Mafia Kings: Adriano: Chapter 7

‘Talking to the Agrellas’ was why I was in the backseat of a Mercedes on a Friday night, headed for some bullshit meeting where I knew they’d lie to my face.

And probably try to pick my pocket while they were at it.

Lars and Massimo were in the car with me. Massimo rode up front, Lars in the back with me. A foot soldier named Vincenzo was driving.

In fact, I had two other Mercedes driving with us to the meeting – both filled with guys who worked for our family in Tuscany.

They were mostly coming as a show of force. Just in case the Agrellas started getting any ideas.

Fuck around and find out, assholes.

“You okay?” Massimo asked. He was looking at me in the mirror of his flipped-down sun visor.

Massimo was a giant – so huge that his 6’7” frame was cramped even with the seat let all the way back.

“Yeah, of course,” I answered.

“You got this, bro.”

“I know I got this,” I snapped.

Massimo held his tongue and flipped the sun visor back up.

I knew he was only trying to help, but the truth was…

I didn’t feel like I got this.

I felt super fuckin’ nervous…

And I hated it.

I was the official head of the Rosolinis in Florence, and this was the first time I was acting as capo while meeting with another family.

A lot was riding on tonight.

If I got it right, things would go back to the way they were when my father was still alive: peace and profits for everybody.

If I screwed up…

War.

Although personally I was kind of hoping for war.

Which should have taken the pressure off…

But it didn’t.

‘Cause I knew if I failed Dario and the rest of the family, it was all on my head.

“What’s the plan?” Lars asked.

Lars was a Swede who’d been in jail with Dario – and had saved his life a couple of times. When he got out of jail earlier than Dario, my brother told the family to give him a job. That’d been one of the best decisions Dario had ever made.

Lars had some kind of crazy background in Special Ops in the military in Sweden. He was the best I’d ever seen with a pistol and even deadlier with a sniper rifle.

When Dario had sent him with me to reestablish control in Florence, I’d breathed a sigh of relief. If shit hit the fan, Lars was the guy you wanted watching your back.

“The plan is to go in, listen to their spiel, and let bygones be bygones.”

“That’s Dario’s plan,” Lars said. “What’s your plan?”

I looked over at Lars. “You sayin’ I’m not gonna follow my don’s orders?”

Lars smirked. “I’m saying I know you. So what’s the plan?”

“Go in… listen to their spiel… and if they drop their shorts and bend over, let bygones be bygones. But if they’re assholes, then we tell them to go fuck themselves.”

Lars chuckled. “That sounds more like an Adriano plan.”

Massimo wasn’t on board. “Brother – ”

“Don’t even start with me, Mass. YOU should be the one who wants to make them pay the most. I mean, they were the reason you got shot.”

It was true; Massimo had taken a bullet trying to protect Alessandra in the shootout.

“Exactly,” he said. “I’M the one who got shot, and I still think it’s better if we do everything we can to maintain the peace.”

What I wanted to say was FUCK the peace.

But I was a capo, not the don.

So all I said was, “Yeah, yeah…”

The Mercedes slowed down.

“We’re here, boss,” Vincenzo said.