Tempted By The Mafia Boss

Nick

Fucking two weeks…

It’s taken a whole two weeks to get an address for Snade.

We’re standing outside his mansion.

It looks like he’s brought the emperor’s palace to Chicago.

The place is off grid and situated on the outskirts of the city. A little like my home, but hidden to the outside world with the Historical Society Museum set up at the front section of the grounds.

Snade lives a mile away.

The place screams of wealth… and danger.

Being a Giordano gives me that fucking ability to smell danger. My brothers can sense it too.

They’re here with me, along with six of the guys who roll with us as backup. I have them mostly work at the club as security because we’re there the most. Today they’re with us and each of us has a piece, ready for trouble.

Rest assured there will be trouble.

Snade knows we’re here. I had to make an appointment with him.

We got here fifteen minutes ago and were ushered into the courtyard by a butler who looks like he was pulled from the set of a Bond film. Like one of the villains. A little like us, except he answers the door.

That’s when I smell the first sign of trouble.

Although we’re here and I made this appointment, I know Snade knows we’ve been looking for him for the last two weeks. It’s not hard to know these things. To look for someone you have to ask around, you have to look around. Finding him took more than Jo and his hacking abilities. It meant going back on the streets.

A Giordano pack looking around for a member of The Triad is big news and he’s not stupid. He must know why we’re looking and why we’re here.

We go further into the courtyard, following the butler and see Snade sitting at a large conference style table at the end of the garden. Around the table are three women and ten men. The women sit next to him. I’ve been told he keeps concubines. They’re all dressed in traditional Chinese wear and when they see us they move to go inside the house.

Snade smiles when his eyes land on mine and I can’t help but fixate on the nasty scar he has going over the center of his face that’s taken out his left eye. All that’s there is a mark over his eye and the eye is gray and lifeless.

He looks like a nightmare and more nightmarish when he smiles wider.

“Fuck…” Gabe hisses next to me under his breath.

I really should value my brothers more. Neither of them wanted to be here.

They’ve had this thing about them right from childhood though, where they see me as their kid brother and won’t allow me to walk into danger, no matter how badass I think I am. They won’t allow it. They’ll put their lives on the line for me, and me for them. They just do it more for me because I tend to get in trouble a lot.

Fuck, today is one of those days. It fucking is, because the look on Snade’s face is like a spider who just caught a bug.

Predator and prey.

And we’re in his playground.

“Well, well, look at this… not one,” Snade holds up one finger, “but three Giordanos in my presence,” he laughs and rises to his feet.

“We’re here for information,” I declare. I want to cut the fucking bullshit and get the info I came here for. That’s what I want to do. Cut the shit.

He smirks. “Thank you for clarifying. There I was thinking you came for some jasmine tea.”

His men rise and I gear up.

“My friend Tommy Ricci was gunned down last month…” I say, ignoring his goons. This fucker isn’t going to rattle me. He can show off his men and his wealth and whatever the fuck else he wants. I don’t care. It’s been a month and we’re losing Tommy. I need answers. I need blood. “I want to know why? Who did it? Who hired the hit on him?”

That was the best way to start. We had the intel from the computer. The threats and the plan. What we don’t know is what happened next.

“Really? You expect me to just tell you? Really?” He laughs again.

“I’m offering ten grand for information.” Ten g’s is all he was going to get.

He laughs again. “You fucking prick… I’m offended. Do I look small time to you?” he balks, staring me down. “Ten grand to a notable member of The Triad. Really, motherfucker?”

Salvatore tenses next to me. I knew he was getting worked up. His temper was actually worse than mine. He just has a handle on it, unlike me.

“Want it or not?” Salvatore asks, taking over from me.

“What do you think?” Snade throws back. “A hundred grand at the least.”

Wow, this guy is something else.

“That all?” I tease.

“A hundred grand and the property on the east side.”

Now I laugh. He must have slipped and knocked his head. No way was he getting anything like that.

“Here’s what we’re willing to offer…” I pause for effect. Gabe starts laughing because he knows me. I pull in a breath. “Ten grand and you get to keep your life. What say ye?”

The look on his face tells me he’s ready to breathe fire.

“No.” Comes his simple answer.

As he snaps his fingers his men open fire, shooting at us as we dive out of the way. A cascade of bullets fly through the air. All meant to kill us dead if we didn’t have the snipers ready for them.

We have snipers equipped with rifles who’d snuck on site thirty minutes before we arrived. They’re positioned in the towers above.

I did not travel light.

I have two of them firing above while we fire below.

Snade ducks for cover and starts shooting back. More of his men come on the scene and suddenly it’s like war has broken out on the grounds.

One comes at me with a knife and jabs toward me, but I dodge it and end the bastard with a bullet between his eyes. Another guy jumps me from behind and tries to take me down. I whirl around and take him down with a bullet to his neck.

I pull my other gun from my back pocket and fire at anything that moves.

Salvatore and Gabe hold their own and so do our security guys.

From the look of the place it’s evident that Snade underestimated us. He absolutely fucking did, just like most people we know. He probably thought he’d have the three of us dead on his lawn and could ship our bodies back to Pa with a ribbon. Fucker, let him try.

Five guys rush at us ready to fight with some Kung Fu moves. I can’t fight like that, but I can give as much as I fucking have, so I throw a mean fist at the first guy who comes for me and dodge the rest. In two seconds though, as the snipers take them out, all five of the guys are on the ground dead.

More men come but we get them good. The snipers were a really good idea because the men on the ground can’t tell where the bullets are coming from and they can’t shield themselves.

There are about ten guys left now and I see Snade retreating to the house.

On instinct I move and Gabe and Salvatore follow like we’re all one unit moving together.

Snade runs inside and we follow.

Salvatore gets ahead of us and fires a shot just above Snade’s head. A sword hanging on the wall above in display lands to the floor in front of him stabbing into the wooden flooring.

He knows to fucking stop then and he does. Snade turns to face us and we aim our guns at him, ready to kill his ass if he does any more shit.

I step forward, taking the lead again.

“Right, so no one has to guess whether or not that deal is still on the table. It’s off,” I roar. “But guess what? You fucking cunt, you get to keep your life if you talk,” I know how it works. Everybody does.

I won’t make the mistake of thinking we weren’t being watched today somehow, someway.

So people know we’re here.

Whoever they are. Fontaine scum.

We’re here and if we let him live, whoever he’s working for will know he talked, even if no one says anything to alert them. The fact that he lives is enough to end him.

I’m not stupid either, I could kill him, but that would rattle Pa and Vincent.

It’s not that I’m afraid of them. I just don’t want to piss them off.

I glower at Snade waiting for his answer. The bastard knows the ropes of the underworld. He can die now at my gun, or he can have a chance to get his ass someplace far away before someone else kills him.

I smile and he looks like he’s ready to shit himself.

“Talk, we’re waiting!” Salvatore yells.

Snade’s eyes grow wide when we pull the trigger back on our guns simultaneously.

“Fine.” He growls. “The Fontaines needed a way to smuggle a shipment of Chrysanthemum offshore to China. It was a billion dollar deal with an investor. They needed your shipping company because you have arrangements with certain officials to turn a blind eye.”

I tense as he explains.

Fucking asshole, and fuck. We’re not the only crime family with arrangements like that, but we do have certain privileges the others don’t have. It’s the transit route our ship takes. We have certain arrangements to get shit from A-Z without question.

“Continue… there’s more right?” I prod.

He nods. “Your friend owed the Fontaines a debt. A rather substantial debt for his drug problems. He got in trouble, so they paid it off for a favor,” he pauses and looks at me harsher when I growl.

I growl because fucking Tommy could have stayed clean. He should have come to me. I really wish he had. Now I know why he didn’t.

Snade clears his throat and continues. “He made a mistake and the feds got tipped off about the shipment and tried to seize it. Your stupid friend screwed with us all. With so much to lose, he had to pay.”

This is the answer.

I hate hearing it. I really do.

It’s confirmed that it’s the Fontaines. Fucking confirmed.

Fuck!

They were trying to use our shipping company.

It’s those bastards just like we thought. But who put the hit on Tommy?

Was it Snade?

He just said Tommy had to pay. He says ‘we’ and ‘us’. It shows he’s in thick with the Fontaines. Pretty sure a notable member of the Triad wouldn’t have worked for free.

“Did you put the hit on Tommy?” I demand tightening the hold on my gun. For a moment a surge of triumph comes over me when I think I’ve found the motherfucker who pulled the trigger on my best friend.

“No,” Snade shakes his head and the triumph fades into the ether. “I’m the link to the investor and that’s all I’m saying.”

Fucking asshole.

Fucking dog, so if it’s not him, it is them. Of course it’s them. The fucking Fontaines. They put the hit on Tommy.

“Which Fontaine was it?” I shout. This is crazy. All of it and it’s above me. I can’t go after the Fontaines no matter which one it is. I know that. I still want to know though. “Who pulled the fucking trigger?” I demand.

When I think of Tommy getting gunned down in is house and Sherine and the baby upstairs it all makes my blood boil. I want the person who fired the bullet. The guy who shot Tommy.

“I don’t have to tell you anything more. Get the fuck off my property,” Snade snarls.

“Fuck you, tell me right the fuck now who pulled the trigger!”

Snade keeps his silence and we all hold our guns on him, not moving, so he knows we’re serious.

I’m about to badger him when bullets start flying again. They come our way from behind Snade.

He pulls a gun and shoots at me but I get him. I fire two shots and he’s down.

I hit him both times in his head and I know what that means too as blood splatters all over me. It’s all over my face.

Salvatore and Gabe pull me back and we leave.

We leave and seriously, the shit just hit the fan.

We get back to the office and it’s clear we’re all feeling the same.

Of course we would.

I just killed Snade, a well-known member of the fucking Triad.

It’s only a matter of time before word gets out.

But what is worse is he was the link to the investor, so I’ve just shit all over the Fontaine’s plans, and whoever else was involved.

“We have to tell Pa,” Gabe says. He grabs a tissue from the box on the counter and dries off his hands. We all washed the blood off us.

I open my mouth to speak but Salvatore cuts in. “Don’t you fucking disagree Nick. This just became next level bad,” he points at me and he’s more than enraged.

“I know and I’m not disagreeing. I’m not. I agree. You know there was no other way that could have gone right?” It wasn’t like I had a fucking choice.

“Course not but the fucker is dead and all deals are blasted to fuck because we killed him.”

“We? It was me.” I make sure he knows I’m accepting my blame in this.

“Fuck you Nick, it’s a we. Stop shitting all over the place and calm the fuck down. Have tonight to cool off. We’ll go to Pa tomorrow and talk to him.”

Tonight?

I want to go on the streets and look for the guy who pulled the trigger on Tommy. That’s what I want to do right the fuck now.

“I’m going out,” I declare. “I can’t chill while the fucker who put Tommy in the hospital is still out there running free. Fuck.”

Gabe shakes his head at me. “Nick, what the hell is wrong with you? You really think you’re just gonna find the guy? The Fontaines don’t even have hitmen. You know this. They get some random guy so it can’t be traced back to them. We already know too much. We already know too much about their involvement, and fuck Nick, did you notice how Snade said the feds tried to seize the shipment?”

Salvatore nods, joining him. “Yeah, tried as in they never got it, so the Fontaines still have it. They don’t want people to know and we know and we just pissed on their deal. What do you think is going to happen?”

I growl and shake my head. “The point of all of this was to find who shot Tommy. That was the point and I’m going to find out. You guys can tell Pa what’s happening but that is what I’m doing.”

They look at each other, exchanging pissed off glances. Pissed at me because they always follow me.

“Nick, you are a real fucktard you know?” Salvatore shakes his head.

“Don’t come with me. I mean it. Don’t. Don’t fucking come with me.” It’s the first time I’ve ever said that and he actually looks offended.

“Nick,” he calls after me when I walk away but I don’t stop. “Nicky.”

That’s what they used to call me when we were kids.

I continue out the fucking door ignoring them. I’m not their kid brother anymore.

I’m my own boss. I’m grateful they had my back but now I have to work on my own.

I go somewhere where I can think and plan. The only place that I can genuinely do that is at The Dark Odyssey.

I’m really early. Early like that day when the angel first came on the scene.

Because I’m early I think of her.

Because I’m by myself I think of her and I want her all over again, even though I just saw her this morning. She balances me.

I don’t want to rely on anybody and I shouldn’t rely on her.

Even I know it’s not right, because one day the fucking bubble will pop and it’s best I cut the shit before that happens.

I walk up to my office and when I see the door’s ajar, my spirits actually lift.

I wonder if it’s her inside although I know she wouldn’t just come in here.

Pushing the door open reveals it’s not my doll.

It’s Jenna from downstairs and she’s dressed in the same lingerie she had on months ago when we were together.

Saying I got bored of her makes me sound more of an asshole than I am.

She smiles when she sees me and moves away from the window, running her fingers through her dark hair. She looks like Jessica Rabbit in that get up and I probably hired her for the look too when we first met.

“What are you doing in here?” I demand. I’m in no mood.

Now’s not the time to mess with me or play with me. I saw her looking on at me the other night, probably trying to figure out what I’m doing with Mia.

I saw her and that’s why she’s here. That’s fucking why.

“Checking in on you. Didn’t think you’d be here for another hour or so. Thought I’d make the place comfortable,” she glides over to me. “Then I saw you come in and I thought I’d undress.”

I’m really not in the mood for this, not one damn bit. No way.

I don’t want to look like a prick but I am one.

“Get out,” I decide I can’t be bothered to be subtle or try to be nice.

She smiles and moves closer.

“Upstairs baby? Yes let’s go,” she takes another step and drops to her knees and runs her hand over my cock.

I should want her. Only weeks ago she’d come up here after my meetings and we fucked around until opening time.

I should want her but this feels wrong and I hate myself for it because I know somewhere along the line I lost control and her fingers on my cock feels like me cheating.

I step back and she looks shocked.

“If you want to keep your job, fucking go downstairs and get on reception.”

The shock on her face actually makes her skin go pale.

She stands and walks to the door then stops to face me. “You’ll get bored of her you know?” She’s talking about Mia. It’s not difficult to figure that out. “A woman like that… that goody-two-shoes bitch won’t satisfy you the way I can. I’ll be back when you come to your senses.”

I look at her as she goes out the door and I turn my gaze to the wall ahead of me.

The blank wall with the red bricks.

There’s so much shit going on and women just add to it.

I have no time for shit.

Not Jenna.

And… not Mia.

It fucking includes her too. In fact. It’s actually about her. I hate how I need her. And Jenna’s presence is because of Mia.

Gabe was right. People can see she’s important to me.

Fuck… it’s the first time I admit it in my head and it feels true.

It’s not good for me and it’s not good for her either.

Tonight I need to change things up.

I need to before I lose my damn mind over a woman I shouldn’t have.