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I’d thought the way my dad lived his life was the standard for all of the mafia, but as I looked around, I was beginning to realize that I’d spent my entire life wearing blinders, and that it was time I saw the world for what it really was. One thing was for sure: these people were not the ones my father had told me horror stories about my entire life.
8
VINCENT COLOMBO
It wasn’t just my territory where I had favors and debts to collect, so I spent the better part of Sunday morning on the west side of town, walking between the places where I had business. None of the people there were familiar with my face, just the charitable contributions I gave them to get information on the moves of the Genoveses. It neatly covered the protection fees Pete Genovese charged for these people to operate businesses in his territory, and he wasn’t the wiser. I needed them to keep their businesses open and running, and I needed to know what was happening.
I walked out of the last business of the day. I had gotten similar reports from each one. The Genoveses were being suspiciously quiet. They hadn’t been around anywhere in the past week, and nobody knew where they’d gone. It was unusual, to say the least. The lack of information was concerning. There wasneverso little information, not in the years this information had been my job to gather. So instead of marching out of the west side, I strode into the Central Bar and Grill. It wasn’t too busy inside. A dozen or so patrons milled about, a few were gathered around a pool table, and the rest were in their respective seats.
I went straight to the bar, keeping my senses open to anything that seemed off. I knew this place was a hotspot for gossip, and I avoided it for that reason. The last thing I needed was to be discovered here. So few people knew my face that it wasn’t too much of a risk, though. My father had been known, but he’d never introduced me as an heir at important meetings, always just as an associate of ourborgata. Someone insignificant and meaningless. I had never asked him the reason for the distinction, but now I understood. If I’d been well-known, I never could’ve infiltrated a place like this, right in the center of New York’s west side.
“Bourbon, neat, please. Make it top-shelf,” I told the bartender, looking at the chipped counter in front of me.
A few men sat at a table about ten feet away, and one of them spoke loudly enough that I could make out each word. “I hear she’s a traitor,” he said. “Turned against her own people for the Colombo guy. Not much of a boss if you ask me.”
I grabbed the glass as the bartender passed it to me, and I slid him a fifty and said, “Keep the rest.” His eyes flashed in excitement, but he didn’t say anything as he cashed out my order and put the rest in his tip jar. If there was one thing I knew for sure, it was that big tips kept people quiet. “I was never here, got it?” The man nodded and moved to the other side of the bar where a young lady sat down and glanced over a menu.
“She’s probably been fucking him for years,” another of the men said, shaking his head in clear disgust. “Whore.” It didn’t take a lot of guesses to know who they spoke about, especially when the Genovese name was constantly coming from their lips. If these men were talking about Mia that way, it meant word must’ve spread that she’d fought against her own father’s men, despite being kidnapped. That knowledge thrilled me endlessly, and I wondered what Pete thought when he first learned what his daughter had done. Maybe turning her against him and this entireborgatawould be the best thing to do with her, especially when Pete’s men were talking about how much of a traitor the daughter was. It would have them reflecting on him as a leader too, if his own daughter couldn’t be trusted.
“She should have never left the damn bedroom. She should have been traded off for an alliance. Daughters don’t do shit for the power structure, and the boss knows that.”
“I’d pay good money for her to fight me,” the third voice said in a weaselly tone. “Wouldn’t be much of a fight on her end, I’m sure.”
I couldn’t help but smile into my glass as I thought about the way she’d destroyed three men within minutes. That had been impressive for anyone, let alone a woman half their size. I had half a mind to bring these men to her and let hershow them what she could do. The entire table busted out laughing at the joke, and I wondered how drunk they must have been to find that funny.
“I’d like to fuck her tight little pussy,” another of the men stated crudely, and I clenched my jaw at the words. “Clearly she’s a fighter.”
“I’d bet for the right price, the boss will sell her to you when he gets her back. She’s not going to be good for much else after she’s been around the block on the other side of town, if you know what I mean.”
I didn’t know why the words had me clenching my hand around the glass so tightly that I feared it may break, but I couldn’t help myself. I took a deep breath, needing to take control of this situation. I turned in my seat and looked at the table, meeting one of the guy’s eyes. “You guys are talking about the boss’s daughter?” I asked, mentally putting myself on the same level as these low-lives.
The one who looked at me first seemed immediately charmed, smiling with crooked, yellow teeth. The other two looked a little more hesitant. “What do you know about her?” one of them asked.
“I know she has a nice tan birthmark right between her tits,” I told him. I’d spent plenty of time eyeing her, and I’d never seen a birthmark there, but it was a gamble I had a feeling I could win. I’d bet none of these men had ever been in the same room as Mia, let alone gotten a good enough look at her tits to spot my lie.
“Ah,” the man to the right said, slamming his hand on the table. “I recognize you. The guard at the house, eh?”
A way in. I smiled and nodded. “Lucky to still have a job after they took her out of the house a few weeks ago,” I commented. And just like that, they all melted in the palm of my hand.
“I heard the boss killed the head guard for letting the Colombo’s spy in through the front door. The man’s slick, but they have him on camera, so Boss is a step closer to getting Mia back. Not that it’ll be a happy reunion after what she’s done.”
I chuckled under my breath as they referred to my spy—Caterina—as a “he,” but I didn’t correct them. “She’s a pretty face. He’ll be able to use her in another alliance. I’m sure he has some in mind.” In other words,do any of you know who else he’s building alliances with?
“There are no otherborgateworth negotiating with. He needs Colombo’s territory to expand before he can get anything else. God knows he’s been working at this shit for years.” The man rolled his eyes. “Between us, I don’t think he can do it alone. He’s sent in spy after spy, but they can never infiltrate all the way. They never get enough information to make a difference.”
That's because my defenses are top-tier. Because all the important information stays within my circle, and nobody can infiltrate us.
“Actually,” the man with yellow teeth spoke. “Between us, I heard they managed to get someone inside. It’s why everyone has fallen back on their usual efforts. They don’t need to pursue other avenues, because if this inside man works, the Colombos are as good as gone.”
“Wasn’t killing the first boss enough?” I asked.
“He’s not getting the territory as long as the son is alive and fighting. When we get it, we’re all going to be able to expand and grow. Boss promised all the made men a triple pay increase.”
“Fuck yeah,” one of the guys said loudly, holding up his beer. “In that case, I hope this spy is really good at his job.”
“Cheers to that, brothers,” I replied, feigning a smile and cheering with them. We all took swigs of our alcohol, and I found my mind working circles around the news I’d learned.
It made sense, of course. I’d never received so little input from all the businesses around here, so I knew something had to be going on. Something wasn’t right here, and this explained it. If he managed to get a spy to infiltrate deeper than all the rest, he wouldn’t want his men going around town and bragging about it. This bar was a safe place. No Colombos would dare enter a west-side bar frequented by the boss himself, but here I was.
