. It’s personal. Asking me to do it makes it that way. I know how your mind works. Having me be the one to pull the proverbial trigger is one last final ‘fuck you’.”

The smirk confirmed it, but my father said nothing. That was fine. I had enough to say for the both of us. “I’m not playing this game. I can take out assholes all day, but this is too much. You’ve gone too far. Have Gino do it, or Tony, I don’t care, but it’s not going to be me.”

The eyes staring back at me were filled with a quiet rage, but there was something else, a proud resignation. I shrugged. Maybe that was just what I wanted to see.

Finally The Ghost nodded, a sign that I had been dismissed from the conversation.

My hand was already on the doorknob when the reminder came. “Familia.”

I turned and met his eyes, repeating the single word back to him, even as I nearly choked when it fell from my lips.

Familia. It wasn’t the endearing term of love and devotion it sounded like, but a threatening reminder of my sworn oath to the family. I was never to speak of this. Never to betray the family’s trust.

When I finally pulled the door closed behind me, I closed my eyes, leaned against it and let out the breath I hadn’t realized I had been holding. Tonight, I would betray that trust. In fact, I already had.

*****

Blaze

“He wants me dead.” In the dark of night, I couldn’t see the familiar figure hidden in the shadows, but the voice was one I would know anywhere.

“Death is all he knows,” I responded, moving towards the voice in the dark alley where we had agreed to meet.

“It’s a sad life to be so focused on death.” Uncle Sal’s slim figure came into view- wedged into a small opening between two buildings. At the sight of this man that I loved far more than my own father, my whole body sagged with relief. It would be short lived. Once Rudy “The Ghost” Valentino put a hit on you, you were as good as dead. Sal and I knew this and planned for it, but were resigned to the reality that things might not go our way. Expect the worst and hope for the best.

As we embraced, the fear of the future hung unspoken between us. I forced myself to pull away first. “Sal, maybe if you talk to him. The two of you have been friends since you were boys. Surely, with your history, an understanding could be reached.”

Sal put his hands up and shook his head. There was a resigned sadness in his eyes. “You know how it is, Marco. The family owns you. They own your life, and they own your death. My life hasn’t been my own for a long time.” He shook his head sadly, his voice heavy with regret and longing. “The perks don’t outweigh the risks, Marco.  Good for you for seeing that before you were a sad, lonely old man like myself.”

Whether or not it was too late or not remained to be seen, but after everything Sal had done for me, I knew better than to speak the thoughts out loud. All I could do was nod, with my heart in my throat and take the envelope my godfather offered. We exchanged a look as he took the one I offered in exchange.

Our eyes met in silent agreement. Whatever happened, whether we lived or died, we would never see each other again. This was it.

Unable to speak, we embraced again, both knowing it was the last time. I could hear the unshed tears in Sal’s voice as he whispered. “You’re a good boy, Marco. Live well. Do good things. Stay one step ahead of them always. Find love, chase life, and cheat death, and above all, always remember…”

“Familia.” We spoke the word together, and this time I didn’t choke on it. It wasn’t a threat, but a sacred pact between the two of us. I watched through tears as Sal slipped back through the alley and into the night.

“Familia,” I whispered.

 

Hours later, I watched from a rooftop on the outskirts of town. I was too far away to hear gunfire if there had been any, but the explosion rocked the city. My breath hitched as I watched with a mixture of hope and fear as Sal’s beloved restaurant went up in flames.

The deed was done, exactly as we had planned it, and if all went well, Sal had survived. The part that was killing me was never knowing for sure, and knowing that if the worst had happened, and Sal was dead, it was all my fault.

Within the family, I had anything and everything I wanted. It had been all at my fingertips, but none of it had ever truly been mine. One wrong move and it all went away. They had reminded me of that every chance they got.

I had wanted out. Sal had known that and had risked his life to make it happen.

My hand went to my bare neck where the St. Christopher cross had always hung. Hopefully, it hadn’t melted down into an unrecognizable mass in the fire. Hopefully they would find it and assume that I too had been killed in the blast. My future depended on it.

As the flames lit the night sky, I withdrew the envelope Sal had given me earlier and peered in at the contents.  One hundred thousand dollars cash, the deed to a deserted piece of ranch land outside of Dallas, Texas and all the required identification needed to start over from scratch.

Pulling the topmost item from the envelope, I smiled at my godfather’s sense of humor. From this point on, I was Blaze Salazar Vale, and my freedom and my life, were Sal’s legacy.

I was damn well determined to make it a good one.