AllFreeNovel
Share Us
My fatherusedto be more caring. After my mother died, he seemed to kill off all emotion. He wasn’t mean, just stoic to the extreme. And people think I’m distant.
My mother, Marguerite, died of a hit-and-run accident when I was 12. We were walking together on the sidewalk downtown, arguing about something stupid, when a car jumped the curb and hit her. The car took off. She died right there in front of me. And there was nothing I could do about it.
I’ve always tried to follow my father’s example. To not let my emotions destroy my life. To keep control of them. Being sad won’t bring her back. Focus on business. Gain as much control and territory as we can. That’s the mantra I adopted from my father. It’s worked well enough until now. I never realized how much I assumed Luca would always be there, working alongside me until we were old. We’re not twins, but when we were little, everyone thought we were because we never went anywhere without each other. I guess I assumed it would always be like that no matter how different our lives had become since Leo retired and I became underboss.
Now, everything looks different to me and the men I’ve always looked up to are barely willing to acknowledge the reason why.
“The main thing we need to talk about is the Russian territory,” Leo continues. “The Russians are as good as destroyed.”
The Bratva lost a lot of their goods during our deal. From the news reports it sounds like five of their guys got busted. They probably suspect us. They must think we’ve set them up since I only sent half the money and lower-level guys. If someone showed up to one of my deals hedging their bets and it got busted, they’d be my first suspect.
However, the Bratva seemed to have almost disappeared from Philadelphia instead. There was an explosion at Abrikosov, a restaurant some of them used as a meeting place. Nobody’s heard from Alexander Barsukov, the Bratva Boss, or any of his men. The only Russians anyone can find are the five that were busted at our deal.
I nod. “From what we can tell, any leader that was left has disappeared, too.”
“Someone is going to fill the vacuum,” Leo adds. “The Irish have lost their leadership with the death of Cormac Dolan. His only heir is his daughter, who obviously can’t take over. They can’t make a play for expanding across Northeast Philadelphia.”
We had a deal with Cormac Dolan to take out the DA. We didn’t honor that deal since Luca disappeared. But Dolan got his brains blown out the same night the Russian restaurant blew up.
I can’t tell if any of this has to do with Luca’s disappearance or if it’s just strange and coincidental.
“We’ve also been hit pretty bad,” I add. “We’ve lost several good soldiers, plus Luca, just this month, plus the money and resources we needed.”
“If we don’t take the Russian Territory, it’s going to fall to another family. Or some new gang is going to come in,” Leo says.
I agree. We might not be in the best shape to take over the old Russian Territory. Putting men there and asserting our control is going to put a strain on our current limitations. But it has to be done or we will have a harder time keeping hold of what we’ve currently got.
“I see that. We can do it,” I say. “But I think we’ll need to bring in some allies to help.”
“Who do you suggest?” Leo asks over his glass of whiskey.
“Wayward Disciples,” I say.
“A motorcycle gang?” Leo asks. I know old school Mafiosi view any Motorcycle Club as chaotic and lawless. True criminals. And Leo is as old school as they come.
“We’ve worked with them before. On smaller jobs. Damien knows them well. Some of them are probably even Barones by blood to some degree.”
“It’s not a bad idea,” my father adds, taking a deep breath and tapping his fingers on the arm of his chair, pensively. He’s never one to speak before he thinks, but he seems unusually quiet today.
“Fine. I don’t care how the fuck you do it. Just as long as you take control and make sure we’re leading it,” Leo replies. “We’ve still got the issue of Nicoletti.”
My father nods.
Leo continues, “He’s shooting off about how hard he’s going to come down on organized crime families. He’s going to be a bigger pain in the ass than any DA before him. It’s way too risky to take another shot at him right now. It would stink of retaliation. We need to stay off his radar while we get moving on this new territory.”
I take a sip of my drink. Leo twirls his glass while thinking. Then he continues, “Ideally, we need to stay ahead of him. We know he’s looking to come after us. If we know what he’s planning, that’s our best chance.”
“Do you still have that contact in his office?” My father asks. “Do you think you can use him?”
“He’s still there,” I nod. “We might get something out of him.” I hesitate before I say anything else. “There’s someone else that might also be useful.”
He nods again, giving me the go ahead.
I throw down the rest of my drink in one gulp. It feels strange to think of Klein again. Especially while I’m in this room. Like she and it can’t coexist in my mind. I have to get out of here before I say anything else.
* * *
I have Riccardo bring me down to Saints. I need to talk to Damien. Saints is one of our strip clubs. It’s mid-day when we pull up and the parking lot is still mostly empty.
