Page 36 of Mafia Scars

I wanted him to be here right now with me. I’d gone upstate to a warehouse complex with a few abandoned buildings. My sources said there’d been some activity in one of them over the last few weeks and there was a possible match to Victor.

I hadn’t stopped looking for him, and any possibility was good enough for me to try.

There was nothing yet, just the usual trucks pulling in with deliveries.

I’d found a good spot on the roof of the nearest building to the one I suspected was their base.

“Claudius, you’re a fucking prick, you know that?”

“Luc, you worry too much. You think with your heart and never with your head.”

“What the fuck? No, I think just fine. You, on the other hand, are too blasé. This is Victor we’re talking about. He must know we’re planning to leave tonight.”

“Okay, so I have the day to look around, then.” Claudius chuckled.

“I wanted you here with me.”

“Don’t you have backup? Maurice or one of your other lackeys.”

“They’re not lackeys.” I hated that word. “Maurice is with Amelia.”

The two were not getting along, and I couldn’t wait for us all to be in Chicago.

I had everything all set up.

Plan was to draw Victor and his men to Chicago.

I’d leave some guys here to look after Gigi, but the majority of my crew would be with me there.

“Luc, you need to chill. I appreciate your need for me, but honestly, bro, you’re lucky I came. I hate LA probably more than you.”

Because of Mom.

Neither of us had returned since the day we left.

I’d felt that angst when I first arrived. Like I was going backwards to a place that kept me trapped and stopped me from being who I was.

“Thanks for coming. I just wish you were here though. You being wherever you are kind of defeats the purpose of coming here.”

“You know you don’t actually need me, right, little bro?”

I might not, but I felt better with him here. This was the first time I’d not been able to locate someone. Granted, this was Victor we were dealing with. The elusive pain in my damn ass.

“Hey, have you looked her up since coming here?”

I sighed, and my stomach twisted in knots.

Herwas our mom, and no, I hadn’t looked her up. I didn’t want to, but I knew why he was asking.

I took my mother’s betrayal the hardest. I was the youngest, clung to her more than Claudius, who was like a carbon copy of my father, and I took the longest to accept that she wasn’t coming back to us.

I knew enough. She’d abandoned us to live the glamourous life and married a rich old guy who gave her everything. Her and their children. The children she wanted in her life.

What more did I need to know?

We were the scourge of her past, and I was certain she kept us well hidden.

“No brother, I have not. Was that something you wanted to do?”