Chapter 16

Antonio had watched Lyle leave his house with a cold, expressionless look on his face. But inside he was feeling every emotion in the rawest way imaginable. Sending Lyle away was a tough decision to have made, and even though he felt convinced it was the correct call, that didn’t mean that Antonio wasn’t hurting – and hurting bad.

‘Now what the fuck am I going to do?’ Antonio said, walking into the kitchen, so full of life when Lyle had been there with him. ‘I need a damn break from all this shit.’

Antonio could feel himself getting frustrated. It was so unlike him to not be able to map out a solution to a problem. His entire career had been built on being the go-to guy when it came to troubleshooting.

I need a change of scenery.

Staying here will only make things worse.

What I need… is a motherfucking vodka.

With that in mind, Antonio decided what he needed to do was sink some of the finest vodka available in New York City. And there was only one place where he could do that.

It was time to visit the Emporium.

After a super-charged drive across town, Antonio flashed the Emporium doorman a smile of acknowledgement and entered through the VIP door.

‘Good to see you, sir,’ the doorman said, respectfully bowing his head to Antonio. ‘Vitali has your booth set up already.’

‘Excellent,’ Antonio said, subtly tipping the doorman with a cool one hundred dollars. ‘Have a good night. Hopefully you won’t need to use those cannonball fists of yours too much.’

The two men laughed, and Antonio continued inside. The Emporium was the definition of seductive luxury. With its red and black crushed velvet and perfectly moody lighting, it was a perfect place for the city’s gangsters and sharpshooters to come and drink their troubles away.

With the club speakers playing some chilled jazz, the vibe was just right for getting comfortable and sipping on the best vodka around. The fact that Antonio’s longtime friend Vitali Kitchek was the club owner was an added bonus.

Free drinks? Check.

Best seat in the house? Damn right.

‘Hey, what took you so long?’ Vitali said, standing up from his seat to greet Antonio. ‘You’re driving must be getting slower as you get older?’

Antonio laughed. Vitali was a Dom with a sharp sense of humor, and in that moment it was exactly what Antonio needed. Vitali had found his love in the shape of Louie but having been single for a long time beforehand he knew exactly how Antonio was feeling in that moment.

‘Why don’t we get comfortable, and we can start shooting the shit?’ Vitali said, guiding Antonio into the booth. ‘And look who else decided to show his face…’

Antonio broke out into a big grin at the sight of Luca. But his grin soon disappeared when he saw the small butterfly stiches above Luca’s left eye.

‘Another fucking fight?’ Antonio said.

‘Would you believe me if I told you I walked into the bathroom door at Balthazar Bar?’ Luca quipped, a knowing look on his face.

‘Balthazar Bar?’ Vitali said, a look of mock-disgust on his face. ‘We don’t talk about that place here!’

The three Doms laughed and toasted what would be the first of many vodkas to come. It felt good for Antonio to be with other Doms, and fellow mobsters too. Each one of them knew all about how difficult the criminal life could be and the impact it could have on relationships – especially if the other person wasn’t involved in the gangster life themselves.

‘We’ve all been there,’ Luca said, unbuttoning his shirt at the top and removing his fine Versace black tie. ‘Boys can be trouble.’

‘But we keep going back!’ Vitali chipped in. ‘Look at me, I found my boy. It just took me longer than I might have thought.’

Antonio knew that his friends were doing their best to cheer him up. And what they were saying made perfect sense. But Antonio couldn’t shake the feeling that Lyle was his one chance at true happiness again.

Maybe it was the vodka talking, but Antonio was beginning to have serious doubts about whether he should have ended it with Lyle at all.

‘I loved and lost Gio,’ Antonio said, finishing off another shot of perfectly chilled vodka. ‘I’m just worried that Lyle was my shot at redemption. You know, I rarely meet a boy who impresses me like Lyle did. That boy has ambition, knows what real work ethic is. And he’s talented too. Fuck… maybe he was too good for me.’

‘Fuck, I feel your pain,’ Luca says. ‘But you’re a good man. Heck, you’re the God damned best. You’ll work it out. You always do.’

‘Luca’s right,’ Vitali said, looking as dapper as ever in his grey tailored suit and blood-red tie. ‘You’ve solved more problems than most people have had hot dinners. You’ll work this thing out. And hopefully you can take down that motherfucker Sloane soon too.’

Antonio nodded and the three men began to discuss Detective Sloane and spit balling ideas for how they could remove him from the picture. The option for assassination was always there, but this was a last resort. Antonio deeply suspected that Sloane had some serious links high up the food chain. An assassination would potentially bring way more heat than Antonio would ever want to deal with.

‘We have to be smart,’ Antonio said. ‘We have to try and beat Sloane at his own game. It’s just about finding the way in. There will be a crack in his armor somewhere. We just need to find it.’

‘And then exploit it,’ Vitali said. ‘My men are getting nervous on the streets. Sloane is not good for business. And anyone who fucks with my patch is an enemy that I won’t tolerate.’

The men knew that Sloane had to go. It was the method of how to do it that was eluding them. But as they continued to discuss Sloane and his army of corrupt cops, Antonio again found himself thinking about Lyle…

But if Lyle was still around, he’d be in danger.

If he died, it would be on me.

Just like Gio…

Despite knowing for a fact that he wasn’t directly responsible for Gio’s death, Antonio had never been able to fully shake the nagging thought that he was still to blame.

Surely a good Master would protect his boy better?

If Antonio had put his foot down and told Gio to stop being a getaway driver then the accident would never have happened…

Antonio sighed and refocused himself back into the conversation with Vitali and Luca. But the damage was done.

Antonio wanted to go home.

There may not have been a boy there to greet him, but Antonio knew that he had to get his head down and wake up fresh in the morning. Any more shots of the purest vodka and Antonio would be hungover until well past midday, and that was not a good look for him. Not a good look at all.

‘Men, it’s time that I got the hell out of here,’ Antonio said, standing up from his plush chair. ‘It’s been fun, as always. But it’s definitely the right time to quit now.’

‘See, I said you were getting too old for fast living!’ Vitali said, looking at Luca and winking. ‘Don’t you agree Luca?’

‘I sure do,’ Luca laughed. ‘But while the old man heads home, how about you and me get a fresh bottle and drink Antonio’s drinks on his behalf?’

Antonio shook his head and rolled his eyes. He loved Vitali and Luca like brothers. They had been a great support to him. But there was no way in hell Antonio was going to stay.

It was definitely the right time to be driven home by one of Vitali’s men.

After being driven home by one of Vitali’s trusted lieutenants, Antonio was back in his kitchen and contemplating how best to settle his stomach. Antonio had definitely taken on board more vodka than was sensible and was now searching through the food cupboards for something to eat.

‘Damn it, why do I never have anything in when I need it?’ Antonio muttered, angrily rifling through packets of dried seeds and nuts. ‘I need junk food!’

Antonio momentarily considered calling for a late night delivery, but thought better of it. Instead, Antonio looked over to the espresso machine. It may have seemed counter-intuitive on one hand to drink caffeine before bed, but Antonio always knew that a quick espresso would sober him up and help stave off a hangover in the morning.

‘Right, let’s do it,’ Antonio said, walking over to the espresso machine and fiddling around with the bag of coffee beans. Antonio somehow managed to spill more of the fine roast than he got into the coffee machine. ‘Urgh. This is not a job for a drunk man.’

When Antonio pressed the relevant button on the machine, the usual loud clattering noises began. Except this time, they were followed up with a long, distorted screeching noise.

This didn’t sound good.

It didn’t sound good at all, in fact.

‘You have to be kidding me?’ Antonio bellowed. ‘Broken? Really?’

But it was true. The espresso machine had finally given up the ghost and called time. Antonio banged his fist down on the work surface and crushed several stray coffee beans into dust.

This was the last thing he needed.

‘Maybe the boy was right about this damn contraption after all?’ Antonio said, a wry smile giving way to a look of sadness.

With that, Antonio gave up on the idea of a late-night coffee hit and trudged up toward bed. Antonio hoped and prayed that his luck would turn in the morning.

After all, things couldn’t get much worse for him than they were in that moment. Or could they?