SWNOVELS Luciano: Chapter 1
Three Years Later
I was the Ruthless King in the financial business world and in the criminal underworld. That’s what everyone called me.
Ruthless King. Unforgiving king.
Just ask my fucking wife who has been missing for the past three years and six months. The memory of the betrayal still tasted bitter. But one good thing came out of it; my heart was as hard as the Arctic ice.
It had been three years and six months since the full-blown war erupted between the Vitale and the Romano family. The war between our two families started when the Romano family killed my mother and sister. Attacks, lives lost, fortunes burned… But it was that last betrayal that drove me insane. She chose them over me. She sold me out. And I never go soft on my enemies. I had stripped down the trust funds and empires of my enemies in this war. Some even lost their lives.
I won, and the people who were on my side flourished and became wealthy beyond their wildest dreams. My empire grew tenfold. People who were not on my side… let’s just say they lost much. The Romano family lost most of their fortune, but just like rats they kept coming back. Their financial suffering wasn’t enough. I wanted them all dead. I had successfully pushed the Romanos out of every business except for one, human trafficking. But that one would happen soon too! When I set my mind to shit, I didn’t stop till it happened.
Tonight, I was hosting the biggest event of the year at my casino. I owned every casino in New Jersey, except for one. That one belonged to my best friend, Cassio King.
There will be members of the mafia here – Irish, Italians, Russians, Colombians – as well as politicians, dirty and clean, drug and gun dealers, human traffickers, the rich and famous of this world. I didn’t discriminate. I took all their money, and they all owed me. They all needed me. I had runners all over the world who cleaned money for me. I ran it all, but none of it could be easily pinned on me or traced by anyone. Money laundering was my main source of fortune, but I also owned casinos, nightclubs, and ran drugs occasionally. Though the latter was not something I did often. Drugs and guns were mainly Cassio’s line of work. And the rest of the guys.
I sat my cognac on the side table, watching through the one-way glass as politicians, criminals, and the rich equally squirmed. I hated all those fuckers. I hated the criminals that pretended they were better even more. Like the fucking Romanos.
We were all killers and sinners. One big difference – my friends and I only killed when we needed to. Or for revenge. Many of these men killed for power, money, sport, or even pleasure.
And some even use their own family to try and get ahead. The way Alphonso Romano used his niece’s charms and beauty to blind me, and I played right into it.
My blood boiled in fury, tempting me to just go into full attack mode. Consequences be damned. I wanted the man dead, but only after I tortured him, nice and slow. I wanted to hear him cry, squeal like a pig, beg. But he still wouldn’t get any mercy from me.
“You good?” Cassio’s voice pulled me back from the edge. No, I wasn’t fucking good, but I kept the words locked in.
Cassio King was my best friend; he had been since we were kids. My allegiances were always with him. And his with me. His territory was New York, alongside the Italian and Irish mafia there. I wouldn’t be surprised to see him in bed with the Irish soon. Jack Callahan was a ruthless but fair motherfucker. He’d be a good ally. Cassio and Luca kept an eye on Margaret and Ainé, Callahan’s niece and step-daughter. It would be interesting to see how that enfolded.
My territory was New Jersey and Connecticut. We have had a working relationship for years. It certainly helped when both of us had to divert shipments. He used my ports, and I used his.
“I am ready to get this show rolling,” I gritted through my teeth.
Seeing my wife’s uncle made me want to rage, destroy. It was a reminder of what I lost, because of that man. He cost my mother and sister their lives. And then he used my wife like a disposable toy to get one over on me. She fucking knew it and played willingly. It pissed me off that she didn’t tell me. It infuriated me even more that I fell for it. That was what happened to men like me when we became blinded by pussy.
There were whispers he had her killed after I dropped her off at his doorstep. I didn’t think so. Those two probably conspired against me about everything. It was probably their whole plan from the moment I spotted her in my nightclub. I wanted her to watch the Romano downfall and know who caused it. So she could grovel and regret her decision of betrayal.
My father was the only person that firmly believed she was alive, and that she was innocent. I fucking hated that I hoped she was alive, but I thirsted for revenge even more. Once I got her, I’d make her pay. But first, I’d fuck her out of my system once and for all.
Cassio backed me up when the war started, helped me make them all pay. He knew what happened with my wife and he still had my back. Like always, Cassio stood by me.
I hit the Romano family where it hurt the most, their money. They had lost it all, or at least I thought they had. But it wasn’t enough for me. I was after their blood. It helped that both Cassio and his brother Luca were against human trafficking. They fought it too, just like my family did. Unfortunately for us, Alphonso fucking Romano was big into that shit. And I would never clean money for men who traffic women and children.
But I had a plan. One that would bring him down once and for all. Him and all the ones that worked with him.
Luca made his way to us along with Alessandro Russo and Nico Morrelli. I knew I could count on these guys. Alessandro Russo ran his shit in Canada, his headquarters in Montréal. His main illegitimate business focused on guns, as well as owning a few casinos. Nico Morrelli ran D.C. and Maryland. He mainly ran casinos and smuggled drugs with a real-estate business as a front. Cassio did a bit of it all and depended on me to clean his money. It was one business he didn’t touch which was fine by me. I had plenty of runners to launder all my activities, his and thousands of others. Luca wasn’t just Cassio’s brother but his right-hand man and helped us all when we needed it. These were some of the fiercest men, and I was lucky to have them at my back.
“I already heard that fucker talk about his sick business with the Colombians,” Nico spat out. “Raphael has a good poker face.”
“Perfect,” I muttered. I had set the trap with the help of the Colombians. Raphael Santos was my friend, too, and he recently came into ruling Florida after his father and eldest brother were killed. Lombardo Santos and his eldest son Vincent worked with the Romanos and with Cassio and Luca’s father Benito King in trafficking. Raphael was against trafficking women, so it worked out that Vasili Nikolaev’s brother, Sasha, killed Raphael’s eldest brother and father. Clean sniper shot to the brain. He was definitely my kind of man.
The Romano empire crumbled over the last three years while mine flourished, but that fucker still managed to build it back up. I have no idea how he came up with the capital. Nobody would finance him, knowing my stance on it. But he got his dirty paws on some capital and got his returns through flesh selling. I hated that man’s guts.
Cassio and I suspected it might be Benito, but that bastard was a stingy motherfucker and wasn’t into giving loans. More like he would have taken the shipments of women for himself.
“Vasili Nikolaev is here with his brother, Alexei,” Alessandro added. “Apparently, Vasili is not happy with Alphonso. He tried to arrange the kidnapping of Vasili’s woman, and Vasili is out for his blood. The fucker got himself another enemy.”
“Good,” I grinned. Vasili was bloodthirsty and ruthless. If I fail, he would certainly be right behind me waiting for his turn to strike. Both Alexei and Sasha, Vasili’s brothers, were some of the most sought-after killers in our world. Alphonso Romano would be dead, one way or the other.
“Let the games begin,” I told them all. I would play all my cards right and looked forward to seeing the Romano dynasty fall for the last time. Next time, there would be nobody and nothing to lift them up.