Total pages in book: 82
Estimated words: 79336 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 397(@200wpm)___ 317(@250wpm)___ 264(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79336 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 397(@200wpm)___ 317(@250wpm)___ 264(@300wpm)
“The new First French Emperor of the Fifth Republic. Says he knows a guy that used to know the guy, like fifteen years ago. He’ll find him and hand him over to me. We’ll put a stop to this for good.”
President Barsetti wasn’t the least bit reassured by that. He continued to stare me down like I was a terrorist against my own country. “How long will it take?”
“He said a week or two. Crow, come on, you know me. You know I’ll take care of this. It’s taken a little longer than I’d like, but you know I always do my job.”
He dragged his hand down his face and over the stubble of his jawline as he looked out the window to the left. He ignored me for several seconds, lost in thought, and then he came back to the conversation. “We did our investigation into Antoine’s arms business. One lead led to another, and we’ve figured out the arms are coming from Florence.”
A slab of bricks fell right on top of my chest and cracked my sternum.
“And you know what that means . . .”
The Skull King.
“Nothing happens in Florence that he doesn’t know about,” President Barsetti said. “So, he’s either a part of it or doesn’t give a shit that it’s happening.”
I knew where this was going. “No.”
“Con, it’s your job.”
“It’s my job? Last time I checked, you were the president of Italy.”
“But it falls under your jurisdiction. And we both know he won’t say a word to me.”
I shook my head, my throat full of flames I wanted to unleash.
“I get it’s shitty—”
I released a loud, painful laugh. “Shitty . . . that’s putting it mildly.”
“We had an agreement.” Lorenzo launched out of the chair and almost flew across the table at Marco. “But you fucking pissed on that because you thought I wouldn’t find out.” Then he pulled out a knife, and all hell broke loose as he climbed over the table toward Marco.
“Gentlemen,” I said from my seat at the head of the table.
Lorenzo swung the knife at Marco and backed him up into the wall. “Thought you could take a cut of my business and I wouldn’t find out, you fucking weasel!” He cut down Marco’s arm, and he let out a muffled scream. Blood dripped and splashed on the wall.
I nodded to one of my men. “Break up the schoolgirls.”
Lorenzo was pulled away and forced back into his seat. The knife was yanked out of his hand.
Marco squeezed the long cut on his arm to stop the bleeding.
I nodded to one of my other guys, who put a bottle of scotch on the table along with a roll of gauze. “The jurisdictions throughout the city are distinct. Marco, don’t act like you don’t know exactly what they are.” I didn’t just police the crime, but I also handled the disputes between the different gangs and disciplines. At the end of the day, they were all criminals, so of course they continued to try to undercut one another. And it was my job to keep everything fair. “You’ll pay Lorenzo twenty percent of your profits for the last thirty days—”
“Fucking bullshit,” Marco said as he splashed the scotch on his arm.
“Excuse me?” I cocked my head.
He kept his eyes down and started to wrap the gauze.
“Yes, did you say something?” Lorenzo pressed.
I turned to Lorenzo and gave him my signature I’ll fucking kill you stare.
Lorenzo immediately looked away.
Marco secured the gauze around the cut. “Lorenzo has been cutting his product with fentanyl, making his prices so cheap no one can compete.”
“Is that true?” I turned back to Lorenzo.
“Of course it’s not true,” he said, already red in the face.
I continued to stare him down.
“It’s not,” he repeated.
“You do realize all I have to do is try your product, right?” I was a great judge of character, and I could see right through the sweat on his forehead.
My phone started to vibrate in my pocket, so I pulled it out and glanced at the screen, expecting it to be someone I could call back later. But it was Aurelia. “I have to take this. Lorenzo, take this time to think about how you want to handle this—because we both know how much I fucking hate liars.” I left the room, heading down the hallway as I put the phone to my ear. “Hey, sweetheart.”
“Hey . . .”
“Everything all right?”
“Yeah. Are you busy right now?”
I glanced back down the hallway and saw Lorenzo sitting in his chair and sweating like a pig, knowing he was a dead man. “No.” I continued farther down the hallway. “How was your day?”
“Had a couple of shoots. Been working on edits all day.”
“You spend more time behind the lens than in front of it.”
“Yeah,” she said with a little chuckle. “Seems that way sometimes. How are you?”