Total pages in book: 77
Estimated words: 77160 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 386(@200wpm)___ 309(@250wpm)___ 257(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77160 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 386(@200wpm)___ 309(@250wpm)___ 257(@300wpm)
And, yep, sure enough, it was a mall. Except, it really wasn’t.
No one milled about.
Storefronts were all boarded up.
Escalators were frozen in place.
The floors were covered in dust and old litter.
It was the perfect place to kill someone.
We walked around the center atrium before the guys turned down a small hallway full of more empty stores.
They opened the doors of a frosted glass shop and waited for us to move inside.
Domenico and I shared another quick glance but moved inside, deciding to put our trust in our blood, even if we’d never even met this Remo guy.
“The fuck…” Dom said when we walked into a room full of candles, their flames flickering, their wax melting.
“Don’t worry,” a voice called as we stopped short. “It’s not a ritual sacrifice. Just a ghost mall.”
A shadow moved, and then a man stepped into the center of the circle illuminated by the candles.
Then there he was.
Remo Grassi.
He was dressed in black slacks and a black button-up. His sleeves were rolled to reveal forearms covered in black and gray ink.
He was, like most of the Grassi men, tall and fit with dark hair. Only he didn’t have dark eyes. No. His were an unexpected light shade of green. Square jaw, cleft chin, thick lashes.
And probably closer to my age than all my cousins’ ages. Young for a boss.
I had to respect that.
“Word is, they’re going to start using this place as a studio. For recording movies and shit. I’ll be sad to see it go. But, let’s face it, this town has no shortage of locations for business meetings. So, you’re my long-lost cousins.”
“Milo,” I said. “And Domenico.”
“So, what’d you two do to get sent down here to work with me?” Remo asked.
“Not get married,” I said.
“Your moms on your asses too?” he asked, shaking his head. “Swear she’s gonna kidnap it when I finally do have a kid. Anyway, thanks for coming down.”
“Always happy to be working,” I said, shrugging. “So is this your whole crew?” I asked, nodding toward the two men who had picked us up at the hotel.
“Nah. I got a few others. And my brothers. I’m not looking to expand quickly. I want to be smart about it. Won’t do me any good if I grow fast and have a bunch of rats to deal with.”
“So, what’s the deal around here?” Dom asked.
“Dunno how much of the city you’ve seen, but AC has been struggling the past… decade. Or two. Collapse of casinos and tourism led to unemployment, population decline, and a fuckuva lot of drugs.”
“Lot of street gangs you’re dealing with here?”
“A few. And a local bike gang too. But nothing I’m too worried about. Our focus isn’t the same. I’m not interested in drugs.”
“So it’s an established organization you’re dealing with.”
“Yeah, something like that.”
“What is it? Irish mafia? Bratva?” I asked.
“Triad? Yakuza? Cartel?” Dom piped in.
“I wish,” Remo said with a huff of a laugh. “What I’m dealing with is a sniveling little shit named Frank Martin.”
“Not organized crime then,” I said.
“Not in the traditional sense. He does have people working for him. He is connected to a network of crime and corruption. But his main claim to fame right now is he bought out one of the defunct smaller casinos on a fire sale with his dead father’s money a few years back.”
“Great way to clean dirty money, if he’s got it,” I said.
“Yeah.”
“That’s why you want it.”
“Well, it’s part of why I want it,” Remo said with a smirk. “I also want to make it a residence for me and mine.”
“You want to live above a casino?” I asked. My dreams of a nice house with a big backyard couldn’t get on board with that.
“Can you think of a safer place to live?” Remo shot back.
Well, he had a point there.
Especially when he was going to be actively working on taking over the town. Which was going to come with a lot of tension and danger.
“So, what’s the plan? Take him out?”
“Not exactly. I wouldn’t need help with that. If he dies, the casino sits empty for years until it hits the market again. I don’t want to waste that time. I want to… persuade him to sell it to me. If he happens to fall off the roof afterward, hey, that’s just fate.”
“So, what’s your move?”
“I need intel,” Remo said. “I can’t get close. I want to stay as anonymous as possible to him until the sale. I need someone else to get inside, look around, get a feel for if there is anyone on the inside—and close—that we can use to gather more information about him. Once I know more, I can plan better. Then… then we put plans into action.”
“We can do that,” I agreed.
“From the looks of you two,” Remo said, glancing between us. “I think you,” he said to Dom, “should go in as an average Joe. Maybe someone with a gambling addiction. You hang around and play a lot. Drink. Look around and see everything.