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Max
I drag myself up the final flight of stairs toward Nico’s office at Culaccino after I left my dad. I rap my fist on the door. “It’s me.”
“Come in,” he calls out.
I twist the knob and shut the door behind me. Some of the security guys are hanging around at either end of the floor, as always, to make sure Nico’s office is protected. Especially since he’s the reigning head of the family right now.
Nico takes no unnecessary risks and he pays his guys plenty to keep his ass safe.
“Wow. Who’d you piss off this time?” He smirks and twists off the cap of a bottle of Vitamin Water and takes a long gulp.
I narrow my eyes at him. “I got jumped tonight by Mikey Bonnaro and his crew of fucking rejects.”
“And why do you think that is?” Nico cocks an eyebrow. “Didn’t you know they’d be back to collect?”
I clench my fists. “Are you really going there?”
“This is exactly why we keep having the same conversation, Max. Because you’ve done plenty and never considered the consequences. You planted those drugs in Gianni’s car and got him sent to the can. How many times have I told you to stand down and not act out of pure rage because you got an itch up your ass?” He sighs and sits back in the chair. “You knew they’d be back. Hell, I knew they’d be back.”
“What else do you know?” I grunt. “Because I’m not fucking stupid enough to believe you had no idea what was going on with them.”
“I’ve had Mikey under watch ever since Luca Cappodamo was killed. He was on his way up in that family until we took it down. The guy’s a fucking lunatic, and I knew he’d be back at some point to collect.”
“Well, you were right. And now is the time. I guess you know who’s financing them, too.”
“Yep.” He takes another sip of his Vitamin Water.
“You motherfucker!” I jump out of the chair. “You knew what they were gonna pull and you never even said a goddamned word! “
“Calm the fuck down!” He stands up and points at me. “My responsibilities are to know who our enemies are and figure out how to protect the family. Period. I don’t owe you information. I tell you what you need to know, when you need to know it.”
“Yeah? Well, they’re in our back fucking yard, Nico! What the hell are you gonna do about it, since it’s your responsibility?” I shout, mimicking him.
“I can’t do anything until they make a move. They’re working with the Cinques, bringing drugs and women into our territory.” He sits back down and scrubs a hand down the front of his face. “I know they have some buyers coming into the area in the next few days, so shit’s going to go down. But I don’t have a location yet. I’m still working on it.”
“With who? Rocco?”
“Are you seriously going to get pissy about me working with Rocco?”
“If you tell me he’s the one you trust with this shit, then yeah! I am gonna get fucking pissy!”
Nico rolls his eyes, grabs a football, and spirals it at me. “Stop crying like a bitch, will you? I haven’t been working with Rocco.”
I catch the short pass and hold it tight, just in case he pisses me off and makes me fire it back at his head. “So who’s involved? And why the hell am I always the last one to know? Maybe if you’d given me a heads-up, I might not have gotten my ass handed to me tonight. I might’ve been a little more prepared!”
“Look, it doesn’t matter who—”
“It does to me! Because whoever you’ve been working with has information that can get us all killed. I’d like to know what the hell we’re up against here.”
Nico stares at me hard for a solid minute. Feels more like an hour though when you aren’t breathing. “You’ll find out when I decide the time is right. Right now, I’m still trying to pinpoint a location for the exchanges. If we can’t stop them and they keep trafficking in our territory, it makes us vulnerable. They’ll leak everything to the feds and then they’ll fucking overrun the place, breathing down our necks, just waiting for us to make the wrong move while the Bonnaros dance their asses back to fucking Brooklyn. This whole operation can cripple us, and that’s exactly what the Bonnaros and the Cinques want…to put us out of business for good. To crush our family once and for all so they can take over the area.”
“Why the fuck are the Cinques even involved? Aren’t they tearing shit up on the west coast?”
Nico averts his eyes and flips through some papers on his desk. “They all hold grudges, Max. Every alliance we form with another organization and every choice we make comes with consequences. Serious fucking consequences. And they will always come back to bite us at some point. You get me?” He focuses on my face, his mouth stretched into a thin line.
I grip the football tight, my fingertips turning white.
Does he know?
