"You have to stop drinking yourself to stupor Raphael, you're probably going to kill yourself because of alcohol," Bella said with her hands on her hips and a face that was definitely frowning, showing her wrinkles that told she was aging.
"You're scaring your children like this Raphael, you need to stop this bad habit." Bella finally said softly.
"Is it because of her? It's been over a year Raphael and remember it was your decision to push her away" Bella continued.
It was like everything Bella said was entering one of Raphael's ear and coming out of the next ear, he was too drunk to even realize what his mother was saying. Sure, he barely got himself together during the day for work but at night it was an entirely different matter. He hated staying alone with his thoughts and so he drowned them in alcohol. He tried to avoid his children with the way he was. He scoffed, sure his children.
All he wanted was one person and that one person was not available. Life was hell for him.
*************
Doing business in public bars weren't Dante's typical scene, there was no judgment on his path. He just tended to prefer his business done where distractions were not present in every corner. It was just easier to get down to details when his associate won't be distracted by a piece.
But he had also let this meeting the Russo's underboss go while he dealt with the gun run for the past two weeks. So he didn't have much choice but to get this over and done with as soon as possible.,
A bar it was.
The starlight, actually.
Dante smirked a bit at the flashing neon sign above him, The starlight was an interesting name for a bar especially in this parts of Chicago. He shooked his head as he moved toward the entrance of the bar.
The large man dressed in all black with the word SECURITY across his shirt, stepped aside as Dante came to the front door. As this was not one of the regular places he came to for business, the security didn't recognize him, and so he was subjected to being patted down and was asked for a ticket before he could enter. Right, the ticket Dante thought. Russo did mention he would need that to gain access to the bar tonight. Apparently there was some kind of show going on tonight. He brought out the ticket from his back pocket and handed it over to the security before he entered the bar.
Dante was surprised by the interior of the bar, the floor shined which was befitting the name of the bar, the walls were covered in artwork and neon signs that spelled out different names, places and even the actual name of the bar, Starlight.
The tables and booths were set at a reasonable distance from the raised platform that was supposed to be a mini stage. That was probably for the performance Dante thought.
The lightning wasn't too bright, chrome fixtures, and bare bulbs. Even the inverted lighting over the long, built-in bar with the gleaming bottles on the back shelves were bright overhead. Really the place had a nice aesthetic.
Mostly people in their twenties and thirties drinking and obviously waiting for the show to start.
He quickly searched the floor for the one man that he had come to find, It was much easier for Dante to come find this particular man that for the man to clear his schedule for Dante.
Frankly, Dante would have demanded he do just that, but Russo wasn't exactly so cooperative and he had a bit of an history with the man. Plus, he only let that shit passed because Russo was a damn good money-maker.b
Soon, Dante found Russo sitting at a small, single table in one of the shaded areas of the bar.
Beside him, a table full of twenty-somethings laughed over drinks, and swayed a bit to the fast tempo the DJ switched to in the next section. Really, the whole place was full of people—every table was at capacity, or pretty close to it.
Given there was only one chair at Russo's table, Dante grabbed the free chair at the table with all the people. "Just need it for a second," he told the guy who glanced at him. The bearded, ripped-jean wearing man narrowed his gaze. Dante laughed. "And now you can get it your fucking-self when I'm done, asshole." "Hey—" "Yeah, you try it. You look like you could give me a run for my money outside." Except he didn't look like that. At all. Swinging his back to the guy and not waiting for a response, Dante dropped the chair on the other side of Russo's small table, and sat down with his arms hanging over the back. Russo passed Dante a passive glance with a quick nod to his side while he rounded up the call with whoever he was talking to on the phone.
"What's good boss?" Russo asked.
Dante smirked "You should tell me what's good Russo, how's the money coming in for me? Those races pulling in some good money?"
"Was there ever a doubt boss? The reason why I called for this meeting was that there would need to be a place where we can pass the money coming in from the races. The races are pulling in too much cash and we would need to pass that money through a legal means." Russo said.
Dante rubbed his hands on the stubble that's forming around his jaw, "Uhh...ok we're going to have to open up a new car garage or a restaurant, we don't want the feds breathing down our neck. I don't have time for their shit right now."
This right here was why Dante liked working with Russo, the guy knew exactly what he was doing and did it well.
"And don't go starting shit with any of the fucking young ones in here, yeah?" Russo said, nodding at the table where Dante had stolen the chair from.
"I actually like this bar, Dante. I might want to come back."
Dante Laughed. "Yeah, I get."
Russo only sighed.
"You do good business Russo, keep doing that."
Russo didn't even seem to hear Dante— his attention was focused on something else over Dante's shoulder, and the widening of his eyes before a low whistle split through his lips cut through the noise in the room.
"Damn, girl," Nathaniel muttered appreciatively, "it's been a hot minute since you performed, hasn't it?" What in the hell? Turning to see what had Russo distracted was probably Dante's biggest mistake of the evening. He couldn't afford to be off his game when he was doing business, even if it was with someone he trusted, but the second he saw her on the stage, that's exactly where Dante found himself. Off balance. Stunned. And entirely stupid, too.
He hasn't seen that lady since the day he took Gio, his dog for a walk on the beach.
Then she'd been wearing nothing but running clothes with her hair packed into a ponytail but tonight she was dressed to kill.
She wore a black dress that hugged her curves in all the right places and her hair was let down, they trickled down her shoulders. Her lips was glossed too. She was beautiful.
Sophia mounted the make shift stage that was in the bar, with her guitar by her side. As she took the mic from the stage and cleared her throat to gather the attention of the people but there wasn't really any need for her to do that cause her appearance alone had already done that much.
She gave a smile to the small crowd and said, "Good evening ladies and gentlemen. I really appreciate you all for taking your time to be here this evening. There's been a little hitch in the performance today and for that I'm sorry but hey you get the next best thing instead....me!" she gave a nervous laughter.
There was a whistle from somewhere in the crowd and someone from the crowd shouted, "You're the best thing here baby!"
Sophia along with the crowd laughed.
"Ok, so I hope you enjoy my song this evening. It's kind of dedicated to my past and all the shitty things I went through. I'm sure everyone here also has a kind of shitty past and this song is also dedicated to you all." Sophia said.