Bought Mafia Bride by Mae Doyle
Dane
Lorenzo and Johnny are waiting for me outside our favorite coffee shop when I finally pull up. Full Brew Coffee has been a staple in town for as long as I can remember. It’s off Main Street on a side road, which means that we can get something to drink here without having to worry about running into every other asshole in town who needs a caffeine fix.
“Shall we sit?” I ask, walking to the door and swinging it open. The owner, Henry Lewis, sees us coming and stands up, ringing a huge bell that hangs over the counter.
“We’re closing,” he announces, and all of the other customers slowly get up and file out. It doesn’t happen often that we really need to come here and sit and talk, but when we do, he takes care of us.
And we take care of him. Everyone knows that Henry Lewis is under Accardi protection and we pay him monthly for the pleasure of being able to come here and have a cup of coffee without any interruption. It’s a small indulgence, but one that I love having. As soon as we walk in the door, everything that we need is taken care of.
“Gentlemen,” Henry says, appearing at the table we choose. We always sit in the same one, right in the middle of the coffee shop and up against some windows so that we can keep an eye out for anyone or anything that might try to sneak up on us. “To what do I owe this pleasure?”
“We needed someplace quiet,” Lorenzo answers him.
“And coffee. Black. Lots of it.” Johnny smiles once at Henry and then the man disappears.
“Tell me that you two have something,” I say, leaning forward to look at them. They’re sitting next to each other and I’m on the other side, staring at them. Even though I know that I need to keep my mind on what’s happening here, I can’t help but think about Natalia back at my house.
I wonder if she’s stopped screaming by now. When I left, I could still hear her through most of the condo. That closet wasn’t designed to be used to keep people in, more to keep people out. It’s a panic closet in case of an emergency when I need to hide someone and keep them safe, but it will work just as well like this.
“We don’t have any solid evidence tying our wonderful mayor to the attack, but I’m sure that we can all agree that it was him.” Lorenzo glances up at me, and when I nod, he continues. “I have some guys hitting the street to find out everything that they can about him, but he’s a shady motherfucker.”
“How so?” I ask.
Henry appears with three mugs and a fresh pot of coffee. After he’s served us all and disappeared, I pick mine up and take a sip. It’s good, hot and strong, and just the thing that we all need to be able to focus.
“He has a number of offshore accounts,” Johnny says. “I managed to get that information courtesy of his investment banker who seemed strongly attached to keeping his hands when I talked to him.” There’s a glint in his eye and I nod for him to continue.
“The banker said that Steve’s been moving money into and out of these accounts for a while now but the activity really picked up a few months ago. According to him, keeping an eye on the mayor’s money is about a full-time job. He looked exhausted and was more than happy to talk and then collapse back onto bed.”
“You have him locked up somewhere, then?”
Johnny eyeballs me. “I learned from the best not to let people go running wild when you might not like the things that they have to say about you. He’s safe and probably grateful as fuck for the sleep that he’s finally getting if what he’s telling me is true.”
“Okay, so we know that Steve is up to his eyeballs in it and that he’s probably got his back against the wall if he’s moving funds like that. So it stands to reason that he ordered the hit, but we still don’t have anything substantial to tie him to it? Is that what I’m hearing?”
“Well, his brother, Mark, is a real piece of shit.” Lorenzo picks up where Johnny left off. “We knew that though. He’s spent lots of time behind bars, mostly for petty things like small amounts of drugs and for buying beer for minors.”
“He is a piece of shit,” I remark, and Lorenzo nods.
“Yeah, but that’s not all of it. He lived near Chicago for a bit and got himself into some real trouble up there before Steve took pity on him and moved him back down here where he could keep an eye on him. Looks like they’re two peas in a pod, only Steve has the money and the brains to not fuck up where everyone can see it, and that’s exactly what Mark keeps doing.”
“Who did he get in trouble with?” I finish my coffee and Henry is at our table a moment later to refill it. This time he brings with him some muffins and danishes that he bakes fresh every morning. While I wait for Lorenzo to continue, I take a bite of one.
Did I even eat this morning? It’s been a bit of a shitshow and the muffin is fucking delicious.
“You’ll never believe this. You know our distant cousins, the Bonannos?” He asks, glancing at the two of us like he’s not sure if we’re following. “They don’t live in Chicago proper, but they control that entire area. Anyway, they recently had some problems with a motorcycle gang and took them all out. Mark was mixed up with all of that, only he chose the wrong side.”
“Fucking idiot,” I say, rolling my eyes. “So, what happened, he thought that he could come down here and sell some drugs on our turf without repercussions to try to make back the money he owed them?”
“Fucking exactly.” Lorenzo nods, grinning at me. “That’s the only connection that we can come up with. Mark’s a fucking idiot who got himself mixed up with people who are a hell of a lot more dangerous than he could ever be. He came down here so that his big brother could help him out, but brought with him all of the drugs that he was going to help the motorcycle club sell. That’s why we’ve seen an influx here.”
“Fucking hell.” I run my hand through my hair and turn to look out the window. It’s a gorgeous day out, the perfect kind of day to not be dealing with this type of bullshit from assholes like Steve and Mark. They’re the ones who pushed us into a corner, though, and we have to put a stop to what they’re doing.
“So we take out the brothers, we stop this reign of terror.” Johnny looks pleased with his assessment. “It’s two assholes against the entire Accardi family. How fucking hard can it be?”
Lorenzo rolls his eyes. “Cousin, I love you, but shut the fuck up right now. It’s a hell of a lot harder than that. We’re talking about the mayor, but more than that, we’re talking about a turf war between a mafia family and a motorcycle club. That type of shit doesn’t wrap up nicely with a neat little bow.”
We all fall silent as we try to think through what needs to be done. It’s obvious that we can’t just sit back and wait for this to all shake out. The fact that Mark and Steve were desperate enough to call in a hit on me makes it clear that we can’t all just sit back and wait.
And there’s the drugs to worry about. Our family has no trouble with selling them, but we don’t allow that shit here. No matter how you want to make your money, you don’t shit where you eat. Everyone knows that, and that’s why we ship drugs out of the area and make our money elsewhere before bringing the funds back in.
It’s a win-win for the town and for our family. The fact that some tweaker asshole thought that he could upset the balance is more than enough to piss me off.
After a few minutes, I interrupt the silence. “Does anyone have eyes on Mark or has he gone underground?”
Johnny pulls out his phone and taps on the screen. “We got a tracker on his car, but it hasn’t moved. He’s hiding somewhere, that’s for sure, but none of my sources have laid eyes on him in a while.”
“Well, fuck. We know where his brother is, so we’ll have to get to Mark that way. Steve won’t be happy to talk to us, but that’s fine. I’m not looking to stroll into his office again like we did last time. This time we’ll approach it from another angle so that we can be confident that his lawyer won’t be there with him.” Glancing at my watch, I’m surprised at the time.
As much as I’d like to jump on that right now, I need to get back and check on Natalia.
“Tomorrow morning then, before he’s even had a chance to wipe his ass after his morning shit?” Lorenzo looks excited about the thought of ruining the mayor’s day, and I nod.
“Exactly. I’ll see you assholes then, but right now I need to go check on my future wife and see if she’s ready to calm down enough to talk.”
