Protected By the Monster

“That’s right, sir,” I said. “That’s my assumption, at least.”

“Interesting.” He cleared his throat, looked at the grapefruit, made a face. “You know, I hate this stuff.”

“Really?” I asked. “Why do you eat it then?”

“I’m told it’s… healthy.” He sighed, speared a chunk, ate it. “Any fruit that requires you to add sugar in order to make it palatable is suspect at best in my eyes.”

“You know it isn’t healthy anymore once you add the sugar to it.”

He gave me a flat look. “I’m aware.”

I opened my mouth then closed it again and took another sip of my coffee. The bacon and eggs went untouched in front me, though I did pick up and bite a piece of dry toast, just to have something to do with my hands.

“Luca, I’m going to be honest with you,” Don Leone said after an excruciatingly long and uncomfortable silence. “I have some concerns about Clair.”

“What concerns are those, Don?” I asked.

“I worry about her longevity,” he said. “I worry that she won’t be able to see this thing through.”

“She’s tougher than she seems,” I said.

“If she’s anything like her mother, I assume she despises everything we stand for.”

“She does,” I said. “I can’t deny that. She hates violence and grew up hearing horror stories about the mafia from her mother, so she’s more than a little inclined to hate everything about our organization.”

“So then why do you think she’ll stick through it all?”

“Because she’s tough,” I said. “And because she has no other choice.”

He gave me a flat look. “It isn’t because you like her?”

“I like her because she’s strong,” I said. “Not the other way around.”

“Interesting.” He twirled his fork and let out a weary sigh. “I’ll admit, I’ve begun to wonder if this little operation wasn’t more trouble than it’s worth.”

“Have the Jalisco attacked openly yet?”

“Not yet,” he said. “But there are whispers that they’re consolidating their strength. I worry about them as well, Luca. Although we’ve hurt them very badly, they still have a lot of strength south of the border, and they could bring it down on us if they chose to.”

“I thought the Gulf Cartel was keeping them busy.”

“Not busy enough.” Don Leone put down his fork and stared at me before pushing back from the table. He got to his feet with some difficulty, picking up his cane from where it leaned against the chair. He walked over to his desk and I stood to follow him, but he held up a hand for me to wait.

He reached his desk and took something out of a drawer. It was a rectangle, heavy, plastic. I recognized the laptop I’d stolen last night.

“You know what this is?” he asked.

“Yes, sir,” I said.

“I had one of my young tech boys go through it an hour ago. We found some very interesting documents.”

“Like what, sir?”

“Documents pertaining to weapons purchases. They’re gearing up much more than we had anticipated.”

I frowned, tilted my head. “That doesn’t make sense though. They’re still outmanned and outnumbered, even if they have more guns than we do. It’s not a fight worth having.”

“An inferior force can still do a lot of damage with the right weapons,” Don Leone said. “And it seems as though the Jalisco are preparing the right weapons.”

I nodded and took a deep breath. “What can I do, sir?”

“Convince Clair to speed things along,” Don Leone said. “Convince Clair’s mother to behave. Watch over both of them very, very carefully. This situation is getting more and more dangerous. I need you to be on top of it.”

“I will, sir.”

“Good.” He looked down for a long moment at the laptop then looked back up at me. “If Clair gives us those buildings, the Leone Crime Family will be something much bigger than we ever anticipated. The family up in New York is growing nicely, gaining some power, rivaling some of the stronger gangs. If we can establish ourselves in Chicago, I don’t see why we couldn’t spread out across the entire country.”

I stared at him for a moment, trying to imagine what that would be like, and failed to envision it.

The beauty of the family was its size. We were a strong mafia, large enough to control a city, but not so large that I didn’t know almost everyone by name and face. If the family spread itself out all over the place, it would cease to be the thing that I’d grown accustomed to, and I wasn’t sure how I felt about that.

But ultimately, it didn’t matter. I was sworn to the family, and I’d do anything to protect it.

“I’ll try my best, sir,” I said.

“Good.” He nodded, checked his wristwatch. “I have an appointment soon, if you wouldn’t mind.”

“Of course.” I turned to leave and made it to the door when he called my name again. I turned to face the Don, one hand on the doorknob.