Page 14 of Long Live the King
Dominic
“Okay, I don’t like this.”
“I know, but I gotta take care of this before it blows up.”
“But you said this Victor guy is the most ruthless boss you’ve ever known. Seeing as how you’ve been involved in this your entire life, I’d say that’s a pretty big deal, Dominic.”
I can hear the worry in Alannah’s voice, and I can definitely read the way it’s written all over her face. Even after a year in this life, I know she isn’t completely comfortable with everything that goes on, though she tries her best to act like she is. She knows nobody takes care of business better than me, but her love for me makes her worry. I love that she loves me that much, so I don’t try to tell her not to worry when I know she will anyway. My only goal is to show her that even though she worries, I almost come out unscathed.
You better remember it forever, I’m Dominic Collazo.
I stop what I’m doing and walk over to Alannah, who’s sitting on the edge of the bed, still wearing her “pajamas,” which is a nothing but a big St. Louis Blues jersey. The apprehension is deep in her eyes, and even though there isn’t anything I can do to take that away, I can do my best to try to make her feel better about it.
“Listen, babe,” I say, as I kneel in front of her and take her hand. “If I don’t go down there and take care of this right now, we’re gonna have a fucking war in the streets of St. Louis. Victor Fronzo is an old hard-head, but you know me—I’m gonna take care of it like I always do. You’re gonna worry no matter what I say, but try not to. Victor’s a boss just like me. He can’t make a move on me without approval from the Commission, so the last thing that’ll happen is a shootout. Everything will be fine, and I’ll be back late tonight. You know I got this. This is just how we do business.”
Her worried expression doesn’t change a bit.
“I know,” she says in a whisper. “I just couldn’t take it if anything happened to you. I’d kill him myself if he hurt you.”
I just have to smile after that one.
“Well I appreciate you getting all gangster for me,” I say behind a light chuckle. “But you won’t have to kill anybody, because nothing’s gonna happen to me. I promise.”
I give Alannah a gentle kiss on the lips before getting up and going back to my side of the bed. I grab the duffel bag that’s there waiting for me and finish stuffing in the bullet proof vest. Then, I toss in two nine millimeter pistols from behind my nightstand, a three-fifty-seven Magnum from the closet, and a shotgun from under the bed. Frankie’s already downstairs waiting to take the four-hour trip to Chicago to sit down with Victor and Giovanni.
Time to go to work.
“Why didn’t we know the truck belonged to Victor Fronzo?”
“I don’t know, Dominic. It just never crossed any of our minds,” Frankie says as we exit the highway and head towards Chicago’s inner city.
“I feel like this could’ve been avoided,” I reply, looking out the window at the bright lights of the city. “Robbing our own guys doesn’t look good, you know. It looks like we don’t know what the fuck we’re doing. Like we don’t have any control.”
“Yeah, I know,” Frankie answers. “Don’t worry about it, Dominic. I know you’re like a prodigy in This Thing of Ours, but you can’t know everything all the time. Sometimes mistakes are made.”
“Mistakes in Our Thing get people killed,” I snip. “Especially bosses.”
“It’s not the mistake that gets people killed, it’s the action after the mistake. It’s all about how you handle it afterwards. We did the right thing by reaching out to Victor last night and setting up this sit-down for today. As long as we go in with an open mind, knowing we’re gonna have to bite the bullet.”
“Oh, fuhgeddaboutit,” I say. “I already know this is gonna cost us. I just hope Victor is reasonable. I don’t wanna have to do anything I’ll regret.”
Frankie doesn’t reply, choosing only to glance at me for a second before refocusing on the road. I don’t think either of us expects Victor Fronzo to be reasonable.
When we pull up to Big Vic’s warehouse, the place looks completely dead. We left early this morning, so the sun is still shining bright. Giovanni told us Victor wanted to meet in the middle of the day because it looks less suspicious than trying to do something at night in a place like this. There are no cars outside, all the doors are closed, and as we make our first pass around the outside of the warehouse, neither of us sees anything.
“This is the place, right?” I ask.
“Yeah,” Frankie replies, looking out the window. “I’ll circle around again.”
Frankie eases onto the gas and we start around a second time. When we get around to the back side this time, a big overhead garage door is pulled up, and in the entrance stands a husky fucking giant. This guy is at least six-four and has to be pushing three-hundred pounds. He has absolutely no hair on his head and his face is completely clean shaven. The only thing he’s wearing on his face is a mean scowl as he glares at us through the opened garage door. His white t-shirt definitely came out of the big and tall section of some department store, and he doesn’t resemble your usual made guy. He looks like a regular, albeit extra-large, Joe Schmoe off the street, which is exactly how the Chicago Outfit operates under Victor’s rules. They’re quiet and under the radar. You won’t know they’re there until they’re killing you.
The behemoth at the door crosses his giant arms and waits for us to park Frankie’s Escalade in front of him. Once we hop out and approach him, he nods a greeting.
“Long time no see, Giovanni,” I say.
“It has been a long time, Dominic,” Giovanni Cirillo replies. His face never shows any sign of a smile, and he doesn’t bother to pat us down because he knows even if we have guns, we wouldn’t dare use them. Nobody wants a war. “Mr. Fronzo’s inside. Follow me, please.”
Frankie and I let Giovanni lead the way. He turns around and walks towards the other end of the warehouse where there is very little light. As my eyes adjust, I can see a dark figure sitting in a chair in the corner of the spacious warehouse. A few more steps and I can make out the gray-haired Victor Fronzo, wearing a black suit and puffing on a cigar.
