5. Roman
CHAPTER 5
ROMAN
M y blood bubbles in my veins as I hear Salvatore on the phone with Frankie. That slimy little bastard. He’s been here for years, and I’ve only been in this position for months. He waited a damn long time to exact his revenge against my family.
But he doesn’t get the last word.
The Amantes are done screwing over the Villanis.
This is our town, and no punk-ass prick soldier is gonna take what we’ve built!
Maybe it’s payback for running them out of Sicily.
Maybe he needs the cash since his father keeps making bad choices that get him closer and closer to death.
Or maybe he’s just goddamn stupid.
“You did real good, Sal,” I say, circling the chair where he’s tied up. “That was very convincing.”
Sal nods quickly. “And he’ll be there, too. He needs that money. He’s in a pretty shitty place right now.”
I stop circling and drop to my knees, dragging my gun down the side of his bloody and bruised face. “Frankie and I were best friends back in Sicily. Our fathers were business partners a long time ago back in Sicily, at least until his father screwed mine out of a real estate deal. And then my father forced the Amantes out of the country. Did you know any of that?” I rise to my feet and sweep a hand through my hair. “So now Frankie sees his opportunity and decides to get his revenge, yeah? He figures he can come after what my family has built and take his share.” I hover close to Sal’s twitching face. “But he can’t. And he fucking won’t get away with it. He betrayed my family for the second time. You know how that feels?” I tap the gun on the side of his face again. “Like you’re getting ass-rammed. Dry . Nothing to prep the assault.”
“Roman, look, I know you’re angry, but?—”
“But what, Sal?” I thunder. “You were pissed off, you had a beef with my family because we fired you, so you figured you’d come up with a plan to come back for what you thought was yours, yeah? That alone was stupid. Then you team up with Frankie Amante to help. You know how that makes me look, Sal?” I hiss into his ear, yanking it so hard, he lets out a piercing yelp. “Makes me look like I’ve got my head up my ass, that I didn’t see it coming. Not a good look for a boss, is it?”
“N-no,” Sal whimpers.
“But you made sure to wait until Matteo was outta the picture to enact your little plan, didn’t you? You figured you’d get away with our money if I was the one in charge, right? Lemme ask you something,” I say, shoving my face right into his and yelling at the top of my lungs, “Is this how you imagined things would turn out, you cocksucker? Huh? With you beaten within an inch of your pathetic life, tied to a chair, with a cinderblock chained around your ankles?”
Sal doesn’t answer. His chin quivers and his shoulders quake as the tears spill from his beady eyes.
I shake my head. “If you weren’t such a goddamn pervert, things mighta gone differently, you know? Like if you’d left your disgusting hands off Zoe instead of handing her off to your dipshit crew to send us a message, you might not be sitting here right now with your dick hanging out. But that’s why we fired you in the first place, isn’t it, Sal? Because you never could stick to the plan. You always had to put your own fucking spin on shit, and it bit us in the ass plenty.” I smirk. “Looks like old habits die hard, for you and your buddy, Frankie. That apple sure as hell doesn’t fall far from the tree in the Amante family!”
Sal sputters and wiggles in the chair, and I narrow my eyes at him. “You could’ve told him it was a setup. You know there’s no way out for you,” I say. “Why didn’t you?”
“Because why the fuck should he get away with all that money?” he sneers. “I did my part! I just got caught! I shouldn’t have to lose everything to him!”
“Another reason why you’d never make a good leader,” I muse. “Captain goes down with the sinking ship. You’ve heard that, yeah?” I furrow my brow. “But this…Captain sinking the fucking ship with everyone still on it…that’s a new one.”
“If I don’t make it out, nobody does!” Salvatore smirks. “You might wanna look up Frankie’s sister, too. You never know. We mighta pulled this job on you before and you didn’t even realize it. She might have some of the money we stole. Just sayin,” he says with an ominous chuckle.
My spine tenses.
Frankie’s sister.
The date I missed.
How the hell could I have gone back to the restaurant, knowing it was her brother who stole all of that blow? How could I look her in the eye, knowing I was hours away from skewering him?
I couldn’t face her.
I couldn’t stomach the thought of looking at her, if I’m being honest.
That Amante blood runs through her veins, too. And as hot as she is, I don’t need any more toxins seeping into my goddamn life.
“Selfish prick,” I mutter, rolling my eyes at Bobby and Ray who dragged Salvatore’s fat ass over here, same place where I popped Dario barely twelve hours ago. “Sellin’ out everyone and his fucking mother on his way out,” I grumble.
“What are you gonna do?” Ray asks in a hushed whisper.
“I’m gonna hold his hand and read him a story…just before I put a bullet between his beady-fucking-eyes. Cushion the blow a little.” I snort. “What the hell do you think? I mean, the guy’s already anchored, for Christ’s sake.”
Ray clears his throat and gives me a pointed look. “Boss, can I have a second?”
I walk away from the guys, leaving Bobby to handle Salvatore’s angry spewing. “What is it? We don’t have a lot of time for small talk,” I mutter, the reality of what Sal just said knotting my gut. What if he’s not bluffing? What if they really did pull shit like this before? I thought I’d only snoozed on five-hundred thousand, but maybe it’s more. Maybe it’s a lot fucking more!
“Are you sure this is the best way to handle this?” he asks. “All this blood. Have you spoken to Matteo? He wouldn’t?—”
I narrow my eyes, hairs on the back of my neck prickling. “First, don’t ever fucking question me, you got that? Second, Matteo gave me orders to keep shit running smoothly while he’s gone. I don’t have to check in with him for every little dipshit thing. And third, I haven’t even been home yet. I’m tired, angry, and hungry. So don’t piss me off more with this crap, okay? If your conscience is a problem, take it with you and sit in the goddamn car while I handle things here.”
A look of shock flickers across Ray’s face.
Fuck.
I didn’t mean all of that.
Most of it, yeah.
But not all of it.
Ray’s on my side, and the last thing I want to do is alienate anyone. Especially now.
I let out a frustrated breath. “Listen, Ray?—"
He holds up a hand. “No, boss. It’s fine. I shouldn’t have challenged you. Just tell me what you need.”
I lean my head back against the wall. “You’re right. It’s too much blood.” He doesn’t need to know why I’m so desperate to spill it, but I think enough has been done to prove that I can steer a tight ship.
Sal’s out.
There’s no way he survives. He’s an arrogant prick, a sellout, and a slimy, two-faced bastard who only pollutes the world we live in. He can taint even the most vile places…case in point, the Hudson River.
But Frankie…I could show him some mercy. He was my best friend at one point. Besides, there is a big problem that still needs to be addressed and he can help with that.
I need legitimacy.
I’ve shown these guys that I can rule with an iron fist, but does that make me a good leader? Am I that much better than fucking Sal?
I need to show them that I can get what I want and not have to use brute force to grasp it.
So I won’t kill Frankie. Yet.
I’ll use him, instead.
He’s gonna find the guys who financed Sal and his crew to pull off this heist and he’s gonna get back everything he stole. They have our drugs, and my pride, in their fucking back pockets. I just need a plan to force Frankie into cooperating with me.
Or leverage.
“Sal has to be punished,” I grunt. “He can’t get away with this, especially after he was fired by Matteo. He can’t walk outta here. He needs to be carried out. In a fucking bag.”
Ray nods.
I stroke my chin. “But Frankie…I have a different plan for him. We need him to find out who orchestrated this whole thing. Let’s face it, Sal ain’t that smart. Someone else is behind it, and Frankie can find them.”
“How do you know he won’t cut and run?” Ray asks. “If he knows what you did to Sal and Dario, he won’t wait around for you to take a crack at him.”
I glance at Sal who is slumped over in the chair, bawling like a baby.
“Frankie’s sister,” I murmur. “She may be just the bargaining chip we need to win this whole game.”
Ray nods. “Great, how do we find her?”
“Sal will do just about anything right now to stay alive. I’m gonna make him a deal.”
“What kind of deal?”
“A deal where I dangle freedom in front of his ugly ass face in exchange for information…and cooperation,” I say, a plan hatching in my mind as I speak. A sinister smile plays at my lips.
Oh, yeah, it’s my game now.
I rake a hand through my hair, my brain now fizzling with ideas as if I’ve just been injected with some serious caffeine.
I stop in front of Sal. “So you want the rest of your crew to go down in flames, huh?”
He glares at me, his eyes red and puffy. He couldn’t lead a crew out of a goddamn paper bag. But I’ll humor him. For now.
“They deserve it. I didn’t steal anything. I just fucked around with one of your girls.”
I jab a finger at his chest. “You organize this shit show, Sal?”
“No! It was Frankie, I swear!” he cries out. “And I already made sure he’ll be at that meeting spot you gave me. If you let me go, I’ll help you find whoever else he was working with! Let me show you that I can be loyal to you again!”
Wow, this guy has really done a complete one-eighty in the past few minutes. Now he thinks he can actually have his job back, too? Does he really believe I’d ever go along with that? Eh. Fuck it. Let him believe what he wants, as long as I get my drugs and handle the traitors quickly and somewhat cleanly.
“I want what was stolen, too,” I say through gritted teeth. “All of it.”
“I can get it for you,” he says. “Please, Roman. Give me a chance to make this right!”
I pretend to think about it before responding. “Okay, Sal. I’ll give you a shot. But you know what’s going to happen if you fuck up, right? Do I need to show you?—?”
“No!” he yelps. “I’ve got it. And if Frankie needs some more convincing, his sister works at the Grammercy Tap Room. I’ve only seen her once in the whole time I’ve known Frankie. He doesn’t let any of us get near her. I only know where she works because I saw the caller ID on his phone one night when she was working.”
Frankie is the one I want to punish most, that cocksucker. I want to do it for Matteo, for my family, but especially for my father. My former best friend is now my mortal enemy, and he’s the one who will pay the steep price for this betrayal. And if I know Frankie, he will definitely try to run as soon as he gets the chance. So I need my leverage.
Sal is singing like a fucking fat canary right now, and I should be happy. Thrilled, even. He’s about to sell everyone out, and he’s practically paving a path back to my money.
But a knot in my gut tightens when I hear her name, and I’m suddenly back at the restaurant with booze puddling in my lap as I gaze up at her snarky grin and get lost in her blue-green eyes.
Marchella.
Chella.
And just like that, the elusive bargaining chip falls right into my lap.
I needed an incentive to get Frankie to return my money, and now I have one.
Except she just happens to be the girl who got away…literally. She’s the girl I fantasized about for the better part of my teen years. Hell, I did more than fantasize about her, too. But I was smart enough to know back then that if I got too close, the sparks I felt between us would ignite and the flames would swallow me whole.
And that’s in addition to what Frankie would have done to me if I even dared look for too long.
All of the memories burst between my ears, swirling through my mind as I scrub a hand down the front of my face. I need to get my head on straight. This is my job! I can’t let these crazy feelings take over when I have so much at stake, like the loyalty and respect of my family and organization. I need to show them all the consequences they’ll face if any of them decide to pull a similar scheme, how I won’t tolerate deception and if they test me, they’ll pay with their lives. And not only them, but everyone they love.
Just like Frankie.
My throat tightens and I clench my fists.
And Marchella.
Fuck.
I turn to Ray. “Make sure Bobby meets Frankie at the meeting spot Sal gave him.” My jaw twitches. “And get me a location for his sister.”