by Posey Parks
“What brings you to Punta Cana, Mr. Octavius Young?” Fist shoved in my pocket, I strolled toward him, unbuttoning my gray suit jacket. I sat in the chair opposite of him, legs spread, enjoying my cigar.
His toffee eyes held bitterness and anger. But why?
“I’m on vacation,” he sighed.
“Why are my men and I here?” he bit out, thrusting his long fingers through his brown hair.
“I thought it was time we met face to face. I’d seen you from afar so many times. I had every intention of meeting you in Jersey. But like you, I’m a busy businessman.” I blew the sweet smoke in his face.
“Would you like a cigar?”
He waved his hand through the smoke. His eyes narrowed. “Yes.”
I threw my hand in the air. “Kahn.”
He appeared with a freshly cut cigar and a lighter.
Octavius puffed the cigar, never taking his eyes off of me.
“Thank you.”
Kahn returned to his post.
“Why would you want to meet me?” Octavius’ lips tipped upward at one end as he rested his leg across his thigh. He wore navy slacks and a yellow short sleeve button-down shirt. Motherfucker played coy. If he was afraid of me, he hid it well.
“You enjoy my wife’s company from time to time.”
“Yes, Emoni. My wife enjoys the finer things in life. Whenever I’m in my hometown on business, I stop into Emoni’s cute little shop and purchase beautiful items for her.”
“Do you live full time in New York or Italy?”
He kept the same grin on his smug poker face. Doubt he expected I’d know where he lived. It was important, he knew I could find him anywhere.
“New York.”
“Is your wife from Jersey too?”
“Yes, but she doesn’t care to step foot there again. She said there’s nothing left but liars, mobsters, and thieves.”
“You don’t say. New York isn’t much better. It’s a cesspool. Crime and drugs are off the charts.”
“My wife is in love with her penthouse in Manhattan.”
“I get it. She doesn’t want anyone to know where she’s from?” I waved my cigar in the air. “You can order from her boutique online. Free shipping if you spend over one hundred and fifty dollars. Unless you want your wife to find out you’re spending time with my wife.” I glared into his eyes.
“She’s aware I eat breakfast with Emoni from time to time.”
I leaned in. “Let me rephrase. Unless you want your wife to become a widow.”
His brow rose. “I see you feel threatened by another man spending quality time with your wife.”
I smiled to keep from snapping this motherfucker’s neck.
“The only woman I want to spend time with...”
“...is Mrs. Esposito.” The door clicked closed behind her.
My wife saved him. Gutting this bitch like a catfish would have been a pleasure. Fuck that, it will be a pleasure.
His posture changed and his eyes lit up in her presence. This dumb ass showed his hand the moment she walked through the door.
Her arms looped around my neck from behind. “Baby, what’s taking so long?” She slid her tongue across my cheek. “You owe me another dance.” Her intoxicating perfume swept up my nose.
Emoni’s hand glided across my shoulder as she stood at my side. “Octavius, how are you? I didn’t expect to see you in Punta Cana. I know I told you I’d be here.”
“You said I needed to take a vacation.”
“Yeah, I did.” Emoni stepped closer. “It’s good to see you.” She embraced him.
My teeth were clenched so tight I thought they’d break.
I peeked at my men. They each swept the beads of sweat from their brows. Emoni sank into my lap. The form fitting short black dress hugged her curves. I loved the cute little spaghetti strap bows, I wanted to untie them with my teeth.
“Did your wife join you?”
He puffed his cigar. “No, she had business in Milan. I wanted this to be a surprise. I planned to show you pictures. My wife used a few of your dresses in her Milan fashion show this weekend.”
The guy couldn’t have been over thirty-five years old. How did he obtain his wealth?
Emoni planted her ass on my dick, hoping to calm me down. Calm and being rational had left the building.
Kagan squeezed the handle of his Glock waiting for shit to go left.
“Hey, Marco, I didn’t know we moved the party.” Dominic’s deep voice echoed through the warehouse.
Shit.
Octavius’ throat bobbed.
“Bro.” Dillon’s heavy hand landed on my shoulder.
“We have new attendees. Dominic kicked Tom at my feet.”
“I must say this is the most restraint I’ve ever seen my buddy display.” Dillon laughed over my shoulder.
“That means he’s about to commit murder,” Dominic sang.
“First it was the girls, now us. I didn’t think there’d be any more killing on this trip,” Dominic snickered.
Octavius’ legs spread, and he tilted his head to the side. “Aren’t you running for Governor of New Jersey?”
Dominic shoved his hands into his black slacks. “I am. So fucking what? Does that mean when a disrespectful motherfucker flirts with my wife I am supposed to be ok with that shit?” His hands widened.
“Fuck no,” Dominic growled.
“Brian, bring in the bastard,” he ordered.
Tom inched forward at my feet. He glared at Dillon. “Mr. Magarelli, please don’t kill me?”
Dillon smacked the back of his bloody head. “Shut the fuck up.”
“Tom, you really fucked up. You don’t follow another man’s wife from state to state.” I shook my head.
“Romeo, grab a couple of chairs. Show them we have manners.” Dillon waved him over. “And where’s the lights in this place?”
“Kahn lights,” I ordered.
Dillon and I spoke earlier this evening. I knew he’d show up, but not Dominic. He probably convinced his brother to let him join us.
Emoni squatted between Octavius and me. He puffed his cigar and met her gaze.
Even breaths, no shaky movements. Confident guy. Break bitch break.
She slid a knife from her garter and spun the circular handle around her finger. “My friends are waiting.” She slammed the knife between his legs.
He gasped.
“Emoni, I always knew you had balls,” Dominic chuckled in the background.
“It was nice talking to you all those afternoons. Thanks for the lavish purchases you made for your snotty wife. Gage, bring me your phone.” She never took her eyes off of him.
“My husband has run out of patience. You really fucked up when you showed your face here. Men often think with their dick instead of the head upstairs.”
Gage stood patiently at Octavius’ side.
“I caught that hard-on you had for me. You probably beat off the second you were alone.”
Beads of sweat gathered over his brow.
Finally.
“There’s only one man for me. I’ve been stamped with his dick a thousand times over.” She winked at me, then turned back to him.
Emoni grabbed the phone out of Gages grip. She pressed a button on the screen and turned it to Octavius.
His lower lip trembled and his eyes grew in size. “I left you in my boutique on purpose more than once. I figured you’d slip up and go snooping. What were you looking for in my office?”
“Emoni, I can explain.”
She stood and placed Gage’s phone in his hand. “Nah, that’s ok. I wanted to believe you were really a friend. Tadeas my husband’s right-hand man, trusts no one. He told me I shouldn’t trust anyone either.”
Standing to my full height, I wrapped my hands around my wife’s waist and planted a soft kiss on her neck.
“Have fun, sweetheart.” She squeezed my cock.
“Baby, come on.”
Emoni turned in my arms. �
�You owe me later.” Her soft lips crashed into mine.
Pulling back, she peeked at Octavius. “Sleep tight, big boy. These three are the worst you could ever encounter,” her silky voice trailed off.
Emoni nodded toward the door. Gage’s gray eyes landed on me before he followed.
I remembered the conversation I had with Dillon earlier.
The wives persuaded Nadir to DJ. They wouldn’t leave the dance floor. He scratched hit after hit.
All you heard was ‘that’s my jam’.
After thirty minutes of dancing, the guys and I sat at one of the larger round tables.
I leaned across the table. “Hey, Dillon, I need to talk to you about something important.”
“Yeah, what’s up?”
“Remember the guy I told you about who was hanging around Emoni?”
“Yeah, what about him?”
“He’s here.”
Dillon’s brows rose. “In Punta Cana?”
“Who’s here?” Dominic leaned in.
“A guy who hung around Emoni in Jersey. Keep up.”
Tony widened his hands.
I brought the guys up to speed on Octavius.
“I arranged something like a meet and greet. Since I never met him officially.”
Dillon gruffly rubbed his bearded chin. “Funny thing, that motherfucker, I had the guys trail across country, he followed my wife to Tulsa. So I did what any gentleman would do. I brought him along on an all expenses paid trip here.” He flashed a devilish smile.
Tony chuckled.
“Tom’s a ghost. The rafting job was a front.”
My jaw slacked. “Get the fuck out of here.”
“Right. And I want to know why, now? I plan to find out tonight. I want to know who he works for.”
“Romeo and I spoke earlier. We wondered if the guys knew each other. One guy follows Sierra, the other pops up here. Something isn’t right. I’m ready to dig a little deeper to get the info I need.”
Dillon clutched my shoulder. “We’ll join you. I’d like to get to the root of the problem too.”
He fell back in his chair, snickering.
Deep laughter erupted around the table.
“You two have fun. I’ll hang out here with the rest of the family.” Dominic smirked.
He planned to behave tonight? That was a first.
“I’ll run out and grab supplies and take them to the guys.”
I slapped Tone’s back. ‘Thanks.”
Dominic whispered in Tony’s ear en route to the door. What was he up to? At the time, I didn’t know he’d plotted to crash the party.
Sebastian tapped my arm. “I’ll scrub the cameras from the time he arrived in Punta Cana. It’ll appear he was never here.”
“Thanks Sebastian.”
“Sebastian, I’ll help,” Jacob stated.
He peeked at his cousin. “Brandon, are you in?”
He flashed his white teeth. “Yup.”
The computer hackers were on it.
That was how we ended up here. I invited Emoni. The Donna needed to be present.
Dominic being Dominic had his own plan.
The door clicked closed behind Emoni. I nodded to the guys.
“On your fucking knees,” they ordered Octavius’ men.
“Toss your weapons on the floor,” Kagan growled.
His men were outnumbered once Dillon and Dominic arrived. No one said we played fair.
“Guys, rollers.” Romeo and Rémy pushed the long-handled paint rollers covered in tape across the floor. They removed as much DNA as possible. After they wrapped the bodies, they’d power wash the floors and walls with a water bleach mixture. We were thorough.
Tony purchased the toys. In cash. There wasn’t any other way. Wouldn’t be surprised if he went the extra mile and removed the hardware store’s video footage. Mafia men perfected the art of being invisible.
They zip tied Octavius’ men. “On the plastic sheet now,” my men demanded.
I removed my suit jacket.
“Are you seriously planning to murder me over a woman?”
Shrugging off my shirt, I met his gaze. “She’s not just any woman. She’s my...wife,” I roared. My perfectly moussed hair shook loose. The large vein throbbed along my temple. I’d say I ran out of patience.
“And the mother of my children. What the fuck did you think would happen? I’m killing you off the sole fact you arrived here while my wife and I vacationed with our friends. You arrogant motherfucker.”
Kahn placed the plastic apron over my clothes. Wasn’t what we were used to, but it would do.
Kahn snatched the cigar from Octavius’ hand.
“Why were you snooping around in her office?”
“I was curious. Wondered if she was legit?”
His elbows bounced on his knees as he rubbed his face.
“You thought her business was dirty because she was married to me?” My heavy hand tapped his cheek twice. “Look at me. I purchased my wife’s business with clean cash from our corporation. You thought you could play on my wife’s kind heart to get to me. She’s a brilliant woman. She saw right through your bullshit,” I stated through gritted teeth.
The plastic sheet cracked through the air as Kagan lowered it to the floor. Octavius jumped.
“Do you know either of them?” I pointed to the left.
“No.”
“Is that your final answer?”
“Yes,” he responded with certainty in his eyes.
Tony stepped beside me. “I bought two types of saws.” He drew my attention to the silver pop up table.
“The standard hacksaw and the power saw. Thought you guys might want to get back to your wives before morning.”
“I’ll use both,” Dominic snickered.
“Tone, I will too. I haven’t chopped anyone up in a couple of months.”
We chuckled.
“Dude, that’s bullshit. We just chopped up those bastards the other night.” Dillon’s brow lifted.
“Shit, you’re right.” I bent over laughing.
“My wife thought I could wait until after the election. Fuck no.” Dominic leaned over the guy shaking on his knees, bleeding profusely from his nose and mouth.
“You should have died that night. You low life piece of shit.” Dominic slammed his pointy shoe into his stomach.
I could always count on Dominic to help kill a rat. After shoving my hair under the mesh bonnet, I slipped mesh shoe covers over my expensive loafers, then slipped the leather gloves over my large hands. “Hacksaw please?”
Tony placed it in my hand.
“You can’t do this. Do you know who I am?”
“Now you want to negotiate? We’re past that point. I’ve been dying to cut your tongue out of your sleazy fucking mouth,” I yelled.
“I’m with Marco. I don’t give a fuck who you’re with. When they come for me, I’ll be ready. In the meantime, I’ll enjoy snuffing your life out slowly,” Dillon growled.
Kagan dipped Octavius forward then back as they placed the plastic sheet under the chair. I grabbed the plastic face shield off the makeshift table.
Pulling the shield over my face, the little patience I had dissolved like his body would later tonight. My chest rose and fell as I gripped Octavius’ wrist. “You’ll die a slow, painful death. No one disrespects me and gets away with it. I think I’ll rip your heart out and feed it to you. You heartless bastard.”
“A powerful man. One more powerful than any of us in this room. He wants the New Jersey territories. All of them,” he gritted out. “Please don’t kill me. If I don’t return home in a few days, he’ll kill my wife.”
A grin formed on my lips. “You got in bed with the devil. If you would’ve warned us earlier, I may have spared your life.”
“One more time, do you know either of the other men?”
Tears seeped from his eyes.
Not so big after all.
“Yes.” He dropped his head.
“Shit,” Tom uttered.
Alarm bells rang out in my head.
“He knew your wives were your weaknesses. He counted on you guys making poor choices.”
“Who the fuck is he?”
“I can’t tell you. I’ll take his name to the grave. If none of us return home, you’ll be at war.”
I placed the saw against his arm under his shoulder. “Don’t tell us his name. We’ll find out, eventually.”
“He has ties to the FBI and CIA.”
My heartbeat slammed against my rib cage. Nothing worse than fighting someone who was a ghost.
Sliding the saw back and forth under his shoulder, Octavius howled like a dog.
“Please stop.”
Blood rose to the surface, gushing, pooling onto the plastic sheet.
“What...is...his...name?” I roared through barred teeth.
I cut through the bone and flesh. Standing to my full height like a savage, I clutched his bleeding limb. My cold green eyes stared through him.
“There’s no turning back.”
We were in a warehouse in the middle of nowhere. Everyone had a price. Five thousand we paid the owner to use his abandoned shell of a business.
I shoved my foot into Octavius. His one good arm flailed in the air before his head thudded the cement floor.
Something these poor bastards had in common was their good looks. We shared similar characteristics.
Cocky, brooding, and persistent. Were our wives naturally attracted to them and didn’t realize it?
I reached for the electric saw as I kneeled.
Dillon, Dominic, and I peeked between each other. This wasn’t anything out of the ordinary. Only difference we were in another country. Sometimes, you had to line more pockets.
Because we had the computer guru’s as our backup, we didn’t have that problem.
Next week we’d be free to snap necks all to save our country's beloved most valuable possession. An old ass piece of artwork worth billions. If I was a betting man. Which I was. I’d say we had our work cut out for us.
Back to these stupid guys. I knew it was more than Octavius let on. Their vendettas were personal. If they were working together as a team, we just put a few of their players out of commission.