I stood outside the room that held in it the most politically powerful person in St. Louis. My office. Was I nervous? Not exactly. I was caught off guard, the mayor not wanting to be seen by other eyes here made me pause. As far as I knew, even my father had never directly interacted with the man, though they had apparently come to an agreement in the past. The type of agreement that lets a Mafia's work go unnoticed by the police.

I shook myself out of my senseless stupor. Worrying about what the visit might be for would not change the fact I needed to face this head on. I opened the door and entered, taking in the scene.

The man in the hooded suit sat in front of my desk, waiting with two bodyguards on either side. Two other bodyguards stood just a bit off from the door and as I walked through they approached. I stared them down.

"Just a routine check." One of the men said, not bothering to see if I was on board with the whole thing or not before starting to pat me down. In my own office. I seethed quietly but made no trouble for them, allowing them to remove the three pistols I hosted in my clothing. Finally, they nodded, gesturing I could go on. To my own desk. 

Many had commented I had a too large ego, some past women even referring to me as a narcissist. Narcissist or not, this show of blatant disrespect in my domain bruised my supposedly big ego. That was never much of a good idea.

By the time I reached my desk and sat down behind it, I had my face masked pushing down the annoyance for the moment.

"I apologize for the little paranoid display. As a fellow man in power, I believe you can relate to the valuing of safety." The man said, removing his hood. Indeed it was the mayor of St. Louis, in the flesh. He looked to be aging as most mayors do but those eyes still emitted some danger from them. They were the eyes of a resting predator, eyeing a piece of meat he couldn't decipher if it was prey or a fellow predator infront of him.

I took a moment, sighing and pouring myself a glass of vodka I also kept stored here. Let's just say I'm an avid fan of Vodka. I sipped it slowly, eyeing the man as I tested the limits of his patience, taking back control of the room. The mayor appraised me with the same smile he had from when I had sat down, expression unchanging.

"No harm done." I finally replied, swirling the contents of my glass thoughtfully. "Though I'm sure, as a fellow man in power you can understand the importance of setting up meetings." 

The mayor chuckled, his light brown eyes felt like they pierced into my very soul as he leaned forward. "Vito. We are two men who no door is unopened to in St. Louis, I'm sure you can look past the... suddenness of my visit." 

"Mayor-"

"Please. Call me Carol." 

"Carol. You know that no door stands unopened to me for a reason, no? In that case, inducing fear into people to not go against my wishes.." I paused, taking another dramatic sip of my vodka. "Would that not entail my own door being unopened? As to keep up the fearful respect commanded --no, demanded?"

The mayor leaned back, seeming to weigh his options. The bodyguards tensed, almost as if they were preparing to beat the shit out of me right then and there. Finally the mayor retained his smile.

He motioned to my half full glass of vodka, "May I have a glass?"

I pursed my lips as if considering it. "Sorry, but the vodka is shared in scheduled appointments only," I paused to gesture at him. "Of which you are not."

The mayor had a visible lapse of control over his features and I saw the annoyance, the sheer rage across his face. This was someone who, as you can imagine, was accustomed to everything moving according to his beck and call and not only was I denying that normality, I was pretty much challenging him with the disrespect right to his face.

Was I being a bit of a hard-ass because I was still annoyed at the whole being searched in my own office, showing up unannounced like he's the boss here thing? Maybe. But even past that petty reason I sensed he felt like he was the king of this city, perhaps rightfully so and my ego demanded to challenge him, show him who the true alpha is --so to speak."

The mayor took a calming breath, smiling up at the bodyguards who now seemed ready to leap across the table.

I reached down into my socks in one smooth motion. The bodyguards, though tense, didn't stop me. They had searched me and came away with three pistols, surely that was all there was....or was it?

I set another pistol on the desk, appraising it like I had never seen or held one before. The bodyguards now looked positively livid, dogs held on a thin leash that saw an impending threat. The entrance of the cold metal in my hand was nothing but a last resort option, should I have to use it I probably wasn't making it out of here alive. But, it was the thought that counted in this case. Him having armed bodyguards tipped the power in the room in his favor, would this be a great equalizer? Hell no, but it was something to consider and bring the prospect of if I go down, he does too.

The mayor held up a hand, calming his posse and though hesitant, they obeyed. "Always a trick up your sleeve, huh?" The tone in which he took on, made it seem like this wasn't just idle chatter. No, it meant something.

I played over the sentence. Always a trick up my sleeve. Realization dawned on me, could he be referring to the fake grenade, the whole ex-soldiers trying to kill me thing? Was he the one who had Owens on a leash? "Are you involved?" I asked, quietly, directly addressing the situation. Normally, I was a bit more suave but someone potentially threatening a long time business partner rubbed me the wrong way. Call me old school but if they wanted me they should come for me. Directly.

The mayor put on an innocent face, his visible wrinkles multiplying as he scrunched up his face in a show of confusion. "Why, I have no idea what you're talking about"

I blame the vodka. In a fit of annoyance I raised the gun directly at the mayor, it almost touching his head across the desk. Lets just say, it isn't a good idea to point a gun at the mayor.

The bodyguards all pointed their guns at me, four guns against one, not exactly the most fair of situations but no sense crying over spilt milk. Or my spilt blood for that matter.

Despite all of this, the mayor laughed, cutting through the tension with a knife. He clapped as if he were watching a show, not in front of a loaded gun.

"Are you involved with the Owen's situation?" I repeated, assuming the gun pointed at him would add a bit of an exclamation mark to the question.

"Ah," the mayor said, acting as if a thought had just come to him. "No, I am not directly involved but, I know of it." I tensed, motioning with my gun for him to go on. Despite the presence of the gun, the mayor seemed to be willingly speaking not at all daunted by the object of destruction. Had to give him props for that, the guy had balls of steel it seemed.

"It's my city after all," the mayor continued, something about the way he said my city rubbed me the wrong way. 

"So, you know who's behind it?" I questioned, probing him to at least assure me it wasn't by Owen's free will.

"Information is not cheap." He said with a bit of a finger wag and a playful smirk. 

"Neither is a meeting with me." I replied, lowering the gun finally. The bodyguards followed my lead though making sure to point theirs longer than need be. "Friday."

"That'll be the day of our official meeting?" The mayor questioned, seeming to accept the fact it was the best deal he would get from me. After my nod, he continued. "I'd like to tell you the main point of the task however, just so you're a bit up to speed."

I nodded again, motioning for him to continue while I poured myself another glass of the clear liquid. Couldn't hurt to find out if the man was about to ask me to help him kidnap babies or even worse, send money to charity.

The mayor sighed, clasping his hands as he took on a more serious tone, eyes boring into mine. "I wish for you to discreetly dispose of the chief administrative officer." Ah great, Politics. 

"I'm not really in the business of asking why, but I'm sure you can understand, what with the risk and all --I would like an idea of why this is being done." I replied after a pause, tapping my glass as my mind raced. The mayor wanted his chief gone, this was a situation I could greatly benefit from, one way or the other.

The mayor hesitated, gauging if I would see through a bullshit story I assumed. He seemed to finally come to a decision and locked eyes with me yet again, his black pupils looking a bit dilated. I idly wondered if the mayor did drugs.

"He has some dirt on me that I suspect he'll use to strongarm me when the time comes. It's bad business all around to have someone poised to strike so close, don't you think?"

"I'm a strong believer in keeping enemies close, actually." I responded.

The mayor's smile widened. "I'm starting to take a liking to you, Vito. I think if we were to work together, no one would be able to stand in our way. No one."

"No one usually dares to visibly stand in my way, mayor. It's not good for one's health." I leaned in, closer to him. "No one." I repeated the words, lacing them with more venom this time around.

The mayor nodded. "Of course. I still hope you'll consider my offer, though. There's some entities that, even for us, challenge our authority on almost even footing." He paused, covering his mouth to the side like he was telling a secret, "Like your friend who has Owens by the balls."

So, someone really was using Owens like a puppet. Immediately, I worried about his safety. Old fashioned or not, I valued my long time partners greatly, I would willingly lose a large sum of money just to guarantee their safety and now, someone was threatening my partner's safety in some way and manipulating him to do their bidding. Safe to say, it didn't sit well with me.

"You'll disclose who that someone is at the meeting, I assume?" I asked, taking another sip of the vodka to calm my building rage.

The mayor smirked, "Should everything go well, yes."

The bastard wasn't planning on telling me unless I agreed to do the deed for him. A tricky situation indeed. I was already fabricating a plan to use this situation to my --no, the gang's advantage and it would all start with hearing the other side of the story.

I nodded and the mayor took it as his cue to leave, frowning at his watch as he stood. "It's been a pleasure, Vito. Seems your father can rest easy, with you running the show."

Damn right. 

Back in the meeting room some minutes later, the long night was becoming longer as I recounted the impromptu meeting with the mayor to the rest of my 'management team'.

"Vito, this guy is bad news." Reyna said after I finished. "We shouldn't deal with him."

Reyna had always been the most cautious of us three currently occupying the room, especially when it came to getting into business with powerful figures.

"Reyna." I started after a long pull on a blunt. It had been a long day --well night, and the vodka wasn't sufficient to combat the growing headache. "You're forgetting this way we get to know the Owens situation and thus help him out."

Reyna still didn't seem convinced. "You know we would eventually get in touch with him, Vito. We don't need that help at a cost." She said, hissing the last sentence.

I frowned, nothing easing my growing annoyance at my sister. "Rey, even if we do manage to end up getting in touch with him, it's an eventuality. Do you not think about how the person calling the shots will act when they find out he failed? We don't know if he has the time for us to leisurely go around searching and asking, Rey. We just DON'T."

Reyna frowned at my tone but seemed to be taking in what I said. "Then, you plan to ally with the mayor at the meeting?"

I shrugged. "I don't know yet," I admitted. "I'm planning to hear the other side's story and see the dirt they have on him."

Reyna laughed, a harsh unamused laugh. "Didn't you just say you're only doing this for Owens? Why the fuck are you playing both sides."

I sighed. Explaining myself was getting old. I thought back to the memories of my father doing the same sigh as my mother pestered him, complaining about his constant need to expand and take on strong enemies. Good times. I took another long pull, soaking in the memory.

"I never said I was only doing this for Owens, Rey. Just that he was a strong factor in it. This is a good chance for us to rise in influence, either way."

Reyna scoffed, throwing her hands up in the air. "When will it end, Vito? You're going down the same path as Dad, swimming in a shark infested water when it isn't needed."

I shook my head, putting out the blunt and sitting up. "That's where you're wrong, Rey. We are sharks in that same water. As big as the others? Not quite. But, that is why we must keep moving forward, getting bigger as we eat more until finally, even when we bleed, the other sharks hesitate to attack because we're now the most dangerous thing in those waters."

Reyna said nothing, sitting back in her seat with an exasperated shake of her head. She looked to Michael who had been content to listen in as he smoked, not saying anything. "What about you, Michael? Do you think potentially betraying a mayor is a good idea too?"

Michael fidgeted, clearly uncomfortable under the scrutiny of his older siblings. "I.. I agree with Vito. If we just wait around Owens might be killed." He paused, eyes suddenly looking downcast. "He was dad's friend. We've gotta help 'em out."

Reyna scratched her head. "So, the idea is finding out about Owens and freeing him from whatever hold someone has on him, is the main goal?" She asked, looking at me with a tilt of the head.

I nodded. "Seems so." Owens was indeed pretty high on my list of save this person, but it was a lie. The opportunity to get a foothold in the political scene, as much as I disliked it, was too golden. 

"I hope you keep that in mind then." Reyna stated after a long pause. 

"How are you gonna get in touch with the administrative officer anyway?" Michael questioned, breaking the building silence.

"I know a guy that's pretty close to him, you might remember him too."

My mind wandered to the man I spoke of. 

He might not exactly be happy to see me.