Anton and his crew arrived at the first location. The plan was to take out the warehouses first, an adjustment made by Anton. If they’d started with his would-be assassin as Marco and Stefano planned, he thought it might give too much time for the rest of the Romanos to be alerted and set up a sabotage at the warehouses. If the DeCalvos attacked all the warehouses at once, it would be a surprise ambush and they could take them all down quickly before getting on with the rest of the plan.

Besides that, not only had the plan changed, but so had the goal. Anton no longer wanted to kill as many of the Romanos as possible. He was going about things differently today. Killing them was always an option for later if this plan didn’t work.

His crew’s leader was Marco. Anton let him take the reigns in this group so that when the time came, he could leave them under Marco’s direction if he had to and go take care of the boss as planned. Hopefully, it wouldn’t come to that, but Anton was prepared for several outcomes of this night.

Marco clicked the button on the secure walkie. “Orange in location.” Each of the four groups was a different color. These were supposedly secure walkies, but why take the chance that their transmission might be intercepted?

The other teams clicked in one-by-one. When they were all ready, Anton nodded.

Marco clicked the walkie again. “All teams go.”

Marco lifted a closed fist in the air. This was the sign to move in. The group responded at his motion and walked forward as a well-trained unit dressed all in black. They spread out across the front of the warehouse, waiting for Marco’s next gesture.

When Marco raised his closed fist again, then opened his hand so his palm was flat, they went into action.

Two of the men had guns with large caliper bullets and used them to shoot out the windows across the front of the buildings in a few fast shots. Then, four more men climbed in the through the windows while the armed men kept guard outside.

Minutes later, they were handing large boxes of ammo and weapons out through the windows, loading them into a truck normally used for the shipping business.

As expected, two cars came flying around the corner toward them. Anton’s crew started shooting as the cars approached. Their instructions were simple. Shoot out the tires, stop the cars, defend yourself, but don’t kill anyone. Unless you absolutely had no other option. He wasn’t going to sacrifice his men for the sake of the Romano men if it came down to it.

One car veered off to the right when its front tire blew, causing it to crash into a telephone pole. The other one kept going until a gunshot created a large hole in the front tires, then another hit the windshield, shattering it. The car was still coming toward them, out of control, and they had to jump out of the way so that it would crash into the building behind them. He hoped they weren’t fatal crashes.

All the noise and commotion meant the cops would likely be on their way soon. It also meant that if some of the Romano men were coming to check on the warehouse, the family knew something was going down. Lorenzo was likely sitting in headquarters right now, taking calls and issuing commands as he found out one-by-one that his biggest warehouses had been ransacked.

The final step once they had everything they wanted from Romano’s stash was to toss in the Molotov cocktails and light the place up. The building went up in minutes, but Anton and his crew were already long gone by the time the flames reached out of the windows.

They stopped at the rendezvous spot and called to the other teams.

“Orange clear. Report,” Marco said.

“Blue clear.”

“Red clear.”

It took a moment longer, then finally, “Yellow clear.”

“Move to position two,” Marco said.

Anton and Marco were in one car with the rest of the orange team in another. Another man drove the truck with the stolen goods. When Marco pulled out, the second car pulled in line behind them, with the truck bringing up the rear. In minutes, they turned into the large parking lot of an abandoned strip mall. Two other teams had already arrived. When the last team arrived, they all got out.

“Anyone injured?” Anton asked his men.

There was one gunshot wound, but to a leg. He’d live if he got treatment soon. Many cuts and scrapes not worth emergency medical attention had come from climbing in through broken windows. One of his men had gotten into a fight with a Romano and ended up with two stab wounds. He claimed he’d only stabbed back to incapacitate and that the Romano who attacked him was still alive. So far, no one from either family had died. This was exactly what they’d wanted.

Anton sent those too injured to continue off with a man who could drive them to their doctor. The DeCalvos didn’t just walk into the ER. Not on a night when so much activity happened and the police would be looking for that sort of thing. They had a private doctor, well paid for his silence, who would see them at his home office.

“Now,” Anton said. “So far, the plan has gone flawlessly. I credit all of you with that. Let’s keep it up. Time for stage two.”

This stage was about more direct eliminations. They would systematically take down the Romano men posted as guards outside of the main headquarters. This was where Lorenzo would be. Likely, the man who attempted to kill Anton would be there as well.

Anton broke up the men into new teams and gave them each directives. First, all the trucks were moved to a secure location. Then, they set out. The line of cars parked several blocks away from their destination. This would be a sneak attack. The Romanos were likely on alert with the warehouses going down and were possibly short staffed, which would help. Either way, the DeCalvo family was prepared.

His men crept through the streets, staying hidden until they were close enough to spread out and take position. The Romano headquarters was not located in a shipping business, like the DeCalvo headquarters was. The Romano family did their legal cover business with women who barely wore any cover. A chain of strip joints called the Blast were run by Lorenzo, and he kept his office in the back of one of the locations—the location his men were now approaching.

The business end of things, where the girls and customers were, was on the opposite end of the building from where Anton stood now. Some of the men would enter to watch from the inside and make sure no one had any idea of what was taking place in the back rooms.

There would be no walkie commands for when to attack. It was up to each team to decide the best timing. They needed stealth and couldn’t take the chance of someone else overhearing the command. All walkies were switched to silent except Marco’s, which was left on in case something went terribly wrong and one of the teams needed backup.

Anton stayed back when the guards came into view at the back of the large building. Two men on either side of a metal door held guns and kept a watchful eye. Anton’s men got into position, moving as close as possible without drawing the guards’ attention. When they were in range for their weapons, Anton’s men fired their tasers and hit the guards. They dropped to the ground and his men moved in to disarm them.

Marco checked the bodies. He nodded at Anton to let him know they were down and knocked out, but alive. Then he signaled that they should enter the building.

Anton’s men went in first. Any plan like this was always set up to protect the boss. As if he were the king and these were his guards, his men went ahead of him, two behind him, to make sure no one snuck up on them and took out the boss.

They moved down a dim hall until they found the door marked “Private.” This was Lorenzo’s office. Anton’s crew raised their guns and Marco gave the signal. They slammed the door open and stormed in, guns ready.

Inside the room, they found Lorenzo sitting behind a large desk. Several men stood around him, and they all snapped their attention toward the door when it banged open and the DeCalvos came in with guns aimed at them. Lorenzo’s men pulled their guns and aimed back in defense.

“What the hell do you think you’re trying to pull?” Lorenzo got to his feet from his seat behind the desk.

Both families had guns trained on the other, but the DeCalvos outnumbered them two to one. Anton thought he saw fear in Lorenzo’s eyes. That was exactly what Anton wanted. Make him feel like there was no way out except to do what Anton was about to force him to do.

“Put your weapons down,” Anton said to him.

Lorenzo glared, but his men did not move. Anton lifted his own gun and pointed it at Lorenzo. This made him finally comply. Lorenzo nodded to his men and they lowered their guns.

Anton’s men moved forward, pushing Lorenzo’s men aside, searching through the desk’s drawers.

“We’re not here to kill people,” Anton said. “In fact, you’ll find that in all the attacks on your warehouses tonight, not a single one of your men was killed by mine.”

Lorenzo looked over at one of his men, who nodded. Lorenzo crossed his arms. “Then what is this about? You know we want you dead for what you’ve done to this family.”

“And my family wants you dead for what you’ve done to my family,” Anton said. “It’s a pretty little circle, isn’t it? You kill one of mine, I kill one of yours. That makes you kill one more of mine, so I kill one more of yours. You took out our boss, now I have to return the favor. Where does it end?”

“With your head on a stake.”

“That wouldn’t end it and you know it,” Anton said. “But I do have a way to end this feud.”

Anton reached into his back pocket. Lorenzo ducked in response as if Anton were going to pull out another weapon. Instead Anton held up a book, then tossed it onto the desk in front of Lorenzo.

Lorenzo pulled his eyebrows together, then flipped open the cover of the book.

“Those are our books,” Anton said. “The real ones. All the comings and goings of our business, legal and otherwise.”

Marco handed another book to Anton. This one had come from inside of Lorenzo’s desk. It was the book for the Romano business. Anton held it up with a smirk. Lorenzo glared at him.

“What is this?” Lorenzo demanded. “Why not just shoot me and get this over with?”

“There are three ways this can go down,” Anton said. “One. I turn both books over to the FBI.”

“Why would you do that?” Lorenzo asked.

“If that’s what it’ll take to stop the killings, I’ll do it,” Anton said. “I’ll let the government end this—dismantle both families, stop our businesses, stop the killing, put us all in jail so we can’t attack each other again. But the second option to end this feud is for me to kill you right here, right now. Then let my men finish off your family. We’d have to kill you all to make sure you didn’t kill us back and keep the payback deaths building up. We’d have to make sure you couldn’t retaliate.”

Lorenzo’s glare hardened. “And what is the third option?”

“The third option?” Anton pulled his mouth into a half smile. “It’s my favorite. And it goes like this. I walk out with my men. No one dies. No one goes to jail. DeCalvo Shipping goes legit and faces no further trouble from the Romano family, or any other family for that matter. We leave the crime to you, and you leave us alone for good.”

“You want out of the mafia?” Lorenzo scoffed.

Anton nodded once. “We have a legitimate business that makes good money. I’m sick of the killings and of having to watch my back all the time.”

Lorenzo laughed. “You’re serious?”

Anton nodded again, then pulled back the slide on his Glock. “Unless you prefer one of the other options.”

Lorenzo held up his hands. “I don’t want my men to die any more than you want yours to. Killing people is a hassle. Bodies to dispose of, crime scenes to hide, people to pay off. If you’re going to let us take over the city and run it as the only family, with no competition, then I’m all for it.”

“But,” Anton said, his gun still pointed at Lorenzo’s head. “The deal is, you leave us alone. If you want to ship something somewhere, we’ll give you a good deal. If my men want some entertainment, they’ll frequent your strip club without a second glance from your men. No more killings. No more feud.”

“We do have one small problem that’s getting in the way of your nice and tidy little plan.” Lorenzo held up his forefinger and thumb, just a quarter inch apart, and smiled.

“What’s that?” Anton asked.

“Tonight, you burned down four of my warehouses and stole quite a lot from me. Do you expect me to just let that go?”

“The burnings were payback,” Anton said. “You did take out my grandfather—who was our boss—and come after me. We had to retaliate in some way. Lucky for you, breaking and entering and arson is obvious and covered by your insurance. You’ll have four nice, new warehouses in no time. The goods themselves… they’ve insurance. We hold it all to make sure you keep your end of the bargain, should you agree to option three. Option one or two, it won’t matter. We’ll turn it over to the FBI with the books if we go that way, or we’ll sell it all ourselves and makes a few bucks if we go with option two.”

“And if we go with option three? You’ll just enjoy my guns as a nice little gift from my family to yours?”

“I’ll sell it all back to you for a real good price.” Anton smiled again at that.

“You want me to literally pay for what we’ve done to pay you back for what you’ve done?”

“I didn’t kill anyone,” Anton said. “I’d think paying a few grand for some weapons would be more than a fair trade. Unless you don’t put that high of a value on your men’s lives.” Anton looked at the men beside Lorenzo pointedly, as if to show them that they were not worth much to their boss.

Lorenzo thought for a long moment, looking from Anton to his men and back again. “Okay, DeCalvo. So long as no one runs to the police or FBI, I’ll agree to that. But, anyone talks, and all bets are off. We come after you and don’t stop until you’re all dead.”

“Agreed,” Anton said, finally lowering his gun. “Same goes for your men. Anyone talks or decides to come after one of men, then we go with option two.”

Lorenzo glared at him for a moment, then stuck out his hand. Anton shook it.

“You’re an idiot,” Lorenzo said. “But it’s your life.”

“It is now,” Anton said. “Best of luck to you and your family.”

“The same to you,” Lorenzo said, half chuckling.

“Call me when you want to make a deal to get your goods back.”

Lorenzo nodded once.

Anton and his men turned and walked out. They headed back to the cars and waited. Eventually, all the men made it to the rendezvous point.

“Men,” Anton said, facing them. “Today we made history. The DeCalvo family is officially no longer part of the mafia, and no longer conducts business in an illegal or questionable manner. Should any of you not be happy with the new arrangement, you’re welcome to leave and join another family. I won’t stop you or harm you.”

Marco shook his head. “I can’t believe you really did it. You know, I didn’t think he would go for it, and I didn’t think you’d go through with it. I don’t think I get it at all.”

“I have a family now,” Anton said. “I grew up poor and hated every second of it. All I wanted was to have money. When my parents died and I came to live with my grandfather, I had all the money I could want. And women, drugs, whatever. My life should have been perfect, but I was miserable. I hated seeing people die and families destroyed. I knew how much it destroyed me to lose my parents. I wanted it to end, and once I became the boss, I had the power to do it.”

“You got balls, that’s for sure,” Stefano said. “You just better hope your grandfather doesn’t come back as a ghost to haunt you. He’d shoot you in a second.”

Anton laughed. “I know it. But he’s dead. Another man dead because of all this. Was it worth it? He made a lot of money, but it’s not doing him any good now. He could be alive, getting to know his granddaughter and living a happy life. But he chose the mob life, and it cost him everything in the end. I don’t want that for me or any of you.”

“So, now what?” Marco asked.

“Now, I go find my woman and let her know I’m okay. Anyone who wants a job, I’ll see you in the office bright and early Monday morning. We have a business to run.”