Eros
I step over broken glass and the smell of burned wood and scorched plastic fills my nostrils. Lycus moves behind me, and several of my most trusted soldiers are spread throughout the building.
“When did this happen?” I ask quietly.
Lycus grunts as he picks up an expensive bottle of whiskey, the bottom cracked and the insides already leeched out and likely burned. “Last night,” he says. “Fire company got here but by then it was too late.”
I clench my jaw and nod. The club is blackened and ruined, the central bar a pile of charred and destroyed wood. I can barely make out the shape of the place-the dance floor, the tables, the decorations on the walls and the lights in the ceiling-but the scatter of bullet holes near what’s left of the DJ booth are unmistakable.
“I assume the proper bribes were dealt,” I say and Lycus nods. “Do we know who it was?”
“Pavone,” he says with gravity in his voice.
“No doubt about it. Witnesses claim it was four Italian guys.”
“Only four?” My eyebrows raise. “This is our turf, Lycus. How did four men do this?”
“They came in fast and hard. Killed two of our soldiers and threw Molotov cocktails into the liquor. The fire started fast and it was a panicked stampede as people rushed to get out.”
“Were there any other casualties?”
“Fortunately, no.” Lycus tosses the ruined bottle aside and it shatters. More useless mess we’ll have to clean up later. “None of the patrons were killed, but, Eros, there are dozens of traumatized people. The fire was bad, and it could’ve been a lot worse.”
“We need to hit them back.” I stand in the middle of the dance floor, glaring around me. I can picture this place at the height of a Saturday night-packed with sweating, dancing bodies, with people having a good time, people out to forget their problems for a night, and those fucker Italians had to bring our war to them.
This club is a minor part of my family. It’s on the fringes of our territory, and it doesn’t bring in all that much money, but the owners are loyal to the Khazan organization. Even if they aren’t important, I need a show of force and strength, and I need it right now.
The Pavones cannot think that they can walk into one of my places, no matter how out of the way and unimportant, without retribution.
“This is how things spiral,” Lycus says quietly, making sure none of the soldiers can hear. “They hit us, we hit them. Blood for blood. Where does it end, Eros?”
“With them dead.” I snarl at him, barely keeping myself under control.
“Have you considered that your actions with Cara brought this on? That things were tense, but not violent before her, and now-”
“And now, what?” I turn on him, my voice going deadly calm, but inside I want to crack his face open. “You think I should turn my back on Cara? I should forget about her and leave her to Conti?”
“No,” Lycus says, shaking his head. “But I do think we need a plan.”
“My plan is to hunt down every Italian in that rat-infested family and murder them all.”
Lycus sighs and wipes a hand down his hair. “I agree with the sentiment, but maybe we can be a little more surgical about this? What I’m saying to say is if Conti is the problem, Conti should be the one that faces justice.”
I hesitate and let what he’s saying sink in. “Blood for blood,” I say slowly. “If we took out Conti for this violence, we could almost claim that things are even.”
“Two of ours dead for one of theirs.” Lycus makes a disgusted face. “I hate doing math with men’s lives, but you know how it goes.”
I nod and pace away, thinking. If I can kill Conti without making the war any hotter, that would be good for everyone. I wouldn’t have to worry about my marriage to Cara-we wouldn’t have to go through with it anymore. She could go free, and my conscience would be clear.
The only problem is, I don’t know how the Pavone Famiglia will react. They killed two of my soldiers, but I’m thinking about assassinating one of their Capos. That’s no small thing.
“We’ll do it,” I say finally. “Hit Conti at his house. We know where he lives now.”
“That’s what I was thinking.” Lycus gives me a devilish grin. “And I have another idea. Since they used fire, why don’t we?”
My eyebrows raise. “You know he lives in a row home.”
“Eh, well, bad things happen when you live next to a gangster, right?”
“Sometimes I think you’re worse than I am.”
Lycus laughs and slaps my arm. “Don’t be like that, it’ll be fun. We’ll smoke that fucker out and get our revenge.”
I grin at him. “I like the sound of that.”
“I knew you would. Now come on. Let’s meet with the owners of this place and make all the right noise.”
“We’ll help them rebuild,” I say softly as we pick our way back through the devastation. My soldiers notice us angling for the exit and follow. “We’ll make sure our people are taken care of. I’ll personally compensate the families of the soldiers we lost and make sure they won’t ever go hungry. And then when we’re done handling our own, we’ll kill Conti.”