Black Widow's Bite

Pack It Up

Vinnie and Tulio walked the man out of the room and handed him off to another soldier with clear instructions while he moved back to his desk and sat down.

“You think it’s bullshit?” Tulio asked grimly.

“Find out. Give a call to the guy we have on the inside at Greco. He should have let me know this s**t was going down.”

“Maybe he thought he was handling but Greco is getting increasingly difficult?”

“Maybe. I’ve been working day and f*****g night getting ready to take over this family from my father in my own time and in my own way and this fuckwad is going to mess it up.” He took a breath and let it go. “Greco isn’t going to take what is rightfully mine without me putting a bullet into everything which is his first. I’ll leave my stain on everything of his.” He smirked, “maybe I’ll take his family from him. How loyal can a bunch of men be if he’s killing off their kids?”

“Depends on how much s**t he has on them.”

“If he’s dead, they’ll either pledge or die. Let’s find out what we can and if there’s a truth to Pierluigi’s story, we head to Jersey by end of week.”

“In two days? You want to pull up house in two days?” Tulio grimaced at him.

“Do you have a problem with it?”

“No. Are you bringing the whores with you?” Vinnie asked with bated breath.

“Why?” he shook his head at his number two ready to smack him in the back of the head. Lately all he thought about was whiskey and hookers. “I can get my c**k sucked anywhere. I don’t need to bring them. I’ll send them off tomorrow.” He paused, “actually, keep the redhead here and send the blonde on her way. The noises she made last night grated on my nerves.”

“Done,” Vinnie shrugged, “she was bitching at the kitchen staff this morning about her coffee not being hot enough.”

“Are we moving full house and staff or just the essentials?” Tulio asked quietly.

“Depends. If we have Greco making a serious play, then we have to prove we are serious. We’ll move it all, lock, stock, and barrel. Include the staff. Make the visas happen.” He looked to Tulio, “if it’s only chitchat though, we’ll do a visit ourselves and make a decision when we’re there whether to send for everyone else.”

Three hours later, he was ready to strangle his father. He called him his hands shaking with the desire to wrap them around his father’s thick neck, “you’ve had three attempts in the last six months?”

“Who told you? Pierluigi wasn’t supposed to say s**t. Tell him his kid is dead by nightfall.”

“He didn’t. I have a mole with Greco’s family, and they’ve been making a play for us for two years?”

“Why the f**k do you think I wanted you home?” his father’s voice raised angrily.

“You couldn’t simply say we have a war coming? You needed to lie about one phony disease after another?”

“They shot my number one because he stepped right into the bullet. Gilberto is resting up with his arm in a sling, but I need you here son. If you don’t come home and do as I ask, I’ll be forced to take alternative methods. Greco wants our local business here first and then yours in Italy.”

“I’m not getting married to take your title. It’s not happening.”

“You are thirty-five, my son. You cannot stay single forever.”

“I can and I will.”

“We can talk about it when you get home.”

“Do not do as you did last time I came to New Jersey. I will not be paraded around Simone’s friends like a trophy. The last time was a s**t show. Simone promised the girl I would marry her. She followed me around like a stalker. She showed up to a hit Dad. A hit. I looked through my sniper rifle and she was sitting with the man I was supposed to put a bullet into.”

“It was an unfortunate turn of events.”

“Your mistress has a big mouth.”

“It is why I like her, my son. The things she can do with her big mouth is why I keep her around.”

“No son needs to know such things,” he grimaced distastefully. “What is your plan for Greco?”

“I am hoping we can draw him out. The bastard is hiding and sending his kid out on the street. I could take the kid out easily, but we need him first. I want to put a bullet in the kid’s head while he watches but there’s another family in play. I’m contemplating my options.” His father’s voice was cool.

He admitted, his father’s thoughts were not horrible. “I will be back in the states by Friday.”

“I’ll have a car meet the plane.”

“It’s not necessary.”

“It is necessary,” his father argued. “I want a team familiar with the situation meeting you.”

“My men,”

His father cut him off, “your men have been with you in Sicily for the last five years and everywhere but New Jersey for the five before. They no longer know the layout, the security paths, or the process. We can get everyone up to date within a couple of weeks but until then, you use my teams which are already in place.”

He knew his father made sense, but he and the old man were not on the best of terms and frankly listening to him spout orders made him want to hang up the phone and remain in Sicily. There was no secret they butted heads, mostly because as much as he hated to admit it, he was a chip off the old block.

“Fine. I will see you Friday.”

“I love you, my son.”

“I love you too. I will see you Friday.” He hung up the phone and groaned and rubbed his thumb and forefinger into his eyeballs as if the pressure would be relieved by the pain, he was causing himself. It wasn’t working. His head throbbed.

Tulio entered his office with a purposeful step, “what’s the verdict?”

“He admitted it. Greco is after his holdings in the US. He thinks if he can take over Dad’s businesses in the US, then he can take what I have built here in Europe. He’s a fool if he thinks we’re going to hand it over simply because he’s made a few attempts on the man’s life.”

“Then we’re packing it all up?”

“Yes. Anyone who wants to stay behind, stays. We need a full staff here to keep it running. I want to be able to walk back in at any given time and it be ready for me.”

“Understood.”

He looked to his confidant and friend and sighed, “our security team will play second to the one in New York until we up to date.” He saw Tulio bristle with the words and he held up his hand. “It makes sense, and you know it. We’ve been here for five years building the European side of the business and we’re out of touch in New York. We’ve only been back a handful of times in this time and never with a full crew and never with this kind of information at our disposal.

“I’m not taking orders from Gilberto.” Tulio ground out. “The last time I saw him was five years ago, and the fat prick called me a spoiled brat who didn’t know how to get it up. I’ve killed men for less and I can’t touch him because he’s number one. There better be a changing of the guards and soon.”

“Apparently, he took a bullet for the man. He’s resting up.”

“And this is the security we’re supposed to follow? They got a shot off?”

“It seems so,” he rose from his desk and looked at his watch. “It’s two in the morning. I need to get to bed.”

Tulio grinned at him, “the redhead is waiting. She’s been in and out of the room, slamming the door every twenty minutes since half eleven.”

“Slamming doors, huh?” He smiled back at his friend, “well, someone needs to get her temper in check. I wonder who is going to do teach her such a lesson.”

He chuckled, “if I were you, I’d wait to tell her we are leaving, and she’s not invited until the morning and not while she has her teeth anywhere near your junk.”

“Duly noted,” he made his way to the room.

“Hey Cap?” Tulio called out.

He paused and looked at him, “yeah?”

“It’s good we’re going home.”

He gave a single nod, knowing his friend was simply letting him know he had his back. Though he didn’t need reassurances as the boss, a little support from the ones who mattered went a long way. As the sound of his bedroom slammed again in the distance he grinned widely. Time to work some frustration out.