by Sal Bianchi
An Offer You Can’t Refuse
Mob Justice book 1
Sal Bianchi
Contents
Prologue
Chapter 1
2. Jase
3. Nick
4. Nick
5. Nick
6. Nick
7. Jase
8. Bette
9. Nick
10. Jase
11. Nick
12. Jase
13. Nick
14. Jase
15. Nick
16. Nick
17. Nick
18. Jase
19. Nick
20. Jase
21. Nick
22. Nick
23. Nick
24. Jase
25. Nick
26. Bette
27. Nick
28. Nick
29. Nick
30. Nick
31. Nick
32. Jase
33. Nick
34. Jase
35. Nick
36. Nick
37. Jase
38. Nick
39. Bette
40. Nick
Epilogue
Author’s Note
Prologue
I stopped to catch my breath as I crossed the street. In my haste to get here, I’d walked a little too quickly, and now I was huffing for breath beneath the unforgiving Miami sun. It was summer, the season of tourists, and though I’d once called this city my home, I was certain I didn’t look any different from any of the other bumbling tourists wandering around, gawking at the sights and trying to sample as much as they could in whatever time they had here.
I smiled as I made it to my destination and looked up at the building in front of me. It had been several years since I’d been here, and the place had changed so much that I barely recognized it. Italian bars were unique in that the majority of them stayed open for twenty-four hours a day. While the sun was still out, they operated as cafes serving coffee and snacks. Then at night, the patrons would pull out their cigars and begin to drink in earnest.
That much hadn’t changed. It had been completely remodeled and refurbished, and now it only functioned as a fancy Italian cafe that catered to tourists who were drawn to its old-fashioned, kitschy vibe. During the night, it apparently transformed into a swanky music club where people could drink while listening to live musicians.
I stepped inside and nearly gasped as I took a look around. A lot of it was different, but there were a few touches here and there that were exactly the same as I remembered, like the rustic Italian paintings still mounted on the wall. I could remember climbing up the frames like a ladder as a kid, and I smiled sadly at the memory.
I took a seat at the bar and closed my eyes as another flood of memories washed over me. I could remember a lifetime of conversations, arguments, and all-out fights that had all occurred within the walls of this place. I ran my hand over the grainy wooden bar top. It looked exactly the same too, and I wondered if my initials were still carved under the rim at the other end.
“Good morning!” A young woman with bright blue hair greeted me cheerfully. “Can I get you a menu?”
“That would be lovely.” I smiled at her. She reached beneath the bar and handed me a long plastic menu.
“Let me know whenever you’re ready.” She smiled again before moving on to speak to another customer.
I couldn’t stop myself from glancing around as I perused the menu, trying to spot what was different and what was the same. Part of me was a little disappointed I hadn’t been able to bring my wife with me, but she’d had her heart set on having a spa day back at the hotel today. I’d never been into that stuff, so I’d decided to use the opportunity to come to visit my old stomping grounds.
“Seriously, dude,” I heard a young man whisper excitedly to my left. He was sitting with his back to the bar and chatting with two of his friends. “I heard this place used to be a mafia den. Like, they would have meetings right here about who to kill and stuff.”
“Man, that’s a load of crap,” one of the friends scoffed. “That’s just an urban legend.”
I chuckled as I listened to the three of them argue. They had no idea how close to the truth they were.
“No, I’ve heard about that too,” the other friend chimed in. “I heard at school that a long time ago, these two brothers, like, went to war with each other for control of the mafia. Like, they both wanted to be the boss. The older brother Alexander was the boss, but then the younger brother Nick decided he wanted to be in charge, so they started duking it out.”
“Alessandro,” I said aloud before I could even think about it. I was so surprised it took me a moment to even realize I was the one who had spoken.
“What?” The kid sitting next to me asked.
“The older brother’s name wasn’t Alexander,” I clarified. “It was Alessandro.”
A beat of silence passed between us before one of the boys laughed. “You’re messing with us, man. Right?”
“No, wait,” the first boy gasped as he stared at me. “I know you! Your picture’s on the wall!”
“Why what is where?” I asked, alarmed by what he had just said.
The boy jumped out of his seat and ran to a table on the other side of the bar. I watched in shock as she climbed onto the table and took down one of the framed photos there.
“Julian!” The girl from the bar yelled. “Get off the table!”
“Sorry, Diane,” the boy called as he raced back over to where I was sitting and shoved the photo into my face. “This is you, right?”
My eyes widened in shock as I took in the photo. It was me, standing beside my older brother.
“You used to own this place, right?” Julian asked excitedly. “You’re Nick DiFiore!”
I pursed my lips as I heard that name. I hadn’t liked it then, and I didn’t particularly like it now. My immediate inclination was to say no, but the kid was staring at me with stars in his eyes, and I couldn’t bring myself to kill his enthusiasm.
“Yeah, I am,” I said with a laugh.
“Is it true then?” Julian asked. “Did you really fight your brother for control of the mafia?”
“Nah, I don’t buy it.” The skeptical friend grinned. “He doesn’t look that much like the guy in the picture, dude. He’s messing with us.”
“Shut up, Tanner.” Julian shoved his friend playfully. “Are you blind? It’s him. Come on, tell us what really went down!”
“Well, I guess I could,” I muttered. It had been a long time since I’d talked about it to anyone, and I was honestly a little nervous about going back through those particular memories. My wife would be busy until lunchtime, though, so I had plenty of time to kill.
“Yes!” Julian cheered, the look in his eyes even more starstruck than before.
“Before I get to that, though, I have to go back to the beginning,” I explained. “There was a lot that led up to us fighting. I guess it all really started with a case I worked on involving a murder of a politician…”
1
Senator Alexis Rothschild breathed a sigh of relief as she drove past the wrought-iron gate encircling her home. It had been a particularly trying day. The tax reform rally that afternoon had gone well, but she’d been ambushed by a horde of angry protesters waiting for her when she’d gotten back to her office. She was used to it by now, and most days, she had no trouble taking their criticism in stride, but she was still only human. Sometimes the stress just got too overwhelming, especially right now when she was dealing with her ex-husband’s tantrums.
“Well, soon-to-be
ex-husband,” she thought to herself with a small smile as she brought the car to a stop. As she stepped out of her sleek black sedan, she glanced up at the massive, two-story brick colonial she currently called home. The thing was practically a mansion, with a front lawn so impractically big that it took the gardener nearly two hours to mow every week.
She hadn’t been keen on the idea of such a huge house, but her husband Ryan had insisted on it. He’d said there would be more room for the children to play and for Alexis to have her little hobby rooms. In the end, she’d agreed, more to make him happy than anything. Now, those rooms held only dark memories, and she couldn’t wait for the school year to end so she could sell it and relocate somewhere cozier with her two children.
She hurried up the porch steps, digging her key out of her purse as she did. The house was located on a large plot of land, far from any other houses or major streets. As a result, the entire area was plunged into darkness every night. Being outside after dark had always given Alexis the creeps, so she was glad when she was finally able to unlock the door and step into the warm, brightly illuminated foyer.
She could hear the sounds of a television drifting toward her from the living room.
“Esperanza,” she called as she walked toward the source of the noise. “Is that you?”
There was some kind of scary movie playing on the large flat-screen, and Alexis hoped that it was only her kids’ nanny and not one of her kids watching something that violent.
“Oh, welcome home, Ms. Rothschild,” the woman on the couch turned to greet her. “Olivia and Josh are both asleep already. Josh put up a bit of a fight, though.”
“That boy is too much,” Alexis chuckled. “Still, you got him down, so thank you.”
“Of course, Ms. Rothschild,” Esperanza smiled warmly. “Well, I’ll be going then.”
“Oh, you can finish your movie, if you’d like,” Alexis offered. It was the least she could do after she was so late getting home today.
“Oh, I couldn’t,” Esperanza protested weakly.
“I insist,” Alexis nodded. “In fact, let me get us some drinks. I’ll watch it with you.”
Before the other woman could argue again, Alexis took off toward the kitchen to prepare some virgin cocktails. It wouldn’t be responsible to give Esperanza alcohol when she’d be driving home soon. A few minutes later, the two of them were settled on the couch and ready to watch the end of the movie.
Alexis had never been a fan of horror movies, and she found herself jumping with fright at every tiny noise and movement. At one point, she even thought that she heard the front door open for real, and by the time it was done, Esperanza was cackling at how worked up she was.
“I’ll see you tomorrow morning,” Esperanza called a few minutes later as she left the house to head to her car. Alexis smiled in spite of herself and watched until she saw the other woman get into her car before shutting and locking the door.
The truth was, Alexis was lonely. She didn’t regret leaving the cruel man she’d once called her husband, but she just wasn’t used to being alone in such a huge house. She had her kids, of course, but they were sleeping peacefully right now. With Esperanza gone, the house seemed frighteningly empty and silent.
She turned to the kitchen to prepare a stronger drink and noticed a stack of mail on the kitchen island. Esperanza must have put them there and forgotten to tell Alexis about it. She flipped through them lazily. They were mostly spam and junk mail, with a few bills thrown in. At the bottom of the stack was a thick envelope that made her mouth go dry.
The name and address of the divorce lawyer she was using were displayed prominently in the corner of the envelope. She sighed in frustration as she dropped the envelopes back on the kitchen island and moved toward her wine rack instead. What she needed right now was to relax and unwind, not stress about the troubles in her life.
She was about to pull a bottle from the rack before changing her mind. This night called for something stronger, so she retrieved the stool tucked under one of the kitchen cabinets and used it to reach one of the bottles up on the highest shelf in the kitchen, far out of reach of the kids.
She grinned as she pulled her prize down from its perch and turned it over in her hands. The smooth, golden liquid inside her favorite bourbon bottle glistened enticingly at her. It was far too expensive to enjoy every day, but it was just the thing to settle her nerves before bed.
She poured herself a generous portion before carrying the glass carefully back over to the couch. Horror movies weren’t her cup of tea, but maybe a trashy reality show or a dumb rom-com would be good right now. Something she could just watch without really having to think about. Just as she was settling in to watch an episode of some dating show, she heard a small thump from the direction of her kitchen.
She sat straight up, immediately on high alert. For a moment, she didn’t move, too scared to even breathe, before she slouched with a small chuckle. Obviously, watching that movie with Esperanza had left her more rattled than she thought.
She got up to investigate as she remembered what Esperanza had said about Josh being cranky about having to go to bed. It would surprise her if it was just him, rifling around the kitchen for a late-night snack or a glass of water. She smiled to herself as she imagined him tiptoeing across the tiles in an attempt to sneak some cookies. Ever since he’d turned five and started Kindergarten, it was like he’d developed a whole new personality.
She stepped toward the kitchen as quietly as she could. Maybe she’d be able to sneak up on him and give him a little spook. Her smile slipped quickly off her face as she got to the kitchen and found it empty. She felt the hairs on her arms stand on end as she glanced around the empty space. She was certain that she’d heard something in here.
She scanned the kitchen in confusion and stopped suddenly as her eyes caught something. There, in the shadow of the refrigerator, she could have sworn she could see the shadow of a person standing straight up and staring directly at her. She blinked hard. The space was so dark that she couldn’t quite tell if she really saw something or if it was just her eyes playing tricks with the dark shadow.
She took a cautious step toward the spot, curiosity getting the best of her. Before she could make out whether the shape was really there, it lunged at her, the glint of a knife shining in her periphery for just a second before she felt a hot, burning pain tear across her chest.
She screamed and flailed her arms instinctively, knocking the knife out of the assailant’s hand in the process. For a split second, she wasn’t sure what to do, whether to fight back or turn and flee. In the end, her desire to get to her kids won out over anything else, and she turned on her heel to run up the stairs.
Before she got more than a few steps, the person was upon her. Whoever it was yanked hard on the back of her shirt and tossed her down onto the ground.
She resisted in whatever way she could, kicking, punching, and scratching every bit of her attacker that she could reach as the assailant rained punches down on her.
Alexis managed to throw the attacker off with a well-placed kick and rolled quickly away. She attempted to stand, but her vision was spinning, and she couldn’t quite get her footing. Then, as she was struggling to crawl away, white stars exploded in her vision as something struck the back of her head. The first thing she felt was a sharp jolt of pain, but it quickly faded into a dull ache and then into nothing at all.
As she lay on the floor, she couldn’t find it in her to feel relieved that the pain had gone away. For some reason, that seemed like a very bad thing. She tried to focus on why, but it was getting harder for her to focus on anything. The last thing she could recall as her eyes slipped closed was the face of her son, and she wondered if she was already dreaming.
2
Jase
Even though it was already September, temperatures were still creeping up towards the triple digits today. It wasn’t all that surprising, since the weather and Miami only ever varied from hot to
slightly less hot. Though the humidity could get to be a bit much at times, it was, in my opinion, a sacrifice worth making for perpetually blue skies and never-ending bikini weather.
Of course, as lovely as it was, Miami was no Oasis. Once you looked past the surface, it became clear that it was more like a mirage. It might look dazzling and pretty when all you could see were the pristine beaches and kitschy shops and restaurants that lined every pier along the coast, but only a few knew about the kind of criminal underworld that lurked just beneath that glimmering veil.
The entire reason the Special Domestic Crimes Taskforce existed was to combat the kind of crimes that ran rampant throughout Miami and the metropolitan Florida area. Things like drug and arms trafficking, domestic terrorism, and even organized crime all fell under our jurisdiction. Organized crime in particular was a major issue for us, since the mafia seemed to have their hands in virtually every casino, hotel, bar, and club in the city. When it came to gambling, Miami was no Vegas, but the nightlife scene itself was a different story. Between the rapidly growing local population and the massive number of tourists that flooded into the city every year, there were limitless opportunities for the mafia to sink their fangs into unsuspecting victims.
“Hello,” a female voice suddenly sang into my ear. “Earth to Jase. Where’s your head right now?”