Potent Desire by Teresa Wolf

3

Maddox

The crisp, cold air stings my lungs as soon as I step out of my Bentley Flying Spur V8. It’s the middle of summer, but the uncharacteristic cold comes on the wings of an impending storm. The wind thrashes my coat, my hair, my body.

After the night I’ve had with Tara Slater, there’s no stopping now. Not until I get what I want. The Gallows pub stands in front of me. It’s such a fitting name. I can hear the raucous party within, even through the old oak door. There’s always some sort of event going on there, especially on a Friday night. It’s my guess that Larry Slater can’t stand the loneliness. He needs noise and people to distract him from the dark life he lives.

A man like Larry would never cut it in a game like ours, and yet, somehow he’s made it this far. I wonder what will happen when a real threat comes knocking?

I enter The Gallows and scope out the place. Dancing girls, half-naked, walk around the smoke-filled room. Men from the Slater family fill the place, but I see a few familiar faces from my father’s crew, as well. I’m guessing a couple have to be part of Quincy Harrison’s operation, too.

Larry’s a people pleaser. He won’t turn down anyone looking for a good time.

My legs are tired from screwing Tara, and every step I take feels as if I’m walking on uneven ground. However, my mind is still, as I walk through the place, focused on my task. One more step and I can go home, and forget this nightmare ever happened. I make my way to a metal staircase beside the bar that leads up to Larry’s office. I haven’t seen him yet, but I doubt he’s in solitude up there.

“Where do you think you’re going?” a voice comes from behind me, accompanied by a forceful grip on my shoulder. A six-foot-six, roid freak, in a black shirt and jeans stares me down.

“Larry’s office,” I say, looking over my shoulder. The second the bouncer catches my eye, the aggression on his face drops, and it is replaced by a wide-eyed nervousness.

“Mister Braddock, apologies. I didn’t know it was you.”

“Larry in?” I ask, ignoring the apology.

My cursed, wretched name, Maddox Braddock, carries weight in this town. There’s no street that doesn’t know it, and no living being that doesn’t fear it. That’s why I’m my father’s favorite lapdog. My brothers are bumbling idiots riding on the family name’s success, and my sisters are too removed to care.

“Nah, Larry’s at the tables. You want me to call him up?”

“Would you? I’m sure he’s gonna want to hear what I’ve gotta say,” I rub the knuckle of my index finger against my eye to scratch it.

I ascend the staircase, pushing into Larry’s office. Unlike the bar below, there’s a sense of class above. Wooden flooring supports antique-looking furniture – red leather chairs, carpets, and cabinets. Among the items scattered across his desk are pictures of Larry’s family, Tara being one of the most prominent. The smell of cherry cigars stinks up the room.

I take a seat in one of the visitor’s chairs, I pull off my fedora, and rest it on my knee, getting comfortable. I kick one leg over the other and wait.

It doesn’t take long for Larry Slater to step through the door.

“Maddox, my man,” he says, a brimming smile on his face. “How are you?”

Like the bouncer below, Larry’s broad-shouldered and tall. Wispy, ginger hair sticks to his forehead from a night of partying, drinking, and sweating. He’s in a pair of jeans, with a blue button-up shirt clinging tightly to his skin.

“Yeah, good,” I don’t get up to greet him. Not even after he reaches a hand out to shake. “Have a seat, Larry. We’ve got a lot to talk about.”

“What’s this about?” Larry asks, an obvious sense of confusion on his face. He knows me, and knows I’d never step out of line to the head of a Family.

Larry makes his way over to a globe ornament in the corner of his office. He unclasps a lever, and pulls half the globe up, exposing the liquor tucked away. “You want a drink?”

“No. Now please, have a seat. I won’t be here long enough for you to finish one,” I say, lifting my hat, and using it to point at his chair.

Larry does as he’s told. Again, the thought of how a weasel-like Larry got a seat as a head of a Family blows my mind. He’s bowing to a subordinate’s will. As against it as I am, I guess he’s gotta deserve what’s coming to him.

“Everything alright, Maddy? You know, I hear you and my Tara are getting closer and closer by the day. Is this what I think it is?” a stupid grin tugs at the corner of Larry’s lips.

“No,” I shake my head. I shove my hand into my pocket and pull out Tara’s possessions – the necklace, phone, and car keys. “No, Larry, it’s not.”

His face sours at the sight of her belongings. “What the hell is this then?”

“Riverview Park, my father wants it. I don’t want to have to make threats to get it,” I toss the necklace over to Larry. He scans it, making sure it’s actually Tara’s.

“You wouldn’t dare…”

“Tara’s holed up in a motel room as we speak. I have four men waiting in the parking lot. I’ve given them instruction that if they don’t hear from me before midnight, they are to go in and finish what I started. She’s been ordered to sit tight until morning. If she tries to leave, the same fate awaits her. If you don’t hurry and give me what I want, the feds will find her body in the morning, and you know what they’ll do?” I pause, giving Larry a second to think. He already knows the answer. ”Nothing. They’ll do nothing at all. It’s Tara Slater. The daughter of one of the powerful heads that rule Hannibal. Why would they bother getting involved in gang warfare, when they’re on the payroll?”

Larry’s jaw drops.

“If I give up Riverview, Oswald holds all of the Mississippi River,” Larry shakes his head. “I can’t do it, and you know that. My land will be reduced to—”

“Little, sure. Don’t make this harder on me, Larry. I don’t want to have to kill your girl,” I clear my throat. Really, I don’t. She’s done nothing to me. This is just the game we play.

“You’re serious? Do you think Bruno Romani is going to sit back and let your father run rampant across his city?” Larry scoffs.

“Do you think the King cares about what we do, as long as we continue to bend the knee to him?”

“Maddox, I want you to know that if you go through with this, you’re making a very powerful enemy in me. Do you understand that?”

“Damned as I am, I don’t care,” I shrug my shoulders. “Go on. Start a war. Do you really think it’s going to hurt my old man? Nah, not while you’re mourning the loss of your little girl.”

Those words strike a nerve in Larry. He opens and shuts his mouth, trying to find something to say. Eventually, he buckles, but not before he slams a fist onto his desk.

“Riverview Park, and that’s it,” he says eventually.

“That’s it.”

“You come knocking on my door again, Maddox; you or any of Oswald’s dogs, and I’ll put a bullet in you and them myself. Now get the fuck out of my sight.”

I drop the rest of Tara’s belongings on Larry’s desk. “She’s in the Motel Six. I’ll call off my boys.”

Another successful job that yields nothing more than a growing fire inside my father’s heart. His blind ambition will kill him someday, that much I’m damned sure of. At least for the time being, Larry’s surrender will satiate his hunger.