Chapter 10 - The Costello Table
Twenty-two men sat around the table.
Some had known Alfred since he was a boy.
Others feared him.
Several owed him their lives.
Alfred stood at the head.
“I am leaving.”
Nobody moved.
Then voices erupted.
“You can't.”
“What happens to us?”
“Moretti will take everything.”
Alfred raised one hand.
Silence returned.
“The illegal operations end.”
That caused an even greater reaction.
Mina waited in another room, listening.
Alfred had spent weeks with attorneys separating legitimate businesses from criminal ones.
Construction.
Real estate.
Shipping.
Restaurants.
Those could survive.
Everything else would be dismantled.
One older man stood.
“Your father built this.”
“My father also died because of it.”
“You owe him.”
Alfred looked toward the closed door behind which Mina waited.
“No. I owe my child.”
The room became quiet.
“I've spent my life believing fear was the same thing as respect,” Alfred continued. “It isn't.”
Nobody interrupted.
“I thought protecting people meant becoming more dangerous than everyone who threatened them.”
He paused.
“I was wrong.”
Mina closed her eyes.
Those three words might have been harder for Alfred Costello than any gunfight.
Some men left angry.
Some stayed.
Several looked relieved.
Lev remained until everyone else was gone.
“What about me?” he asked.
Alfred smiled faintly.
“You could retire.”
Lev looked offended.
“I'm fifty-eight, not dead.”
For the first time in weeks, Alfred laughed.
“Then run security for the legitimate companies.”
Lev considered it.
“Better dental?”
“Much better.”
They shook hands.
When Alfred entered the room where Mina waited, she stood.
“Is it done?”
“Not completely.”
Her expression fell.
“But it started.”
He approached her.
“Mina, I can't erase who I've been.”
“I know.”
“I can't promise nobody will ever come after us.”
“I know.”
“But I can promise our child won't inherit my war.”
Mina's eyes filled.
That was the promise she had wanted.
May you like
Not invincibility.
Choice.
