And probably closer to my age than all my cousins’ ages. Young for a boss.
I had to respect that.
“Word is, they’re going to start using this place as a studio. For recording movies and shit. I’ll be sad to see it go. But, let’s face it, this town has no shortage of locations for business meetings. So, you’re my long-lost cousins.”
“Milo,” I said. “And Domenico.”
“So, what’d you two do to get sent down here to work with me?” Remo asked.
“Not get married,” I said.
“Your moms on your asses too?” he asked, shaking his head. “Swear she’s gonna kidnap it when I finally do have a kid. Anyway, thanks for coming down.”
“Always happy to be working,” I said, shrugging. “So is this your whole crew?” I asked, nodding toward the two men who had picked us up at the hotel.
“Nah. I got a few others. And my brothers. I’m not looking to expand quickly. I want to be smart about it. Won’t do me any good if I grow fast and have a bunch of rats to deal with.”
“So, what’s the deal around here?” Dom asked.
“Dunno how much of the city you’ve seen, but AC has been struggling the past… decade. Or two. Collapse of casinos and tourism led to unemployment, population decline, and a fuckuva lot of drugs.”
“Lot of street gangs you’re dealing with here?”
“A few. And a local bike gang too. But nothing I’m too worried about. Our focus isn’t the same. I’m not interested in drugs.”
“So it’s an established organization you’re dealing with.”
“Yeah, something like that.”
“What is it? Irish mafia? Bratva?” I asked.
“Triad? Yakuza? Cartel?” Dom piped in.
“I wish,” Remo said with a huff of a laugh. “What I’m dealing with is a sniveling little shit named Frank Martin.”
“Not organized crime then,” I said.
“Not in the traditional sense. He does have people working for him. He is connected to a network of crime and corruption. But his main claim to fame right now is he bought out one of the defunct smaller casinos on a fire sale with his dead father’s money a few years back.”
“Great way to clean dirty money, if he’s got it,” I said.
“Yeah.”
“That’s why you want it.”
“Well, it’s part of why I want it,” Remo said with a smirk. “I also want to make it a residence for me and mine.”
“You want to live above a casino?” I asked. My dreams of a nice house with a big backyard couldn’t get on board with that.
“Can you think of a safer place to live?” Remo shot back.
Well, he had a point there.
Especially when he was going to be actively working on taking over the town. Which was going to come with a lot of tension and danger.
“So, what’s the plan? Take him out?”
“Not exactly. I wouldn’t need help with that. If he dies, the casino sits empty for years until it hits the market again. I don’t want to waste that time. I want to… persuade him to sell it to me. If he happens to fall off the roof afterward, hey, that’s just fate.”
