Page 46 of Tristian (The Doherty Mafia)
I must’ve dozed off at some point because I woke up with a start when the door to the room opened and Aldo stepped in again.
I had no idea what time it was. Because there weren;t any windows in the room; I had no concept of light or day or night.
Aldo had a cigar burning between his fingers in one hand and carried another sandwich on a paper plate in the other. I didn’t expect anything from him. I figured he’d come to taunt me with this other sandwich, but this time, he came over and took off my gag.
“I made you this sandwich myself, would you like to try it?” he asked, a smile curling his lips.
I expected it to be poisoned. Something was fishy. There was no way he’d made me a sandwich himself and brought it over for me to enjoy. Aldo had better things to do.
But by now I hadn’t eaten in what felt like over twenty-four hours, and the thought of biting into a sandwich made my stomach tighten with hunger. He must’ve noticed the greed in my eyes because he came closer, holding the sandwich out towards my mouth.
“Tell me what you think. I’ve used English mustard instead of the French kind.”
I took a small bite. My mouth watered as I chewed. It tasted like the best thing I had ever had, but obviously, given the circumstances—anything would’ve tasted amazing.
“My mother used to make the best sandwiches in the world,” Aldo said, holding it out for me again.
I took a second bite, I couldn’t help myself. Despite knowing there was a good chance it was going to kill me.
“It’s a shame your mother had to die. Well, she didn’t have to die,” he continued.
“Then why did you kill her?”
“Because she was there, and I didn’t see the point of keeping her alive. I knew what I’d do with you—you were of some use to me. Keeping her alive would’ve meant spending time and resources on keeping her as a prisoner. As you can see, I’m not running my usual operations at the moment.”
When he brought the sandwich to me again, I turned my head. Two bites of it was all I needed. I could survive another twenty-four hours on those two bites if I had to.
Aldo shrugged and proceeded to wolf down the rest of the sandwich.
So he hadn’t poisoned it after all…
“But don’t blame me, darling. This is all your daddy’s fault. If he paid up in time, kept up his end of the bargain, none of this would’ve happened.”
I needed him to step just a little closer and I’d spit on him too. He had it coming. It was my only line of defense. But before I’d done anything, I heard a gunshot.
It sounded like it came from somewhere outside the building.
I snapped my head around to look at Aldo because I was sure he had heard it too.
And he did.
He suddenly looked very afraid.
Twenty-Six
Tristian
Once I spoke to Davey, I had a general idea of where Aldo and his men were possibly hiding. It wasn’t a location I was very familiar with, but I was able to narrow it down.
Colin and Aidan got on the phones to round up men who could accompany us on a shootout. Killian went over to the family home to discuss it with our father. We’d need his approval before leading a full-scale shootout like the one I had in mind.
But if we were able to corner Aldo and eliminate him—then we’d kill two birds with one stone. My first priority would be to take Elsie out alive.
It was the early hours of the morning and Brendan’s loft was abuzz with activity. Everyone was on the phone, trying to make arrangements and prepare for a big mission. It may be a major game changer for us. We hadn’t been this close to finding Aldo ever since the war began. So we had a lot on stake.
It was only once I’d made all the calls I needed to make, that I noticed Davey.
He sat on the couch, clutching the teddy bear to his chest. His mother was talking to his father, they were having a heated discussion and it seemed like they’d forgotten about Davey for a few minutes.
I went over and sat down beside him.
Even though Elsie hadn’t spoken about him much—I knew Davey had meant something to her. I knew she wanted him to be safe. I’d seen the look of relief and joy on her face when we found them hiding in the barn that night. She wasn’t just relieved for herself. She was happy Davey was reunited with his parents.
When I sat down beside Davey, he turned to me with droopy eyes.
“You tired, kid? You want to go back to sleep?”
He blinked his eyes rapidly and shook his head.
