home. That’s about all I could do.
By the early hours of the morning, Little Italy looked like
a war zone. The police were sweeping both Russians
and Italians off the streets as fast as they could, but
their holding cells were full and they didn’t have enough
evidence to hold them. The local captain, who was on
my payroll, pulled me aside and demanded to know
what the fuck I was going to do. That’s when you know
it’s bad, when the police come to the criminals for help.
I didn’t have an answer for him. I was pissed...but the
anger didn’t have anywhere to go except inward. What
could I do? Burn Russian businesses in revenge? It
would be the civilians who’d suffer.
As I gazed around the place I loved, now lit by orange
fire and blue and red lights, I kept thinking back to that
day I’d first seen Irina at the ballet. We did this. This is
our fault.
I was worried sick about her. She was still stuck in
Vasiliy’s townhouse, with that bastard Mikhail way too
close to her. And in a few days she’d be going back to
Moscow and I might never see her again.
I hadn’t told her that I loved her. I hadn’t been able to
say the words. I’ve never regretted anything more in my
life.
Rico found me at about eight in the morning. The sky
was lightening but the smoke blotted out the sun. The
streets were running with a gray, slushy mixture of
soot-stained melted snow and runoff water from the
hoses. Rico had been up all night too and he looked like
I probably looked: soot-smeared face, filthy white shirt
with a few bloodstains from the injured. Both of us had
discarded our ties at some point when the heat from the
fires had gotten too much.
“Let’s get you out of here,” he said.
I shook my head and turned away from him. “I’m
staying.”
He grabbed my shoulder and gently but firmly turned
me back. “This isn’t something you can win from here,
Angelo,” he told me. “Besides, The Saints want to talk.”
I closed my eyes and sighed, then let him lead me to
the car. I’d always liked the cool, luxurious interior of
the big Chrysler. It had been a safe haven where I could
escape my troubles and think. Now, though, the luxury
felt wrong. I shouldn’t be in here while they’re out
there….
Goddamn Mikhail and Vasiliy for doing this. And
goddamn me for making them. If I’d had a niece and
found Mikhail had been fucking her, would I have
reacted any differently?
Rico dialed The Saints. I had him put them on
speakerphone. Rico deserved to know what was going
on.
“What the fuck is going on?” yelled Nicky. “It’s fucking
Iraq down there. It’s all over the fucking news! What
the fuck?!” He screamed it so loud, his voice rasped.
Rico and I looked at each other. It was clear the Saints
didn’t know about me and Irina. If they had, they’d
have summoned me so they could put a bullet in my
head.
“It’s spilling over,” said Vincenzo. “The Russians are
getting ideas, right across the city. You don’t fix this
now, we’re going to have a big fucking problem.”
“You gotta kill Vasiliy. And that fat fuck Mikhail,” said
Taavetti. “Only way to stop them.”
Immediately, he was shouted down. “You don’t kill the
leaders, you dumb fuck,” snapped Nicky. “Someone’s
gotta be there to turn it off! Why do you think they
haven’t taken out a hit on Angelo, yet?”
He was right. That was the only reason I was still alive.
The only thing worse than war was chaos, which was
what we’d have without leadership.
“What you gotta do,” snapped Nicky, “is show them
how much this’ll hurt, if they keep it up. Each step they
take into our territory has gotta be like walking on razor
blades, understand? Starting tonight, we burn their
businesses—every one of them. We take out everything
they own. Every backroom poker game gets smashed
up. Every car dealership, those cars get totaled.
Everything.”
I spoke for the first time. “It’s out of control. People are
getting drawn in. Not just our people: anyone with
Italian blood.”
“Good,” said Nicky savagely. “Let ‘em. They should fight
for their turf, goddammit.”
Fight for their turf. It all suddenly seemed so stupid.
“They’re kids,” I said. “Some of them are sixteen.”
“That’s plenty old enough to fight,” said Taavetti. “Put
baseball bats in their hands and send them into Little
Odessa.”
“We’re outnumbered!” I snapped, finally losing it. “They
have more men, more guns. Vasiliy has billions in the
bank: he can hire mercenaries, if he has to. Even with
the civilians fighting with us, we’ll lose! It’ll be a
bloodbath!”
“So?” Yelled Taavetti. I heard him huff for air from his
oxygen cylinder. “We go out fighting. Your dad spilled
blood to take those streets; you can fucking spill blood
to defend them!”
I shook my head silently. My dad would never have sent
men to their deaths when he knew the fight was
useless. The Saints were just scared of losing what
they’d built up and they were willing to sacrifice ever
Italian life on the street in a futile bid to cling onto it.
“Fix it, Angelo,” said Nicky, his voice vicious. “This is
your last fucking chance. Fix it, or we’ll find someone
who can.”
The line went dead. I could feel Rico’s eyes on me from
the driver’s seat. It took me a long time to turn and
meet his gaze.
“Angelo?” he asked. “What’s going on?”
I couldn’t explain. Rico had been with me for so long,
since even before I took over from my dad. He’d helped
me build this empire. Now he couldn’t understand why I
was standing by and watching while it was torn down. I
tried, even though I knew it was useless. I owed him
that. “They lied to us, Rico. The Saints got us fighting a
war but the Russians aren’t any different to us.” Rico
balked. “They’re not,” I insisted. “The Saints got us
thinking it has to be this way, but it doesn’t.”
Rico slowly shook his head at me. “This is Irina,” he
said. “She’s done a number on you.”
“No! She just opened my eyes!”
Rico put his hands on my shoulders and slammed me
back into my seat. “Okay, listen! I’ve stood by you every
fucking step of the way. I’ve done exactly what you told
me, every time. So for once, shut up and listen to me.
You are about to lose everything. Okay? Everything. If
the Russians ever were interested in peace, they sure as
fuck aren’t now, not now Vasiliy knows you’ve been
banging his niece. This is war and you can either fight
or surrender but there ain’t no third option. So snap out
of it because I need Angelo back!”
I knew he was right. But how could I explain to him that
my empire didn’t matter anymore, if I couldn’t have her?
“Drop me home,” I told Rico. “Then go to Underground
and see what needs doing there. I need to think.”
Out of the corner of my eye, I could see him shaking his
head, his face taut with worry. I owed him so much. I
wished I could tell him not to worry, that I’d fix
everything...but it wasn’t true.
* * *
I stumbled through the door of my apartment, woozy
with fatigue. I hadn’t slept in over twenty-four hours
and my muscles, worn out from crawling through the