Once A Crime Lord (Crime Lord Series Book 3)
Page 17
The last time Gavin had been here was to attend Marco and Margaret Romans’ funeral. His father stayed in New York for months to console the younger children and help Roque establish himself as the new head of the Roman clan.
“This way, Mr. Pyre.”
The guard led him downstairs. Gavin glimpsed New York’s skyline from the large windows on the second floor. Guards in flawless suits were openly armed and eyed him suspiciously, but didn’t stop their progress to the basement. Two guards were posted in front of the basement door. The guard accompanying him spoke to them in a low voice. They pounded their fist three times on the door before they inclined their heads and backed away.
Hip-hop music assaulted his ears as he stepped into the basement, which had the look of a high-end club. There was a bar against one wall along with a round table for poker. Gavin’s shoes sank into the lush black carpet. Strippers who danced without a care in the world occupied two silver poles. Raul, the second Roman brother, sat on a black leather couch in a three-piece suit. He ignored the strippers and stared intently at his laptop screen while he sipped wine. Raul turned his head and when he saw Gavin, shot to his feet, startling one of the strippers who slid a foot down the pole before she caught herself.
“Jesus Christ!”
Raul set his glass down and spread his arms wide. Even as he embraced Gavin hard enough to make him grunt, there was a thump and shriek behind one of two closed doors. Over Raul’s shoulder, Gavin saw the door open. Angel appeared, wearing nothing but a pair of black boxers with a gun in his hand. The man before him was far from the teenager in the portrait. When Angel spotted Gavin, a broad smile spread over his face.
“Son of a bitch!”
Raul stepped back and Angel took his place. Angel hugged Gavin and then kissed him on both cheeks. Gavin raised a brow at his cousins who couldn’t be more different if they tried. Raul was the businessman in the Roman family. His tailored suit, slick hair and glass of wine encapsulated who he was—cultured, sophisticated, controlled. Angel in his boxers with lipstick smears on his body was just as telling. Angel was the rebellious youngest brother, a party animal and playboy. Gavin saw movement in the room Angel vacated. Four naked women slipped on lingerie.
“Why didn’t you tell us you were coming?” Raul asked.
“Impulse trip. I had business in Maine.”
“Come, come,” Raul said and waved a hand at Angel. “Make him something, would you?”
“What do you want to drink, Gavin?” Angel walked to the bar and stuffed the gun in the back of his boxers.
“Whiskey. Neat.”
Raul sat and grabbed his glass of wine. “How long has it been, cousin?”
“Too long,” Gavin said and took the glass Angel handed him. “A lot has changed.”
Angel settled on the couch with a glass of clear liquid and didn’t acknowledge the woman who settled on his lap. “No kidding.”
“Your basement’s changed,” Gavin said as the women vacated the room they occupied with Angel and sauntered forward. He sized them up and wasn’t surprised to see that they all possessed perfect bodies, flawless features and greedy eyes.
“I persuaded Raul and Roque to liven the place up a bit,” Angel said and waved a hand to encompass the decadent man cave. “We come here to unwind and try the talent.” He nodded approvingly at the prostitute grinding on his crotch. “You game, Gavin?”
“No, I’m married,” Gavin said and ignored the woman who sat beside him, so close he could feel her body heat and the fragrance of her perfume, which was tainted by Angel’s cologne.
“I heard that,” Raul said. “We didn’t get a wedding invitation.”
“Shotgun wedding,” Gavin said and glanced at the prostitute as she placed a hand on his upper thigh. “I’m married.”
“Your wifey isn’t here,” the woman purred and arched her back to show off her fake breasts covered in pink glitter, which she pressed against his arm. Her hand sank into his hair as she leaned into him, hooking one leg over his. “What she doesn’t know can’t hurt her, can it?”
She grabbed his cock and he lost it. He grabbed her hand and flipped it back. The prostitute fell off the couch and dropped to her knees so he wouldn't break her wrist. The strippers on the poles stopped twirling and the other women lounging nearby edged back slowly.
“I'm married, you understand now?” Gavin asked.
The prostitute nodded fervently, eyes wide and terrified. She looked towards Angel whose total focus was on Gavin. Her whimpers of pain filled the room as the music paused between tracks. Gavin forced her to stay on her knees for a full minute before he let her go. She collapsed face first on the carpet and then scooted away, cradling her sprained wrist.
Angel smacked the ass of the prostitute frozen solid on his lap. “Looks like my cousin’s not in the mood. Why don’t you all clear out?”
The women didn’t hesitate. They ran to the door. In their haste to vacate the room, they forgot to saunter. Angel grabbed a remote and turned off the music.
“I’m glad you didn’t break her hand,” Angel said, spreading his legs wide as he downed the rest of his drink. “She’s talented. Of course, she doesn’t need her hand to do her work, but it speeds up the process so she can take more men in one night.”
Before Gavin could respond to that Raul interjected, “So there’s married and married. I’m guessing you’re the latter.”
Gavin nodded. “My wife is everything to me.”
Angel stared at him. “You’re a fucking legend. I can’t believe you’re monogamous. You fucked around more than all of us combined.”
“Lyla’s different.”
“I gotta meet her,” Angel said and then eyed him. “You never returned our calls.”
Gavin inclined his head. “I know. I’m couldn’t handle them at the time.”
“We couldn’t make it to the funerals because of business,” Raul said.
“I got your cards.”
“What did you do to the fucker who did in Uncle Manny?” Angel asked.
It always came back to that. Gavin felt the familiar slap of rage and sipped whiskey to cool himself down. Denying himself the pleasure of ripping Huskin limb from limb, the interaction with Eli Stark and the fact that he had no leads on the Phantom left him feeling edgy and violent. Whiskey traveled through his body and settled in his gut, taking away the unrelenting burn.
“That’s why I’m here.”
“Why?”
“I haven’t caught him yet.”
There was a sharp silence. His cousins stared at him as if he materialized out of thin air.
Raul scooted to the edge of his seat and raised a hand. “What do you mean, you haven’t caught him yet?”
“This guy is a fucking ghost.”
Gavin couldn’t sit still. He rose and refilled his glass. Retribution in their world was brutal, swift and done back ten fold. All of them would rip the world apart in the name of vengeance, but in the end Lyla had been more important to him. He hunted her when he got out of prison instead of the man who claimed the title. That cost him. Now, he was trying to reclaim an underworld that was complete chaos and run by a faceless, sadistic killer.
“This guy took over the underworld long enough to fuck up the whole city. It’s going to take years to clean up the filth he unleashed. He’s too smart to reveal his identity to anyone.”
“What do you need?” Raul asked.
The pressure on his chest eased. Ever since Vinny died, he felt something missing. Vinny had always been at his side. Gavin didn’t question his loyalty, as he’d had to question every other person in his life. There was no replacement for family. This feud with the Phantom had been going on long enough. It had been an impulse to visit his cousins and his intuition hadn’t steered him wrong. Even though they hadn’t seen each other in nearly a decade, family was family and they would aid him in whatever he needed.
“I need a man at my back I can trust until this is over,” Gavin said.
<
“Angel will go with you,” Raul said.
Gavin nodded. “After I kill the Phantom, I want out.”
Once more the Roman brothers looked at one another and then back at him.
“Why?” Angel asked.
“My wife’s suffered enough. I promised her I would kill this guy and get out.”
Silence reined.
“After I kill the Phantom, I want to hand over the underworld to a replacement that I can teach while I’m still in to see if he can hack it.”
Angel leaned forward. All signs of the ladies man vanished. His pale blue eyes were narrow and intense. “You want to give up your title?”
“Yes.”
“And you need someone to take over?”
“It’s not that easy. The city is in turmoil and the fucker’s I’ve kept under lock and key are now causing public shootings and kidnappings when they feel like it.”
Angel leaned back and rested his arms along the back of the couch. “I’ll do it.”
Raul turned his head sharply. “Angel.”
“You have everything under control here,” Angel said. “Roque’s coming out of the joint soon and then what? I’ll be third in command and with you two at the top, I’ll never see any action. What’s happening in Vegas sounds like my kind of party.”
Gavin considered Angel who was several years younger than him. The three Roman brothers had grown up in the family business as he had. Angel was the youngest and most reckless. He wasn’t sure what his cousin had been up to in the past decade, but if he was going to hand the city to someone, there was no one better than family.
“Roque will have my head if I let you go off to Vegas and become a crime lord on your own without backup,” Raul said.
“I’ll be there,” Gavin said and his throat tightened. “I tried to hand the underworld over to Vinny and they gunned him down. It won’t be easy. They’re like wild animals. One mistake and you’re dead.”
Angel’s eyes gleamed. “Now you’re trying to turn me on. When do we leave?”
“Are you sure?”
Angel smiled as innocently as a toddler. “You can’t stop me now that you’ve issued a challenge like that. When do we leave?”
“Whenever. My plane is on standby.”
“Your own plane. Fuck.” Angel strolled towards a phone in the corner of the room and spoke quickly in Italian.
“Can he handle it?” Gavin asked Raul in low tones.
“Yes,” Raul said succinctly. “I’m the businessman, Angel’s the enforcer. I keep the books clean and Angel makes sure we don’t get fucked over. We had trouble when Roque went to prison, but Angel put a stop to that and he was just out of high school. Don’t underestimate him. We haven’t had any trouble for three years and he’s getting restless. I have to drown him in women and find all kinds of things to keep him busy. I was worried he would take off before Roque got out and try to take over another city.”
“Take over?” Walking into another crime lord’s territory was suicidal.
“Angel wouldn’t hesitate to kill anyone if it meant having some action.” Raul sighed and drained his glass. “If we didn’t already have control of the largest city in the United States, Angel would have gone there and tried to conquer it.”
“Sounds like he needs a hobby,” Gavin said mildly and wondered how his cousin would react to the mayhem going down in Sin City.
“People underestimate Angel because he’s young and too pretty for his own good. Your city sounds like Angel’s type of playground.”
Angel hung up the phone and settled on the couch with his legs crossed. “Viva Las Vegas. Fuck yes. This is turning out to be an interesting night.”
“I need to kill this fucker. He’s been playing me for years and it’s going to stop. I have a family now and I can’t put them at risk. Besides, I have enough on my plate with my partner wanting to expand Pyre Casinos.”
Angel shook his head. “I can’t imagine you married with a kid.”
“Believe it.”
“Family is everything. If you want out, you need someone to take over who knows how to run it and who won’t lose themselves in the filth.” Raul looked at Angel who was grinning like a maniac. “Don’t think I’m not going to keep tabs on you.”
“You do that.” Angel got to his feet. “Gav, you have to say hi to Luci. She’ll kill you if she finds out you were here and didn’t see her.”
“I don’t want to wake her,” Gavin said and glanced at his watch. It was three in the morning.
“Tonight’s family night so I came over. She was messing around in the kitchen an hour ago,” Raul said.
Gavin noted the way the guards looked to Angel, not Raul when they walked out of the basement. Raul had always been more reserved than Roque and Angel. He was the steadfast brother and the voice of reason. As they started up the stairs with Angel conversing with the guards, Gavin walked alongside Raul.
“How’s Roque doing?” Gavin asked.
“He’s alive,” Raul said with a shrug. “He gets out of prison next year. When he gets out, he’ll take his place and I’m going to take a vacation in the Bahamas.”
Gavin shook his head. “I was in for a year. I don’t know how Roque’s handled being in for seven.”
“After Roque gets out and takes his title and after the Bahamas, I’m going to pay you a visit. I want to see your wife and kid,” Raul said.
“You should. You’ve shouldered the load for a long time.”
“Same as you.” Raul shook his head. “I don’t know how you and Roque do it. If it wasn’t for Angel, I would have let the underworld go a long time ago.”
Gavin shrugged. “It’s in our blood, just as it was in our father’s.”
The Roman family had their fair share of heartaches and betrayal. It went hand in hand with being a part of the underworld. They all paid a price for being crime lords. Gavin couldn’t imagine Roque being imprisoned for eight years. Every criminal in prison would be gunning for him. How many men did Roque murder in seven years to stay alive? If Roque was a force to be reckoned with before, New York would shudder in terror when he was released.
They reached the third floor. Angel slammed open the door that led into a massive kitchen, which had all the latest appliances. A beautiful woman with dreamy green eyes and waist length dark brown curls stood in front of the kitchen island scraping cookies onto a large platter.
“You can’t be done already!” she complained. “There were six women. I should have another hour at least! You need to work on your stamina, Angel.”
Angel grabbed a cookie, took a savage bite and tapped her nose. “I’m going to Sin City, princess!”
Luciana frowned at her brother and didn’t seem bothered by the fact that he wore only his underwear or that his skin was covered in hickeys, bite marks and lipstick.
“What are you talking about? Are those girls still here? I want them to try my almond cookies.”
“I’ll take one of those,” Gavin said as he stepped into the kitchen.
Angel ducked as his sister tossed the metal spatula and hurled herself at Gavin as if she were eight years old.
“Gavin!” she screamed.
Gavin couldn’t stop himself from smiling as he caught Luciana and whirled her around as if she were still a kid instead of a full grown adult. Luciana shrieked in delight and kissed him on both cheeks.
“What are you doing here? Do you want some cookies?” she asked.
“Yes, I would,” he said and set her down.
Luciana rushed to the platter and used tongs to put two cookies on a dainty plate that felt as sturdy as construction paper in his hand.
“Would you like a cup of tea?” Luciana asked.
Gavin suppressed a flinch. “No, thank you.”
Luciana pushed him onto a stool and propped her chin on her fists. “What are you doing here, Gavin?”
��I need help.” Gavin took a bite of the warm cookie and almost closed his eyes as the taste awakened a sweet tooth he didn’t know he possessed. “Fuck me.”
“You need help?” Luciana sounded shocked.
“I’m human,” Gavin said with a shrug.
“Which is why,” Angel said deliberately to get his sister’s attention, “I’m going with him.”
Luciana’s eyes bounced from Gavin to Angel and then to Raul who poured himself a cup of tea.
“You’re going to Las Vegas? What? I want to go too!”
“The situation isn’t good, Luci,” Gavin said and reached for more cookies.
“You’re going to leave me with Raul?” Luciana said indignantly.
Raul scowled. “What’s wrong with that?”
“You never come home and you don’t let me do anything! At least Angel takes me dancing once a week.”
Angel grinned at her. “I’m sure Raul will take you to the office to show you his accounting skills.”
Luciana’s eyes widened in horror. Gavin stiffened when she focused those hypnotizing green eyes on him.
“Gavin, can I come too?”
Raul and Angel tensed, but they didn’t try to interfere. He was leery of accepting Angel’s help after what happened to Vinny, but he trusted Raul’s judgment. If Raul said Angel could do it, he believed him. But there was no way in hell he would toss Luciana into the mix.
“It’s too dangerous,” he said and took another cookie.
“But Angel’s going!”
Gavin wasn’t used to having anyone argue with him aside from Lyla. Emotional outbursts weren’t his scene.
“I have a gun and I know how to use it,” Angel said loftily and leaned against the wall, looking like a Hispanic version of James Dean.
Luciana grabbed a knife from the chopping block and hurled it at Angel. The knife imbedded into the wall three inches above his head. Angel raised a brow at Luciana while Raul glared at his sister.
“What did I tell you two about playing with knives?” Raul snapped.
“I’m an excellent shot,” Luciana said hotly. “I can take care of myself. And don’t you dare lecture me about guns. You know I’m just as good as you, Angel.”
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