Chapter 17—Claudius

Lights bounced across the room, changing colors. Pink, green, blue.

Bright but still dark. The Glass House was heaving with people. It was a trendy sort of club on the backstreets. Typical place for the underworld to hang.

Perfect to hide in plain sight but not always a good thing when it was too packed. Like tonight. Too many people around meant too much panic if shit happened and too many witnesses. Although really, I wasn’t concerned with that.

The minute The Four and I’d entered the doors, we got the respect we didn’t need to demand. People looked at us, then just as quickly looked away.

We sat around one of the booths on the second floor. Waiting.

We finally got a lead last night. All we had to do was search the heavens and the outer planes of hell to find it.

Tonight, we were here for Corey Manello. Joe’s cousin.

The fact that we’d been able to find someone within the immediate family line was significant though. Meant they really were back in town.

Luc had seen a grunt the first time. Seeing someone like a cousin meant the rats were beginning to drift toward the surface.

Back in the day, they’d worked the streets just like most of the other crime families. We knew each other’s territories. That had changed substantially after the accident that killed Marissa.

It was the secret squad that had picked him up on the radar in a brothel. Him and another grunt. An associate. A former cop who was dirty as a cop, dirtier on the street. This one not only did drugs, but he was a supplier too.

The squad told me he and Corey had business set up for tonight at the Glass House.

We got here at eight. Number two from the squad said they’d be here at eight thirty.

Jude leaned forward and tapped my elbow.

“Boss, there’s too many people,” he cautioned, eyes darting around the room.

Although the music volume where we were was turned down low enough to carry a conversation, it was still quite loud, and I’d had to get close to hear him.

“I know, but we stay,” I answered.

“The back, there.” Alex pointed to the staff door behind the stage where some girls were dancing. “We can head there if we need more privacy. There’s a room.”

Sounded perfect.

A waitress with very low cleavage approached us with a notepad and pen.

She looked like she had far too much surgery done on her face and her tits. Not appealing in the least. However, Dante took to her.

“Can I get you guys anything?” she smiled, looking at each of us.

“Yes.” Dante nodded with enthusiasm.

She got her pen ready to write and pushed out her already full lips. I didn’t get how women thought that look was good. She looked like a duck from whatever shit she’d puffed her lips up with, and whatever she’d injected in her forehead made her face stiff and rigid.

I held up my hand, pretty certain Dante wasn’t going to actually place an order.

“No. We don’t need anything,” I told her and cut Dante a sharp glance.

“Are you sure? We have all sorts of new drinks in.” She beamed, then looked over at Dante. “And all kinds of fun in the back.”

Gio chuckled.

“No thanks.” I intensified my stare, and she pressed her lips together. Thank fuck she knew well enough to drop it and move away without questioning us further.

“Claudius, you could have at least let me get her number,” Dante chided.

I cocked my head to the side and glared at him. He knew well enough too to know his place.

“Or I could get it another time.” He smirked.

That’s right. I didn’t need to say anything.

We were here for business. Not damn pleasure. If I wanted pleasure, I wouldn’t be here with them. I’d be with Ava, who I’d told I was working.

Working this late. She wasn’t stupid. She knew I was going on some mission to do something less than savory. She didn’t question me though. She just gave me a worried look and told me to be careful.

It was the life of a mafia boss that I’d never quite thought into before. Walking on eggshells with your woman, never telling her too much. Just enough so she knew where you were. It meant asking her to go above the remits of trust with few answers to her questions.

“Boss. Look.” Gio motioned below us.

Corey and another guy walked up to the bar. They were talking. That had to be the associate.

We watched them. Tonight must have been our lucky night because they headed to the door Alex had pointed to earlier.

Perfect. I didn’t know what beyond the door looked like, but anywhere away from people was good for us.

“Let’s move, boys,” I ordered, and move we did.

People gave way as we found our way through the sea of bodies clashing together on the dance floor, and no one dared to question us when we opened the door to the staff room that said Staff Only in big bold letters.

The kitchen was behind here as was the door that led out to the bar area. One of the bartenders came out and looked at me. One sharp look sent him right back to where he came from, closing the door behind him. To say the man looked scared of me was an understatement. Although I guess it wasn’t just me to be afraid of. It was us as a group.

Me in the front with The Four behind me. All dressed in black with our long coats and the crosses tattooed on my cheek and their necks. We had the look of death, carried it wherever we went, and only the foolish would mess with us.

There was a room at the end of the corridor.

“That’s the room,” Alex said.

“Perfect for beating the ever-living shit out of someone.” Jude chuckled and bumped his fists with Alex.

I got to the door and kicked it in. Dante looked a little surprised. Maybe he thought I was going to knock.

There were two topless strippers inside who screamed and scampered to get their clothes.

Corey glowered at me wide-eyed. He was a big, burly man with a bushy beard and muscle. He could probably take down a few regular-sized guys, but not me. Seemed, though, he was foolish enough to reach for his gun. Big mistake.

Jude shot the gun out of his hand, and Alex moved in on him and held him in place with his guns pointed to his head.

As did Dante and Gio while I went to him. He looked like he was about to shit himself.

I looked at the two frightened women, who were now dressed.

“Get out!” I barked at them, and they moved. Quickly.

“Claudius Morientz,” Corey stated. His voice had a quiver in it. “Been a while.”

“Long time. You know you were one of the last people I saw before my wife was killed.” I leaned in, looming over his face and sneering.

He blinked several times. “You know that wasn’t me, right? I had nothing to do with that.”

“Right. You could be telling the truth, but you could also be lying. So much happened that day. Remember what you said to me when I came to you for help?” Asshole. He’d known Goliath took Marissa. He’d known and never said anything to me. It wasn’t like he hadn’t known what the ultimate outcome was. Death.

“Yes, and I’m sorry.”

“Sorry?” Sorry never worked at any point on a guy like me. “You told me it wasn’t your problem.” I sent a jab straight to his face, and he fell backwards.

“Please, stop, what do you want?” He crawled back on his hands.

“Where’s Joe?”

“Joe?” The fool looked like he didn’t know who I was talking about.

“Cousin Joe, you prick.”

Corey shook his head. “Haven’t seen him in years.”

I took out both my guns and pointed them at him. “The thing is, no one’s seen you in years either. What brought you back?”

“Oh, I’ve been here the whole time. Backwards and forwards. You know how big Chicago is. You could come and go unseen.”

Fool. I didn’t know who he thought I was. “This is my place. Like a grand extension of my fucking house. Nothing happens here without me knowing. So, what is it, Corey? What really brought you back?”

His jaw clenched, and the muscles in his thick neck tensed. When his eyes darted from me to my men, I knew I had him. I’d cornered him, but would he talk? These types of people would rather die than talk if they were up to something big.

But he knew tradition. He knew it wouldn’t matter who I was. I wouldn’t just kill him and start a war between the biggest crime families on this side of the globe. That would be asking to get myself and everyone I knew assassinated before the sun could come up. Everyone I knew would have a hit on them.

That, however, didn’t stop me from doing some form of damage.

“Well!” I yelled, stepping closer to him.

He shuffled back, right into the wall. Beads of sweat formed on his upper lip, and his skin flushed.

“Nothing brought me back. Nothing. I’m just here.”

Liar.

All I did was stare at him. Long and hard. He knew I meant business, but still he chose to fuck with me and tell lies. Time to take this up a notch.

“Knife, please, Jude.” I snapped my fingers, and Jude handed me my blade. It was a mean-looking knife that would gut him like a fish. “You know there’s a lot I could do to you. Killing you is just one thing. I’d piss a lot of people off, but then, do I care? Do I really care? I have the world at my fingertips. Your people try something, and I’d simply retaliate. I don’t have to remind you how things work here, do I?” I lowered myself, crouching, and pointed the knife at him.

He pulled in a quick, shallow breath. “No, Claudius.” His voice elevated in pitch and volume.

Without warning, I threw the knife, and he screamed. I made him think I was going to lodge it in his head, but it went just above and pierced through the wall.

“Knife,” I cried.

Jude handed me another, which again I threw. This time, I made Dear Corey think I was going to land it straight in his dick, but it lodged in the ground between his legs, cutting through the gray carpet.

“Please stop, stop,” he begged.

“Ta-lk,” I enunciated.

The door opened behind us. I knew we’d have company soon, and behold, it was the associate, but he brought some friends. Five of them. Some mean-looking meatheads who looked like they’d just rolled out of a comic book.

They were foolish enough to start shooting at us.

Jude and Alex took them down while Dante and Gio had my back. In less than a minute, the men went down, including the associate. In the background, people screamed, probably the staff who were close by.

I looked back to Corey and winced when I saw the blood seeping from his arm. He was howling from the pain. At least he was still alive.

I pushed forward and backhanded him a few times, then I grabbed him up in his neck and got real close in his face.

“It’s no secret I’m looking for Goliath,” I seethed, baring my teeth. “Last time I checked, he and Joe were best buddies. Tell Joe I want to see him. In the meantime, you can get the fuck out of Chicago. You and whoever else is here who shouldn’t be.”

Releasing him, I stood and gave him a kick in his crotch. He howled in more pain.

It didn’t seem like we’d achieved much from coming here tonight, but part of the mission was to let them know that I knew something was up.

More than anything, I wanted a lead on Goliath, but I knew chances were whatever was going on might not lead me to him.

Every year that passed felt like my chances were slipping away.

But I had to take this recent occurrence as something to hold on to. If I could get to Joe, I might get to Goliath, and in the meantime find out whatever the fuck it was that had brought the Manellos and the Antonellas back to these paths.

I’d just have to see what would happen next.

Stepping past the bodies, we left.