Page 3 of Vito DeLuca

Chapter Two

Vito

A Legit Transformation

The next morning, Tae showed up at the warehouse at 7:30. He sat in his car smoking a blunt while waiting for me. This guy’s ball sacs scrubbed the ground. He pressed me for my connect and now sat casually, no backup in sight, in front of my warehouse. He really thought the game he played was sweet. I guessed that’s what happens when I let shit slide. Low-level thugs like Tae start unnecessary drama.

About ten minutes later, Tae came inside. “What up, Veet?” He smirked and corrected, “I mean, Vito.”

I didn’t reply.

Tae’s smile was huge as he continued, “This lick gonna change some lives. This shit is major. How does it feel to be a part of history?”

I questioned flatly, “What do you mean by that?”

“Today, you will witness the birth of a billionaire. We’re about to take over the world together.” His toothy chuckle enticed me to abort the plan that would assure he would never reach his dreams and just smack the shit out of him.

No matter how I felt about Tae, I couldn’t veer from the plan. I would bide my time. I wasn’t his only enemy, so he would be taken out when the time was right.

I had bigger fish to fry than Tae, who was lightweight in the big scheme of things. I wanted to know who sent him to fuck with me. Who tried to leverage his proximity to me to get what they wanted?

“Glad to hear you’re feeling good about how things are going,” I replied.

“It does feel good,” Tae agreed, then looked at me with thoughtful eyes. “Say… after all of this is over, how about we take a trip to Italy for some sun, good food and beautiful women? Maybe you can introduce me to your eses?”

“I don’t have eses.” This guy was such a damn joke.

No way in hell would I go anywhere with Tae. However, I would make him disappear so smoothly that his relatives would begin to wonder if he was ever alive. He would be gone without a trace. Instead of vacationing in Italy, his next trip would be to the bottom of an ocean.

Tae’s eyes narrowed, matching my gaze. “You good, Vito?”

“Oh, I’m great. Never been better,” I calmly replied.

“Bet. I’ll be right back. I forgot my phone.” He turned and walked back out the door.

I dialed Gomez’s number once the door closed behind him. “Are you ready?”

“Yep. My crew is pulling up in five, and they’re coming in hot.”

“He just went to his car, so he should be back inside then. Light him up, and hit me back when you have the info.”

“We know what to do.”

“Good.” I hung up.

When Tae asked me to hook him up with Gomez, I called and set it up. The plan was always to catch Tae up in his bullshit, but another problem arose during my conversation with Gomez. He already had a hit out on Tae for stealing from someone in their crew.

Gomez promised he would find out who Tae was working with and get me that information by the end of the week. How he would extract that information from Tae or the streets was his choice. He wanted me to hand Tae over to him. Tae had no idea he had bribed me into connecting him with a man that had no intention of doing business with him. Tae wasn’t exactly the type to do his research.

A few minutes later, my phone rang again.

“What’s up?”

Gomez’s tone was ripe with anger when he growled, “He’s gone.”

“Gone?” I repeated as I headed to the door to look out. Sure enough, Tae’s car was gone, the parking space sitting there unbothered as if he was never there. “Fuck!”

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