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Father laughs. Through his deep Greek accent, he says in English, “Of course not. You know the business hours of a Boss has no cut off time. So, why are you calling me at this hour? You know it’s almost three o’clock in the morning here.”
I waste no time in filling him in on what’s going on with Dee. I thought he was going to scold me like a child and say let her handle it on her own, but I was wrong,
“Son” his says, “sounds to me this isn’t some random woman. You care for her. The only thing I can tell you is to follow your heart. If she is worth going to battle over, then she is the one for you. I know you, my son. You cannot have a weak, timid woman by your side and from what you’ve told me about Deanna, she will fit right into our family.”
Turning onto the expressway, I tell him, “True, but she is not of our culture. Deanna will not bow down to any man whether they are good or bad.”
“And your mother was the same way. In order to gain her love and trust, I had to do a lot bullshit to get her on my side and I’ve never regretted it. My children are loved and well taken care of. My wife never complains that because of our lifestyle someone is coming after her or our children because I make sure they are always looked after.” He pauses, then adds, “Yiorgos, it sounds like this woman means a great deal to you. Don’t lose that because you’re only thinking about the business. Every man needs a strong ally by his side, and I think you have found yours. Whatever bullshit is going on, you will handle it and keep her close. At this point, your number one focus is to always ensure she is safe at all costs and with that being said...we look forward to meeting her when we come to visit in three weeks.” Before I can reply, I hear the dial tone.
I should’ve known this was going to be his reaction. I need to have this resolved soon because if I know Father, he’s going to call Uncle Sebastian and Yiannis to see if Basil and I can handle the bullshit that is coming our way and I for one have never been one to disappoint.
Fifteen minutes later, I’m maneuvering onto the street that leads to the warehouse with Basil behind me. The sun has set and in this area the flow of civilians has greatly decreased. Even if it was in the middle of the day, no one would be able to hear the cries of the men because Yiannis had the entire warehouse made soundproof.
Parking in my space behind the warehouse, I get out. Basil parks beside me, then gets out too.
“How do you want to handle this?” He asks, coming to my side.
Cracking my neck, I tell him, “They will tell me what I need to know or...matter of fact there is no or. Whether they answer my questions or not, they’re going to die.”
“Sounds like a plan to me,” Basil says as we walk past our men, then enter the warehouse.
We walk down the stairs to see the two idiots tied to chairs, looking around the room. My men have formed a horseshoe around them, watching as they try with no avail to get free.
Taking off my shirt, leaving me in what I’ve learned since being here is called a wife beater, I walk over to the table where all the instruments of torture are laid out. They were all fine and dandy but what I need, I already have on me.
“You know, the two of you can easily walk away from this if you tell me who your boss is,” I calmly state.
They look at each other. The Biracial one, elbow boy moves his head from side to side to the Caucasian throat chop boy. He quickly disregards him and starts to speak behind the tape Dee placed over his mouth.
I calmly walk over to him, then crouch down. “You have information for me?”
He vigorously nods his head up and down.
Digging into my pocket, I pull out my razor, then press it against his throat. “I’m sure you do, but unfortunately I think this one over here has more than you do.” In one swipe, I cut his neck ear to ear. His companion looks on with horror. They want to stomp with the big dogs, then welcome to my stomping ground.
Pointing the bloody razor to the other guy, “All I want to know is the name of your boss, “I continue. “That’s it. This one was too eager to divulge that information which leads me to think something would’ve been left out. But you...I think you are the one who will tell me everything I need to know.” Eyeing my guard next to him, “Remove his tape.” I order.
He does so, but not in a gentle way. I’m sure he probably ripped off the first layer of skin on the man’s lips.
“Now, that’s much better. We can talk to each other man to man,” I tell him. Walking over to him, I grip his shoulder. “All I want to know is, who is the person that hired the two of you to come to the bookstore.”
Beads of sweat stream down his face as he rubs his lips together, trying to apply natural moisture to them before he replies, “I was just there to do a job. We were sent to scare her into going along with the program. We were never going to do any bodily harm to her.”
Walking around him, I recall, “Yes, but didn’t your dead friend over there say he would snatch her over the counter?”
He drops his head. “It was only a scare tactic that we’ve used before.”
Incensed by his response, I grab a fistful of his hair and yank his head back. He howls out in pain as I slash the razor across his chest, then hold the blade up to his cheek. “This is what you call a fucking scare tactic. Now, will I get the information I want to know as I slowly cut into the layers of your skin? You’re going to have to talk quick though because my razor is extremely sharp.”
With wide eyes he swallows, replying, “I will tell you what you want to know as long as it gets me back to my family when it’s all said and done.”
Lowering the blade, I counter, “If it’s useful, then you’ll be home before your family starts to wonder if you’ve abandoned them.”
With the blade away from his face, he starts to verbally dump everything. “I’ve only worked for Mr. Hollis, Conrad Hollis for the past three months. He would send Zack,” He points to the dead sap on the floor, “And I to scare business owners to either pay him a fee for protection or lose their businesses. Most of the time, they were too frightened to deal with him, so they would sell their stores and Mr. Hollis would end up owning them anyway.
I normally run the streets and did side hustles to take care of my family. I’m the oldest of six and I’m not sure if you know what it’s like to scrape the bottom of the barrel to make sure your family eats at night, but I did what needed to be done. If you want to kill me because of that, so be it, but just remember at the end of the day, I’m just a man going through the trenches trying to build a better life for his family.”
Honestly, I couldn’t knock him for it. I’ve seen our people in Greece do desperate things to take care of their families. Heads of the families would do things that they wouldn’t normally do to ensure that their families were taken care of but that still doesn’t change the fact that he and his friend went after Dee. He needs to know who the fuck he just crossed paths with.
