The Italian

Knock, knock.

I minimize my computer screen. “Come in.”

“Hey,” Sergio says. “You got a minute?”

“Yeah, take a seat.”

Lorenzo and Sergio take a seat at my desk—my two right hand men. Lorenzo’s family has worked for my family for years, meaning he is my family now, too. Sergio had just started moving up the ranks before my father died. He’s been out on the field for ten years with them. He knows what he’s doing.

“What is it?” I sigh, not in the mood for working at all.

“We’ve got problems in Sicily,” Sergio informs me.

“Why?”

“When you gave up our cocaine ring down there—”

I cut him off. “No drugs. I fucking told you I won’t sell drugs.”

Sergio’s eyes hold mine. We have fought over this many times. “Let me finish.”

Lorenzo and I roll our eyes.

“By giving up our reign of that side of the business in Sicily, it went to someone else. His name is Luciano Lombardi, and he’s been making quite the name for himself.”

“How so?”

“They call him Lucky Lombardi. He’s into stand over tactics: torture, rape. There isn’t anything he won’t do to be the top dog.”

“He isn’t our concern.” I turn my computer on.

“He has his sights set on our brothels.”

I frown and turn my attention back to him.

“We have twenty-seven down there, as well as five strip clubs. Him and his growing band of men have started frequenting them as clients.”

I stand and pour myself a glass of scotch, my interest piqued. “And?”

“Last night he went into one and demanded the girls come and work for him. When they refused, he roughed a few of them up.”

My back stiffens. “He hit them?”

“Bashed the living fuck out of a couple of them. Three ended up in hospital.”

I inhale sharply. “Nobody hits a Ferrara girl and gets away with it.”

“What do you want us to do?” Sergio asks.

“Beef up security, send more men down there.”

“We need to take back the cocaine,” Lorenzo says.

“No!” I snap. “We’re not drug dealers anymore. We are better than that. That time is over.” We keep having this same argument. “How many fucking times do I have to tell you? No. More. Drugs.”

“If we let him take that, he will take the rest.” Sergio shakes his head. “The more blow he sells, the more power h

e gets. How long will it be before he infiltrates our other areas?” Lorenzo snaps. “This isn’t about the drugs, Enrico, it’s about the power that it gives whoever has it.”