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Chapter One
Luca
“Fight! Fight! Fight!”
The familiar sounds of rough grunting from the men sparring in the cage followed by loud cheers from the watching crowd causes a yawn to overtake me.
This is a typical Tuesday for me, and back in my early twenties, I would’ve been in the crowd watching the fight and placing reckless bets. Fueled by adrenaline, I most likely would have joined the fighting too, stupidly challenging the biggest man in the room.
Nothing would have stopped the self-assured twenty-year-old me from hopping into the cage and fighting men twice my size, but those days are long gone.
Back then, I wanted to impress the Rossi family, and to say I succeeded would be an understatement.
Not only did I impress the Italian mob boss who owns this underground fight club and operates most of the city’s illegal businesses, but I became the underboss by the time I was twenty-nine. These days, I run the very place I used to fight in.
Now, I am just a grumpy, thirty-five year old son of a bitch whose name is enough to elicit fear in everyone in the city. Although no one talks about it, my name carries more weight than those of the people I work for. I have more connections and a reputation that rivals the devil’s.
The Rossi family would be nothing without me. They know. I know it. Everyone knows it.
I manage most of their illegal businesses, and unlike my boss’s spoiled brat of a son, I actually get shit done. I take care of the cops, so they don’t come sniffing around, and I am not afraid to strike back twice as hard against a rival family if they dare infringe on our territory.
Which brings me back to what I am doing here tonight.
The Russians have been causing trouble along our borders by selling drugs on our turf and need to be stopped before they get too cocky. Tonight, I am meant to be recruiting more men into the Rossi crime family, but I am bored out of my mind watching the kids in the cage below my office window circle each other like hyenas, afraid to pounce but unwilling to show weakness by leaving the cage.
Pathetic.
I breathe out a sigh and shake my head, taking a long drag of my cigar. I blow thick smoke into the air as I watch the kids throw weak punches at each other.
Whatever happened to the good old days when people walked into cages with their mouths foaming, ready to fight? The last good fight I witnessed was a couple of weeks ago with Hawk, but that was before he found himself a pretty girl and decided to retire from the cage. Not that I would have been able to recruit a man like Hawk anyway, but at least he made the fights interesting. I can’t believe he let something as foolish aslovetake him out of the game.
The sound of the phone ringing is a welcome reprieve from the joke happening on the floor below me.
“Boss,” I say as soon as the phone is at my ear.
“The Russians sent another message,” Matteo Rossi rasps into the speaker. “I am told they intend to stay in our territory and continue selling drugs here.”
His words bring me pause, and I drop the cigar into my glass of whiskey. “I doubt they would be that bold, Boss. Getting into a turf war with us is a bad idea. We have more manpower than they do.”
“Soon, that will not be the case. Their youngest daughter has been promised to the Albanian boss.”
I sit up with a start, the words sending a chill to my core. The Russians and the Albanians get along about as well as water with oil, but I know they would not hesitate to join forces if it means taking down a common enemy.
“An alliance through marriage,” I say, my voice carrying none of the confidence it did a moment ago. I get up from my seat and start pacing the small room, my head running through all the possible scenarios as to how to handle this.
The Russian and Albanian organizations joining forces could be devastating for everyone. I have complete trust in our men, but this could only mean bloodshed, and the streets are not ready for that.
My eyes cross to the men fighting in the cage below, and I shake my head in disappointment. It’s obvious I cannot depend on the new generation to win a fight in the streets when they can’t fucking land a punch in a cage!
“I trust you’ll take care of it, Luca.” Matteo’s parting words drag me from my thoughts.
Walking back out onto the iron balcony outside my office door, I drop the phone to the side table and dip my hands into my pockets, my thoughts on how I can make sure these twofamilies do not come into an alliance. My eyes narrow on the men we’re vetting for recruitment under the guise of a typical cage fight, and I can’t help the trickle of concern that creeps down my back. Sending any of these men out into a potential gang war would be signing their death warrants.
These kids would not survive a night in the streets.
I am tempted to storm down there, climb into the cage, and show them what a real fight looks like when I see her.
I freeze.
