38. Max
MAX
“This is looking like a proper office.” My eyes scanned Obi’s study. Mysteriously, the collection of books on the bookshelves had grown since the last time I’d looked.
“It is our home,” he said. “I intend to make it feel like it.”
Our home.
“My home, too?” I couldn’t help but ask as I perused the titles. I passed their test. He’d welcomed me into the Shadows, but his mask was almost as good as mine. I wasn’t ever sure what he was truly thinking.
“Apparently,” he said. I turned to see him smirking while he poured two glasses of liquor. He held one outstretched to me. “We are brothers now.”
I took the glass. “I’m no longer a tool for you to use however you can?”
He shrugged, holding the glass out so I could clink mine against his. “Two things can be true at once.”
I chuckled while I sipped the warm amber liquid. “This is good.”
“Ryuji and I prefer the best.”
I sat down across from him. “So how can this tool be of use?”
Obi flipped open his laptop. “I’d appreciate your input on what to do about Greco’s political connections. The contacts I have may not be in the right positions to provide defense against him.”
“I’ve heard a lot about these mysterious contacts you have,” I said. “What’s that about?”
“We took contracts from people whom I believed I could someday use in my fight against the Camorra,” he said.
I whistled. “So you took their money and then planned to blackmail them into helping you, anyway?”
He tilted his head to the side. “Feeling sympathetic, Max?”
“No,” I said with a laugh. “I’m just surprised.”
“It’s not like any of these people are good people. But every person who hired us understood the deal,” he replied. “Pay us our money, and one day I may need a favor from them in exchange. They all agreed, and we completed every single contract we ever took.”
“How many?”
“Hundreds.” He turned his laptop display around so I could see the screen. “And I kept records of everyone.”
My eyes went wide as I scrolled through the intense database. I recognized many of the names listed on it. “I’m guessing you’ve already pored over this list. Who are you targeting for their help? Last we talked, we were thinking about the police commissioner.”
He gave a curt nod. “Yes, but he’s been ignoring my outreach. We need to pay him a visit in person to remind him of our deal.”
“What did you do for him?”
“We assassinated someone who was blackmailing him with inappropriate pictures from his multiple affairs,” he replied. “We kept evidence of the contract kill, but also extensive documentation about his affairs. If we expose it, it would blow up not only his family but his entire career.”
My eyes scanned the list. “What about the mayor? If she agreed to back us, she could help us stave off Greco.”
Obi shook his head. “I don’t know her. She’s new to the office, a political up-and-comer. I’ve had Ciel looking into her, and as far as we can tell, she’s never strayed toward the criminal underground. Not like her predecessor, at least.”
“Yeah, that guy was a dick.” The old mayor was corrupt, but not even in a way that helped the Five Families.
He was corrupt in the stupid, white man, political way that thought he could get away with anything, so he held himself accountable for nothing.
“But if we can get her support, she can use her deputies to keep Greco off our backs. Maybe even help us get him arrested instead. If we can’t kill him, the best case is getting him deported or alienated from doing business in New York. ”
“Do you know her?” Obi asked.
“I’ve met her once or twice at charity galas,” I said. “But I don’t know her personally.”
“She’s next on our list,” Obi said, leaning back in his chair. “I wonder if we can buy her support…”
I took another sip. The liquor burned down my throat. “Probably not. She’s actually a politician who works for the people. She’s different from politicians we’ve had before. Normally, it’s easy for the mafia to control them.”
“Greco would be terrible for the people,” Obi grumbled. “He’ll demand protection fees and launder money for rich entrepreneurs who will take advantage of the working class.”
“She’ll see us as more of the same,” I said. “We’re mafia, too.”
Obi tapped his finger on his lips. “Leona can convince her of our differences. If we can get the two of them together.”
I slowly nodded. “Maybe. Leona differs from any of the other Heads of the Five Families. We could try. We’ll just need to figure out how to connect them.”
I was done with my tenure as Don. I led our Family the best I could—as my father had trained me to do—but my days as second-in-command and the Don were tainted by too much pain and heartbreak.
The power I held was never because I wanted it.
I felt I needed it to avenge my father. Leona had already proven she was a far better leader than I.
“Agreed.”
My eyes caught another name on his contact list. “What about this guy? Wilson St. Schuyler? He’s a District judge.”
Obi’s eyes flicked up to mine. “For RICO?”
I nodded. “If the case proceeds, it would be nice to have a judge on our side.”
“Those cases are randomly assigned,” Obi said. “We couldn’t guarantee that he’d hear the case against us.”
I raised my eyebrow. “Do you really think they’re random?”
His mouth pulled up at the corner. “All right, I see your point. If the mayor won’t bend under bribes, maybe the court circuits will. Let’s get in touch.”
I nodded, already thinking of who I knew in legal circles that could connect us. I’d run into a few judges over the last five years. Some were even on Luciano’s payroll. He had to have something in his boxes worth of records. But we’d need to get them from the Vero estate…
While I considered options, an email notification dinged across Obi’s laptop screen. I recognized the name almost immediately.
“Martin Vogel?” I asked. “The Chief of the Department of Corrections?”
His face closed off, and he pulled the laptop back to face him.
“Why are you emailing him?” I pressed. “Is he on your list of contacts?”
Obi gave a tight nod. “It’s only a contingency plan.”
“A contingency plan? You expect us to get arrested?” My question wasn’t accusing, only curious.
“It’s highly probable that we will,” he explained. “I’m simply preparing just in case.”
“But you think Vogel would let us out?”
His lips pressed together. He sat back in his chair and appraised me, like he were trying to decide if he could trust me or not.
That alone clued me in.
“No,” I murmured. “If our case went to trial, or if Greco got us arrested for some other reason, it would be too high profile for the Chief to get involved…Which means you need his help for something on the inside.”
He said nothing. So I continued.
“And if you want Vogel’s help for something on the inside, then that means you must also have a target on the inside…” I sat forward, forearm on the desk. “And if you have a target on the inside, it makes the most sense that it’s Greco. So you want the Chief to help you murder Greco.”
Obi’s eyes crinkled as he smiled. “What a useful tool you’ll be after all, Max.”