Page 11 of Luciano (Belles & Mobsters 1)

From: Ruthless King

Good answer.I’d like to book the next six months of your exclusive services. Max three times per month, as initially agreed. Monthly retention two hundred thousand. The percentage fee per transaction remains the same. You accommodate nobody else.

K

* * *

That should be clear enough.The last sentence wasn’t necessary, but I inserted it to ensure there was no misunderstanding. There was no room for misinterpretation.

I often wondered who the Ghost was. Every runner I used, I had their picture and their phone number. If they fucked me over, I’d be able to hunt them down. Except for the Ghost. That one kept tight security walls, scripted messages, and stuck to codenames. Right upfront the terms were established - no calls, no laundering for human traffickers or sex traders of any kind, no names, limit to three times per month with maximum amount ten million per month.

Right off the bat, I was impressed. In fact, within the first three months of business dealings with the Ghost, I offered them a job on my payroll and found it amusing when it was refused. Several times.

“The first shipment the Romano family expects is in two weeks' time,” the head of the Columbian crime organization, Raphael Santos, announced. He was a tough guy but he hated moving flesh. Luckily for me, he owed me a big favor and would play this game. “He wants drugs and women.”

He will get neither.

When Lombardo Santos died, he left an unpaid debt to Benito King and Alphonso Romano. For the women that were in transit to be delivered to those two assholes. Raphael freed them - without second thoughts or worry to himself. Some he sent back to their homes, others he helped settle all across the States. He needed cash to pay Benito and Alphonso back, with a hefty interest. And that was where I came in. After all, I wasthemoney guy. So, I helped him. Of course, in the process he pissed off Benito and Alphonso. It was an added bonus in my book. The only regret was that those two tried to go after his half-sister.

With Raphael running Florida’s underworld, we had the entire East Coast covered. It made Alphonso’s and Benito’s job much harder in smuggling. They even attempted to do it through Vasili’s territory in Russia. Idiots! The Nikolaev family had connections all over that country.

Coincidently, Raphael’s half-sister was married to Vasili Nikolaev. The latter was never our enemy, but he liked to keep to himself and run his own empire. That was fine, but it never hurt to have people on your side. Especially badass guys like Vasili. His connection with Raphael afforded us this. Likewise, it also offered them protection by us as well. When Raphael found out he had a sister, he kept it tight lipped. He only shared it with me, Cassio, Luca and our little gang. It was to conceal his knowledge of the connection with her from the Romano family and Benito King. Those two already tried to kidnap her and the latter two thinking Raphael was clueless played in his favor.

“He needs the first batch of money cleaned next week,” he continued. “He is getting payments in advance of the shipment so he can pay us.” This meant that Romano would soon start reaching out to the runners. He would need someone to clean his dirty money. It wouldn’t be me, and if I could help it, it wouldn’t be any of my good runners either.

“Isn’t he a lucky bastard?”

Raphael grinned. “A very lucky bastard. Even luckier when he doesn’t get it.”

Yes, Alphonso Romano is going down.I would sip on my cognac as I watched him drown. Nothing would bring me more pleasure. I hated the entire Romano family. They killed my mother and sister, and now my wife too. I shouldn’t mourn her, after all she was a Romano. And she betrayed me, but the thought of never having that woman under me did something to my sanity.

Today the court would decide whether all my wife’s assets would be rolled to her uncle. He wouldn’t have long to enjoy it; none of his family would. I would be their judge, jury, and executioner.

A few more arrangements and the meeting was over.

Raphael and I shook hands, the mutual understanding we held bound us together. “When this is over, don’t call me again, Luciano.”

I grinned. “Oh, don’t be like that. I thought you liked me.”

He grinned back. “I do, but there are limits to how much.”

Once those two were out, I glanced at Cassio. “Have you heard back from the Irish, the Italian Dons, the Russian Sinners, and the rest of the Russian Bratva?”

He nodded. “None of them will do any business with the Romano family. Of course, with the exception of my bastard father.”

“Benito King will get his,” I told him. “I know you and your brother have big plans for him.”

Nobody knew the details, but it didn’t take a genius to figure it out. I strode to the mini bar, pouring us a drink, and one for Luca. He’d be here any moment.

“Luciano, have you thought about-” his words trailed off, but I knew it was coming. And nobody else dared to bring it up. Because I’d smash their face with my bare hands. Cassio was my best friend, but also a man I respected. I had no doubt that eventually he’d overtake his father and rule Benito’s empire, maybe even expand it. I wanted to rule the underworld currency. Cassio wanted to rule all the criminals - and there were plenty that feared him. He felt it was the only way to control human trafficking. Maybe he was right; maybe he wasn’t. Either way, smashing his face, as tempting as it sounded about now, would bring a shitstorm to my front door, which I didn’t have time for right now. “The way you are glaring at me, I can tell you want to beat my ass. But there hasn’t been a single sighting of her in over three years.”

Yes, smashing his face was tempting. Maybe even his ribs.

“Damn straight.” I gulped the entire drink down, the brown liquid burning down my throat. Just like my guilt. If I listened to her, she’d still be here… with me. I should have chained her to my bed and cut all her ties with her family. It should have been me punishing her, not her uncle. Not her fucking family.

Luca strode into the room, and I handed him his drink.

“If she is dead, you have to move on,” Cassio tried again. If she was dead, I’d never marry again. Yes, I’d take other women to bed, but none of them would ever become my wife. I thought back to those first few months when I tried to fuck any woman, as long as she didn’t resemble my wife. I wanted to hurt my wife, the way she fucking stabbed me in the back, in the heart. Only to find she had disappeared, and her uncle was the one that used her. She was too fucking naive. I shouldn’t have sent her back.

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