Complications

Chapter 1

CHAPTER ONE

Matteo

“Boss, we need you here.”

The secure line crackled, but that was the price of using fully secured lines the feds couldn’t track.

Joey didn’t tell me the issue, but that wasn’t unexpected.

If I was called to a scene, it meant problems. With a sigh, I grabbed my suit coat and headed to my car.

The cleanup was at a shitty apartment complex on the edge of the city.

I had twenty minutes to stew about the complications.

I parked in the alleyway around the back, seeing no one but our lookouts.

With a subtle nod to give the all-clear, I exited my vehicle and took the stairs two at a time to the fourth floor.

I knocked once and was immediately let into the apartment by a crew member.

A brief look around revealed nothing that would cause alarm.

Noises came from the back of the apartment, so I headed there.

“I need you to tell me your name.” The pleading tone in Joey’s voice surprised me. I’d never heard it before, and we’d been through some shit together. “You gotta give me something.”

When he shifted to see who’d entered the room, I saw movement on the closet floor in front of him.

Joey’s irritated growl reverberated around the room when there was no response.

Whoever was holding out on him must have balls of steel.

The closely-cropped head, scar marring the side of his face, and the blank stare from black eyes had made some of the toughest cry for mercy.

But all that apparently didn’t faze whoever was in the closet.

“Hey, boss, we found this guy in the closet when we came to talk to Ralphie about his debts. Fucker offered to pay us with a good time in the back. When we followed him in, he—”

“You intended to let him pay debts by fucking someone?”

“No, but I was curious whose pussy would be worth fifty grand.” With my nod, Joey continued, “Yeah, so we get in here and see this guy crouched in the corner. He didn’t even look up when we came in.

Ralphie, the fuck-up that he is, made a beeline for the bedside table and grabbed a piece. ” Joey shrugged. “We were quicker.”

“You know who this is?”

“No, and he’s not talking to any of us either. He dove for the closet when Ralphie went for the gun and hasn’t come out since.”

The man’s slight frame was hunched over, folding in on itself as I moved closer to get a better look.

He glanced up, and holy shit. Dark-blue eyes framed by delicate brows stared back.

The freckles dusted across his button nose and halo of deep auburn curls made him look younger than he probably was.

Abrasions and cuts masked what should have been a beautiful face. “We did this?”

“Nah, we haven’t touched him. I think he speaks English ‘cause he was cringing at some of the shit we said.”

I knew he was no relation to Ralphie. Before I loaned anyone anything, I thoroughly investigated them, and no family had popped up on the radar.

Most of my business was perfectly legal, but I occasionally offered loans to those who couldn’t or wouldn’t go through banks for financing.

My terms were fair, but missed payments were bad for continued good health.

I’d stayed under the feds’ radar for racketeering my entire career and didn’t want some waif with pretty eyes to fuck up my streak.

Luck played a part in my success, but proper cleanup and preparation mattered more.

When I crouched, the man attempted to cover himself like he expected a blow. I gently grasped his chin and raised his face to get a better look. Nothing stood out as broken, and he was an adult, albeit young.

“Who are you to Ralphie?” The man’s chin quivered and tears threatened to fall, but he defiantly refused to speak. “If you don’t tell me otherwise, I can only assume you’re protecting him because you’re involved in his business. Are you?”

He didn’t answer aloud, but that at least got a head shake and a gagging noise.

“Are you his boyfriend?” That question elicited a more emphatic head shake.

“Related to him?” Another shake. Fuck, I didn’t have all day.

“I’m going to ask one last time. I need an answer from you. Who are you to Ralphie?”

“Houseboy.” His voice was croaky and rusty. “I’m his houseboy.”

“How long have you been with him?” I asked.

My driving need to know more annoyed me.

He was Ralphie’s employee of sorts, so I should give the order to kill and walk away.

But fuck, those eyes already haunted me.

Besides, I wasn’t in the habit of killing when it wasn’t required.

Contrary to movies, dead bodies were a fucking pain in the ass to dispose of properly.

It certainly wasn’t because my cock had stiffened the moment I looked into his eyes.

“A-a-a month, I think.”

“Why aren’t you sure?” The boy ducked his face like he was ashamed.

“I haven’t earned the right to know.”

“What the fuck does that mean?” I looked up at Joey, and he had a similar what the fuck expression.

“Listening to the radio or watching TV is earned by good behavior. I can’t look out the windows and I haven’t earned the other stuff.”

At his words, I glanced behind me. The shades were sealed to the sill, so it would have seemed like the blinds were closed from the street. It was creepy as fuck.

“Are you here on your own?” Before I could get an answer, there was a flurry of activity in the outer room. I stood and turned to Joey.

“Boss, Elio just called, even though I told the fucker to stay away. There’s police activity in the area. We gotta get a move on.” Joey jerked his head at the closet. “How do you want me to handle the situation?”

There was a small whimper from the closet. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. I’d deal with my great-nephew, who didn’t listen, later. Much later. I needed to figure out what to do with this problem first.

“Get your stuff together. You’re coming with us.”

My voice was perhaps harsher than necessary, but it was effective. The man scrambled to his feet and hurried to the bathroom. My eyes narrowed at his limp. He emerged from the bathroom with a single toothbrush in his hand.

“I’m ready.”

“Your stuff is a toothbrush,” I said flatly. It wasn’t a question. What the fuck was Ralphie into, and how had my investigation not picked up on it? “Shoes? Jacket? Anything?”

“He destroyed all that stuff when I was delivered.”

“What’s your name?”

“Connor. Connor Higgins.”

With a nod to Joey, I grabbed a blanket off the closet shelf.

Connor shrank away from it when I went to put it around his shoulders, but it was too cold to go out with nothing.

He was barefoot, so I rifled through Ralphie’s dresser until I found some thick socks.

When Connor protested, my stern look quieted him immediately.

There was obviously a story here, but now wasn’t the time for it. We needed to get out of here.

“Joey, finish up in here and then get the fuck out. Drop the word that Ralphie skipped town when he couldn’t pay. Until we know what’s up with this one,”—I jerked my head to Connor before I continued—“there’s no reason for anyone to know Ralphie’s dead.”

Joey murmured quietly into his earpiece and left the room to supervise his guys.

I tossed the socks at Connor. He caught them but made no move to put them on.

There wasn’t time to wait for him to follow orders, so I took them from his hands and put them on myself.

He obediently raised each foot when I tapped it.

I grabbed some slides from the closet and draped the blanket over his shoulders.

His look of revulsion at the items was a clue to my unanswered questions.

“Don’t worry. We can burn them all after we get to the house.” Connor nodded but made no other response. He followed me into the living room, where I stopped to watch Joey systematically erase our presence. “Joey, make sure there’s no trace of us.”

Joey raised his eyebrows and jerked his head at Connor. I nodded.

Connor was mine now.