by Soraya Naomi
A man, face dripping with blood, is strapped to a wooden chair with his hands tied to the back and his feet secured together. The chair has plastic underneath for quicker clean-up, a job handled by the prospects and soldiers.
Adriano’s wearing his white latex gloves to prevent leaving fingerprints. He grips the guy’s hair, yanking his head back in one quick move, and an agonizing whine comes from our captive. “We’ve got company,” Adriano says to him.
The man’s eye is almost swollen shut and is already turning purple. He looks at me through the slit of his eyelid.
“Luca.” Adriano sends me an exasperated scowl. “He’s lying and covering for someone.” And he forces the guy’s head back further, stretching his throat as he towers over him. “I brought in the big guns now. Pun intended.” My Capo’s mouth twists into a satanic smile. “You’ll be sorry you didn’t confess when it was just me.” Then Adriano joins me in front of the guy, handing me a pair of gloves.
“Name?” I ask Adriano as I put them on.
“Jack.” Adriano removes his knife from his pocket, twisting it in his hand.
My gun is stashed in the back of my pants, concealing it from Jack, and I move closer to him.
“Help me,” Jack begs.
I crouch down in front of him to appear less intimidating. “Jack, I can only help you if you give me straight answers. Do you have a family?”
“Y-Yes, a daughter,” he stammers. “You can have her; she’s young and a virgin.”
Fucker. It’s sickening how quickly men cave under torture. He could’ve extended his life if he wanted to protect his family; I might have had some sympathy then, but this man is only thinking of himself. “I don’t want your daughter. You can choose, Jack. I’ll ask you one question. If you don’t answer truthfully, Adriano will torture you for hours with a blunt knife.” Standing up, I take Adriano’s former position behind Jack. “Or talk now and I’ll let you go.”
Jack doesn’t make a sound, so Adriano drops to his haunches and cuts open Jack’s right pant leg up to his thigh. Then, without warning, he drives his knife into Jack’s knee and, ever so slowly, slices open the skin to the middle of his shin.
I muffle Jack’s tormented screams by roughly covering his mouth with my hand as his head sways frenziedly from side to side. Red covers his leg, and blood pools on the floor beneath Jack’s foot.
I signal for Adriano to stop. “Ready to talk, Jack?” I remove my hand, and he hyperventilates through his cries yet stays silent.
Adriano moves his knife lower, slicing open more skin, and I smother Jack’s cries again.
“Ready now?” I taunt.
Jack nods his head slowly. “You’ll kill me anyway after I’ve given answers.”
“I might...or not. Do you want to take that chance? Adriano can keep going if you’d like.”
“NO. Stop. I can’t take it anymore.” Jack coughs up spit mingled with blood.
Adriano steps back just in time so that the blood doesn’t splash on him. Revolted, he shoots me an irritated look, wordlessly begging me to finish this fast.
“Talk. Why were you interfering with the last money drop-off at Crystal Lake? You only get one shot,” I warn him.
“Leggia paid me to botch it up.” Jack’s voice is growing weaker because blood is leaving his body, fast. “That’s all I know. He gave me ten thousand to make sure you wouldn’t receive your last payment for Crystal Lake.”
This is interesting.
I release Jack’s head, allowing it to slouch forward, and address Adriano, “Did you find any money on him?”
“I found ten grand in the trunk of his car, so he could be telling the truth. We still don’t know why Leggia wanted Crystal Lake.”
I reach for my gun, but I’ve left the silencer in my glove compartment. “Got a silencer on you?” I ask Adriano.
“You forgot?” he counters in disbelief.
I was distracted by Fallon. Although I never come unprepared to the warehouse, except for today. I lift my brow impatiently. “Yes or no.”
“No, not for that one.” He signals to my Smith & Wesson.
“Give me yours.”
Adriano hands me his gun from the back of his pants and gets his silencer from his suit jacket that’s hanging off the back of a chair. I attach it to the barrel of the weapon and stand beside Jack, aiming the gun at his temple. The small part of my conscience that’s left feels sorry for ending this man’s life. Who am I to be judge and executioner? But I have no answer for that question. All I know is that in this Syndicate, it always comes down to you or him. And I’m selfish enough to choose myself repeatedly. Every time I kill, the face of that first associate I finished off pops up in my head. As I pull the trigger, the thwack resounds through the warehouse, ending Jack’s agony with one bullet.
Adriano removes his gloves and takes two dress shirts from a garbage bag he brought with him. My collared shirt has blood spatters, but my pants and shoes are still clean. We change our shirts and ditch the bloodied ones in the bag, along with the gloves.
I instruct Damian when he comes up to us, “Burn the garbage bag. Dispose of the body on Crystal Lake ground.”
Damian begins cleaning the evidence, and Adriano and I exit the warehouse.
Once we’ve gotten to our vehicles, Adriano expresses his concern, “How do we know it was Leggia for sure? We don’t have anything to back Jack’s story, and you’ve already killed him now.”
We lean against his car as he reaches for the pack of cigarettes in his pocket.
“I went to Francitalia for dinner with Fallon. Guess who was there, out in the open, following me? One of Leggia’s men. I’ve only seen him once before, at Leggia’s house months ago. And I never forget faces. Leggia’s up to something; why else would one of his members follow me? There must’ve been another reason why he wanted Crystal Lake.”
“But disposing of the body on Crystal Lake property will start an all-out war.”
I pinch the bridge of my nose. “I think he already started the war.”
“So he saw you with Fallon?”
“Yes. He clearly saw her too, and Leggia is most likely doing a background check on her as we speak,” I say with bite.
“Luca, this is bringing her deeper into our messy world. What does she think you do for a living?”
“I told her about our company, of course. And you almost blew my cover, by the way. I took both phones with me to her apartment and forgot to silence the disposable one.”
A wrinkle creases his forehead. “You seem agitated, yet not. Tell me you didn’t...”
“Almost, but I was interrupted.”
“What is it with her?” He smirks and takes another deep drag from his cigarette. “Tell me this. Was it good or not as good as you thought it would be?”
I slowly nod my head. Never have I waited this long before becoming intimate with a woman. But tonight has already made the wait worth it. “It was fucking better. I didn’t want to leave. Your timing sucked.”
Adriano slaps me on my back and barks out a laugh. “You’re getting attached, my friend.”
I’m breaking my rule to not get attached, but at this moment, I don’t care. “I need to be careful because she’s smart, and I think she’s more perceptive than I initially thought. She was unmistakably upset when I left.”
“That’s women for you.” Adriano lets out a half-hearted laugh and then puckers his brow. “Is she suspicious?”
“I don’t think she’s consciously suspicious yet. But she did see me silence my smartphone in the car, and then the disposable one rang when we were in her apartment. And she also eyed my suit jacket which was holding my gun.”
Adriano flicks his cigarette butt away. “I’m just going to repeat myself; be cautious – if you’re not, you might find yourself involved in something you can’t dig yourself out of.”
CHAPTER 10
Fallon
I jump out of bed when I open my eyes and see that it’s almost nine.
Quickly, I read my messages, which are from Teagan and Luca. Luca called right after he received my text last night, and at around six this the morning, he sent a reply.
Luca: Good morning, Fallon. Be not afraid of greatness. Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and others have greatness thrust upon them. – Shakespeare.
Well, he’s up early, but I smile while reading the quote from Twelfth Night. Luca knows I collect book quotes and write them down everywhere. Then I realize that I’m sitting on my bed, first thing in the morning, thinking about him; that’s what he wanted and why he sent the message at six.
Remembering that I’m already running late for work, I make a mental note to text him back later and shower in record time.
The entire day is busy, and when I arrive home late, all I want to do is eat dinner, shower, and go to sleep. After ordering a deep dish pizza – screw my no-carbs-during-the-week policy – I skip the shower because I’m too tired and crawl into my bed.
***
After discussing some more changes to be made on the texts and font of several invites with my boss, Alex, on Tuesday, he offers for us to have lunch together.
So here I am, at the deli across the street as we eat our sandwiches in uncomfortable silence. I’ve never felt completely relaxed with Alex, partly because he’s my boss and also because he’s a distant man. During lunch, we discuss several charities and other events he’s working on. However, I notice that he’s restless and appears stressed as he shoves his food inside his mouth.
Apparently, he has a lot of work waiting for him at the office, because I’m not even halfway through my sandwich when Alex checks his phone and rises immediately. “Fallon, I have to take care of an urgent e-mail.”
“Okay. I’ll finish and then return too.” I want to eat my lunch.
“Fine,” he says curtly.
I don’t even get to say goodbye before he hurries out of the deli. Anyway, I’m pleased he left because his distressed mood was annoying me. This gives me time to read a few pages, so I get my e-reader out of my bag and become engrossed in an emotional historical romance.
“Oh, no, don’t you dare go in there!” I whisper-shout.
Every so often, I talk to my book characters. It helps me cope with my feelings, and at the moment, I’m pissed off at the male lead. I’m dangerously close to throwing my e-reader across the room.
After devouring my sandwich, I order another tea and it arrives quickly. “Thank you.” I don’t even look up at the waitress because I don’t want to stop reading for a second. This book is becoming one of my favorites.
Still, the shadow that falls over me doesn’t move, so my gaze snaps up to a certain tall, striking Italian.
“Fallon, always with your face in the books. Do you even realize how sexy that is?” Luca says in a throaty voice and bends down to place a featherlight kiss on my lips.
“Luca. Hey...” It takes a minute for me to compose myself. I was going to text or call him back tonight because I was too tired last night. “What are you doing here?”
“Lunch.” He glances at the time on his watch. “Are you on your lunch break?”
“I am.” He knows I work across the street, and I believe he scheduled his lunch here hoping to run into me. “I was here with my boss, but he had to get back. Some emergency he had to handle. Sit.” I motion to the chair next to me.
His brows furrow as he evaluates the restaurant, but thankfully, Luca smiles tenderly at me as he sinks into the seat. “I was hoping you would text me back.” His tone is serious now.
“It’s been two days. Don’t tell me you’re missing me?” I ask with a hint of mock disbelief just to goad him.
In response, Luca braces his palm on my neck to bring me closer to him and runs his fingers over my collarbone. “Maybe I did miss you. Your taste is addictive. I. Want. More.” Then he pulls me further into him by my waist.
I turn my head, and our noses touch as his breath fans over my cheek. “Maybe more can be arranged,” I huskily offer and almost press my lips to his before retreating. “But I have to get back to work now.” Next time will happen on my terms.
I attempt to rise, but Luca’s hand seizes my wrist to stop me, and with an enormous smirk, he says cockily, “I’m calling you tonight, then we’ll see what can be arranged.”
CHAPTER 11
Luca
I needed to keep my distance from Fallon for a few days after our date, so I didn’t mind her withdrawn behavior. I don’t know if Leggia has ordered his man who saw me with Fallon when we had dinner at Francitalia to trail her, which is why I had to make sure she wasn’t being watched. However, after two days of following her to guarantee she was safe, I couldn’t resist anymore and craved to touch her when she was reading alone in the deli. I would’ve planned to see her tonight, but my boss, James, wants to discuss new business with me and Consigliere Salvatore, so I have to stay at our headquarters for the next two days. But Friday, I’m coming straight back to the Loop.
After being a made man for so long, I’m used to traveling back and forth constantly because the Chicago Syndicate is scattered all over the city. None of us actually lives at the headquarters’ house or even close by, and Adriano and I are the only two members that reside in the Loop. No one except James, Salvatore, and Adriano knows my home address, and only those three men are welcome in my penthouse, although a few non-Syndicate-related women have been here for a couple of hours.
While I’m packing, I call Fallon.
“Hey.” She clears her throat after she’s answered.
“Did I wake you?”
She clears her throat again, but her voice is still coarse. “Yeah, I fell asleep on the couch.”
“Should I call you tomorrow then?” My tone is soft.
“I can talk now. What time is it?”
I glance at my phone for the time. “Midnight. It’s late. You should go back to sleep, so I’ll keep it short. I want to have you all to myself Friday night.”
“To do what?” she asks suggestively.
God, I enjoy hearing her voice too much, even if it’s only for a few seconds; I’m already starting to crave her more and more. “To go on another date with me. One that won’t be cut short...”
A door closes on her end, and she doesn’t confirm, but simply says, “I’m in bed now.”
I growl, thinking of her in bed. “I’m looking forward to tasting you again, Fallon,” I admit in a low voice.
“Sweet talk will get you everywhere,” she replies, followed by a suppressed yawn. “And I’ll keep Friday free for you.”
“Then it’s a date. I’ll pick you up at six. Good night, Fallon.”
“Night, Luca.”
***
An hour later, I’m at our busy headquarters up north. Capi are present with most of their soldiers in the living room, and Adriano is talking to two of the Capi, Alessandro and John.
I start toward my private bedroom on the third floor. Only James and I have private rooms, which are both on the third floor, and offices, which are both on the second floor, in this house. The Capi are allowed to temporarily occupy rooms adjacent to the strip club on the second floor, but the third floor is off limits to them unless either James or I invite them. After dumping my belongings, I meet James in his office.
“Luca.” He motions from behind his desk for me to enter.
I close the door and make my way across the room, greeting James with a firm handshake and my left arm wrapped around his shoulder.
James has a commanding personality that has also been instilled in me. He’s fatherly and intimidating, always calm and controlled, and thinks deeply before he speaks his mind. I take pride in always being controlled as well, but lately, I can think of several occasions when I’ve been confronted with unknown emotions, when I’ve debated about letting go of my controlled reaction – with Fallon.
“Sit, son.” James’s fifty-five years aren’t apparent in his outer appearance because he’s fit and always looks pol
ished in his Italian suits. Only some grey in his hair give away his age.
I sit across from him as he resumes his seat.
“Giacomo Leggia contacted me. He wanted to know what finding Jack’s body meant.” James’s tone is bland, not revealing his opinion about my killing Jack and ordering Damian, our soldier, to dispose of his body on Crystal Lake territory.
“It was a message that I know he’s after us,” I disclose.
“Good thinking. Leggia’s always running behind on all the facts. He was so dead set on taking over this small part of Chicago Syndicate territory that he didn’t even think twice about why we would hand it over so easily. He’s too volatile, and he’s power hungry and jealous that his Syndicate isn’t functioning the way it should be. Alessandro’s spy in the New York Syndicate discovered that Leggia went on a rampage after he found out that most dealers in Crystal Lake weren’t pledged to any mafia. Since they answer to no one, it’ll make it impossible for him to manage the money, and he’ll ultimately encounter the same problems we did.”
“He must be driven by his jealousy to take over our territory so carelessly. I want him to know that we’re always one step ahead of him.”
“He knows. I informed him of that in an amicable way. He surrounds himself with incapable Capi as well. Let’s wait to see what he does next.”
“Okay. So what new business do you have? Is Salvatore coming?” I lean forward and pour myself a glass of water from the decanter on his desk.
“Yes, he—”
Consigliere Salvatore arrives, disheveled, as usual, in his rumpled brown suit. That’s his strength though – with his appearance, people easily discount him, but he’s a shark. “James, Luca.” He sets his briefcase on James’s desk and occupies the vacant chair next to me.
Now that we’re all here, James informs us of his plans, “We presently rule the drug trafficking in northern, eastern, and western Illinois – except for that small area in Crystal Lake, which we don’t need. But there’s demand in southern Illinois, so I’m thinking of expanding. Luca, what do you think?”