Page 16 of Luca

“I sincerely hope your parents are proud of you, Luca. I’m sure being a glorified pimp was your mother’s dream for you. See ya around.” Giada spins and walks away from me.

I stare after her for a brief moment.

I wouldn’t know what my mother’s dream would be for me. Your father had her killed.

And I have every intention of making him pay.

Chapter six

Luca

Four Years Later

Ifucking hate these warehouse meetings. They’re fucking dangerous and too many variables mean I could end up dead. Every time I have to drive Alberto out to the middle of nowhere to meet some shady asshole, the thought crosses my mind that the reason he’s taking me along is because they found out what I’d been up to. I’ve covered my tracks so well the last four years I’ve been on his crew. There were times I almost had myself convinced I belonged with these pricks. That’s what living a double life does to you. Makes you start believing what you’re trying to convince other people of. It eats at your humanity, bite by sickening bite.

This meeting, in particular, is the side of Alberto’s business that, until recently, I wasn’t to take part in. We’re meeting someone to buy a girl. It’s the second time he’s included me in a purchase. The first time was only a few months ago. I felt so disgusted with myself I went home and threw up then proceeded to drink myself into oblivion. I called Finn and told him what happened. He was glad Alberto had finally deemed me worthy to take part in that side of his business.

I’d been collecting from the girls he had on the streets and shaking down the pimps that were on Alberto’s payroll the last four years or so since I was moved to his crew. No one cares about prostitution, and that certainly isn’t going to bring down a criminal empire. But this skin trade shit? Yeah, that made a shit ton of money for the Cataldis, and Finn has decided that’s how we’re going to take them out. It’s risky as hell selling women. Seems a substantial amount of their take comes from it now. Topple that, we cripple the entire organization. I just hope to hell I get enough information before I have to sit through any more of these meetings.

I texted Finn the location we were at. Not because we’re ready for a full takedown but because the girl they’re bringing in is connected to the Black Roses, an MC my cousin does a lot of business with. Word is this girl, Charlie, has some information that could help the Cataldis take out my family. Her “handler,” as Alberto calls him, is some piece of shit that did some work for Finn in the past, but this asshole decided getting high on the shit he was supposed to be unloading was far more important.

The only reason he isn’t six feet under is because he’s Cillian’s cousin. In a rare show of loyalty to anyone other than Finn, Cillian asked for Jace’s life to be spared when it was obvious that Jace was coming up short on money and product. I don’t think it had so much to do with saving his cousin rather than saving his mom the heartache. His aunt died years ago, and the kid was raised with his dad, who apparently was a complete asshole. Cillian’s mom tried to take Jace, but his father refused. She always felt guilty about the distance she allowed to be put between them, especially seeing who he’d become. I guess she held out hope that Jace would turn his life around. Hate to be the one to break it to her that it’s most likely going to be a very short one. Jace was keeping tabs on drop locations and safe house sites that he had in a handy-dandy little notebook his ex-girlfriend stole from him. She ran with it after one of the enforcers for the Black Roses MC beat the shit out of him for abusing her. The girl got away, and Jace ended up in the hospital with a grudge the size of Texas.

When Jace found her, he wanted the book and revenge on the Black Roses, which led to him getting in contact with the Cataldis.

Pulling up to the abandoned warehouse in the middle of nowhere Massachusetts, I spot a beat-up old car but nothing else.

“He must be inside,” Alberto says next to me in the luxury sedan with blacked-out bulletproof windows. “Keep sharp. This guy is a fucking tweaker and jumpy as a stray alley cat. Not to mention he’s willing to sell out his cousin to the highest bidder. I don’t trust him as far as I can throw him.”

“Got it, boss.” Gee, he doesn’t trust a criminal. Shocker.

We exit the car along with Fausto and Ernesto, the other two goons he brings everywhere with him, and head into the warehouse, our eyes constantly scanning our surroundings. The warehouse smells musty, as most forgotten buildings do. Flecks of disturbed dust float through the air, illuminated by the sun streaming in through holes in the broken painted windows.

“Alberto, there you are. Glad you got my message.”

My eyes land on a greasy man who looks as though he hasn’t slept or showered in at least a week. Next to him is a girl in a red bikini tied to a chair with blood oozing from a cut above her brow and a blackening bruise around her eye. Charlie’s gaze scans the four of us, and though her eyes hold anger, they’re still unfocused as she realizes the predicament she’s in. He must have drugged her with something to keep her compliant.

“This is the girl, then?” Alberto asks, walking over to the girl strapped to the chair, studying his newest acquisition. Though the plan wasn’t to buy her from Jace, Alberto knew he had her and was more than willing to cut a deal for her and the notebook when we got here.

“Never let an opportunity to put a few extra dollars in your pocket pass you up,” he said on the way over here.

“Yeah, man, this is her,” Jace replies. I can tell the informal way Jace is addressing Alberto is getting under his skin. I have to hide the chuckle that threatens to escape. These Mafia assholes like to think of themselves as some sort of royalty, so I always get a kick out of it when they’re talked to like any common street thug by someone who doesn’t know better.

“Where’s the notebook you promised us?” Alberto asks, circling the girl and most likely counting the cash he thinks he’s going to get from the sale of her.

“Well, that’s the thing,” Jace starts. “She doesn’t have it. The dumb bitch gave it to Ozzy, so it’s at the clubhouse. But I’m sure we can work something else out since you’ve been helping me.”

With the promise of getting information on my family and the Black Roses, who do business with the Monaghans, Carlo has been keeping Jace hidden until he can get the notebook back. Too bad for him, his ex found herself under the protection of the Black Roses, and it’s taken a little longer. Now, it seems impossible since she handed it over to the club’s president, Ozzy.

“That was not our deal,” Alberto says, irritated that the plan isn’t going according to what was promised. “You were supposed to bring me the notebook, then we would pay you accordingly for the information. All you’ve brought me is a bruised-up girl and trouble from not only the Irish but the Black Roses.”

I see where Alberto’s going with this. He wants Charlie, but he’s going to try to undercut her sale price under the guise of him being inconvenienced.

“Right, yeah, but you know, sometimes things don’t work out like we planned.” Jace is starting to fidget and sweat, as he should, considering he wasn’t able to deliver on what he promised. Alberto isn’t known as the forgiving type. “I can’t get you the notebook, but what about her?”

And there it is. He’s desperate to prove he’s useful to the Cataldis, and Jace, the stupid fuck, just played right into Alberto’s hand. Charlie’s blue eyes widen into saucers, realizing her ex-boyfriend is about to sell her into human trafficking. Fuck, I hate how scared she looks. I want to sneer at the asshole standing in front of me, both of them, then grab the girl and get the hell out of here. But I can’t blow my cover, not when I’m finally in a position to get what Finn needs. Fuck, my cousin better hurry the hell up.

“I’ve heard you guys deal in more than blow and guns. You could get a pretty penny for her on the auction block, no?”

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