A butcher’s pride, a nephew’s loyalty, and a rain-slicked street where old school friends become deadly targets.
The Weight of the Cleaver
The scent of sawdust, copper, and cold fat always hung heavy in Sal’s shop. But tonight, a new aroma fouled the air: fear.
Uncle Sal stood behind the counter, a thick ribeye in his calloused hands, but Tony wasn’t looking at the meat. He was staring at Sal’s left eye. It was swollen shut, a nasty cocktail of deep purple and sickly yellow.
“Protection,” Sal spat, slamming the cleaver into the wooden block. The vibration rattled Tony’s teeth. “They want half the monthly take, Tony. I told them to go to hell.”
Tony rubbed his jaw. He knew exactly who “they” were. Frankie “The Fuse” Vitucci and Jimmy Romano. Tony had shared a homeroom with them at St. Jude’s. Back then, they were just loudmouths stealing lunch money. Now, they wore cheap silk suits and pretended they were the Corleones. They weren’t real mafia; they were dangerous wannabes trying to prove a point.
“Don’t pay them, Zio,” Tony said softly, taking the wrapped steak. “I’ll handle it. Privately.”
Two hours later, Tony sat in his sedan across from the neon-lit social club where Frankie and Jimmy ran their sports book. Rain drummed a relentless, jazz-like rhythm against the windshield. In his coat pocket, the heavy, cold weight of his father’s old .38 revolver pressed against his ribs.
He didn’t want this life. He had spent his whole adulthood dodging the shadow of the neighborhood syndicates. But family was family.
The club door groaned open. Frankie walked out alone, flipping a brass lighter, a cocky smirk plastered across his face.
Tony gripped the steering wheel, his knuckles turning white. He could start the engine and end this right here on the asphalt. Or he could step out into the rain and use the .38.
Frankie stopped under the streetlamp, looking right toward Tony’s dark car. His hand drifted slowly inside his jacket.
How does Tony handle the wannabes, and does he make it out without becoming the very thing he hid from? Write the final chapter.
