Chapter 20

Anton stepped into Roman's office as the head man's eyes slowly veered to him over the laptop. The crime boss didn't seem too pleased with the intrusion as he slowly closed the computer while crossing his hands in front of him, letting out an annoyed breath.

"Don't you ever knock, Anton?"

His friend laughed as he jumped and landed flat of his back on the couch in the room, stretching his arms behind his head with a satisfied grin. "Why are you worried about it, anyway? Are you in here watching porn and jerking off? Did I interrupt your naughty time. You know they say you'll go blind doing that."

"No, asshole. I was working on this new night club events. The event coordinator sent me some great ideas for some promotion. I'm really excited about this project."

"Well, I'll be damned. You're really trying to go legit, aren't you? The great Roman D'Amico is going soft on us."

Roman sat back, resting his arms behind his head, mirroring his friend as he looked up at the ceiling. "Ya know, my bothers one wish was for our family to not be involved in the underground scene, but I just don't see how that would work. We have family lines all the way back to Italy, and my father being the Don of our branch, I don't see him changing his ways anytime soon. I think I can still run things the way we always have while taking on some legit businesses too. Beau never understood how deep this all goes. You don't just walk away from the mob."

"That and the Italian leaders are not just going to let you end all their businesses and mess with their money."

"Yeah, there's that. The truth is, we both know the deep underground stuff is not going away. I just want things to be safer for all of us, and Beau had a point that I can't deny. We don't need to be worrying about all this death and destruction all the time. Life shouldn't be this hard. One day they want me to take over as Godfather. I don't even know if I can handle my own family, more less watch over all of the others in the five families."

Anton sat up, smiling at his friend with a knowing glance. "I'm sorry Beau couldn't be part of this, bro. I wish he would have known what you were doing before this happened."

"Me too. I was going to surprise him on his birthday and let him know I was working on taking some his suggestions. I'm no saint, but he really did make an impact on me." Looking at his friend he raised a bow. "Wait a minute. Aren't you supposed to be with Claudia, interrogating her right now?"

"No way. She's annoying the fuck out of me. She's been singing a song over and over for the past three hours and won't stop. I'm waiting for her voice to give out. Besides you said you wanted to do that."

Roman chuckled with amusement as he stood and went to the window were a mini bar in his room stood. Pouring a glass of bourbon for his friend and himself, he passed a glass over. "She's feisty, huh?"

"She's fucking annoying is what she is," Anton groaned before throwing back the liquor in one gulp.

"Hey, slow down. That's an expensive year."

"You and you bougie liquors. Give me beer and I'm good. Anyway, it's been four days. She won't eat and cries all the time. She's been complaining her stomach hurts, but what does she expect when she tries to starve herself? When she's not crying she's annoying the shit out of the guards."

"She's still not eating?"

"Yep. I'm getting worried because she's not looking so good. She's already a tiny little thing."

"I thought you hated Claudia."

"I do but I don't want to watch a woman starve to death. She still insists she's this Poppy person and it's really getting on my last nerve."

Roman sipped his drink, tapping his thumb on the glass. "Maybe we should see if this Poppy person really exist. Claudia may have found a new alias if she's into some shady shit. We both know she has a bit of a cocaine problem. All her money goes right up her nose. Maybe that's why her stomach hurts. She's probably going through withdraw."

"Come on, man. She's lying. Really… Poppy Fields? My five-year-old nephew can come up with a better alias than that."

"Couldn't hurt. If we have proof, maybe she will stop with this fake body-double shit."

Throwing up his hands, Anton laughed. "This is on you, buddy. I'm washing my hands of that woman."

"You're scared of her," Roman teased.

"Nah. I'm scared I'll kill her for her being so damn irritating. And what's worse, she seems to have found new ways to piss me off. I never knew what you saw in that heifer. She's bat-shit crazy."

"I guess I like them a little crazy. Let's go see her. I don't want the girl starving to death."

Anton rolled his eyes. "I think you forgot the part where I washed my hands of this."

"I'm your boss."

"Best friend trumps employee. I'm going golfing. You deal with her."

Roman just shook his head. "Do you ever actually work, or just play golf and hang out in my indoor pool?"

"I get my best ideas on the green and I like to swim."

Shaking his head, Roman just walked out, knowing that it wasn't only Claudia who was annoying. So was his best friend.

***

As Roman made his way to the basement there was no singing. He carried a tray of food, hoping he could at least get her to eat. Only whimpers and cries came from the room, and it almost hurt his heart to hear it.

The man who was standing guard, looked up from his cellphone to give his boss a nod.

"How's our prisoner?"

"Roman, she's been laying on the floor crying for over an hour. After Anton left, she curled up in the corner and just cries. She sure does know how to get under his skin though."

Roman gave a chuckle. "Yeah, I heard. He's ready to shoot her."

"If she doesn't stop that awful singing, I'll help him pull the trigger."

"That bad huh?" he asked as he peeked his head in the door.

"Boss… I think she's telling the truth."

Roman tilted his head like his guard was out of his mind. "Tate, are you serious?"

"Yeah, I am. I know people, and that girl is not Claudia. She's sort of… sweet."