DeLuca (Mafia Romance)

Carlo

I was in my office drinking scotch and plotting my next move when Mia stormed in.

“I need you to tell me what happened to Gina and why. I want everything you know. Do not lie to me Carlo. I deserve to know the truth. All of it,” she demanded as she strutted into the room and took a seat on the other side of my desk.

I sighed, “Mia, you know what happened.”

“Stop bullshitting me, Carlo. I need to know everything.”

“This isn’t going to make you feel better,” I said climbing to my feet and wondering over to the window.

“Nothing is going to make me feel better. My best friend was tortured and murdered because they thought she was me.”

“You know what happened, I’ve told you already. They grabbed her outside of your house in Chicago, took her to an undisclosed location, killed her, and then brought her here.” My eyes stared blankly out the window as I recalled the same story I had told her before.

“Did they rape her?” she asked, her voice low but full of fury.

“Mia,” I sighed and pinched the bridge of my nose.

“The truth, Carlo.”

“Yes,” I said as I turned around in time to see her face go from fierce anger to completely empty, as if all emotion had been sucked out of her to prevent further hurt. That was the same look she had on her face the first day I met her in that dingy basement.

“Who?”

“The Russian crew from Portland.”

“I want names Carlo,” she hissed.

“No, you already know too much, I will handle this. I don’t need you getting any more involved than you already are.”

She stood up and made her way over to where I was standing by the window. She was gorgeous, as always, but there was a hardness about her eyes now. The smell of orange blossoms flooded the air around me as she came to stand at my right side. She took the glass of scotch from my hand and downed it in one swallow. Handing the glass back to me she turned to leave. Halfway to the door she turned back and locked eyes with me.

“Make them pay, Carlo.”

I gave her a sharp nod and she was gone. The realization that she would never be the same as she once was caused a sinking feeling in my gut. The emotions I felt when my mother died came rushing forward. I knew how Mia felt, I knew the internal battle she was going through. Revenge was a temptress, a siren calling out to the broken hearted. I just hoped I could save Mia from giving in and sacrificing a piece of her soul like I had so many years before.

Mia

As predicted, Carlo wouldn’t give me names but I still got the information I needed. I knew a little about the Russian crew he was referring to, over the years I had picked up on names of key players. Carlo didn’t think I was stupid but I doubt he realized how closely I paid attention when I was home.

There were three men that ran the crew out of Portland; Vitaly Kashnikov headed up the crime cell in that area with his sons Ivan and Boris. From what I had heard over the years, Boris was an idiot; all muscle and no brain. Whereas his brother Ivan was smart, but arrogant and impulsive. I had heard talk about them the summer I came to live with Carlo. Ivan was eager to take control of the family, but his father didn’t think he was ready and that pissed him right the hell off. It was Ivan that had planned and executed the strike on Carlo’s warehouse a few years back, right under his father’s nose. His father had already flipped several of our men and was biding his time but Ivan ‘the impatient’ Kashnikov was trying to prove himself and in turn made a fucking mess of things for his father.

Carlo was outraged that the Russians had gotten away with half a million worth of guns and he made them feel it. I wasn’t privy to what exactly Carlo did to crush their power in Portland but he did. He dried up all their resources and flipped their contacts, essentially crippling their ability to make money on the west coast beyond repair. Vitaly and his sons had taken off, back to Russia, or so we thought. No one knew that they had come back. They must have kept a pretty low profile for no one to come across the news and bring it to Carlo.ConTEent bel0ngs to Nôv(e)lD/rama(.)Org .

The fact that none of Carlo’s contacts had discovered the Kashnikov’s were back in town meant that they were probably hiding in plain sight. My guess is that they were starting out with legitimate business dealings before moving on to more lucrative and less honorable ventures. The problem was, I didn’t know where they were set up stateside, and I had to find out before Carlo did.