“Sir, you don’t understand,” Marco said, raising his voice at Anton. “We know exactly who shot at you. It’s the same family that killed your grandfather.”

“And we killed the man who killed my grandfather,” Anton said.

“And now they want to kill you for that killing,” Marco said. “It will never end unless we strike back hard.”

Anton looked around the room at his five highest employees. They’d all been urging him to take action. To do more, to fight back harder.

“We’ve outlined a plan and want you to take a look,” Stefano said.

“Let’s hear it,” Anton said.

“Okay.” Stefano seemed pleased that Anton was at least willing to listen. “First, we go after the guy who shot at you. It was one of their made men. Then, we systematically attack these four warehouses.” Stefano spread a map across the conference room table and pointed to four locations. “These are their biggest points of business. This will leave them hurting and vulnerable. Then, we can move in and take out all the high ups in the family and take down the boss.”

It was a decent plan. Anton had seen his grandfather do something similar when he was younger. It was a similar situation, where a family wanted to take over the DeCalvos and they’d had to defend their territory and take out the other family. His grandfather had taught him that this sort of thing happens sometimes when a new boss takes over. The rival family thinks the newbie is weak, easily overtaken. It seemed like that was exactly what the Romano family thought of Anton. They’d been moving in, and now they wanted to take over by taking Anton out.

A takeover like this was huge. It could be the biggest thing Anton did in his position as boss. It was no easy task to take down another family. His guys had been working hard to get the details they needed to form the plan. It was a solid plan. There was just one problem. Anton didn’t want more killings.

Once he became boss, he’d started making changes in the shipping company. He’d gone after bigger, legal accounts and had made subtle shifts that would lead them toward going completely legit. And that was his goal. Go straight so he could be the man Hannah and Melody needed him to be. This would be moving in the opposite direction. This would make him less of the man he needed to be.

And it would mean killing many people, which meant affecting many individual families and children. Just because they were in the mob, too, didn’t mean these men didn’t love their wives and kids and that they didn’t love them back. He would be ordering people’s lives to be ruined in doing this.

“I need some time to think through this,” Anton said.

“What are you waiting for, a bullet to your head before you’ll act?” Marco asked.

“No, I just want to make sure we’re making the right move.”

“This is the only move,” Stefano said.

“For now, we wait.” Anton slammed his fist on the table, reminding them who the boss was. “It’s my life on the line, and I want a few days to consider all the options.”

He was still hoping there was a way to end this amicably. Talk to the boss, Lorenzo Romano, maybe? Explain that they were getting out of the mob business and that they weren’t a threat to them? It seemed like a pipe dream, but maybe it would work. If it didn’t, he could always go back and kill them later.

The next day, he sat in his office answering emails and trying to get more legal contracts. Someone knocked on his door. He looked up to see Matt holding a stack of mail.

“Thanks,” Anton said.

Matt set down the stack and walked out.

Anton finished sending his email, then flipped through the envelopes. He stopped when he got to an envelope that had only his name on the front. It had been hand delivered.

Inside, he found a photo of Melody walking to school. His blood boiled as he opened the notepaper included with the photo.

“Cute kid,” was all it said. It wasn’t signed, but it didn’t need to be. He knew it was from the Romano family. This was just the latest in the line of threats they’d sent him, but this one was more personal.

He pounded his fist on the desk. Now they were going to get Melody involved in this? And that meant Hannah was involved, too. Her photo would probably show up next.

Now he had no choice. He had to act. It was one thing to let them live if only he was in danger, but if they were going to threaten or harm his daughter, they would all die.

“Marco! Stefano!” Anton called out of his office door.

The men arrived moments later. “Yes, boss?”

“Put your plan into action,” Anton said. “I just have one change.”

“What’s that?” Marco asked.

“I’m going to be the one to take Lorenzo Romano out.” Anton could hear his heart beating in his ears. “I want this done tomorrow. Get the cars and everyone ready.”

“Smart move, boss,” Stefano said. “We’re on it.”