Page 44 of Taken by the Mafia King (Kings of Philly #1)

FRED

I wanted no part of any of this fucking mess. I’d done my time, paid my dues, and somehow gotten out of the mafia unscathed. Most men in my position, my age, would’ve been six feet under two decades ago, or have their bones resting at the bottom of the Atlantic by now.

But not me. I knew for fucking certain it wasn’t luck. This was God’s spite, I was sure of it. Letting me live a long life while I watched men like Andre Bianchi continue to thrive.

I’d bought my way out of the mess I’d made as a young, idealistic man.

I’d groveled at Andre’s father’s feet and climbed the ranks to Caporegime while Andre was still licking the toes of strippers and swinging his gun around.

He was the Bianchi prince at one time, capable of nothing, wanting for nothing, and somehow getting everything while the rest of us died or went to prison with RICO charges.

Then he’d become my boss, and I spent the rest of my miserable existence doing his bidding in the name of the family.

Andre wasn’t the kind of man to have a fancy, wood-paneled office in some mansion upstate. Old school and set in his ways, Andre preferred a more public place to sit around and pretend he had control over this city.

I walked downstairs into the basement of a butcher shop in the bowels of east Philly, wrinkling my nose at the stench of cigar smoke and cold cuts. I could be sitting in my armchair watching the game, but I hadn’t been able to sleep since finding out Seraphina was caged up in Ricci’s house.

Apparently, I was the only motherfucker who cared.

I’d been down in that basement countless times, more than I liked to admit. But now this place, with its bloodstained concrete floor and smoke-yellowed walls, made me feel a smidge of claustrophobia. Had it always been this small?

“What the fuck are you doing here?” Andre boomed, laughing heartily from behind a desk far too big and grand for the shitty basement. The other bosses had no understanding of the kind of boss Andre truly was. Ruthless. Jealous.

Merciless.

He looked more like a used car salesman than what the finely dressed men in the mafia films depicted.

He could clean up when he wanted to, but at the moment, I was not impressed.

Sweat dampened his white shirt as he leaned back in his chair and looked up at me expectantly.

Around the room, his men, who’d been sitting there fucking around with dice and cards, shifted in their seats, some of them standing.

“Take a seat, Freddy. Haven’t seen you in years. How’s retirement treating you?”

I glanced around before I gripped the head of a cheap office chair and swung it in front of his desk, sitting. I felt eyes all over my back as his current crew watched me. “Thanks for seeing me today.”

“I was surprised you called. Sounded serious.”

“I heard some rumors.”

Andre looked me over, his dark eyes narrowing on mine for a moment. “About what?”

Before I could reply, a woman with legs for days wearing a short black dress fluttered out of my blind spot. Her long blonde hair fanned out behind her like a fucking sheet of gold as she settled in Andre’s lap like a trained dog.

“Uh, well, the auction,” I replied, momentarily stunned by the woman’s sudden presence in the room.

She danced her dainty fingers over Andre’s shoulders and whispered something in his ear before turning her attention to me.

The girl was young. No more than twenty-five.

I ground my teeth and continued as if she wasn’t there.

“Specifically, about who was sold at the auction, Andre.”

“Lots of women were sold at the auction. Like always.”

“Sera,” I growled, then cleared my throat. “She was sold at the auction.” I wasn’t sure he heard the whisper, but he wasn’t listening anyway. Blondie was biting the rim of his ear while Andre’s meaty hand came to rest on her bare thigh.

“Andre,” I said as firmly as possible to try to get his attention. He curled a finger through a gold lock of hair and muttered something in the girl’s ear that made her blush. My teeth clenched together. “Andre.”

“What did you come here to say, Fred? You need money for the next auction? Have your eye on someone, do you? I’m a busy man. Get to it.” He snapped his fingers in rapid succession.

“I just told you.”

“You said you heard some rumors about the auction. I had nothing to do with the last auction. I didn’t sell any ladies.”

“Sera was sold at the auction,” I said with all the calmness I could muster.

“You came all this way,” he began, waving his ring-covered fingers, “to talk to me about Seraphina?” He snorted with dry laughter. “Whatever she got herself into isn’t my problem.”

“She’s your fucking daughter, Andre.”

“She was my daughter,” he said with a sick, dismissive shrug of his broad shoulders while Blondie licked his face. “The girl chose to leave. What was I supposed to do?”

Flabbergasted, I tried again. “Have you tried to make a deal with Ricci to get her back?”

“Why the fuck would I do that?” He laughed, his voice echoing through the room.

I leaned back in my chair and watched him fondle his pet, his prize, probably a chick he bought at an earlier auction thrown by the Marinos. He must have paid a pretty penny for her, judging by her looks and age, as well as the fact she wasn’t trembling at his fucking feet. This one was trained.

Broken.

“Seraphina is as good as dead now,” Andre said after a moment.

“I’m not fucking with Ricci. Leave it alone, Fred.

Go back into whatever hole you climbed out of and keep your nose out of this.

Why drag yourself back into the game? You know as well as me this life requires a price to be paid every now and then.

Seraphina is paying that price. Let her. ”

Anger boiled up inside of me. I rose from my chair, my fists clenched. Behind me, I heard the tell-tale sound of guns being drawn, but I didn’t look over my shoulder.

The foul, humid, copper-smelling basement pressed in tight around me, making it hard to breathe. I hadn’t gotten what I came for, but Andre had confirmed my suspicions. He’d be no help saving Seraphina from that murderous bastard, Ricci.

Andre seemed to have forgotten about me entirely as he took his pet’s chin in his hand and pulled her face close to his. She gave him a pouty little smile and licked at his lips.

“Is that all, Fred?” He looked at me out of the corner of his soulless eyes.

Fuck him.

I turned and headed for the stairs. The muzzles of guns followed me until I was out of sight.

I cut through the butcher shop and emerged on the sidewalk desperate for fresh air.

I sucked in a ragged breath and wiped my sweaty brow with the back of my hand before fishing my phone out of my pocket, dialing, and lifting it to my ear.

“I need you to look into someone for me, but I don’t have a name,” I said into the receiver, my eyes on the windy street ahead. “Pronto.”