AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I remember Rocco. He was always loud and outgoing, one of those stereotypical mafioso with a big personality and an enormous appetite. Dad never liked him much, but he was a good earner.
Matteo was a newly made Capo in the last year before my father died. I didn’t get to know him, but I remember rumors about him being ruthless and single-minded, almost to a fault.
I meet with Ronan a few days later at Bloody Strike. It’s another gray Chicago morning, and I’m relieved when the place isn’t filled with shirtless guys sparring. Instead, it’s only Seamus and Niall, plus Ronan making coffee behind the bar.
“Lovely seeing you again,” Niall says as I join them. Seamus gives me a polite nod and goes back to hunching over his phone. “Don’t mind my surly cousin there. He’s got a problem with Italians.”
“He’s working on that,” Ronan says, giving Seamus a hard look, who just ignores them both.
“It’s all right. I have a thing against Irish too, but we’re all moving past our prejudices for the sake of the family, right?” I give Ronan a sweet smile and he laughs as he passes me some coffee.
“What do you have for me, love?”
As I open up the folder I put together on Rocco, it occurs to me that Ronan’s little pet name hasn’t been bothering me as much lately. Which I don’t particularly enjoy.
I give him the rundown on Rocco’s profile. Niall’s half listening and Seamus seems like he’s oblivious to everything but whatever’s on his screen. Ronan remains on the other side of the bar, paying close attention. Almost too much attention.
“Rocco runs two nightclubs and sells meth out the back of them both. I’m not sure where he gets the supplies, but once we figure it out, that’ll be our way in.”
Ronan frowns and glances at Niall. “Who do we know that imports meth?”
“Bikers,” Niall says with a sigh. “The particularly nasty sort.”
“I had a feeling,” I admit. “I have contacts in some of the MCs from back when I worked with Marco if you’re interested?”
“We’ll hold off on that for now. What about this Rocco fella then?”
“The idea’s simple. We find out who’s supplying his meth, hit him during a shipment, and make him an offer. Sell his clubs to your family and profit or we murder him and take the club after he’s dad. Either way, we win.”
Ronan whistles. “Brutal. Efficient. I like it.”
“Thank you.” I give him a demure little bow. “It’s a talent of mine.”
“And what if we can’t figure out where the drugs are coming from?” Niall asks.
“We’ll work on it. This is just a rough outline, but once we start putting pieces in place, we’ll get a much better idea of where to go. Maybe blackmail’s a better route, or maybe Rocco’s got a weakness we can exploit. But we start with him.”
“Wonderful,” Ronan says, clapping his hands. He leans back from the bar and looks at his cousins. “All right, you two, you’re both dismissed. Seamus, I hope you weren’t taking notes.”
“Wouldn’t dare,” he grunts as he gets up and glances at me. “Nothing worth noting down, anyway.”
Niall rolls his eyes and drapes an arm across Seamus’s shoulders as he steers the surly Irishman away. “What crawled up your ass today, big fella? Got something against the pretty Italian girl?”
“Something,” Seamus grumbles as they walk off.
I watch them go, frowning. “He doesn’t like me.”
“Factions.” When I look back, Ronan looks serious. “Told you, love.”
“Why keep him around then?”
“We need somebody reporting back about how clever and useful you are. Enemies close and all that.” He comes around the bar and sits in the stool next to mine. I shut the folder, preparing to leave, when he reaches into his jacket and produces a gun.
I stare at it. He stares at me. We meet our gazes, and he’s smirking again.
“What’s this for?” I ask finally.
“I want you to carry it.” The weapon’s a small, snub-nose revolver, probably shoots .22 caliber bullets. Not a lot of power, but good enough for everyday carry and a little extra protection.
