Page 79 of My Mafia Queen

Damaso reaches inside his pocket, retrieves a cigarette, and slides it between his lips.

“You’re all following me,” he says around his cigarette before scooping out the lighter, flicking it open, lighting it, and taking a drag.

He moves his eyes to me.

“Let me get that for you,” he says, tilting his chin toward my coat.

I let it fall off my shoulders before he collects it, puts it in the back, removes his jacket, places it next to it and shuts the door.

He wears a holstered gun and doesn’t remove it.

Without a word, I peel my eyes away from him, round the car, and climb in while he claims the driver’s seat.

The doors are locked when the driver’s side window goes down while he removes his bowtie.

That’s about how much he could take it wrapped around his neck.

My eyes stay on him while he checks the rearview mirror, undoing a few buttons at his neckline.

So much for his fancy look.

“Why are we driving by ourselves?” I ask when he takes a drag off his cigarette and blows the smoke out the window.

“I see them every day. I just wanted to be with you,” he says, not looking at me. I slide back into my seat, smiling, a special kind of feeling warming my chest.

15

DAMASO

When I said Vadim Ivanov,Boris’s direct boss, was one of my biggest enemies, I wasn’t mincing words.

There’s no love lost between us, and, as it’s happened in Boris’ case, it’s been like that from the beginning.

Money and power fuel the viciousness in people and, in his case, his unquenchable thirst for blood.

In a way, I understand my uncle’s strategy.

Keeping his enemies closer, as the saying goes, has ensured relative peace in our territories.

‘Relative’being the keyword here.

He controls two casinos in Reno, while I control four through my proxies.

He doesn’t know that, but he suspects it.

And to test me––like Boris––he pokes the bear once in a while, making no secret that he wants one of my casinos for himself.

He wants to cut a deal with me if I admit they are my places.

And he has already thrown his weight around, intimidating people and buying some local politicians in the process.

It’s small stuff if you ask me, but he’s ready to make his move.

You wouldn’t say we can’t see eye to eye at a glance.

That’s the thing with the Russians.

They like to play games, and it’s a different kind of game.

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