Chapter 5

CHAPTER 5

D’Angelo

Our destination turned out to be the backroom of a nearby club. The Mariano family owned various properties in nearly every major city along the east coast, including many clubs, so this wasn’t a surprise. Nightclubs weren’t my favorite place, and even I owned a few. They were just too convenient. A lot of money could be pushed through them, and the constant stream of people coming and going easily hid nearly any type of activity.

Upon opening the door to the backroom, I was greeted to the sight of Alex Mariano straddling the lap of his bodyguard and grinding like he was on the dance floor.

“Please tell me this isn’t what you called me here for,” I said to get the pair’s attention. “I have plenty of kinks, but voyeurism isn’t one of them.”

Alex looked up from the deep kiss he’d been sharing with his bodyguard, but the brat didn’t even look embarrassed as he smiled at me.

“You took too long. I got bored.”

Swallowing the last dregs of my coffee, I tossed the cup in a nearby trashcan and sat in one of the room’s other chairs. “I have a busy schedule, and I was up in New York when you contacted me. You’re lucky I got here as quickly as I did. Why are we here, anyway? The Mariano family doesn’t have much business in Baltimore.”

The bodyguard, Garrison, moved off the chair so Alex could sit properly and face me. Although he’d only been with Alex for less than a year, he seemed just as efficient as my own bodyguards, standing just behind the person he meant to protect. For someone so new to the mafia lifestyle, he fit in surprisingly well, probably due to his extensive career in the Special Forces. Between him and Alex, who had spent his entire life training to one day take over as head of the Italian Mafia, they were not enemies that I wanted to fight.

Although, Alex’s non-threatening act was very convincing. He pouted up at Garrison, as if cared about nothing but continuing their previous activities. If I didn’t know better, I’d think he really was just the harmless brat that he pretended to be.

A moment later, when Garrison just scowled at him and gave him a look that clearly told him to focus, Alex’s harmless mask slipped away. Dark eyes sharpened, and he relaxed back in his chair with the grace of a predator. His claws were sheathed for now, but they could come out at any time if necessary.

“It turns out my father’s affairs are not so easily addressed. He left a lot of loose ends when he died.” As he spoke, Alex rested his chin on his hand. The scars on his knuckles stood out starkly against his Mediterranean complexion. “Apparently, he made a deal with the Russians that I am now on the hook for.”

Something bristled in Alex’s eyes that immediately had me on guard. The man was not happy, and that did not bode well for whatever he needed from me.

“On the hook?” I repeated. “That doesn’t sound good. What happened?”

Alex sighed but didn’t immediately explain.

I understood his hesitance. Whatever trouble he’d found likely put him in a bad position. He was already so new to his leadership, and disadvantage could be disastrous for him. Although we were both part of the Italian Mafia, as the leader of the Bianchi family, I was also technically a rival. If he lost power, I could use it as an opportunity to gain that power for myself.

Lucky for him, I had no desire to do so. I was comfortable with my place in the world. I didn’t need to change it. Only maintain it.

I softened my tone and my expression, leaning forward in my chair to try and emphasize my sincerity. “Alex. You obviously wanted to meet with me because you think I can help, but that’ll only work if you tell me everything that’s going on. Otherwise I can’t help you, and you’re just wasting both of our time.”

He sighed, and Garrison put a hand on his shoulder to comfort him. It was a vulnerable show of emotion, revealing that the relationship between these two was more than just physical.

I considered it a compliment that they trusted me not to use their relationship against them. There were plenty of others who would, but I vowed to keep it to myself. The pair were cute, and obviously worked well together.

Patting Garrison’s hand, Alex sat up straight, and the steel returned to his eyes.

“Apparently, my father made a deal with the Pahkan. A fairly standard drugs for guns deal.”

The Pahkan, the leader of the Russian Mafia, rarely handled deals himself. Usually one of his four Brigadiers would handle these kinds of negotiations. For the Pahkan himself to be involved it must have either been a much larger deal than Alex was making it sound, or there was something else going on behind the scenes on the Russian end of things.

“Okay.” I nodded, refusing to admit that this was all new information to me.

Usually, I was well informed about the movements of the Russian Mafia. This deal must have been kept under particularly tight wraps if my information networks didn’t pick it up.

“So far, I’m not seeing a problem, or anything I can help with.”

Alex’s lip twitched, like he wanted to snarl. “The problem is that the Pahkan held up the Russian end of the deal while my father didn’t. I don’t know why he didn’t. It’s not like we couldn’t afford it. Meanwhile, the Russians won’t even talk to me other than to accuse me of helping my father break the deal with them. The whole thing is a mess, and if this continues, I’m afraid we might be heading toward war. I’m sure I don’t have to tell you that a war between us and the Russians would be very bad for everyone.”

No, he didn’t need to tell me. I was acutely aware of how bad a war between the Italian and Russian Mafia would be.

If such a thing happened, I would suffer more than anyone.

Avoiding war between the Italian and Russian families was the very reason I existed in the first place. My father was the previous head of the Bianchi family. However, my mother was a distant cousin of the Pahkan. Their marriage had been arranged as a sort of peace treaty between the two organizations.

My mixed blood is what gave me power in the criminal underworld since I was connected to so many influential people. However, if war broke out between Italian and Russian families, my mixed heritage could also be my undoing. My whole empire, which I worked hard to maintain, would be torn in half.

None of these racing thoughts showed on my face as I stared at Alex across the few feet of air that divided us. “And you want me to…”

“Mediate,” Alex said with an exhausted edge to his voice. “Convince the Russians to communicate with me. Help me figure out what I need to do or give them to avoid this war. Mentioning your name was the only way I got them to speak with me at all. They’re going to be sending someone to meet with me here in Baltimore, and I need you there at the meeting to help smooth things over.”

Taking a deep breath through my nose, I forced my pulse to slow down. So far it seemed like a salvageable situation. It wasn’t even that complicated. A broken deal could be fixed.

There was just one detail in Alex’s entire explanation that confused me.

“Why Baltimore?”

As far as I knew, the Russian Mafia had no special connection to this city.

Alex waved one hand in the air like he was batting away an annoying fly. “I have no idea. They wouldn’t tell me why it had to be here. Just gave me a time and a place to show up. The whole thing smells like a trap, but not showing up isn’t really a choice at the moment.”

My first instinct was to immediately agree to help Alex. Out of everyone in the room, I had the most to lose, and I wanted it settled as quickly as possible.

It was precisely because I had the most to lose, however, that I had to be cautious.

“Alex,” I said, keeping my voice soft. “I want to help you, but you must realize how risky it is for me to get involved. If things go badly…”

I didn’t need to finish my statement. Everyone in the room knew what was at stake.

Alex nodded. “I know, but I need your help with this. However, I don’t expect your assistance for free. I’m here to make a deal with you.”

My interest was piqued. Since Alex knew how risky this situation was for me, he must have come armed with something valuable to tempt me.

“What kind of deal?” I asked, trying not to sound too eager.

Alex smirked. He knew he had my attention.

“Recently, you’ve been interested in branching out from dealing recreational drugs to medical ones. If you help me settle things with the Russians, I’ll bankroll that new project.”

When the head of the Mariano family came fishing for assistance, he certainly knew what bait to use.

The distribution of medical drugs had been a pet project of mine for years. For generations, my family had focused on dealing recreational drugs. Cocaine, heroin, meth, etc…

However, there were even more people in this country who needed regular access to medical drugs. It wasn’t just a matter of addiction. They needed these medications to stay alive. In other countries, where health care was free and medication was cheap, it wasn’t a problem. However, in America, many necessary medical drugs were very expensive.

If we could offer those same drugs at a cheaper price, we could make a fortune. Plus, unlike recreational drugs, medical drugs actually helped keep customers alive, so they could keep being customers and keep paying us.

There was plenty of potential if I could get it set up. Unfortunately, there wasn’t a lot of infrastructure for dealing in medical drugs. The big drug companies were determined to keep a hold of their monopoly, and finding a way to undermine them would require a big initial investment. I could technically afford it, but it would require draining my resources much more than I was comfortable with.

If Alex footed the upfront cost, however, I could probably get the whole operation up and running in a couple of years.

As I thought everything over for a few minutes, out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Alex grinning at me. He knew he had me. I could pretend to mull the offer over as long as I wanted, but at the end of the day, I was going to agree to his deal. There was too much at stake for me to turn him down.

I glanced toward Eva and Gavriil. They also knew what my answer would be, and I could practically see the wheels turning in their heads as they made the necessary plans. First on the list would be to acquire a temporary residence in Baltimore. Negotiations with the Russian Mafia would not move quickly, and if they were insisting on meeting in Baltimore, then it looked like I would be calling this city home for a while as well.