Page 3 of Fight

One

Ioan

“That the last of it?” I called.

Nicky, the bartender nodded and then slammed the storeroom door shut. “Good work, kid,” he said.

Then he wobbled to his ever-present stool and sat, his attention immediately sucked in by the small television he kept under the bar. There was a shotgun under there, though I’d never seen Nicky use it.

“Thanks,” I said.

Nicky didn’t even look up.

So this was what my life had become? Unloading cases of liquor, as far away from real responsibility as I could possibly be?

I’d been on the verge, just on the outside of my boss Vasile Petran’s inner circle. Vasile was leader of Clan Petran, one of the most powerful groups in organized crime. A group I had pledged my life to as my father had before me.

I’d been favored enough that Vasile had entrusted me with his family, made me the personal driver for his wife and child.

But I’d fucked up, let his wife get kidnapped. One stupid, thoughtless moment and I’d lost everything I’d worked toward for my entire life.

And it could have been worse, much worse.

My oversight had not been small, and I should have been grateful Vasile had seen fit to allow my head to stay attached to my body. More consideration than I had earned, but at least I was still alive and had a chance to make amends, though I was in no way pleased with my current predicament.

I wasn’t entirely sure why Vasile had spared me. Probably because he, like everyone else, respected my grandmother. She knew every member of Clan Petran and had had a hand in raising many of them, just as she had me.

I looked to the far corner of the bar, saw Vasile there. I was determined to regain his favor, so I walked toward him.

“Vasile?” I said when I stopped in front of him.

“What?” he replied without looking up.

“I never congratulated you on the birth of your son. He is well?” I asked.

The baby had been born months ago, but this was my first opportunity to speak with him directly.

He looked up then, eyes flat but his disdain for me clear.

“He is,” Vasile said.

He said nothing else, but he didn’t need to. I’d intended to speak to him before, but shame at my failure had kept me from seeking him out.

“Is that all?” he said.

Fuck, he was still icing me out. I had expected it, deserved as much. Still, I wasn’t a coward or a quitter, so I pressed on.

“I could drive again…” I trailed off and he watched me, expression tense. I stood straighter and met his eyes. I’d already shown far too much weakness by even speaking, I couldn’t afford more.

He watched me, and I pressed on. “They’d be safe. I’d watch over them,” I said.

Hollow words, and I’d failed before, but I needed another chance.

Vasile’s brows drooped, his face twisted in a scowl.

One I wouldn’t get.

“No,” Vasile said.

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