Love and Liquor

Midnight Affairs

XV.
Midnight Affairs

Luca met up with Donny at the car that had been pulled around to the side of the house.

His mind was whirring. This had not been his night.                                                

First, he battled with Lola in front of Grace, then, the governor threatened to pull his support concerning the city police and keeping them quiet while the Venzettos did business. After that, Grace had practically reprimanded him in front of the entirety of the party for touching her, thoroughly embarrassing him, and to top it off, he had blown a fuse, yelling at Grace till he made her cry.     

He felt like shit. No, he was shit.                                                                      

Making Grace cry was the last thing he had wanted to do, but she just got under his skin. It didn’t matter though. He should have been able to keep himself under control, and he didn’t. Now he had an upset fiancée that wanted nothing to do with him.       

Cazzo! Why did things like this always seem to happen? Every time he had a good thing going, his temper always ruined things. He didn’t want to yell at Grace, but she had wounded his pride. He wanted to protect and care for her. What he had told her was true. He wanted to love her and make her happy.     

And now, he had to deal with this.                                                                      

“Donny, what the hell happened?” Luca sounded exasperated, tired almost. 

Donny glanced away from the dark road to look at Luca. His posture was slouched, his head lolled to the side, resting on a fist propped up on the door of the car. 

“Somebody was snoopin’ around in the offices, tried to take a couple crates of whiskey too. Grabbed him before he could get away with anythin’. The Don told me to get ya to come and take care of it.” 

The rest of the car ride was quiet.                                                                           

By the time they reached the warehouse, Luca had composed himself once again. It was time to work.                                                            

The warehouse was in a seedy part of town, a few whores stood on the street corner across the way, hollering out to Donny and Luca before the two receded into the building. Inside, it was clean, well, cleaner than one might expect. A few threadbare sofas and chairs were scattered around. Empty bottles and abandoned card games littered tables. This makeshift sitting area was surrounded by five foot walls of crates, full to the brim with hooch.          

This was the Venzettos’ holding area. The alcohol came in, and stayed here till it was time to deliver.                                   

Luca walked straight into his father’s office. He sat down in the chair behind the heavy, wooden desk and sighed. A few of the desk drawers were slightly ajar. Someone had been in here. He threw the rest of them open; shuffling through the ledgers and documents in them, making sure everything was accounted for.  

He slammed the drawers shut. Nothing was missing. He leaned back in the chair, pinching the bridge of his nose with his thumb and forefinger. Whoever the thief was, he wasn’t very good, and that meant he was a waste of time.