Sixty-Two

Hank dealt with that type of behavior many times in his life of crime, and it didn’t shock him anymore. These show off bosses thought they owned everything and everyone. It was just sickening, and he just wanted to get out of there, go to his little girl, and tell her mommy had to make a short trip, and see her heart crush, because after he screwed up in his attempt to keep them apart for two weeks, Melina promised Eve, she’d go nowhere without her. So, he would just cut the chase, and he wouldn’t take any crap from any mobster. That died with Franco.

“I’m Hank, Melina’s future husband, and this is Darryl, my head of security. Thank you for dealing with the police, but I have that man to interrogate and my little girl to go to.” He said, dismissing the old man and walking to the man on the floor, but the guard was no more there. One of Linus’s associates was by his side, and the man didn’t peek at us.

“Leave him with me. I know how to deal with people like him.” Linus offered, following Hank closely. “Besides, we have to talk, and you also need care.”

The adrenaline pumped like crazy in his body. He even forgot about his shoulder. Now that the man mentioned, his arm was out of the sling, his shirt was plastered on top of the wound and drenched in blood. Crap! Since his body was cooling off, the pain in his shoulder only increased. He couldn’t get to Eve like this.

“It’s okay, I’ll be fine.”

“I have two of your men in my infirmary, this mess to deal with, and you owe me at…”

“I owe you nothing!” Hank cut the man short. The entire situation aggravated him. It was perilous, and the man came with the ‘you owe me talk?’ “I know how things work, I’ve been there, done that. I’m not inside of a mob anymore. I don’t abide by your rules. I only hope to get his information, go to my daughter, and find her mother…” Right there, his voice faltered. He couldn’t show weakness. His heart wasn’t allowed in this business. He had to have cold blood and think like one of them if he wanted to get Melina back safe.

“Hank, man! Calm down, maybe he just wants to help.” Darryl put a hand on his shoulder, trying to comfort him.

“Help Darryl? Melina’s uncle or not, he’s a fucking mobster!”

“Enyo, take the man out, we’ll be there in a second.” Linus turned to Hank. “You didn’t let me finish, boy. I was about to say you owe me an explanation. This is my territory, and I like to know what’s going on under my roof. I kept my distance from Melina, because Elissa asked me to. When the girl got here, she was so shaken up with everything I didn’t want to add to her burden, but when Elissa called an hour ago, telling me things got out of hand, I couldn’t say no to the old lady.”

Hank exchanged a suspicious look with Darryl, who raised one brow up to his hairline, cocking his head like a lost puppy. Usually they could communicate with each other in silence, by one look, but today was not that day. God, what that meant. Should they trust the old guy? Or maybe Darryl was fine with it and he was the one giving them a hard time. The fact was, he was so scalded with those mobsters he didn’t want to have anything coming from them.

They researched the entire place before Hank came over for Melina. His crew knew everything about the Karagianises and how they managed their business, and the smaller ones under their surveillance. He was aware of them. Hank had everything figured out, but the only pebble in his shoe was the local police. Back in New York he had a deal with detective Olsen, since the man was eager to rid his city from criminals, but here? Here was different, and to his sadness, if he wanted to get Melina back, he needed someone to deal with the cops.

“Fine!” He gave in, shaking his head. “I don’t belong to any kind of mob, and I won’t owe you anything but an explanation. Melina was my turning point to live the life behind, and only God knows which prices I paid for. So if you want to help me out, think you’re doing it for your niece, not me. Deal?” The pain in his shoulder was excruciating, and he put his arm back into the sling. Gosh, he just wanted to get home, and for a few minutes, bask in the unconditional love of his little princess.

“Deal. You remind me a lot of my brother, Leander, when he fell for Callie. He left everything behind for her, driving my father insane. My mother died just after they left, and business took a nasty turn. Old Karagianis lost his wife and his favorite son all at once, and he had to resort to me, his playboy son. I wasn’t like them. I didn’t have the knack for the business, nor I wanted to. But because of the situation I had to get myself involved, and when my father died a few years later a lot changed. What I want to tell you is, I may be a mobster, but I am a lighter version of Old Karagianis. Trust me, Melina is family, and I take good care of my own.”

“You can prove that by letting me interrogate the man in your custody.” Hank lifted his chin in a challenge of sorts. “After that I’ll tell you what’s going on.”

“Enyo! Bring the man back.” The capo showed up the next second, shoveling the man into the place.

“Erasmus is your name, right?” Hank asked, and the man nodded. “If you tell me in detail what happened here today, I’ll put my guys to protect you, and when all this is over, you walk away, or I’ll just let him deal with you. What’s going to be?” The man tipped his head up, making eye contact with Hank, then he glanced at Linus’s serious face, and back to Hank. The shiver assuaging Erasmus’ skin didn’t pass unnoticed by Hank. Linus could be a lighter version of his father, but the terror stamped on the man’s face told him he wasn’t less ruthless in his manners.

“Last week, a guy came to the restaurant every evening for dinner. He must have noticed Ariadne, and I wasn’t on good terms, so two days ago he approached me. He told me if I wanted to get loads of money, that could help me go to another place, start over, still have some left, and get back at Ariadne.” The man was doing his best to make himself understandable in his poor English.

“Why would you do that to your boss?” Darryl asked in disbelief.

“She’s a bitch! She’s always nagging at everyone. I worked hard every day, and about two weeks ago she put my skills as a cook in front of the clients, just because one customer didn’t like what he ordered. I graduated from one of the most renowned cooking schools in Europe. Who does she think she is?” He sighed, desolated. “I just wanted to teach her a lesson. I didn’t want them to blow up the place.”

“My guys had done a clean sweep on the restaurant staff. How did you change them last minute?”

“Yesterday, on our break, I put some laxatives and a few extra ingredients on the food I served to the personnel assigned for today. They called in sick this morning, excusing themselves since they may have caught some kind of flu and wouldn’t be able to attend the dinner. I kept to myself as if everything was running smooth, called the man, and he sent four of his guys over. When your crew got here, they were already in the kitchen, and the pots and pans in full simmer on the stove. So no one noticed. I didn’t count on being knocked out, and left for the wolves.”

“That’s what you get when you make deals with the wrong crowd.” Hank barked at him, pacing away frustrated. Why do people fall to the dark side at the mention of easy money? “You should have talked to your boss, not stoop so low! That’s what you get for doing what you did. I hope you’ve learned your lesson. Innocent people are in danger because of you. Didn’t you think for a second what kind of own gain he would get if helping you retaliate against your boss, or were you stupid enough to think he was acting out of kindness?” The man shrieked, and made himself even smaller from their eyes, remorse showing in his eyes. “Of course…” He sighed, exhaustion suddenly hitting him. “Darryl, call the guys and tell them to keep this moron safe until we solve this mess.”

Since Linus kept to his word, and didn’t interfere in Hank’s way of dealing with the stupid cook, he gave him the benefit of the doubt, and explained to him everything from day one, of course not into details, he didn’t have time, but he brought the man up to date with the major events which led to Melina’s kidnapping. Linus listened to the entire story, didn’t judge him nor said a word about it. He just absorbed the information like a sponge, telling Hank he had a calculating mind, and when he finally opened his mouth, Hank stared at him with gratitude.

“Okay boy. Are you ready to take care of your shoulder and go back to your little girl? A little birdie told me she’s a handful, that one.” He chuckled, and his eyes were full of glee.