Page 21 of King of the Bronx

Chapter Eight

Enzo

The dull vibrating of my phone made my eyes snap open. My arms were wrapped tight around Raven, and her ass was pressed against my dick. The brightness of the phone lit up the dark bedroom. I rolled over and looked at the caller ID. It was my real estate agent. I slowly got out of the bed, careful not to wake her. We’d only just fallen asleep, and the sun wasn’t even up yet. Once I closed the bedroom door, I answered the phone. “What’s up?”

“Mr. Genovese, the fire department has notified me that one of the houses has caught fire. I am heading over there now. I don’t know what kind of state it’s in.”

“Shit!” I ran a hand through my hair. Depending on how bad the damage was, restoring it would be nearly impossible. “I’m on my way.”

I hung up the phone and crept back into the bedroom to grab a pair of jeans and a T-shirt. Raven’s red hair was spread out over the pillow. Her face was relaxed as she snored quietly. She must have taken her dress off during the night because she was completely naked. The covers hid her breast from my view. I thought about pulling the cover down an inch just so I could see, but that would wake her, and I wanted her to be here when I came back. I crept out of the room and walked out of the apartment to the car in the garage. It was close to six a.m., so I hoped traffic wouldn’t be too bad.

*****

I pulled up to the house behind the fire truck. The neighbors were outside, dressed in their pajamas, as the firefighters put out the last bit of the flames. The house was just a structure of half-standing walls. I spotted Tom standing on the sidewalk with his arms across his chest. He was dressed in a suit despite the time of day. I got out of the car and walked up to him.

“I’m sorry, Enzo,” Tom said.

I gave him a grimace. “It’s alright. This is part of the risk.”

One of the firefighters took off his helmet and walked toward the two of us. “Mr. Genovese?”

“That’s me.”

“We put out the last of the flames, but as you can see, it was a pretty bad fire. It will take us a day or so to confirm but from what I can tell…this was no accident.”

I looked around. Most of the people were going back to their homes to go back to sleep, but there was one group of familiar guys standing a safe distance away, arms crossed over their chests like before. I’d hoped they wouldn’t cause trouble, but now, I was going to have to take action. It was a stupid mistake on their part to come after a Cosa Nostra capo.

“Arson?” Tom asked.

“We can’t confirm yet, not until some of the smoke clears and we can get a good look. Is the property covered?”

I raised an eyebrow at Tom.

Tom nodded quickly. “Yes, all of the homes are covered by insurance.”

“You might want to give them a call. We will notify you when you can come back on the property.”

I shook the firefighter’s hand. “Thank you.”

Once he walked away, I turned to Tom.

“Let the insurance company know and tell me what they say. Once that’s cleared up, we’re going to have to tear the rest of the structure down and start anew.”

Tom pulled out his phone and got to work while I walked back to my car. I had to let Giovanni, the underboss of Cosa Nostra, know about our new problem. I needed the go-ahead from him before I could put these fools in their places.

I drove along the circular driveway of Giovanni’s mansion. I’d called ahead of time to see if there was a good place we could meet. Gio never slept, so I wasn’t worried about that. Usually, Gio would be at the club, but rumors have been surfacing about the new woman in his life. I wondered if that was the reason Gio was still at home. I climbed the porch steps and knocked on the door. Gio’s housekeeper answered. At one point, I found her to be gorgeous, with long dark hair and bright blue eyes. Her body was small and tight, the kind woman get from spending a couple of days a week at the gym, but compared to the redhead that was waiting in my bed, I barely gave Justine a second glance.

“Gio here?” I asked, already knowing the answer.

Justine nodded. “In the dining room.”

I walked through the giant mansion. The place was a fortress, built for a king. Giovanni was seated at the dining room table with a plate of food in front of him. He wore a black T-shirt and sweatpants, as if just coming from the gym.

“Boss,” I greeted him as I took a seat.

Giovanni put his fork down and leaned forward on the table. “What’s up, Enzo?”

He could be a downright terrifying man, with eyes dark as night and a quickness to kill those who disrespected him, but he was a good, fair boss. He let the capos have freedom over our crew and territories, only stepping in if there were major problems.

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