Roses & Ruin

Chapter 27 (Anthony)

        I was at the construction site that the Rizzo construction company is running waiting on a guy to sign a paper. I wanted to be in casual wear. I hate coming to the site with a fucking suit on. Makes me feel ridiculous. But I had a different meeting I'd just come back from and that one was suit-necessary.

I had a sit down with a couple of guys I'll call 'freelancers' to get a message across to Mr. O Riley, the old man running the O Riley crime family along with his youngest son Liam.

Liam's starting to stir up trouble and our hope is that the old man talks some sense into him before he makes a bad situation worse.

        If we left things the way Dom wants to leave them then Liam's bowels would be soaking his shoes by now, but he agreed to do it my way for now. He okayed the sit down that'll get the message over there.

I really don't need the added shit right now. The Bratva business deal we're working on is a very big one. Game changer kind of big. I've been doing my homework on all this and I wanna close this deal smoothly.

I'm smarter than the organization wants to acknowledge. I could be doing a lot more than I am. I'm business smart and level headed in a way a lot of these other guys aren't.

Dom could use me. Instead he's got a hard on for Elio Fiore and gives him a workload I could definitely be splitting with him.

        The Rizzo crime family has their operations, but still I'm not the first son, not even a son to my uncle at all, so as much as I say we split the underboss position between Enzo and I, I know I can still be doing more in other places.

Maybe I'm full of shit and thinking too highly of myself. Who knows.

        "Mr. Rizzo, all set" my guy came over in a hard hat and tool belt that was hanging loose around his narrow waist. He's got the kind of belly for pasta though, but it sits right above it. I swiped my signature quick along the bottom line and patted my guy on the back. He nodded and respectfully wished me a good day before he went back to work.

"Mr. Rizzo...Mr. Rizzo," I heard my name being called in the distance. I looked around to find its source and found one of our electrical guys doing a slow jog over to me.

This guy is pole thin and one of those guys we hired as a favor to a friend type thing. He's had a past with drugs and he tries to keep his head on straight, but he doesn't always succeed in that. By the time he got to me he was winded.

        "Mr. Rizzo, my little girl, she's sick. Melvin won't let me off the hook here and I'm real worried about my girl," he told me. I looked him over to see his disposition and whether I thought his eyes were clear or not. 

It's sad to say that former addicts don't always get the benefit of the doubt when people are always suspicious that they might not be clean anymore. I don't like to judge, but I know trouble when I see it.

"Kenny, my uncle told me you were out already last week. We talk ya know" I told him the truth of it. Kenny rubbed the back of his neck with his dirty hands and shrugged.

"Unforeseen circumstances, ya know?" He's got a heavy Staten Island accent. I gave him one more look over but sighed and told him he had one day to sort things out, and if he asked for time off again he'd get his ass handed to him.

"Oh thanks boss. You're an alright guy, ya know that? Thanks boss," he repeated before rushing off.

      "Oh for fucks sake, is he running off again?" I heard the foreman of the site holler out to one of the guys. I chuckled but left them to their work. Dusting my suit off I crossed the street and spotted a coffee shop. Caffeine is something I could use right now. I've been running all over the place today.