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Dante slowed down at the end of the bridge. He saw a few police officers behind a car, and Dante couldn't risk drawing attention to himself, since he still had the gun in his trunk. He looked over at the police officers and they stared him down in return. Dante turned the corner onto the main road and picked up speed again. "I'll try. But you gotta tell me why you can't stay there any longer." Dante turned onto his street and saw cars in the driveway. He noticed that everyone was still sitting inside of them, so he figured that they had just arrived. "We'll talk about this later." Dante said as he stopped in front of his house. He turned off the car and opened up his door before turning towards Aria. "I have to talk to a few of the guys. Victoria is inside. Can you try to keep her company for a bit."

Dante stepped out the car and walked towards the house. Xavier, Kevin, and Diesel stepped out of their cars and began to greet Dante. "Hey how's it going guys?" Dante asked as he gave each one of them a hug.
"Not too bad. So what are we discussing?" Kevin asked.
"What we're going to do about Vito and his antics from the other night. Shall we go inside?" Dante began walking towards the door and took out his key. He unlocked it and stepped inside. "Victoria I'm back. I brought the guys and Aria." Dante yelled as he went into the living room. Dante motioned towards the couches. "Have a seat guys." Dante sat down on the one in front of the window.

"So Dante how did you get out of going to jail that night?" Kevin asked as he propped his feet up on the table.
"To be honest I don't even know. Maybe the Dante charm was the trick." Dante laughed at himself. He knew he had no charm. If he had anything it was the total opposite of charm.
"The Dante charm? You gotta be kidding me!" Xavier laughed as he punched Dante in the arm.
"We'll never know for sure. But we do know is that this Veto thing has escalated to a new level. A level that we should not only fear, but also watch out for." Dante looked all of them in the eyes. "Tell me. How do you guys feel about having a gun placed in your face? Watching your life flash before your eyes?" Dante placed his hands on the end table in front of him and leaned in towards Diesel. "And you. I thought you had my back? You didn't tell me there was a ******** army in front of my house!" Dante slapped Diesel across the face.
Diesel immediately put his hand onto the now red spot. "How was I supposed to know! I don't have night vision!"
Dante snarled at him. "You were supposed to scope out the situation before I went out there!"
"Well I had a gun against my back. How do you think I feel?" Diesel snapped back.
"I had three of them in my face. And are you talking back to me?" Dante backhanded him in the face again.
"Dante calm down. It was an honest mistake. Anyone could've done it. It won't happen again I promise you." Kevin said as he pulled Dante back down onto the couch.
"The only reason I'm letting you get away with this Kev is because you put up with my moms s**t for me." Dante said as he sat back down.
Xavier sat silently and took everything in. He smiled and shot Dante a smart comment. "Are you, the fearsome and powerful Dante, saying that you're scared of Veto? Is our leader becoming paranoid right now?"
Dante's faced fumed with anger. "Oh look at this! The little b***h is speaking now." Dante quickly stood up and snatched Xavier by the throat and began chocking him. "You have the nerve to speak. If I remember right, you were one of the people sitting in the house, and wasn't doing anything." Dante began to squeeze harder as Xavier gasped. "And no I'm not scared. I'm pissed off that piece of s**t Veto was able to get away with so much that night!" Xavier began to squirm in Dante's grip and started to grab at his hand.
"Let him go Dante! We need him." Kev jumped up and stopped Dante.
Dante threw him onto the couch. "I want all of you to take action. Recruit more people. Even other gangs that we know and don't have problems with. Teach the newer people the ropes. And watch your backs." Dante walked over and stood in front of Diesel. "Look out for your fellow friends. We're not letting this rat get away with anything else."

Dante walked over to the front door and stopped. "What the hell are you doing? I told you what to do, so go do it! Do what ever you think is necessary for us and our friends to survive. And do what ever is necessary to make Veto weaker!" Dante opened up the door and the three of them quickly exited. They got into their respective cars and took off.

Dante walked into the kitchen and looked out the back door. "What the hell am I going to do?" Dante quietly asked himself as he turned around. He went over to the couch and fixed the pillows. He sat down in the middle cushion and sunk into the comfort of it. He put his feet onto the coffee table in front of him and turned on the television. He put on the show Cops and stared at the large screen. He wasn't watching the show, but instead was staring through it at the wall, as he hoped he would somehow come up with the solution to everything.

Dante went into the room that Aria and Victoria was in. When he stepped in the room, he saw that Victoria was staring in the direction that he was, and he smiled at the thought that passed through his mind. Maybe she does like me Dante processed in his mind. He wasn't quite sure what to think of it either. Granted he liked her, but because of the recent activities in his life, he didn't really think anything of it. He looked at the three of them standing there talking, "I hope I'm not interrupting anything", he told them as he walked up to the side of Victoria. He noticed that Daren and Aria had been holding hands and he slightly laughed. Oh the fool. He doesn't know what he's getting into Dante thought with a small feeling of sympathy. He mentally punched himself because of the new feeling towards the guy. He looked at all of them once again and quickly became bored. Dante wasn't much for sitting around, unless he was drinking, and since that wasn't an option, he wanted to find something else to do. "So what's the plan?" Dante asked them as he crossed his arms on his chest.

Dante looked at Victoria and smiled again. He thought that she would understand what he meant, but apparently she didn't, so he would explain himself. "There isn't one. I was basically asking what everyone wanted to do." He said as he stepped closer to Victoria. He looked over at Aria and Daren and felt the hatred pelting against him from Daren. Dante stayed calm even though he wanted to put Daren into his rightful place. "I'd watch yourself Daren. Wouldn't want to see you in the hospital again, or possibly somewhere worse." Dante said without any emotion as he shot Daren a glare. He went over to the table by the door and picked up his knife, hoping that it would somewhat intimidate Daren, and so that he wouldn't forget it. He walked back over to the three of them and placed his hand into Victoria's. He kept his eyes fixed on Daren, hatred beaming out of them, but kept his cool so that nothing would escalate. I let him slide once, and I'll be damned if I let him slide again. Dante thought to himself as he balled up his free hand. Dante looked over at Aria for a quick moment, raised his eyebrows a little, and tried to tell her through his eyes to control Daren. Dante then looked back at Daren, and said to all of them, "Maybe we should have a seat? No use standing if we're not going anywhere right away." he looked to his left at Victoria, changing the look in his eyes from hatred to loving, and gestured to the couch with a slight diagonal motion of his head.

Dante laughed a little after Aria punched him. "You really want me to come up with the plan? It might not be in everyone's best interest, but I mean, I will if I have to." Dante listened to Aria as she asked Victoria about her hobbies. Do I even know? Dante asked himself silently. Dante sat on the couch silently and took in the conversation. If he were to choose something, then he'd make sure it didn't include Daren. Dante hated to hang around someone who didn't like him. Granted most of the time he was the one causing the problems with said person, he still didn't want to be around him, especially since he didn't really know Daren. Dante didn't want to take the chance with the guy. He seemed like the type of person who never got into trouble nor did anything wrong in his life. And he also found that those type of people were the ones who would rat on someone in a heart beat. He thought about telling Aria all of this and how he truly felt about Daren, but he knew that he would get no where and would most likely make things worse for himself. Plus if he was keeping Aria away from Veto and that crowd then he didn't have a problem with it.

Dante soon began to think about the Veto situation. He hadn't heard any news about him or his gang lately and began to grow suspicious as to why. Possible reasons began to race through his head, Is he plotting something? Are they just watching us? Are they waiting for us to start something? Did Aria have something to do with this?, but he tried to throw them out. All of them could be true and he didn't want to think that Aria had anything to do with it. The air in the room started to become heavy and Dante started to get uncomfortable. He stood up and stepped out of the house and mumbled something along of the lines of I need some air.

As Dante sat on the brick path that led up to his house, he looked down at his scarred hands, and began to reminisce in each and every fight that caused the scars. Movies of his life flashed before his eyes, each one carrying a little piece of Dante history, but non of which were pleasant memories. He rubbed the deepest scar on the outside of his hand, the one he received when he was caught by a knife, and thought about everything.

Why do I continue to fight this battle when all it leads to is death and anguish? Day after day, night after night, as if it's some sort of habitual routine I become anger over this war between thugs and us. We're no better but we think we are. I've lost my life to this violence and for what cost? To say I'm revenging the death of my friend. But what about all those other guys who's lives perished because of my revenge. When will they see their selves glorified? Man. What am I really doing? Why have I become this monster who is hell bent on causing everyone else pain? Is it because I want other people to suffer because I'm suffering?

Dante stood up and rubbed the back of his head. He went to his trunk and took of his jacket, placing it inside and grabbed his Led Zeppelin shirt, and quickly put that on in fear that someone might see him. He began to walk back up to the house and started to get lost in the sound of the clicking of his boots on the brick. I really need some better shoes Dante thought as he opened the door. He made himself change his entire attitude before speaking to the three of them. He refused to show his worry and disappointment to them. After all he didn't want to look weak and allow that kid Daren to jump on it. He did his best to speak in a content voice, "So did you decide on anything yet Victoria?" he walked over to where Daren was sitting and placed his hand on his stiff shoulder. Dante whispered to Daren, trying not to make a scene, "Relax. Don't worry yourself to much. I was only kidding." He patted Daren on the back lightly and sat down on the couch next to Aria. What's up with the kid? He seems a little on edge. Dante said quietly to her. He looked over at Victoria and smiled. She looked innocent and as if she felt out of place. For some reason this made Dante like her even more and he didn't know why. "We can do what ever you heart desires. All you have to do is name it." he told Victoria as he smiled a little bigger and winked, hoping that she would become a little more at ease.