Quiet Wealth by J.L. Drake

“What exactly do you know?” I held the blowtorch a foot away from the head of the man who worked for me. He had been seen somewhere he shouldn’t have been. He was the third man of mine that I knew was holding something back from me.

“Nothing, I, I, I can’t!” he stammered and broke out in a sweat while I grew annoyed. The howl of the torch echoed through the basement walls of the warehouse where I handled most of my business. It was hidden deep within the property of my dockyard, and the basement was built like a bunker so screams could not be heard, and any odor would blend in with the surroundings. It was a necessary place where we could deal with the darker side of things that was out of the public eye and well away from our homes. Our ammunition and other specific items were stored here in bunkers below ground, and a huge walk-in safe held the overspill of cash from the gas stations and casinos we laundered through.

“You dare withhold information from me after I took you in and gave your family a good life? You would be living on the streets if it weren’t for me.”

“It’s not like that.” He tried to buy time, but I was not having it. I leaned forward and melted away the side of his skull. His screams were deafening, but I didn’t care. I’d learned over the years to tune them out. I didn’t have time to play the who done it card. Something was happening here, and I knew something worse was coming. The body found at the dockyard was shot execution style, and I had no goddamn idea why.

“Elio.” Niccola, my cousin, called me away from the others. With a quick, emotionless glance at the man’s charred face, he turned his back to it as he spoke. “Martin said the few who were around didn’t see anything.”

“Let me guess, no one will talk?” I swiped my hand through my damp hair, confused as to what was going on at the docks. Maybe I needed to spend more time down there myself.

“No,” he mirrored my movements, “but there’s something else.”

“Go on.”

“There might have been a witness to the hit at the dockyard.”

“Our hit,” I had ordered Donatello, my other capo, to deal with a problem last night, “or someone else’s?”

“Not ours.”

“Who the hell used our territory for their goddamn hit?” Off hours, you would need a code to get in, and we had many cameras.

“I’m looking into it.”

“Good.” I sighed, tired of more shit happening on my property. “Did you check the cameras?”

“They were turned off.”

“Why do you think there was a witness?”

“There was a woman’s bracelet found only a few feet away.”

I ran a hand along my bottom lip as pure, white-hot rage smothered my blood and took over any sane thought I had left in me. I stepped closer to him so only he could hear me.

“Find them, bring them to me, and I will decide if they live or die.”

“Of course.” He went to leave, but I stopped him.

“What about the rest of the footage leading up to and afterward?”

“We’re still looking into it. They were down for twenty minutes, and others around the parking lot were just flickering.”

“Of course they were.”

He nodded to show he understood my train of thought.

“I need to go to my parents’ to get ready. I have a date that I need to mentally prepare for. Come on.” I barked some orders to the others, then we hurried to the parking lot.

“Good afternoon, Elio.” Mama’s friend batted her long eyelashes at me. “We may have found you the perfect woman. She’s new in town, just arrived here from America.”

“Come on, now.” Mama shook her head at her friend, pushing her hand down to dismiss what I’m sure was a photo on her phone. “This isn’t the right time.”

I turned away to reach into the refrigerator. I tried to ignore their almost weekly setups.

“As much as I appreciate that you want to find me love, I’m good. Why don’t you entertain the idea of finding Niccola love?”

“Don’t drag me into your hell.” Niccola whisked by, shooting me the finger with pure delight that this conversation didn’t include him.

“Niccola would have to stop in one place long enough to meet someone,” my mother shouted after him. “His time will come.”

“No, it won’t,” he called back.

“Lucky bastard,” I muttered. “The last woman you set me up with had more cats than any human should own and an odd obsession with holding my hand even when we ate.”

“Fine.” Mama huffed and took pity on me. “Maybe another time.” She smiled warmly at me. “You should get ready. We don’t want you arriving late.”

“Thank you, Mama,” I whispered as I leaned over the marble island and kissed her cheek. I knew she was giving me an out away from her friend.

An hour later, I stood in front of my parents’ house, greeting guests in my three-piece jet-black suit my father insisted I buy. It was worth every penny. It was the softest fabric I had ever worn.

“My, don’t you look handsome tonight.” Aurora appeared at my side in a chocolate brown dress with peacock feathers across her bust area.

“You look lovely.” I offered her my arm, and we headed inside and down into a massive party area that spilled out into the back yard.

Two bands were hired tonight, given the size of the property and the number of guests who were to attend. Though the party was really a cover for a meeting we were having with the Milani syndicate, we also wanted to show the power our family had within Northern Italy. Everyone and anyone who was part of our lives would be here.

“Drink?”

“Yes.” Aurora scanned the crowd while I nodded to the server, who I knew would attend to my every need tonight. “Impressive.”

“Indeed.” I spotted my mother privately chatting with my father. Something seemed off.

The hairs on the back of my neck stood at attention, and I did a quick scan of all the faces around them.

“Want to dance?” She didn’t wait for my answer and pulled me out onto the floor. She pressed her breasts into me and rested her head on my shoulder.

I couldn’t absorb the melody of the song as I led her in the dance. A strong gravitational pull had me in its clutch. I found myself looking around, curious as to what had my compass spinning out of control.

“Elio?” Aurora placed two fingers on my cheek to pull my attention back to her. I pushed her away in a firm movement. I seemed to know that whatever had me on high alert was about to reveal itself.

I spotted Mariano speaking to some friends who were laughing loudly. I moved my glance away from him to the door and waited.

For what? What was I missing?

My mother started walking toward me, and then I noticed Francesco heading in my direction as well.

The band pulled back on their instruments, and only a soft piano and guitar filled the room. Flora Cash’s You’re Somebody Else made me whirl around, expecting to see someone there, but it was just guests moving about.

“Elio, dear, I think you and I need to talk.”

“About?” I barely heard my mother when Mariano broke through the crowd and I zeroed in on his date. She had her head turned, talking to someone else. Familiar?

“Later, perhaps.” Mother disappeared from my side while I studied the woman. She had on a skintight backless black dress that hugged her curves, and her long, dark, glossy hair tumbled down her back in huge, loose curls.

Damn, what was it about her?

“Elio, you need to know something,” Francesco said from behind me. “I found some new footage from the parking lot at the docks. It’s the woman. I have the guys working on her ID right now.”

“Good.” The woman had disappeared from sight.

“Hey,” Mariano shook my hand as a greeting, “what’s wrong with you?”

“Nothing,” I said, even as irritation at his absentmindedness with our business lately flashed through me. I wanted to snap his neck for some of the things he had not remembered to do.

“Where are our drinks?” Aurora questioned behind me.

“Well, hello, there.” Mariano reached across me to shake Aurora’s hand. He obviously wanted to be noticed by my date. “Elio,” his grin told me he was really excited by something, “if you could pull yourself away for five minutes.” He eyed Francesco, who had stepped back and left us alone at Mariano’s comment. “I wanted you to come meet my date.”

“Welcome, ladies and gentlemen.” My uncle stood at the microphone, and I knew I was due to be up there any moment. “I hope you’re enjoying yourselves, and if not, the bar is that way.” The crowd laughed, clearly having a good time.

“Sorry, she’ll have to wait,” I replied and whispered to Aurora that I needed to be on stage and worked my way through the crowd.