Chocolate #13, Amaretto #21, Vinegar #30
Story: Blaze Mob Family
Title: Make Things Difficult
Prompts: Chocolate # 13: humility, Amaretto # 21: red flag, Vinegar #30: at your own risk
Rating: PG13 for language
Characters: Firebird Blaze, Nicky Nails Blaze, Luka and Romeo Esposito, Peter de Luca, Kyle Watts, Judge Amos Pelz, Jenny Callan
Summary: After A Chance Meeting. I intended for this to be a pocky chain, but then I realized that, for no reason other than I’m a forgetful blonde, I haven’t gotten around to introducing any of the Blaze Capos. They’re the captains that head the day-to-day operations for the Family. Also, I made a family tree for the Blazes, which will become more useful when I actually get around to writing about more than just five family members. XD
And now more de Luca drama! As always, when it pertains to the law, it’s best to assume that everything I write has an enormous creative license attached.
Romeo Esposito entered the Boss’ office with a short knock. The Espositos were technically related to the Blazes, Draven’s wife, Abriella, was an Esposito, but Romeo hadn’t had to rely on those connections to become a Blaze Capo. He was a study in efficiency. He wasted nothing, not even extra movements as he crossed the room and sat down in the chair Firebird motioned to. That efficiency, paired with a gun hand that never shook, was why he was running their smuggling ring, both importing and exporting. As the largest port city in the country, a great deal of the Blaze income came from Romeo’s area of work.
“Where’s Luka?” she asked, mentioning Romeo’s twin brother. Like Romeo, Luka was also a Capo, but for completely different reasons. Luka had the sharpest mind Firebird had ever seen, and a sixth sense for picking out people that would try to cheat her. He was in charge of their protection rackets and bribing, keeping the family’s associates in line while holding a thumb over the pulse of gossip that was life’s blood to any city.
“He’s on the phone with one of our associates. He should be here-”
“Now,” Luka said from the doorway. “Sorry for keeping you waiting, Boss.”
Firebird waved away his apology. “Don’t worry about it. Sit down, Luka.”
Luka sat in the other chair at her desk beside his brother. They were identical twins, but they weren’t at all difficult to tell apart. Luka was much more muscular than his brother, a product of his job’s intimidation requirement. Romeo had a long, narrow scar running through his left eyebrow, courtesy of a business deal turned sour, that made his eyelid droop a little, lending him a more overtly dangerous air than he would have preferred.
“First things first, how’s Bugsy?” Firebird asked Romeo. Bugsy Loretto had been one of Romeo’s men so Romeo had an obligation to see to him, even in jail.
“I visited him yesterday. He’s holding up well. Wants to know what we’re going to do about de Luca.”
“That’s why I called you here, actually. It’s about time we returned the blow de Luca dealt us.”
“Are we gonna snuff his light?” Luka asked, hope in his voice.
“I think we can be a bit more elegant in our counter attack than ‘snuff his light.”
Luka grinned. “I could elegantly cut his head off, no problem.”
“I’m sure,” Firebird said with a light eyeroll. “But decapitation isn’t quite what I had in mind. De Luca knew Bugsy was an important player in our smuggling enterprises. He got him put away for so long with the intention of hurting our business. I feel it’s only appropriate that we do our best to cripple his business in return.”
Romeo’s lips twitched upwards. “Makes sense.”
Luka wasn’t nearly so stingy with his pleasure at the idea of hitting de Luca twice as worse where he’d tried to hit them. “Fuck yeah. I’ll start tapping our guys in his office.”
“De Luca is a workaholic that cares about his career more than anything else,” A predatory grin spread across Firebird’s face. “I expect you can make this very painful for him.”
- - - - - - - - - -
“Do you have those arguments written yet, Peter?” His boss, Kyle Watts asked.
“Which ones?” Peter asked.
“The Hannett case and the Powalski case.”
Peter pulled the folders out of one of the stacks on his desk and leafed through them quickly. “I only got these yesterday afternoon.”
Watts glared. “I asked for those to be done asap, de Luca. Get your act together or I’ll give cases that good to someone that deserves them.”
- - - - - - - - - -
“Overruled.”
“What?” Peter said, close to a shout. “That’s ridiculous.”
Judge Pelz raised an eyebrow. “Are you questioning my authority in this court room, Mr. de Luca?”
“Your Honor,” Peter said in a tone that barely restrained his temper, “I have done nothing to deserve being overruled at every turn in this trial!”
“I beg to differ. You’re playing fast and loose with the law, and now you’re directly disrespecting me. I’m holding you in contempt of this court. That’s a two hundred dollar fine.”
“What!? But Your Honor!”
“Sit down and shut up, Mr. de Luca, unless you’d like the fine doubled and some jail time added on, you’re finished.”
- - - - - - - - - -
Jenny Callan, the general office secretary, threw down a log book on Peter’s desk, making his coffee slosh all over his desk. “I don’t know what the hell you guys did over in the Metro, but in this city, you have to follow the rules, Peter!”
“What the hell are you talking about?” Peter snapped.
Jenny handed him a photocopy of the log sheet for all the case records. “That’s your signature right there. Those aren’t your cases! What the hell are you thinking?”
Peter looked at the signature on the paper and blanched. That was his signature but he knew he hadn’t taken those records out. “Look, Jenny, I didn’t take those records out.”
“Don’t make this worse on yourself,” Jenny sighed. “I’ve got to write you up, Peter. Don’t fuck around like this again or I’m going to have to take disciplinary measures.”
“But I didn’t do it!”
- - - - - - - - - -
“Peter!” Kyle yelled.
Peter jumped, caught off guard by Kyle’s anger, though he didn’t know why. It seemed like his boss was angry with him all the time these days. He was the office pariah, it seemed like he couldn’t do anything right but he didn’t know what it was that he was doing so wrong.
“Yes, boss?” Peter asked nervously.
“I’m about finished with you. You’re behind on over half your cases!”
“Everyone in this office is behind on over half their cases!” Peter replied, shocked that his boss would target him for something as ubiquitous as that. Being behind on some of the multitude of cases assigned was just part of working for the state.
“Don’t start that bullshit! I expected you to be better than everyone else, not using them as some half-assed excuse. I can’t let you keep letting down this office. I’m reassigning your biggest cases.”
“You can’t do that!” Peter yelled, standing up with his outrage.
Kyle met him toe for toe. “I can and I am. I can’t let you keep failing everyone here. Go home, Peter, and get your head in order. Just be thankful I’m not putting you on suspension. Yet.”
“What? I haven’t done anything!”
“Exactly,” Kyle snapped back. “Go home, Peter!”
- - - - - - - - - -
Peter didn’t go home. Instead he went to the first dingy bar he came across, needing a drink to take the edge off. He felt impotent with anger. There was no reason for any of the shit he’d been taking recently, but now it was getting serious. He was losing his cases, and if things kept up like this, he was well on his way to losing his job.
What had he done to deserve this?
Peter flinched when the door opened, letting a flood of bright light into the dark exterior. The door shut and Peter glanced at who had joined him at the otherwise empty bar. He stiffened when he recognized Romeo Esposito, the Blaze Capo that Bugsy Loretto worked directly under, sit down at the bar a few seats away from him. Everything that Peter had managed to gather on Romeo said he was a shark disguised as a human, cold-blooded and predatory to the bone.
A thought struck Peter like a lightning bolt to the brain. Perhaps there was something he had done to deserve all this targeting he was receiving at work.
But did the Blaze Family really have the power to ruin his work to this extent?
Peter glanced at Romeo from the corner of his eye. Yeah, he’d believe a family that kept guys like Esposito in line could have their dirty fingers wrapped around this city’s justice system. And the little girl that was masquerading as their boss had as good as declared war on him when he’d met her a few weeks ago. That had to be it.
The bartender set a beer and an envelope in front of Romeo. Peter’s eyes widened. He’d heard whispers that around half of the shop owners in this city paid into the protection racket that the Blazes ran, but he’d never actually seen evidence of it. Had he accidently ended up in a Blaze hangout? That was the worst place he could be if his suspicions were correct.
Romeo suddenly turned his head and looked right at Peter. Romeo’s gaze was heavy and assessing, sizing up Peter and obviously finding him deficient.
“What a coincidence,” was all Romeo said.
As a lawyer it was his job to play with words, but right now Peter had no idea what to say. Was this meeting really a coincidence? Had Romeo followed him? Was he going to be kidnapped and fitted with cement boots or the like?
The door opened again, this time so forcefully that it banged against the wall and would have bounced back shut had there not been a large man silhouetted in the doorway to stop it. The shadowed man strode inside with large confident steps. Peter blanched when he saw who had just joined the party. Luka Esposito looked every inch the thug his mug-shots portrayed him as. One Esposito was bad enough, but the two together were a legend that even Peter had heard of in his short time in New Palermo.
Luka slapped his brother on the back and dropped onto a bar stool. “You’re early, brother.”
Romeo didn’t look away from Peter as he answered his brother. “You’re late.”
Luka took the bartender’s envelope Romeo hadn’t touched and put it inside his suit jacket. He took the beer the bartender handed him with a grin and downed half of it in one long pull, then slammed the mug on the bar. Finally he noticed that his brother’s attention wasn’t on him. “What?” Luka asked.
Luka looked at Peter, his eyes narrowing. Suddenly he grinned, and nothing about his smile could be considered nice. “Peter de Luca. It’s a little early for a DA to be drinking. Shouldn’t you be at work?”
Peter supposed that the both of them could know who he was just by virtue of him being the lawyer that had dared put a Blaze man in prison. But Luka’s taunt and cruel smile made Peter believe his suspicions about their involvement in his spiraling career were true.
All of the anger that Peter had been feeling towards Kyle Watts and Jenna Callan and Judge Amos Pelz convalesced inside him and focused on the Blaze Family. It was their fault that he couldn’t go a single day without making a fatal mistake with his coworkers. It was their fault that he was two steps away from losing his job. Everything that was going wrong now was all their fault.
“I know what you’ve done to me,” Peter hissed at them, too angry to listen to the voice in his head that was screaming at him to never speak to the Esposito brothers. “You’re not going to get away with it. I won’t be destroyed that easily.”
Luka laughed a big bold laugh that only a big bold man could pull off. “For such an annoying little gnat, you sure can talk big. I like that.”
Romeo hadn’t broken eye contact with him once yet. He leaned forward, staring at him with that intense gaze. “Easy or not, you will be destroyed. I promised Bugsy.”
Peter pulled his bravado up around him. “You do realize that you’ve just publicly threatened a district attorney? I can get you put behind bars so quickly your head will spin.”
They made no overtly threatening movements. Neither brother reached for a weapon or even curled their fingers into a fist. Yet Peter could feel the exact moment when the atmosphere around them change from casual menace to deadly focus. And they both had him in their sights.
That little voice that was screaming ‘run you stupid fuck run’ suddenly got ten times louder, and Peter realized that maybe it hadn’t been a good idea to return threats with the Espositos while he was alone. His fight with the mafia family had to be fought on his turf, in courtrooms, in newspapers, in the public’s eye, for him to have any sort of an even playing field. Here, in a bar that was obviously friendly towards the Blaze Family, he was viciously outmaneuvered, and everyone here knew it.
“Try,” Romeo murmured in the tense silence.
Peter knew that it was time to listen to the little voice and shut the hell up so he could get out of here alive. So he went against his natural instincts, tamped down his rage, and stayed quiet.
“You don’t talk big for long, gnat,” Luka said, his tone no longer jovial. “Save us the trouble and don’t talk at all.”
Peter nodded once, hating that he had to pay lip service to such thugs. But if there was one thing Peter knew how to do, it was save his own ass and play his game his way. And he couldn’t do any of that if the Espositos broke every bone in his body like their eyes said they wanted to.
Luka finished his beer and set a twenty dollar bill on the bar. “Let’s go, brother. The Boss has other plans for him.”
Romeo nodded once, still staring at Peter. “The Boss says you’ve got two options. Leave now or keep playing. But the Boss won't keep playing this easy. Destroying your job is just the first step.”
“See, the Boss is real nice like that,” Luka explained to Peter. “If it were me, I’d make you keep playing because I have so much more fun that way.”
“We’ll have more game time,” Romeo reassured his brother as he finally broke eye contact with Peter. He stood and put another twenty on the bar. “He’s too stupid to take the smart option.”
“You think?” Luka looked at Peter and snorted. “I was going to bet you he would have half a brain and leave now, but I’m no sucker.”
Luka was the first out the door, nearly blocking out the sunlight as he stepped through. Romeo paused in the doorway, a much leaner shadow but no less intimidating in his stance.
“Your move, de Luca.”
Peter slammed his bottle down as soon as the door shut behind Romeo. All the rage he’d put on a leash came snapping back to the forefront. Damn right it was his move. He was going to take down the Blazes and all of their underlings, including those fucking Espositos. He’d show them just how smart he was. And he already knew where he was going to start.
Title: Make Things Difficult
Prompts: Chocolate # 13: humility, Amaretto # 21: red flag, Vinegar #30: at your own risk
Rating: PG13 for language
Characters: Firebird Blaze, Nicky Nails Blaze, Luka and Romeo Esposito, Peter de Luca, Kyle Watts, Judge Amos Pelz, Jenny Callan
Summary: After A Chance Meeting. I intended for this to be a pocky chain, but then I realized that, for no reason other than I’m a forgetful blonde, I haven’t gotten around to introducing any of the Blaze Capos. They’re the captains that head the day-to-day operations for the Family. Also, I made a family tree for the Blazes, which will become more useful when I actually get around to writing about more than just five family members. XD
And now more de Luca drama! As always, when it pertains to the law, it’s best to assume that everything I write has an enormous creative license attached.
Romeo Esposito entered the Boss’ office with a short knock. The Espositos were technically related to the Blazes, Draven’s wife, Abriella, was an Esposito, but Romeo hadn’t had to rely on those connections to become a Blaze Capo. He was a study in efficiency. He wasted nothing, not even extra movements as he crossed the room and sat down in the chair Firebird motioned to. That efficiency, paired with a gun hand that never shook, was why he was running their smuggling ring, both importing and exporting. As the largest port city in the country, a great deal of the Blaze income came from Romeo’s area of work.
“Where’s Luka?” she asked, mentioning Romeo’s twin brother. Like Romeo, Luka was also a Capo, but for completely different reasons. Luka had the sharpest mind Firebird had ever seen, and a sixth sense for picking out people that would try to cheat her. He was in charge of their protection rackets and bribing, keeping the family’s associates in line while holding a thumb over the pulse of gossip that was life’s blood to any city.
“He’s on the phone with one of our associates. He should be here-”
“Now,” Luka said from the doorway. “Sorry for keeping you waiting, Boss.”
Firebird waved away his apology. “Don’t worry about it. Sit down, Luka.”
Luka sat in the other chair at her desk beside his brother. They were identical twins, but they weren’t at all difficult to tell apart. Luka was much more muscular than his brother, a product of his job’s intimidation requirement. Romeo had a long, narrow scar running through his left eyebrow, courtesy of a business deal turned sour, that made his eyelid droop a little, lending him a more overtly dangerous air than he would have preferred.
“First things first, how’s Bugsy?” Firebird asked Romeo. Bugsy Loretto had been one of Romeo’s men so Romeo had an obligation to see to him, even in jail.
“I visited him yesterday. He’s holding up well. Wants to know what we’re going to do about de Luca.”
“That’s why I called you here, actually. It’s about time we returned the blow de Luca dealt us.”
“Are we gonna snuff his light?” Luka asked, hope in his voice.
“I think we can be a bit more elegant in our counter attack than ‘snuff his light.”
Luka grinned. “I could elegantly cut his head off, no problem.”
“I’m sure,” Firebird said with a light eyeroll. “But decapitation isn’t quite what I had in mind. De Luca knew Bugsy was an important player in our smuggling enterprises. He got him put away for so long with the intention of hurting our business. I feel it’s only appropriate that we do our best to cripple his business in return.”
Romeo’s lips twitched upwards. “Makes sense.”
Luka wasn’t nearly so stingy with his pleasure at the idea of hitting de Luca twice as worse where he’d tried to hit them. “Fuck yeah. I’ll start tapping our guys in his office.”
“De Luca is a workaholic that cares about his career more than anything else,” A predatory grin spread across Firebird’s face. “I expect you can make this very painful for him.”
- - - - - - - - - -
“Do you have those arguments written yet, Peter?” His boss, Kyle Watts asked.
“Which ones?” Peter asked.
“The Hannett case and the Powalski case.”
Peter pulled the folders out of one of the stacks on his desk and leafed through them quickly. “I only got these yesterday afternoon.”
Watts glared. “I asked for those to be done asap, de Luca. Get your act together or I’ll give cases that good to someone that deserves them.”
- - - - - - - - - -
“Overruled.”
“What?” Peter said, close to a shout. “That’s ridiculous.”
Judge Pelz raised an eyebrow. “Are you questioning my authority in this court room, Mr. de Luca?”
“Your Honor,” Peter said in a tone that barely restrained his temper, “I have done nothing to deserve being overruled at every turn in this trial!”
“I beg to differ. You’re playing fast and loose with the law, and now you’re directly disrespecting me. I’m holding you in contempt of this court. That’s a two hundred dollar fine.”
“What!? But Your Honor!”
“Sit down and shut up, Mr. de Luca, unless you’d like the fine doubled and some jail time added on, you’re finished.”
- - - - - - - - - -
Jenny Callan, the general office secretary, threw down a log book on Peter’s desk, making his coffee slosh all over his desk. “I don’t know what the hell you guys did over in the Metro, but in this city, you have to follow the rules, Peter!”
“What the hell are you talking about?” Peter snapped.
Jenny handed him a photocopy of the log sheet for all the case records. “That’s your signature right there. Those aren’t your cases! What the hell are you thinking?”
Peter looked at the signature on the paper and blanched. That was his signature but he knew he hadn’t taken those records out. “Look, Jenny, I didn’t take those records out.”
“Don’t make this worse on yourself,” Jenny sighed. “I’ve got to write you up, Peter. Don’t fuck around like this again or I’m going to have to take disciplinary measures.”
“But I didn’t do it!”
- - - - - - - - - -
“Peter!” Kyle yelled.
Peter jumped, caught off guard by Kyle’s anger, though he didn’t know why. It seemed like his boss was angry with him all the time these days. He was the office pariah, it seemed like he couldn’t do anything right but he didn’t know what it was that he was doing so wrong.
“Yes, boss?” Peter asked nervously.
“I’m about finished with you. You’re behind on over half your cases!”
“Everyone in this office is behind on over half their cases!” Peter replied, shocked that his boss would target him for something as ubiquitous as that. Being behind on some of the multitude of cases assigned was just part of working for the state.
“Don’t start that bullshit! I expected you to be better than everyone else, not using them as some half-assed excuse. I can’t let you keep letting down this office. I’m reassigning your biggest cases.”
“You can’t do that!” Peter yelled, standing up with his outrage.
Kyle met him toe for toe. “I can and I am. I can’t let you keep failing everyone here. Go home, Peter, and get your head in order. Just be thankful I’m not putting you on suspension. Yet.”
“What? I haven’t done anything!”
“Exactly,” Kyle snapped back. “Go home, Peter!”
- - - - - - - - - -
Peter didn’t go home. Instead he went to the first dingy bar he came across, needing a drink to take the edge off. He felt impotent with anger. There was no reason for any of the shit he’d been taking recently, but now it was getting serious. He was losing his cases, and if things kept up like this, he was well on his way to losing his job.
What had he done to deserve this?
Peter flinched when the door opened, letting a flood of bright light into the dark exterior. The door shut and Peter glanced at who had joined him at the otherwise empty bar. He stiffened when he recognized Romeo Esposito, the Blaze Capo that Bugsy Loretto worked directly under, sit down at the bar a few seats away from him. Everything that Peter had managed to gather on Romeo said he was a shark disguised as a human, cold-blooded and predatory to the bone.
A thought struck Peter like a lightning bolt to the brain. Perhaps there was something he had done to deserve all this targeting he was receiving at work.
But did the Blaze Family really have the power to ruin his work to this extent?
Peter glanced at Romeo from the corner of his eye. Yeah, he’d believe a family that kept guys like Esposito in line could have their dirty fingers wrapped around this city’s justice system. And the little girl that was masquerading as their boss had as good as declared war on him when he’d met her a few weeks ago. That had to be it.
The bartender set a beer and an envelope in front of Romeo. Peter’s eyes widened. He’d heard whispers that around half of the shop owners in this city paid into the protection racket that the Blazes ran, but he’d never actually seen evidence of it. Had he accidently ended up in a Blaze hangout? That was the worst place he could be if his suspicions were correct.
Romeo suddenly turned his head and looked right at Peter. Romeo’s gaze was heavy and assessing, sizing up Peter and obviously finding him deficient.
“What a coincidence,” was all Romeo said.
As a lawyer it was his job to play with words, but right now Peter had no idea what to say. Was this meeting really a coincidence? Had Romeo followed him? Was he going to be kidnapped and fitted with cement boots or the like?
The door opened again, this time so forcefully that it banged against the wall and would have bounced back shut had there not been a large man silhouetted in the doorway to stop it. The shadowed man strode inside with large confident steps. Peter blanched when he saw who had just joined the party. Luka Esposito looked every inch the thug his mug-shots portrayed him as. One Esposito was bad enough, but the two together were a legend that even Peter had heard of in his short time in New Palermo.
Luka slapped his brother on the back and dropped onto a bar stool. “You’re early, brother.”
Romeo didn’t look away from Peter as he answered his brother. “You’re late.”
Luka took the bartender’s envelope Romeo hadn’t touched and put it inside his suit jacket. He took the beer the bartender handed him with a grin and downed half of it in one long pull, then slammed the mug on the bar. Finally he noticed that his brother’s attention wasn’t on him. “What?” Luka asked.
Luka looked at Peter, his eyes narrowing. Suddenly he grinned, and nothing about his smile could be considered nice. “Peter de Luca. It’s a little early for a DA to be drinking. Shouldn’t you be at work?”
Peter supposed that the both of them could know who he was just by virtue of him being the lawyer that had dared put a Blaze man in prison. But Luka’s taunt and cruel smile made Peter believe his suspicions about their involvement in his spiraling career were true.
All of the anger that Peter had been feeling towards Kyle Watts and Jenna Callan and Judge Amos Pelz convalesced inside him and focused on the Blaze Family. It was their fault that he couldn’t go a single day without making a fatal mistake with his coworkers. It was their fault that he was two steps away from losing his job. Everything that was going wrong now was all their fault.
“I know what you’ve done to me,” Peter hissed at them, too angry to listen to the voice in his head that was screaming at him to never speak to the Esposito brothers. “You’re not going to get away with it. I won’t be destroyed that easily.”
Luka laughed a big bold laugh that only a big bold man could pull off. “For such an annoying little gnat, you sure can talk big. I like that.”
Romeo hadn’t broken eye contact with him once yet. He leaned forward, staring at him with that intense gaze. “Easy or not, you will be destroyed. I promised Bugsy.”
Peter pulled his bravado up around him. “You do realize that you’ve just publicly threatened a district attorney? I can get you put behind bars so quickly your head will spin.”
They made no overtly threatening movements. Neither brother reached for a weapon or even curled their fingers into a fist. Yet Peter could feel the exact moment when the atmosphere around them change from casual menace to deadly focus. And they both had him in their sights.
That little voice that was screaming ‘run you stupid fuck run’ suddenly got ten times louder, and Peter realized that maybe it hadn’t been a good idea to return threats with the Espositos while he was alone. His fight with the mafia family had to be fought on his turf, in courtrooms, in newspapers, in the public’s eye, for him to have any sort of an even playing field. Here, in a bar that was obviously friendly towards the Blaze Family, he was viciously outmaneuvered, and everyone here knew it.
“Try,” Romeo murmured in the tense silence.
Peter knew that it was time to listen to the little voice and shut the hell up so he could get out of here alive. So he went against his natural instincts, tamped down his rage, and stayed quiet.
“You don’t talk big for long, gnat,” Luka said, his tone no longer jovial. “Save us the trouble and don’t talk at all.”
Peter nodded once, hating that he had to pay lip service to such thugs. But if there was one thing Peter knew how to do, it was save his own ass and play his game his way. And he couldn’t do any of that if the Espositos broke every bone in his body like their eyes said they wanted to.
Luka finished his beer and set a twenty dollar bill on the bar. “Let’s go, brother. The Boss has other plans for him.”
Romeo nodded once, still staring at Peter. “The Boss says you’ve got two options. Leave now or keep playing. But the Boss won't keep playing this easy. Destroying your job is just the first step.”
“See, the Boss is real nice like that,” Luka explained to Peter. “If it were me, I’d make you keep playing because I have so much more fun that way.”
“We’ll have more game time,” Romeo reassured his brother as he finally broke eye contact with Peter. He stood and put another twenty on the bar. “He’s too stupid to take the smart option.”
“You think?” Luka looked at Peter and snorted. “I was going to bet you he would have half a brain and leave now, but I’m no sucker.”
Luka was the first out the door, nearly blocking out the sunlight as he stepped through. Romeo paused in the doorway, a much leaner shadow but no less intimidating in his stance.
“Your move, de Luca.”
Peter slammed his bottle down as soon as the door shut behind Romeo. All the rage he’d put on a leash came snapping back to the forefront. Damn right it was his move. He was going to take down the Blazes and all of their underlings, including those fucking Espositos. He’d show them just how smart he was. And he already knew where he was going to start.