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Out east, in the main family, he was a powerful Capo, but still only a Capo. When the Pavone Famiglia began moving into Chicago more seriously, he took over the local crew and established himself as the de-facto Don of their midwest operations.
I’ve met him a few times, back before the war got hot. I always found him loud, crude, and distasteful—not worthy of the title Don. But he’s the man I have to negotiate with.
“For once in my life, I’m not interested in food.” He laughs and pats his gut. “Though you look like you barely eat at all. Seriously, Evander. You’re, what, five percent bodyfat? You’re the lord of your little family, boy. You don’t need to worry so much about staying in shape.”
“I prefer to get my hands dirty, Bosco.” I don’t add,unlike you. Bosco rules from a distance, which is smart for the head of a crime family, but I think it makes him a coward.
“I’ve heard. Chris Conti in particular hasn’t been happy about it.” His smile fades somewhat. “Things have gotten ugly in our city, Evander.”
Mycity. But I hold my tongue again.
“You can blame your capo for that.”
Bosco tilts his head. “From my perspective, you stole his wife away. That’s what he says anyway.”
“His wife ran from him because he’s an abusive piece of shit. I met her by chance, took her in, and offered my protection.”
“And married her in the bargain.” Bosco grins, waving his cigar in the air. “Don’t get me wrong. I’ve seen the girl. She’s fucking pretty. I understand why you’re willing to rip the city to pieces for her. Seriously though, pussy is pussy, there’s plenty of good pussy in this city. Didn’t you know Conti would go full-on apeshit over all this idiocy?”
It takes all my self-control not to leap on him and beat him senseless. “I assumed he’d be dead by now.”
He barks a laugh. “Fair enough, but he’s not, and here we are. We’re burning fucking residential buildings, we’re shooting each other in the street, and meanwhile all my fucking businesses are grinding to a halt. Don’t look at me like that, I know you’re struggling too.”
I shrug while keeping a straight face. He’s absolutely right—the war’s been making our work hard these days. The rackets are still earning, but the drug trade dried up. Nobody can work a corner or an alley these days, not without getting shot. I made sure of that. It’s been great for the overdose rate, but terrible for my bottom line.
“What bothers me more is law enforcement,” I say, staring at him. “I’m still young and I’d like to spend my years a free man.”
“Fucking cops,” he says with real disgust. “What do you think of the cops, Renzo?”
“Pigs,” Renzo says. “I enjoy listening to them squeal as they die.”
“Lovely,” Lycus mumbles.
I wave a hand at them dismissively. “Regardless of how you feel, Chicago’s murder rate skyrocketed lately, and the CPD is out for blood. They’re not happy about all the bad press.”
Which is what I’m hearing directly from my police informants, the cops that take my envelopes of cash. So far, my bribes are keeping my soldiers out of prison, but that won’t last much longer.
“Getting fucking expensive to stay out from behind bars, ain’t it?” Bosco clucks his tongue. “All this killing, and for what? Over some hurt feelings and a girl?”
“All this killing because you’ve been encroaching on my territory for months and this is a convenient excuse for you.”
He spreads his hands. “You’re paranoid, Evander, that’s not it at all. The Pavone Famiglia is happy with what we have.”
“We both know that’s bullshit. Men like us, we’re never satisfied.”
A clever gleam enters Bosco’s eye. “Maybe you’re right. So you want to quiet the war down and make sure law enforcement doesn’t throw us into a hole. How do we go about making that happen?”
I gesture at Lycus. He says, “First, we want Chris Conti.”
“Can’t do it,” Bosco says, shaking his head. “He’s a made man. You know we can’t turn our backs on him.”
“You people kill each other all the time. Don’t pretend like this isn’t possible.” I gesture at Lycus again.
Lycus says, “Second, we want the borders to return to normal.”
“You want me to give up the territory we’ve won?” Bosco’s eyes widen. “You’re asking a lot here, but you’re giving nothing.”
“You haven’t won shit, Bosco. The lines have only shifted.” I scowl as I gesture to Lycus one more time.
