My hair was a mess, there were heavy bags under my eyes, and my clothes were rumpled and messy from sleeping in them. Overall, I looked exactly like I expected. I needed to stop back home before trying to do anything, maybe check up on Richie. In my line of work, the way you looked mattered. You needed to look intimidating, but not like a thug. We had certain standards. Or at least, we used to have standards, before the animal Colm took over the gang. As much as I hated our old boss Michael, Colm was far worse.
Years ago, when I was still a little kid, the Mob was fractured but functional. There were many different bosses, and each boss controlled his own territory without any oversight. My father was one of those bosses, and he controlled one of the largest and most profitable territories. That gave him some measure of power and respect in the city. Then Michael came along and began to unite the disparate factions under his centralized command. I don’t really remember the time before Michael, because I was pretty young, but I do remember my father’s anger and his slow decline in power over the years.
With Michael came more money but more problems. We began to deal in drugs and guns, which put us at odds with the police. Before, we were mainly into smuggling and protection rackets, with the occasional thievery and counterfeiting schemes. But Michael saw that the new world needed drugs, wanted drugs, and that there was a good profit to be turned. Because of all the money flowing into the Right People’s pockets, they began to flock to Michael. He was the most powerful man in the Mob for years, running things with an iron fist. But even Michael had rules and some measure of honor, even if he was just another jumped-up thief with a gun.
Colm was ready to rid himself of everything. Colm was Michael without the honor. In fact, I was pretty sure he loved violence, reveled in it, where Michael merely tolerated it. I thought we had it bad under Michael, thought that the foreigners getting involved in our business and all the drugs were slowly ruining our business, but I was wrong.
I was finally beginning to understand the meaning of “the devil you know is better than the devil you don’t.”
I grabbed a mug of coffee and sat down at the bar, turning the television on and idly flipping through the channels. I ended up on the news but didn’t really pay attention. It wasn’t like they were going to report anything important, anyway.
Luis came out a few minutes later with my breakfast, and I gave him a grateful nod. I tucked into it, feeling somewhat more human with a stomach full of coffee and food.
What the fuck was I going to do? It was true that, despite all the whisky, I had come up with a possible plan. But it wasn’t a good plan, by any means, and it would be incredibly dangerous. No matter what I did, somebody was going to get hurt. My ultimate goal was to make sure it was me who did the most bleeding, and not someone that I cared about. It was me who decided to enter the life, not Ellie or Richie or Luis. Hell, even Colin and Leary were innocent, as far as that went.
The bar’s phone began to ring, piercing through my headache, and I glanced around. Nobody was in sight, so I slowly got off my stool, reached over the counter, and grabbed the receiver.
“Liam here,” I grunted.
“Well, just the man I was looking for,” came Colm’s snake voice.
I felt a stab of adrenaline. Why was he calling again?
“Hi, Colm, how are you today?”
“I’m fine. You sound like shit.”
“Just the whisky.”
He laughed. “Well, I have some good and bad news for you.”
“What’s up?”
I felt my fear mounting in my chest. For some reason, I had a horrible feeling.
“Things have changed, my friend. The good news is, you’re off the hook for the time being.”
I blinked. “So you’re not killing the girl?”
He laughed again. “That’s the bad news. The bitch got spooked and called the cops. We don’t know why or what she told them, but she has to be taken care of today. Max is on his way, so don’t you worry your pretty little head about it.”
My heart skipped a beat as I stared at myself in the mirror. Max was on his way to Ellie’s apartment, and he was going to murder her. That ruthless fuck was going to kill the girl in her own apartment.
I didn’t hear what Colm said next, and I didn’t care. I dropped the phone and ran into my office, grabbing the gun from the other night, plus my jacket and my keys, and then I raced through the main bar and outside into the piercing morning daylight. My hangover still lingered at the edges of my brain, but the fear and adrenaline coursing through my veins were slowly burning it away.
I unlocked my car, threw the door open, and jumped in, starting the engine. I pulled out fast, driving like a maniac. I blew through a stop sign, took a hard right turn and barely missed a pedestrian, and sped west. I gritted my teeth as I got caught at a red but slowly rolled through it anyway.