Captivated by the deadly mafia boss

Jakub

My father coughs into his handkerchief then folds it in half and tucks it into his pocket. I look over at him, concern hitting me at how pale he looks today. His suit seems bigger, too.

“I’m fine,” he says with a pointed finger before I can voice my concern.

“You sound like it.” I look at my watch. “They’re late.”

The three of us are waiting for Piotr Kaczmarek to show. We’ve called a meeting, on neutral territory, to question him about his move with the unions. He’s stepping on our toes, and before it gets out of hand, we’re going to have to put a stop to it.

“They’ll be here.” Dominik rolls his shoulders back. He yawns, but quickly covers it with his fist.

Neither of them look ready to combat Piotr.

“Are you two going to be able to handle this? Because they’re not just fucking with Staszek business. Letting Henry stay here in Chicago is a way to fuck with my wife.”

Dominik arches an eyebrow. “What’s your problem? We’ll have this handled.”

“Really?” I walk to the single window in the room. The cafe where we’ve taken over their back office is situated in the middle of a long line of shops. The window looks out into the alley; across the way is another row of shops.

“Jakub. Don’t worry,” my father says from his chair. He seems winded, but I won’t bring it up again. A dark sedan pulls up in the alley, parking in front of the door. Piotr climbs out of the back seat, along with two other men. Henry isn’t with them.

Shame. I wouldn’t mind having a word with the fucking prick.

“They’re here.” I move across the room just as the door opens.

“Gentlemen,” Piotr says with a wily grin. He goes straight to my father, offering his hand and a bend of his head.

After the pleasantries are finished, we all sit at the round table in the middle of the room. It’s no coincidence there isn’t a long table being used. Here, we’re neutral. No family has priority and there is no higher-ranking member.

“I understand you have some issue with my business dealings?” Piotr places his hands on the table, relaxed, as though he’s here for a social gathering.

“It’s come to our attention you’ve offered to undercut our deal with some of the unions we’ve made relationships with.” Joseph’s voice is flat, devoid of any and all emotion. He’s in boss mode right now, much different than his father voice.

“Undercut what? I offer a better deal. It’s business, Joseph. Feel free to offer better than me.” Piotr shrugs. His hair is slicked back away from his face, making him look older than he is. Since the death of his uncle two years ago, he’s taken complete control of his family dealings in Chicago. Sharing power with his cousin, Christian, who has power over the New York families, is probably the only thing keeping the stress from killing him.

“You want the unions to take over the Willis project; we’ve put a great deal of work into keeping them out. The Willis project is off limits to you. You know this.”

Piotr mulls this statement over, running his tongue beneath his lip and over his top teeth.

“I don’t recall that part of the city being in your territory.” He lifts a shoulder.

“It’s neutral territory, you know that. But they’re our projects; your uncle agreed to stay out of construction. And we stay out of the gas stations.”

Piotr leans forward, bracing his weight on his forearms on the edge of the table.

“My uncle agreed to things, but that was years ago. He did agree to stay out of construction, and last year you agreed to stay out of the sex trade. Yet your family got in the way, took our avenues from us.”

“Micah Ivanov was not acting on behalf of the Staszek family,” Dominik interrupts. “And we’ve already dealt with this issue. You were compensated.”

Piotr grimaces. “We were, yes. But, you see, we’ve since found out two things.” He holds up two fingers. “One, your wife runs a halfway house for lost whores. Several of our girls are being hidden away there.” He drops one finger and brings his dark eyes to mine. “And your wife disrespected our family by running away the way she did. My family helped her when her father died. She was to marry one of my men. Instead of holding up to her responsibilities, she ran.”

My back straightens. “She was not promised to anyone.” I keep my voice flat, but I’m not as schooled in my volume. “And again, we addressed that already. You promised that prick, Henry, would leave Chicago. But he’s still here. He’s still harassing my wife.”

Surprise flickers in Piotr’s eyes.

“Henry was given direct orders to stay away from Nicole.”

“Well, maybe your men don’t listen to your orders as well as you think they do,” Dominik adds before I can open my mouth again.

“The point remains. Your family continues to get in my way. I’ve made a bid, nothing wrong with that.”

“You will stay away from the Willis project,” Joseph demands, his hand fisting on the table. “We will draw new lines if needed, but the Willis project is not negotiable.”

To give over now will give the Kaczmareks a taste of our blood. They won’t stop until they overtake everything we have gained over the years.

Piotr frowns. “I don’t take orders from you, old man.”

“If you aren’t going to keep the agreements between our family, then all agreements are called into question.” Joseph’s voice catches at the end of his statement and he pulls his handkerchief out again, falling into a short coughing fit. When he’s finished, his face is red, and he’s struggling to catch his breath. Dominik glances at him, but otherwise makes no move to help.

“We’ll give you time to decide if you want to continue making money in this city, or if you want competition at every turn,” Dominik says, giving our father time to catch his breath.

“Not too much time, mind you,” I add. “And put Henry on a leash before I do.”

Piotr narrows his eyes. He doesn’t like taking orders, I get that, but the Kaczmarek family doesn’t have the reach we do in Chicago.

“I’m sure we can come to some sort of an agreement.” Piotr pushes out of his chair, gesturing to his goons who quickly scramble to the door. For all his chest beating, there’s hesitation in his eyes. If he wants to fight over territory, he’ll lose. It will cost us men and be a big fucking headache, but we will not cave to him.

Joseph gets to his feet and offers his hand. Piotr looks at it, then to Dominik and me before he takes it. It’s a short handshake, but one that means there won’t be a declaration of war today.

Piotr nods his goodbyes to me and Dominik before heading out the back door. We all watch the door until the car doors close, the engine fires up, and the car pulls away. Only then do I let out a breath. If Piotr is willing to break long-standing agreements without a word, he’s not above making a deadly move on neutral territory.

“That could have gone better.” Joseph plops down in his chair, wiping his handkerchief across his mouth before stashing it away again.

“It’s not the end. We’ll pin him down again. But we stay on the Willis project. I’ll get another meeting with the project manager and be sure they understand the deal is with us. Any discussions with the Kaczmareks will void everything and they can expect to have two of the most expensive unions to march in on the project.”

Joseph nods. “He’s going to try to undercut us.”

“I’ll make it clear that’s not an option.” Dominik pulls his phone out and starts tapping away on the screen.

I put my hands on my father’s shoulders. “You’ve been fighting that cough for months. What has your doctor said?”

He cranes his head to the side to glare up at me. “Who has time for doctors. I’m fine. It’s a chest cold.” He waves his hand in the air. “Just a little cold.”

“Stubborn man,” I mutter.

“You just take care of your wife.” He jabs at me. “I hear she’s doing good work at the club.”

“You’re checking up on me?” I ask, only half irritated.

“Kasia tells him anything if he asks nicely enough,” Dominik says while still typing away on his phone. “She’s got a soft spot for the stubborn goat.”

“Don’t be mad at me because your wife likes me better than you,” Joseph teases.

“Don’t be so proud. Anyone is better than Dominik.” I pat his shoulder.

He laughs, which causes another coughing fit, but it’s short lived.

“You’re both hilarious.” Dominik puts his phone away. “We better get out of here.” He looks to me. “The grand opening is this weekend?”

“Friday night,” I tell him.

“We’ll all be there,” my father promises.

“I would hope so,” I say. “I know it’s not as exciting as all the work you two do, but it’s still part of the Staszek family business.” I jerk the door of the office that leads into the cafe open.

My father pinches his lips together as he passes me, like he wants to say something but knows he shouldn’t.

“You still have men on Nicole? I don’t trust Piotr when it comes to her. He could use her against us, especially if Henry is still in town causing trouble. The other families may buy into his bullshit that she owes him and we took her,” Dominik says quietly as we head out to our car.

“I have men protecting her, yes. She’s been working from home, but she’ll need to be in the club the next few days to oversee the opening,” I say. “We don’t need the other families to go against the Kaczmareks.”

“No. But we don’t need them to go against us, either.”

Good point.

Dominik gets to the car-my father is already seated inside-and turns to me. “Let me ask you this. If divorcing Nicole and handing her over to the Kaczmareks would make this all go away-”

“Don’t fucking finish your question,” I cut him off before he says something that requires me to throw my fist into his face.

A knowing grin crosses his lips.

“Guess I don’t need to.” He pats the side of my face like he did when I was younger and he wanted to remind me who was the oldest.

“If you boys are done playing around, I’d like to get going. It’s hot as hell,” Joseph calls from inside the car.

“Daddy’s calling you, better go.” I step out of the way so Dominik can climb in and shut the door.

“We’ll see you at the club.” He ducks into the car and I head to mine.Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org exclusive © material.

It’s early still. I’ve neglected the other clubs these past weeks, and I promised Nora I’d stop at them to at least show my face. I have to make the rounds before I can head home.

Clubbing never seemed like such a chore before. Hanging around the music, the beautiful women, was always more preferable than going home. But that was before Nicole.

Nothing since she walked back into my life has been the same. And I’m not so much a stubborn idiot not to recognize it.

“Let’s get this over with,” I mutter as my driver pulls out into the street and heads to the first club. It will be at least four hours before I get to go home to my wife.

A fact that puts me in a sour mood.