2. Aiden
Chapter two
Aiden
T adhg is going on and on about the Italians, and how pissed off he is that they’re gaining territory on us. I tuned out his ranting over twenty minutes ago. He’s always getting himself riled up, breaking shit, and then drinking himself into a whiskey stupor, like right now, as he uses the wall as his personal punching bag. Rinse and repeat every single day that ends with the letter ‘Y’.
The thing is, he’s right, not that I would ever admit it out loud where he could hear it. Tadhg “Maddog” Murphy already has a big head, so large, in fact, that it shouldn’t even fit through the damn door. We should be furious that those fuckers, the Amatos, are trying to take from what little we have left, but as he knows, and so does everyone in our crime outfit, we are outmatched with their guns and manpower, and have been for years. The waterfront is our last real holdout, and once that’s gone, I’m not sure what we will have left. Honestly, most days, I just want to shove my fist down Tadhg’s throat to get him to shut up, but there are worse things than having to listen to my best f riend vent his frustrations. Like also secretly being best friends with one of those damn Italians that are actively trying to dismantle your family’s way of life. My life is so complicated at this point that I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy.
I rub my tattooed and scarred hands down my face, my temples throbbing painfully. I am so fucking tired, body, mind, and soul, of everything. I’m sick of worrying if I am even going to survive to see tomorrow. Everyday things, like getting a cup of coffee at a shop, could lead to me being assassinated. Every move I make is being watched by someone. How the fuck did shit get so messed up? Two years ago, everything was going well, and by well, I mean we all didn’t have large targets on our backs, and weren’t fighting every single goddamn day for our lives here in Illinois. There was a fragile peace between the different families; we weren’t best friends or anything, but we respected each other enough to slice up the Illinois pie, so that everyone could eat. I had just taken my seat at the table, and thought my life was set. Then she had to mess all this shit up, by running away from the arranged marriage that would have guaranteed our accord with the Amato family in Chicago for years to come. The spoiled, beautiful brat caused the already fraying allegiances to completely snap, leaving one of the Amato heirs standing at the altar, in a packed church, filled with Irish and Italian trigger-happy gangsters ready to combust, and combust they did. An all-out mafia war broke out, and so many lives have been lost on both sides as a result. Not that I can even truly blame her. There was nothing for her here but pain and misery.
“Are you even listening to me, deartháir ?“ I pry my tired eyes away from the large oak table top, where I’ve spent the last few minutes lost in my thoughts, and reminiscing about a beautiful cailleach, with the deepest green eyes I’ve ever had the misfortune to fall for. “Yeah, you’re rambling about Amato attempting to take the underground fighting rings from us, but how long did you really think we could keep them? We don’t have the manpower, Tadhg. I’ve told you this before, but you refuse to listen to my council, and you stretched us too thin, trying to run guns with the cartels. We should have just focused on what we’re good at.” A loud rumbling growl sounds through the air, before I watch him pick up the closest office chair and throw it against the wall, causing its legs to embed in the badly cracked plaster. Fuck, now we are going to have to both replace the chair, and fix the damn wall again. This stupid motherfucker and his short temper. “This is all that bitch’s fault! If she had just done what she was told to do, and hadn’t run off like some scared lamb, we would be doing business together with the Amatos, instead of fighting for our lives on all fronts.”
“That ‘bitch’ is your sister, and you know as well as I do, that you didn’t give her a damn choice. She didn’t want to get married, so we should have made a different deal, instead of selling her pretty neck to the Amatos for peace.” My anger boils just below the surface, as I remember how much Phoebe begged her brother to find another way. She didn’t want to be handed over to the Amatos in an archaic arranged marriage. She had plans for her life, plans to get away from all this fighting, and our crime family. Tadhg was unreasonable, as usual. He never saw the bigger picture. To him, it was just easier to give away something he didn’t see the true value of. To him, Phoebe was one less mouth to feed and clothe. She was discardable, a pretty tool he could wield, and if she brought us peace with the largest crime family in the state, even better. The fucker didn’t realize that he was handing them a rare diamond, but Vito Amato knew exactly what he was doing. He knew his son, Nicolo, had been in love with Phoebe, ever since they attended the same Sunday school when they were kids. He saw an opportunity to kill two birds with one stone, a binding alliance with the Irish, and to make his son happy. Except, of fucking course, nothin g went to plan, and now we are at war once again, and the streets are running red with blood.
“ She’s a Murphy! Her job, and only purpose on this miserable planet, was to help her family stay safe. She had no say in the matter, Aiden, and you fucking know it. Because of her, we have soldiers dead in the streets, our numbers are dwindling, and we have lost millions! We can’t even find the backstabbing little bitch, and where she’s gone to ground.“ He rips the chair out of the wall and throws it across the room, and I watch as Buggsy McDermott, one of our most loyal soldiers, flinches as he almost gets hit with it. “My ma is still spending every day on her knees in church, praying for that brat. She truly believes someone took her, even though I’ve told her that’s not even likely, and she left of her own accord. The truth is, she abandoned her family when we needed her most. If I ever get my hands on her, she’s going to wish she had just died, instead of running from me.”
He grabs the crystal whiskey decanter off the large table with a huff, and storms out of the room, mumbling to himself about how hard his life is, and how ungrateful everyone around him is. Buggsy, always the loyal shadow, follows him, but before he leaves the room completely, he turns around and faces me. “He’s getting worse, Aiden. He’s going to run this family into the ground, and we are all going to go to our deaths with him. You know I’m loyal, I’ll go down with the fucking ship fighting, but some of our men are getting real nervous, and looking at their options.”
Fuck, like I didn’t already know all this shit. What does this fucker expect me to do, displace my best friend of over twenty years as the head of his family? “The ones that aren’t loyal, cut them loose in a watery grave. We don’t need to be looking over our shoulders. We have enough to deal with right now.” He nods and steps out, and just like that, I know my orders will be obeyed. More and more, our capos and lieutenants are looking at me to lead, as the underboss and Consigliere. It’s a role I was born to fill, just as my father did before his untimely death. He served Tadhg’s father, James Patrick Murphy, all his life as not only his right-hand man, but also his best friend, and I am determined to do the same for his son, even if I don’t agree with some of his choices, and want to bash his head in more often than not.
My phone buzzes in my jacket pocket, and I pull it out, fully prepared to hear even more bad news, but instead, I see a text message from that fucker, Nicolo, who’s been dodging my calls for weeks.
Punkass Bitch:
Interesting little video I found, when looking for what I lost. Click the link; you won’t be disappointed. We need to fucking meet tonight, our usual spot. Don’t fucking disappoint me. You know it won’t be pretty if you do.
There’s a link that pops up in a second text message, and I’m even more fucking confused. What the fuck is Behind the Lens? Out of sheer curiosity, I click the link, fully prepared to be punked by that asshole, but what pops up just manages to baffle me further. Did he send me to a porn site? Has this fucker finally lost all his marbles? Are both my best friends completely unhinged now?
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Ladypoison , if this fucker is playing with me, I am going to beat his unstable fucking ass. I get it; his heart is broken. The woman he’s loved all his life ran from him, as if he was the fucking devil, without a backward glance, or even a note. He’s not the only one who fucking lost her though, not that I could ever admit it out loud. I fucking loved her too, and not just as the bratty little sister of one of my best friends. She and I, however, could have never been together, no matter how much I dreamed and wished it to be different. She was always meant to be a pawn in either her father’s or brother’s hands. Always something meant to be bartered with. I loved her, first with a child’s innocence, and later with a man’s heart. I knew Nicolo loved her too, and that cemented the fact in my heart that I would never be able to have her. With a weary sigh, I click the link, and it opens to the video of a petite woman, lying on dark russet-colored silk sheets. Her long blonde hair is sprawled out around her, and her face is partially covered, with one of those delicate lace masks, that cause her blue eyes to pop, and look like she’s about to be a character in some Venetian carnival. Her pale, soft-looking skin is covered in a lacy gray teddy that leaves very little to the imagination, and accentuates her sexy curves. She’s sex personified, lush, beautiful, and mesmerizing. My long dormant cock swells in my pants at the vision on the screen, and I bite down on my bottom lip to stifle a groan, as I adjust myself under the table.
At first, I don’t understand why Nicolo has sent this to me. He wants me to watch the same porn he was watching? Like, I know we’re best friends and all, and I would do almost anything for the guy, even now when our families are at war with each other, but this is fucking weird. Then she opens her mouth, welcoming all her new subscribers to her channel, and letting them know she takes requests. My stomach immediately plummets, and I almost drop the phone in shock. I would know that voice anywhere. I’ve spent the last twenty-plus years listening to it. Its sweet melody is ingrained in my head, heart, and soul. As I watch her hands slide along her flesh seductively, a new emotion rises within me, one I know means I am about to lose control of myself. Rage. Burning, fiery rage soars through all of my limbs, and I almost crush the phone in the palm of my hand. Phoebe Murphy , my Phoebe, is the woman in the video, touching herself provocatively, for a paying audience, underneath a disguise. She’s either dyed her hair platinum blonde , or she’s wearing a wig, and the blue eyes have to be contact lenses, meant to hide her distinct natural green color. The only woman I have ever fucking loved is doing porn for strangers on the internet, and Nicolo Amato has found out.
Fuck, I have to get to her before he does, is my first thought, as panic rips through my body. As furious as I am right now at what I’m seeing, he’ll be worse, because she ran from him and abandoned him. Who knows what he’ll do to her now? There’s a fine line between love and hate, and Nicolo was already straddling the damn thing, but this will push him right over the edge. I’m sure the fucker is feeling betrayed. God fucking knows I am, looking at her slipping her slim fingers below the gray lace panties, and rubbing at her clit. I immediately click the link, and enter the information from one of my fake, untraceable credit cards, and pick from the tiers. Fuck, she has tiers of what she’s willing to do. I’m going to strangle her when I get my hands on her. After selecting a tier called ‘All your heart’s desires’, I switch back to my text messages and reply to Nicolo, my original headache causing my eye to twitch, as I labor to control my breathing.
Me:
I’ll be there in twenty, you had better be ready to explain how you found her, and she better be still alive, Nicolo, or I’m going to tear your fucking heart out!
Punkass Bitch:
She’s alive for the moment. Whether she stays that way depends on you.
Fucking hell! I get up and storm out of the boardroom without answering anyone’s questions. I get into my dark green Mercedes and floor the gas, heading to the old abandoned theme park on the other side o f town, deep in Amato territory. How could she fucking do this? Doesn’t she know she’s as good as dead when either Tadhg or Vito find her? A mafia princess doesn’t become a fucking porn star, she’s disgraced herself and her family, and there will be consequences to pay.
Fuck, Phoebe, you be tter pray I get to you first.