Chapter 24

The Porsche roared around the corner and Luca brought it to a slow crawl, the engine rumbling as he brought the speed right down. It was a run-down neighborhood, all shabby storefronts and questionable looking people hanging out on the street corners.

Luca pulled down a side alley and turned the car engine off. There wasn't any time to waste, but Luca went through the same process he had done for years before a big job or life endangering strike.

Put simply, Luca breathed.

In and then out, in and then out, Luca slowed his breathing down and felt a sense of total concentration come over him. Luca had learned this technique from the man who took him under his wing many years ago.

Alphonso was a tough old Mafia guy, straight from the old school. But the knowledge that Alphonso imparted on Luca had served him so well over the last couple of decades that he wasn't about to forget it now, in the moment where Luca needed it the most.

Adrenalin may have been pumping around Luca's body, and his senses were all set to high alert. But Luca knew that the best way of approaching this moment was to focus his mind, control his emotions as best he could, and then walk into Xane's hideout with a controlled sense of purpose on one thing, and one thing only.

This is the place.

Xane is here.

And he's got my boy…

Luca double-checked the information from his spy, but instinctively he knew he was at the right address.

Luca's instincts had proven right over many years of Mafia work, and this was simply another time where instinct would have to override anything else. Maybe it didn't make sense to go into the building alone, and surely the odds would be stacked against Luca depending on how many men Xane had in there with him.

But Luca didn't have a choice.

This was about protecting his boy and then exacting a final revenge on Xane. There was no backing out, no half-measures, this was a showdown where only one of them would come out alive. Potentially, it was a situation where neither Luca nor Xane would survive, but Luca was willing to take that chance if it meant that Tommy would finally be safe and able to live a happy life again.

‘Okay, Sorrento,' Luca said, adjusting his black tie in the rearview mirror. ‘It's time to go to work.'

With that, Luca got out of the Porsche and walked up the alley and back onto the main street. Luca looked around to see if he could spot any of Xane's men who might already be on the lookout.

‘Looks clear,' Luca said, under his breath.

Luca had figured that Xane would surely anticipate him coming after Tommy. Even if Xane knew that Luca had been forbidden from coming after him, Luca was in no doubt that Xane would at the very least be on high alert for Luca to show up.

Luca thought back to the memory of his parents being murdered. Luca's father was part of the Mafia life and would have known full well that one day he might die at the hand of someone else's bullets. But for the assassin to take out Luca's mother too, that had been truly despicable.

Luca's mother wasn't Mafia, other than through her marriage. It wasn't right. Just how it wasn't right that Tommy was being used by Xane as some kind of power play.

We keep civilians out of the business.

We show honor, respect, and class.

And now it's time to teach Xane a one-time lesson in all the above…

With a look of steely focus on his face, Luca walked toward the building where Xane was purportedly hiding out.

Despite its shabby exterior, upon stepping inside, Luca could see that it was some kind of underground bar. Clearly, the New York City licensing committee had no idea that this place existed.

With its velvet seats, ominous neon lights and clientele who looked like they were on any number of illicit substances, Luca could see that he was in the front facing part of this underground bar.

There was no way that Xane would hang out here, up front and on full display. There had to be another part of the bar, a place reserved for the VIPs and the people who no doubt wanted to keep their identity a secret.

There were almost certainly private rooms too, places where people could go to get up to all manner of things. Luca wasn't a prude, he'd seen many things over the years and didn't judge people for their choices as long as no one else was harmed.

But this was Xane Troppo's place.

The chances of everything being safe and ethical were slim to none.

As Luca continued to look around, he noticed a heavy, deep-purple curtain that was draped across a segment of the rear wall. But before Luca could investigate for himself, he heard the sound of a female voice, suddenly all up close and personal.

‘Can I get you a drink, sir' the waitress said as she approached Luca.

‘I'm looking for a private drink,' Luca said. ‘Somewhere I won't be disturbed.'

The waitress paused before responding, an uncertain look on her face. The waitress's uncertainty didn't last for very long however as Luca flashed a hundred dollars from his metal wallet.

‘I need the most private place here,' Luca said, smiling.

‘Of course, sir,' the waitress replied, deftly taking Luca's money and walking toward the very same deep-purple curtain that Luca had spotted only moments earlier.

The waitress pulled the curtain back to reveal a locked door. Using her fingerprint for access, the waitress opened the door and stepped to one side to allow Luca access.

‘Have fun,' the waitress said, smiling as she walked away.

‘Fun? We'll see about that,' Luca growled, his heart beginning to thump as he sensed he was closer than ever to finding Tommy.

The heavy metal security door shut behind Luca and he stepped forward into a narrow corridor, shut doors on either side all the way up. This was definitely a place where people came to do things in private, but that wasn't the focus of Luca's attention in that moment.

Luca was on a mission to find his boy.

And with a small bar area at the top of the corridor, Luca knew he had to move with subtlety in order to not get spotted by either Xane's thugs or Xane himself.

Luca worked his way up the corridor, opening the doors as he went along, but only enough to peer inside enough to confirm whether Tommy or Xane were in there.

The low thud of deep techno music made its way down from the bar area, but it wasn't anywhere near distracting Luca from his cause. Luca's mind was fixed on what he needed to do, and nothing or no one could distract him from that.

Find Tommy.

Kill Xane.

Get the hell out of dodge.

Suddenly, Luca felt a hand on his shoulder. Ready for any trouble, Luca spun around to face whoever it was placing their hands on him.

‘You?' Luca said, his voice stern and his mind racing with possibilities.

‘Yeah, it's me,' Olex replied. ‘Don't you know it's rude to walk in on someone's private room?'

Luca tried to gauge Olex's mood. He seemed perturbed, even a little bit angry. It was likely that Olex only needed the slightest excuse to try and seek revenge for his loss in the MMA tournament. And maybe Luca had just unwittingly given Olex exactly what he wanted…

‘Listen, I'm sorry for barging in on you,' Luca said. ‘No disrespect meant on my part. I know we haven't got along in the past, but you know I don't move like that.'

Luca delivered his words firmly but with sincerity. He knew that Olex could be a hot head, but he was from a good mobster family who would have at least attempted to teach Olex about respect.

‘Hmmm, well, whatever,' Olex said. ‘But anyway, at least tell me what brings you here?'

‘Xane Troppo's got my boy,' Luca said. ‘He's a low life piece of shit, and I'm here to make him pay. There are lines you simply do not cross, and Xane has crossed at least half a dozen of them with me, and with my associates too.'

‘This is Troppo's place?' Olex said. ‘I had no fucking idea. I was invited here by… a friend. I know enough about Xane Troppo to know I can't stand him.'

‘Okay, so you get why I'm here,' Luca said. ‘Now, if you'll let me move on, I'm working on a ticking clock here…'

‘Let you move on?' Olex said. ‘I don't think so.'

Luca was ready to reach for his gun. Time was of the essence and he couldn't accept being held up a moment longer, especially not if Olex was about to cause more trouble.

‘Listen, what happened in the gym, stays in the gym,' Luca said, his hand on his gun.

‘Yeah, it does,' Olex replied. ‘And us MMA guys stick the fuck together. Especially when it comes to a common enemy like Xane. He can't mess with your boy either. That shit ain't right. I'm coming with you.'

Luca nodded.

This may have been a surprising turn of events, but Luca wasn't going to turn down Olex's offer of help. Ideally, Luca wouldn't have come alone, and knowing that he had a highly capable fighter alongside him was an unexpected bonus.

Anythingthat would help get Tommy back was a positive.

‘Luca Sorrento and Olex Ivanov, partners?' Olex said, a mischievous grin on his face. ‘Just wait ‘till the guys at the gym here about this.'

‘Enough talk,' Luca said, rolling his eyes. ‘It's time to take down Xane's men. No mercy.'

‘No mercy,' Olex replied. ‘Just how I like it.'

Luca and Olex proceeded to work their way up through the rooms, taking down Xane's men as they appeared. Working as a team, Luca and Olex were too fast, strong, and skilled in one-on-one combat for any of Xane's thugs.

It was almost too easy.

But the longer it went without locating either Xane or Tommy, the more Luca felt like they were working toward some kind of final showdown. Luca knew that Xane liked having his thugs around him, so as they approached the final door there was a feeling that this was about to be a big moment.

‘You ready?' Luca said.

‘I was born ready,' Olex replied. ‘Us Ivanovs fear nothing or no one. You should know that by now.'

‘Damn right I do,' Luca said, feeling a dull ache in his rib cage from where Olex had landed some hefty blows in their fight together. ‘On my count. Three. Two. One-'