8. Bear

Chapter 8

Bear loved nothing more than taking his fully loaded truck out of the city and letting it rip on the open road. It might not have been as fast as a Porsche, but it certainly was powerful.

‘Fuck yeah,' Bear roared, powering his truck up a long, winding road that well and truly put the city in the rear view mirror.

With Olivier back at the academy and working on some surveillance and observation work, Bear felt safe in the knowledge that the boy wouldn't take advantage of his absence. In fact, the decision to leave Olivier to get on with his morning's work alone was all part of Bear's plan.

When Bear looked at Olivier, he could see that not only had he been indulged since a young age, but also that no one had ever actually shown any trust in him either. It came across to Bear that Olivier didn't believe that he could be disciplined and focused, and this must have come from an external factor in his youth.

So by leaving the boy alone and allowing him to work independently, Bear hoped that Olivier would begin to develop some self-discipline, the kind that he would need if he was going to graduate the academy and then stand a chance of making a career at the Ice Bears.

Coach Tremaine was a hard taskmaster and would think nothing of ditching a player who couldn't motivate themselves to stay on track. But Bear was beginning to feel increasingly confident that Olivier had the potential to do just that.

There was a long way to go in Olivier development, but Bear was feeling more optimistic by the day.

However, Olivier wasn't the main person on Bear's mind in that moment.

As he reached the top of the long incline, Bear powered along the straight toward the roadside diner where he had a very important meeting indeed.

‘What's Dante's got planned for me?' Bear muttered, genuinely not knowing whether his old boss was going to give him the hard sell on his proposition to return to the Mafia Daddies NYC. Alternatively, Dante might try to gauge Bear's interest more gently and then drop some kind of huge surprise or incentive right at the end of the meeting.

Either way, Bear had known Dante for long enough to know that if he was taking time out from running his empire to come and meet him at a roadside diner out of town, then it was likely to be for far more than a general catch up and reminiscence over old times.

And as Bear drew closer to the diner, he knew that he would need to be alert to everything that Dante was saying. They may have been long term friends, but the reality of the situation was that Dante Chiellini was first and foremost the head of a criminal family and business would always come first…

As Bear took his seat in the diner and waited for Dante, he took a moment to check out his surroundings. It was an old habit, one borne from his background as a bodyguard, but wherever Bear was he would always scan for threats, suspicious figures, and anything that might suggest that something was up.

Civilian clientele checks out.

Parking lot clear.

Coffee smells… great.

Bear afforded himself a smile as he picked up his mug of piping hot black coffee. He enjoyed the finer coffees in the city as much as anyone, but there was something about an old fashioned black coffee from a diner that truly ticked Bear's boxes.

And as he enjoyed the hot injection of caffeine, Bear saw his cell flash up with a message…

OLIVIER: Just wanted to say that I've finished the first task. All done! Hopefully I've got it all right too. I'm taking a five minute break and then I'm getting ready for the video threat analysis session. Wish me luck! O.

Bear smiled to himself. It was sweet to see how eager Olivier was to impress. And Bear could tell that Olivier's efforts were genuine too. This wasn't about trying to look like he cared, the boy clearly did want to put the effort in to succeed.

And just as Bear was about to type out a reply to Olivier, another message came in. Except this time it was from Taine…

TAINE: Yo. Are we still good to hit the mat tomorrow? I need some sparring against a bigger guy ahead of my next fight. And you certainly fit the bill, my friend!

Bear laughed and quickly sent a thumbs up response to Taine. Despite being significantly bigger than his friend, Bear knew that going for a wrestle against Taine would be a tough assignment – but an enjoyable challenge all the same.

It was at that moment that Bear sensed a figure approaching behind him.

Without looking, Bear knew precisely who it was too.

It was Dante…

‘Bear, my old friend,' Dante said, taking a seat opposite Bear and motioning to the server for a coffee. ‘You look… happy.'

‘You must know me too well,' Bear replied, smiling and exchanging nods with Dante.

The two of them would always hug or shake hands in private, but in person they kept things as minimal as possible. After all, the two of them had been through way too much together to ever let their guard down in public. Dante and Bear had always driven one another on and had the scars and bullet wounds to prove it too. Men with a lesser survival instinct would have died long ago, but Bear always felt like him and Dante had an instinct for danger that was better than the rest.

‘Well we can discuss that later perhaps,' Dante said, the smile on his face quickly replaced with a far more intense look. ‘But we've got business to discuss. My offer was real. I think it's time you came home. My organization needs your knowledge and your practical skills. We've lost some men recently, and they were avoidable losses. It's not a good look for us. Especially not with a new war brewing.'

Bear leaned back in his seat.

As strong a family as the Mafia Daddies were, there were always threats to their control of New York. As a non-traditional empire, they didn't have the long heritage of the older families, and there was always a feeling that one of the older families might make a play for the crown. And this was without talking about the up and coming west coast clans who might want to diversify their interests into the east.

‘Are we talking about a permanent switch, or to cover a specific problem?' Bear asked, wanting to establish precisely what Dante might be asking of him. ‘I need to know what's really up.'

‘You know me, when I want someone, I'm all in,' Dante replied, making his feelings clear. ‘And trust me, you would be well rewarded. You wouldn't be coming back as a bodyguard for hire, you'd be coming in as a full member of the family.'

Bear arched his eyebrow.

This was a gamechanger.

Not being from mafia stock, Bear had always known that his career would be fought from a slight remove. But the Mafia Daddies NYC weren't a traditional family in more ways than one. Dante's offer to join them on a more full-time basis had the ring of a once in a lifetime offer.

But it wasn't that simple.

Bear was a loyal man. He felt like he owed Danilo Doni something for taking him on board with his family and securing him the role at the academy. But it was about more than loyalty to Danilo, there was Olivier to factor in too.

As much as Olivier was making progress, Bear suspected that the boy still needed him. It was early in Olivier's development. If Bear was to make an exit now, it could all have been in vain.

‘My friend, I need time,' Bear said, taking a sip of his coffee and addressing Dante to eye to eye. ‘It's complicated.'

‘I can make things right with Danilo,' Dante replied, looking out toward the parking lot. ‘But if there's someone else involved…'

‘Like I said, it's complicated,' Bear said. ‘But I'm not saying no. I'm asking for a little time to work things out. That's all. Do you think that can work for you?'

‘For you, yes, that can work,' Dante said, his dark eyes full of intent. ‘Consider yourself lucky that we have history.'

‘It's one hell of a history, isn't it?' Bear laughed, sensing that the business part of the meeting was over. ‘And they think that these crime movies are unrealistic. Fuck. We've seen it all, lived it all, and a ton on top of that too.'

‘We have indeed,' Dante laughed. ‘And we always made it out the other side. Together. But I know how a boy can change things…'

Bear nodded.

Olivier might not have been his boy yet, but it was certainly looking like that could change in the coming weeks. Bear knew that had it not been for Olivier, he almost certainly would have accepted Dante's offer, providing that Danilo gave his approval. However, the boy was very much complicating things.

‘So, on a completely unrelated note,' Dante said, a look of devilish delight in his eyes. ‘How's that new recruit shaping up? I forget his name. Olivier something…'

Bear shook his head and let out a long, hard belly laugh.

If life wasn't so complex, Bear would have happily signed off on a deal with Dante while at the same time continued his work with Olivier. But that wasn't how the world worked, especially not the criminal underworld.

In his heart of hearts, Bear knew that he would have a choice to make.

And it wasn't going to be an easy choice either.

In fact, it I might turn out to be the hardest choice of Bear's life to date…