Chapter 3 - Blood on the Ledger
Tommy Rossi operated his miserable loan-sharking business out of a dirty laundromat in Queens.
The smell of cheap detergent and stale cigarette smoke hung heavily in the humid air.
Tommy was sitting in a cramped back office, counting a massive stack of dirty bills.
He was a heavy, sweating man wearing a cheap track suit and too much gold jewelry.
The heavy metal door of the laundromat suddenly shattered off its hinges.
Three of Adrian's heavily armed enforcers stepped into the building, clearing the room in seconds.
Tommy jumped up from his desk, reaching frantically for a cheap pistol hidden under his papers.
Before his fingers could even touch the cold metal, Marcus grabbed Tommy by the throat.
Marcus slammed the heavy loan shark aggressively against the concrete wall.
Adrian walked into the back office slowly, his expensive leather shoes crunching on the broken glass.
He looked around the pathetic, filthy room with absolute disgust.
"Tommy," Adrian said softly, casually picking up a ledger from the messy desk.
"Mr. Moretti!" Tommy gasped, his face turning purple under Marcus's crushing grip.
"I didn't know you were coming, I swear I pay my tribute to your family on time!"
Adrian flipped through the dirty ledger until he found the name he was looking for.
Sarah Carter.
The debt was listed in red ink, with outrageous, predatory interest rates scribbled in the margins.
Adrian ripped the entire page out of the bound book and held it up.
"You threatened to take a child over ten thousand dollars," Adrian stated coldly.
"It's just business, Mr. Moretti, she owes me!" Tommy cried, struggling to breathe.
Adrian stepped forward, his eyes burning with a terrifying, ancient rage.
"That woman cleans my home, which means she belongs to my territory."
"You threatened my territory, Tommy, and you threatened a child who showed me immense respect."
Adrian pulled a sleek, silver lighter from his suit pocket.
He ignited the flame and held it carefully to the edge of the torn ledger page.
He dropped the burning paper onto Tommy's messy desk, watching the flames spread to the stacks of cash.
Tommy screamed in panic as his illegal profits began to burn into useless ash.
"You are out of business, Tommy," Adrian whispered, leaning incredibly close to the sweating man's face.
"If you ever speak the name Sarah Carter again, I will have Marcus remove your tongue."
"If you ever go near her daughter, I will erase your entire bloodline from this earth."
Adrian nodded to Marcus, who violently threw Tommy to the dirty floor.
The Mafia boss turned and walked out of the burning office without ever looking back.
May you like
The message had been sent loud and clear.
Nobody touched Mia.
