Page 64 of Luciano (Belles & Mobsters 1)

I met Cassio’s thunderous gaze. He was still fuming about what his father did. Luca kept playing with his knife, throwing it up into the air and catching it. One of these days, that motherfucker would cut his finger off. I really liked him, but he had to stop playing with knives.

“Raphael might be able to seize it.”

“Thanks, Luciano.”

“Don’t mention it. You’d do the same for me.” Cassio has been my best friend for a long time, and I knew he would do the same for me. In fact, he had done the same for me multiple times. When I needed backing against the Romano family for killing my mother and sister, he and Luca were there with me.

We stood in silence. I knew Cassio needed to simmer down his rage. We were similar in that aspect. When we lost our shit, we really lost our shit.

Luca, despite his happy-go-lucky bastard attitude he had most of the time, had similar rage issues when he lost his shit. My rage started when my mother and sister were murdered. Cassio and Luca’s much earlier on. Their sick, bastard father was to blame.

After a while, I broke the silence. “It might be time to take the East Coast.”

His gaze snapped to mine. He knew what I meant. His father shouldn’t be the ruler of New York. There wasn’t a single man that currently ruled the East Coast. Yes, his father wanted to, but he’d never succeed. Nico, Luca, Alessio, and I would never work with him. Same was true for Raphael Santos who owned Florida and Vasili who ruled New Orleans.

“We have too much shit going on now,” he muttered.

“We’ll always have too much shit going on.”

“Why are you in such a great mood?” Luca drawled, a smile on his face. He finally stopped flipping his knife. I had to give it to him; he knew how to control his rage. “Someone got lucky last night?”

I grinned. “None of your fucking business.” I would never discuss private details about my wife with any man, although I knew it was hard to hide that shit went rather great last night. After I beat the crap out of Ian Laszlo. “I’d back you up if you decide now is the time. Benito is a loose cannon. He has been from the moment he stepped into your grandfather’s shoes. Your Sicilian roots, your mother’s father backing along with Nico, Alessio, Luca, Raphael, and I… Fuck, even Vasili Nikolaev would be onboard to help. We could take the East Coast.”

I knew he wanted to. He has been working on it for years, moving the chess pieces slowly, undetected by his father. I could practically hear the wheels spinning in his head. Cassio hated unnecessary death, but the fact was in this world, there would always be death. None of us were saints; it just happened that some of us were worse than others. And Benito King was the worst of us all. Men that willingly followed him were no better.

“Might be time, brother,” Luca chimed in. He had no desire to rule the East Coast. Truthfully, neither did Cassio, but he refused to work for his father. Because the thing was… his father didn’t work with anyone. He insisted on everyone working for him.

Never. Gonna. Happen.

And it wasn’t as if we could be completely out. Like they say, the only way out was death.

“Just think how many lives we could actually save,” I justified. “The entire coast would be ours. No human trafficking on our turf, from Alaska, Canada, all the way down to Florida. Fuck, even Louisiana with Vasili.”

His pensive eyes watched down the docks and over the horizon. He knew I was right. We could have a good thing going. Yes, gun and drug dealing were bad. But it wasn’t forcing women and children into fucked up situations. Truthfully, I wanted out of this business. Money laundering, all of it. But with Cassio as the head of the East Coast, it would be a partnership, and we’d control it all. I knew from an early age what my father did. So did Cassio. My grandfather ran a similar operation alongside Cassio’s and Luca’s maternal grandfather in Sicily. It was the reason we were so close, the three of us.

“No need to answer now,” I told him, hearing Raphael’s car engine pull up. “Think about it. I’m with you either way.”

Raphael strode in. I shook my head. That damn Columbian always looked like he just came off the runway, or a magazine featuring the top CEOs. He wore a white three-piece suit and against his tan skin and dark hair, it didn’t look too shabby. It almost led you to believe he wasn’t a threat. Almost.

“Hey, pretty boy.” He flipped me the middle finger, and I chuckled. Yes, maybe I was in a great mood today.

“Well, this pretty boy has a surprise coming for you guys.”

“What’s that?” I teased him. “A Gucci suit?”

“My boys already located the stolen shipment. We killed all the men, but left one alive. My present to you.”

I shook my head. Raphael was an important asset to keep. “You are a fucking hunter. I knew you’d get them.”

“Fucking right!”

I glanced at Cassio. “What do you say, Cassio? Want to question oursuspect?”

“Yes, I think it is time we make some changes around here. Let’s teach oursuspectwho owns the East Coast.”

“Fuck yeah!” Luca muttered.

Raphael grinned. He wasn’t part of our conversation, but he knew the end game. Benito King had to go.

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