38. Adriano
Adriano
I stand at the window overlooking the city from my Willing-Morris Fund corner office and smile to myself.
This view is old money.
It’s power and prestige.
The Marino Famiglia has plenty of raw muscle and income. We could take on any organization in this city, go toe to toe with any vicious fucker that wants to hurt us, but we’ve always been locked out of this world.
The world of high society and complicated finance.
All because we don’t have the right name or the proper credentials.
But fuck those people.
Though maybe I just like this office so much because I stole it from Lucy’s asshole brother.
I turn back to my desk with a smile on my face.
I keep thinking about what Lucy told me last night.
How she basically told her grandmother to fuck off.
I’m so fucking proud of her it’s like iron in my chest. I can’t stop thinking about my wife, about her pregnant glow, about her lips on mine, about all the vicious and filthy sex we had on my office desk, about her on her knees, sucking me off like the beautiful little slut she is, about talking afterward for hours, how she told me living with her grandmother was like trying to grow in the shadow of a monster.
And how she’s finally squirming her way out and finding her own path.
It only makes me love her that much more.
Because Lucy’s strong. It’s hard to live with a person like Helena. I bet her grandmother has been dominating her since she was a little girl.
But all it took was a little space for her to finally realize she’s her own person and make her own decisions.
The phone on my desk buzzes. I hit the intercom button. “Yeah?”
“It’s me,” Luca says.
“You don’t have to identify yourself. I know you’re out there. What’s going on?”
“Shit, sorry. This fucking office. I’m not used to all this fancy shit.”
“Luca. What’s going on?”
“He’s here. Richard DeLuca’s waiting for you in the lobby. Should we bring him in?”
“Make him wait another five minutes. No, make that ten. You know what to do?”
“I’m on it.”
“Good man.”
The intercom line goes dead. I turn it off on my end and sit back, smiling at the ceiling. I’m half hard picturing Lucy down on all fours, panting and moaning, sweating and gasping as she orgasms again and again, when finally, there’s a knock at my office door.
“Come in.”
Richard DeLuca enters. He’s not giving me his charming, smarmy party smile anymore.
Last we spoke was at that sunglasses thing, back when Demir nearly got his claws into my Lucy.
If I recall correctly, he’s married to that nightmare of a woman, one of the terrible assholes that treated my wife like shit back in the day.
Now though, he’s all business, which is what I was hoping for when he reached out to make this appointment.
“How are you, Mr. Marino?” He shakes my hand firmly. “I appreciate you taking this meeting.”
“Any time, Richard. Please, call me Adriano.”
He nods and sits down across from me. I lower myself with a sigh into my chair.
“I’m going to be direct and honest with you, Adriano. I’ve been in negotiations like this before and I’ve found that’s the easiest way to move forward. No bullshit, no games. Just the facts as my client understands them.”
My eyebrows arch. “And who do you represent?”
“Certain interests, both private and public. Let’s say I represent a conglomeration of several different entities, some of which you’ve been, ah, aggressively engaging with.”
Spoken like a true fucking lawyer. “What does Demir want?”
He doesn’t flinch. I like that about him. “This isn’t only about him, but if you want to cut straight to it, he wants you to reconsider your current trajectory. But it isn’t only him I’m speaking for. You’ve made a lot of enemies in this city lately, Adriano.”
I consider that for a moment. Then I hold up a hand. “I changed my mind. I want you to call me Don Marino.”
Richard’s face twitches. “I don’t think?—”
“Don Marino,” I repeat, staring at him. “Because that’s who I am. I know I’m sitting here behind a fancy desk in this upscale hedge fund, but you should be clear about who you’re speaking to. Don Marino.”
“We don’t have to get acrimonious. I’m only here as a messenger.”
“Then deliver your message.”
“My clients want you to cease your activities. They’re willing to scale back their own operations if you comply.
However, if you continue down this road, they are going to take punitive actions, many of which you will not like, Don Marino.
Actions both legal and extra-legal, though I deny all knowledge of the latter. ”
I smile acidly. “You’re just here to threaten me?”
“I’m here to broker a peace.”
I consider that. I make Richard sit in silence for a full minute while I watch him carefully.
It’s uncomfortable for him, but I don’t mind.
At this point, I’m just trying to run out the clock.
I have a timer ticking along in my head, and I want to make sure this meeting doesn’t end before it’s done.
“What happens if I’m not interested?”
“You have to know how bad it’ll get for you.
” I can tell he’s starting to fray slightly.
Frustration is showing on his face. “Gray Wolf is only one piece of the puzzle. There are very powerful people that want to do you serious harm, but if you’re willing to negotiate in good faith with me, we can avoid all that. ”
“And what about what I want? Would you be willing to hand over Demir Yilmaz?”
He scoffs and shakes his head. “I couldn’t even discuss the possibility. I’m a lawyer.”
“You’re a fixer. We both know what you are. You’re the grease that keeps the wheels spinning. You’re the slime underneath this city’s corrupt elite. Don’t pretend like you’re high-minded, Richard.”
“You’re making this personal.” His jaw works. That’s right, I got under his skin. I have to admit, I’m really enjoying this. “I want to talk business. You want to insult me.”
“Because we both know this isn’t a serious discussion. Come back when you have real concessions. Until then, every single piece of fucking expensive art in this city is going to be destroyed. Then I’ll start finding and burning their fancy fucking cars too.”
“You’re making a mistake.”
“No, Richard. They’re making a mistake. Because they assume I give a fuck what they think of me.” I lean toward him, smiling like a wolf. “But I assure you, I most certainly fucking don’t.”
Richard pushes his chair back. “I had hoped you’d be rational about this.”
“And I had hoped you would’ve died of a heart attack while humping your cunt of a wife by now, but we don’t always get what we want.”
His face turns red. “Fuck you, Adriano.”
“Don Marino,” I remind him. “Have a nice afternoon, slime.”
“You’re dead. You realize that, right? Maybe not now, maybe not later, but Gray Wolf is coming for you, and they’ve got the backing of every prominent family in this fucking city. So good luck with that. You smug prick.”
He turns and storms out. The timer in my head buzzes. I kick my feet up on my desk with a sigh and put my hands behind my head. About ten minutes later, there’s a knock on my door, then Luca’s sitting across from me. He’s sweating lightly but seems like he’s in a good mood.
“How’d it go?” I ask him.
“Great, actually. I had to crawl around on the fucking ground and got my new jacket wet?—”
“But did you plant it?”
He grins and shows me his phone. “No problem.”
There’s a map of Philly with a single dot moving slowly down the street right behind this building. It’s headed out east toward Old City where all the rich pricks live.
“Beautiful.”
“You really pissed him off. The guy looked livid when he got in his car.”
“Think so? I tried my best.”
“What’d you say to him?”
“Just insulted his wife. She deserves it, by the way.”
“No judgment here.”
“If we’re lucky, he’ll be so angry that he’ll go straight to Demir. And once he does?—”
Luca snaps his fingers. “Then we’ve got him.”
“You and Vittorio log every single place that car stops. Send some guys to follow discreetly. Pick the best people we have. Don’t fuck this up.”
“Already done.” Luca gets to his feet. “Anything else?”
“Nothing. I made the right choice making you Capo.”
Luca swells with pride. “Fucking right you did.” Then he stalks off, swaggering just a little bit.