Ruthless Empire: A Dark Mafia Collection

by Seth Eden

  I couldn’t get any words out as she turned around and walked away.

  I didn’t want to say goodbye.

  11

  Gabriel

  All at once, I was slapped with a reminder of what I was doing. I checked my watch, and it was a minute past two.

  “Fuck,” I hissed. Stacy had completely made me forget everything but her.

  I ran back to the restaurant and threw back the door. I stepped in, trying to catch my breath and scanned the restaurant. The tables were all packed, and I couldn’t make out any sign of Anthony Carducci. He wasn’t a small man, known as The Beast in our circles for standing at six-foot-two and weighing three hundred pounds. If he was inside, I would see him, for sure.

  I was about to pick up my phone and try to figure out how to get in touch with him when the hostess looked up at me. “Hello, sir. You wouldn’t happen to be Mr. Varasso?”

  My skin crawled at the question. “I am.”

  “I have a message from Mr. Carducci.” She reached under her stack of menus and handed me a napkin that had a message scrawled messily across it in pen.

  I do not like to be kept waiting, Mr. Varasso.

  Consider this matter resolved.

  I crumpled the napkin in my hand. I fucked up, big time. Luca was going to come and do it. He wouldn’t have gotten distracted by heaven on legs, and he would have walked into the restaurant, sat down, and secured our alliance with the Carduccis. It was probably in my best interest to just make a run for it. I had enough money in my name alone, my father had always seen to it in case my brothers weren’t willing to share. I could use some Varasso contacts before word spread, change my name, and move to Mexico. If Carducci didn’t put a hit out on me for wasting his time, Luca was definitely going to. The Carduccis were our one chance for a little padding against the Binachis, and now, because I couldn’t keep my eyes in my skull, I’d ruined that chance.

  I walked out of the restaurant and started for my car when I noticed someone leaning against it. There, with one leg tossed over the other, his arms folded around his chest, and his hair cut almost down to a buzz, was Marco. I actually smiled when I saw him, the same way he smiled back at me. It’d only taken twenty years, but I was finally making nice with my brothers, and that felt good. At least, until Luca put me through a woodchipper for fucking up the Carducci deal.

  I greeted Marco with a brotherly clap of our hands. “What the hell are you doing here?”

  Marco scoffed. “Are you kidding? After that call with you and Sandro, it was obvious I had to come do some damage control.”

  “How’d you find me?” I asked.

  Marco waved his phone through the air. “Locator.”

  “Weren’t we supposed to disable it?” We’d discovered the year prior that a breach in our locator system was what led to the leak of information that the Binachis used to start stalking Marco and his family, even with them in Witness Protection. “It’s not safe.”

  “I got my own and transferred you guys codes. Just the three of you and Kelly.” He slid his phone back into his pocket. “After all that shit went down last year, I couldn’t sleep while knowing I had no way to keep an eye on you.”

  I was more relieved than I was skeptical. If the network was contained, the risk was gone, and it was nice to see Marco one last time before Luca murdered me. I looked over my shoulder at the restaurant where I was supposed to meet Carducci. I still had a reservation, and I may as well take my final meal. “Wanna get a bite?”

  Marco hunched his brow. “That place looks packed.”

  “I have a reservation.”

  That didn’t ease Marco’s confusion. “Weren’t you leaving?”

  “Look, do you want food or not, Varasso? Fuck. What’s with the fifth degree?”

  Marco held up his hands with wide eyes. “My bad, damn.”

  I did not like that. Luca had always been the most like my dad until Alessandro snapped. The closer I got to being like him, the closer I got to being like my dad. “Sorry. I’m just stressed out. I fucked up things with this girl. I’ll explain inside.”

  “Oh, women. They are the bane, aren’t they?” Marco said, leading the way. “Yet, we happily eat out of the palms of their hands.”

  “It’d be easier if they were uglier,” I grumbled, “or less perfect.”

  Marco let out a loud laugh as I pulled the door open. “Ain’t that the fucking truth?”

  A waitress led us to the table in the back that had been reserved for Anthony Carducci and me, left us some menus and glasses of water, and then walked away. I hadn’t realized that I’d dropped my hands to my head until Marco was saying something.

  “This is all over a girl, or are you as stressed as Luca?” he asked.

  “Yes,” I replied. “I fucked up, Marco.”

  When I said the words, I honestly didn’t know which fuck up I was referring to. There had been so many. I’d fucked up with Stacy, I’d fucked up with Luca, I’d fucked up with Alessandro. I’d just fucked up.

  “What happened?” Marco asked, and I was equally unsure which happening he was referring to.

  “I went out with this chick,” I started, opting for Stacy, too afraid to cop to Alessandro or Anthony Carducci. “Everything was great. I mean, it just felt like she was, you know, the one or something. After just one day. That’s fucked, right?”

  Marco crossed his thick arms. “No. I’d tell you, and I think Luca and Sandro would, too. Sometimes you just feel it. It’s cruel, isn’t it? For people like us? It’s like fate is dangling a dream in front of us that we can’t have.”

  I hunched my brow. “You do have it.” Marco’s head bobbled to and fro. “Wait. You and Kelly aren’t…”

  Marco took a sip of his water. “No, I mean, it’s not like how things are with Luca and Molly or Sandro and Willow. Or even you and…”

  “Stacy,” I filled in.

  “But, uh…” Marco hissed out a breath. “I have to apologize to you.”

  It was a drastic change in subject and made me think Marco wasn’t ready to approach the other one yet. It scared me. I didn’t need another thing falling apart in our family. “For what?”

  “For what?” Marco repeated. “For everything. I resented you all this time. You were just as much an innocent bystander in our dad’s shit as we all were. I could have spent all this time preparing you for this life, and instead, I bullied you. Then I packed up and left you with more than the lion’s share of the organization and expected you to adjust. It’s not fair.”

  I wasn’t quite sure what to say to that. Luca and Marco had been experiencing guilt over me lately, and I didn’t know what the source was. I wasn’t about to pull that band-aid, but I did wish I knew what put it there so that I could look out for whatever could potentially come and snatch it off.

  “Thanks, Marco. You know, I never blamed you guys. I don’t think I’d behave differently if I was in your shoes.”

  “You would have because you’re a much better person than the rest of us, Gabe. Seriously. Each day that passes, I feel like I should be back here in Philly so that you can be the one running off with the love of your life. That’s what you deserve.” He sighed. “But I’m selfish. I think about it, and I imagine how that would mean I’d have to give up my life now. Kelly and the kids. I can’t do that.”

  I leaned forward a little. “Kids? More than one?”

  Marco hadn’t noticed the slip but breathed deeply when I pointed it out. “Yeah. Kel’s pregnant.”

  My jaw dropped. “Holy shit. Seriously?”

  “We got into it pretty bad before I left. I told her I didn’t think it was a good idea.” Marco ran a hand through his hair. “It’s just bad timing. Sandro, things with Luca and Molly, you’re a fucking wreck. We should all be together getting through this shit, but Kelly’s never gonna go for it. Certainly not with another kid on the way. I mean, I love being a dad, but I got so caught up being Kevin Peterson that I forgot I’m actually Marco Varasso.”

/>   “You’re out now, though. If you can stay out, I can bear this burden,” I replied, and I meant it. I didn’t want to drag my brothers back in, not after they had so painstakingly clawed their way out.

  “That’s not fair,” Marco said again. “After all the shit we put you through, how can we ask you to uphold our bullshit? If it wasn’t for all this, you’d be off with that Stacy girl, I bet.”

  I didn’t respond. He wasn’t wrong.

  “You’re just too soft for this world, man.”

  I puffed up. It was a random insult thrown into what had been an otherwise pleasant, bonding conversation.

  Marco chuckled and waved his hand at me. “Simmer down, Donald Duck. It’s a good thing. I wish I was softer.” He let out a sudden burst of laughter. “Good god, dad would have beat the shit out of me if he heard me say that.”

  “I’d rather take on more than my share,” I said. “I’ll step up. I promise.” I thought about what had happened today. “If I survive long enough.”

  Marco furrowed his brow. “Why wouldn’t you?”

  As if on cue, my phone rang. I pulled it out of my pocket to look at who it was, but I didn’t need to. I stared at Luca’s name on the screen until it stopped ringing and continued to stare until it started up again. Luca’s name appeared on the top a second time.

  “Is it Luca? You know he hates being ignored. You better get it,” Marco explained.

  A waitress came by to drop our food, and I looked up at her. “I’m sorry, can you pack it to go? I’m so sorry.” She nodded kindly and took the plates back. I looked at Marco. “I’m in trouble.”

  “What’d you do?” he asked.

  “Luca had a meeting planned with Anthony Carducci today. I begged him to let me do it. I’d already broken the news to him that a documentary has been released with us in it, though all the information is exaggerated or false, and he’s so stressed. Stacy saw it, and that’s how I know. Also, she won’t talk to me.” I grumbled, not even wanting to admit the next part out loud. “This reservation was for the two of us, but then I bumped into Stacy and chased her down. When I got back, the hostess handed me this.” I fished the napkin out of my pocket and handed it over.

  Marco read it, and his eyes widened. His gaze crawled up to me. “You stood up Anthony Carducci?” My phone stopped ringing in my hand, but then a few seconds later, it started again. “Just get it. He’s not going to kill you. Hopefully.”

  “Thanks,” I grumbled at Marco, and then finally mustered up the courage to answer my phone. “Hello?”

  “Get your ass home now!” It was all I heard of Luca’s angry voice before the line went dead.

  The waitress came back with our food, boxed up and in a bag for easy transport. Marco pulled out his wallet, slammed a couple of hundreds down on the table—way more than was necessary, so the waitress’s eyes nearly fell out—and then grabbed the bag. He motioned towards the door, and I dragged myself up from my chair and led the way down the aisle towards my funeral.

  “You told me you fucking had it!” Luca screamed at me when Marco and I were sitting in his office thirty minutes later. Molly was standing just behind him, and her usually warm expression was severe and cold. She was pissed at me too—a true sign that I’d caused irreparable damage. “I told you that time was a thing with him. I told you not to be late. What the fuck were you thinking?”

  “I’m sorry,” I murmured, knowing that this was one of those times where an apology was warranted. “I fucked up.”

  “Yeah, you fucked up!” Luca barked back. “Not only did you cost us a powerful ally, but Anthony Carducci isn’t called The Beast for nothing. He’s sunk people into the Atlantic for less, do you realize that?” He waved the napkin Carducci had written his note to me on. “Do you get what this shit means? Consider this matter settled, means we’re enemies now. We already had the Binachis on our backs, and now we fucking have the Carduccis, too. Are you trying to get us all killed? What the fuck could be more important than protecting your family? Why the hell were you late?”

  “It was my fault.” Marco had leaned forward in his chair and was looking at Luca and Molly, staunchly avoiding the shocked stare I was now throwing him. “I showed up out of the blue. I used my app to track him.”

  “Why couldn’t it wait?” Luca bellowed before turning his attention back to me. “Why wouldn’t you tell him where you were going?”

  “I took him by surprise,” Marco defended again. “Kel’s pregnant.”

  Luca and Molly’s eyes shot to Marco.

  “Really?” Molly asked.

  Marco nodded. “We really had it out. I told her it wasn’t a good time, and she can’t believe I’d ask her to get rid of it. I didn’t know what else to do, so I came here.” He finally looked over at me. “Gabe helped Sandro through all that shit with Willow, so I thought he could give me some advice.”

  I knew he was just weaving a lie, but it didn’t keep my mind from wandering to how false he was with the word help.

  “I barely let him get a word in edgewise,” Marco continued. “I’m sorry.”

  Luca seemed to accept Marco’s explanation but glowered at me regardless. “You need to grow a pair. You should have told him to shut the fuck up so you could work.”

  I nodded. “Yes, boss.”

  Luca scoffed. “Fuck.”

  “I promise it won’t happen again,” I muttered. “I won’t let anything distract me from serving this family again.”

  Stacy’s glowing eyes and her marvelous smile faded from my mind. Getting rid of all distractions started with her.

  12

  Stacy

  There was something to having a choice to ignore something versus having it ignore you. At least, when Gabriel was calling incessantly, I could ignore him and act like I was making a really responsible decision not to cavort with him when I knew I wanted to. After that day I saw him after lunch with Mira, he stopped calling. It’d been just over three weeks, and I hadn’t heard from him at all. I also think I realized how definite it was. If he wasn’t contacting me and I wasn’t contacting him, then didn’t that effectively mean that was it, we were finished? At any point, I could have responded to a text or answered a call. At any point, I could have thrown caution to the wind and decided that nothing was worth being apart from him, especially on Mira’s claim that I didn’t fall in love easily. If the door was still open, I could walk through it when I wished. Now it felt like the door was closed in spite of my desire to know what awaited me on the other side.

  I’d risked watching the documentary, and subsequently decided it was bullshit. I knew that people sometimes had the ability to hide their true selves, and I’d even seen that there were pieces of Gabriel buried beneath the surface of his innocent, stressed existence, but he wasn’t the man that documentary claimed he was. Maybe he was a Varasso—some research had proved as much—but any detailed account I could find of the stories referenced on the series varied significantly from what the documentary suggested, and none of them included Gabriel. He wasn’t just so sneaky that he wasn’t getting caught. He was staying out of it, exactly as he’d said. I didn’t know what I hoped to gain from proving that to myself. He still was part of a crime family that was very dangerous, but I wanted more than anything to believe Gabriel wasn’t a bad guy, and I knew now that he wasn’t.

  So, did that make it my turn to extend an olive branch? He’d made so many attempts to fix things with me that maybe he just got fed up and dropped it. The door was closed, but I could hope and pray it wasn’t locked.

  I jumped a little at the sound of my phone ringing. I managed to convince myself that it was Gabriel, having heard my wishes from across space and silent brooding, so I was that much more disappointed when my phone screen said Nicky was calling instead. I imagined the tall, tan-skinned, black-haired, green-eyed guy I’d gone out with about a week prior. He was the third in a string of guys I’d attempted to date to get Gabriel out of my system. Nicky was the only one I slept with, s
o he was the only one who wasn’t taking my ghosting as easy as the earlier two. I let the phone ring until the blaring went silent. A minute or two passed, and a notification pinged, notifying me of a voicemail.

  “Hey, Stace. It’s Nicky. Listen, I know that I’m probably doing a little too much here. I get that. I’m not actually calling to try and get you to go out with me again. I just have some friendly advice to offer. Whatever guy is stuck on you, he’s the one you’re meant to be with. I know it sounds stupid, for someone to call you up out of the blue and tell you to go for a different guy after sleeping with you. Please take no offense. I had an amazing time with you. If I didn’t think you were so hung up on your ex, I’d be sending you flowers every day trying to get you. I let a girl go, probably the one I should have married, so I know what it feels like, trying to scrub off your own skin. Don’t be dumb, okay? If he didn’t cheat on you or something crazy, and I can’t imagine you’d be stuck on him like this if he did, just do what you have to do to make it work. From one broken heart to another. Call me up if you wanna get a drink some time, as friends, of course. Bye.”

  The line clicked off, and I just stared at my phone quietly. Trying to scrub off your own skin. That’s what it felt like, trying to get Gabriel out of my mind. It wasn’t that he latched onto me somehow. It was like his presence turned on the light in a room I didn’t know I had, and turning the light off didn’t matter because I knew the room was there now. Nothing belonged in that room except Gabriel.

  I’d heard people say that they fell in love at first sight, but I always thought it was retrospective. It’s a nice thing to think after you’ve fallen in love, that the first time you saw them you knew, but it wasn’t true, it was just a cool sentiment. What I was rapidly discovering, whether or not I wanted to accept it, was that sometimes people did fall in love at first sight. Maybe I was living, breathing proof that the less you believe in something, the more likely it is to happen to you.