7– Made man

Tonight, Hunter was wearing a suit, the only one he owned. A black suit. He wore it with no tie, because he didn't have one. What would he need to own a tie for? He didn't like dressing formal. It always made him feel funny. He believed that suits were designed for people at a high hierarchy and that whenever an ordinary person wore it, they would all of a sudden start behaving like they were now important, out of the blue, a somebody. When he stood in front of his closet an hour ago and the suit caught his eye, he found a reason to finally wear it. He was now one of the people at a high hierarchy. He had every right, even so, he was still not comfortable in a suit. Suits suited people like Hector and some of the capos, depending on their line of management, but him? He didn't think so, even though he was the second in command now.

He had set the meeting at 7pm and he was walking in at 7h05. This warehouse was one of their interrogation sites. It was hard for anyone to find it if they had no idea it existed, because out front was a fancy restaurant which was one of Hector's businesses. Only top tier people came to this restaurant, people who didn't mind spending 100 dollars on one glass of wine. And the restaurant was mostly busy because as you know, rich people like being around other rich people. Less uncertainty. But what those customers didn't know, was that when you walked into the men's restroom, there was a little door next to the mirrors, and when you entered that door you'd see a metallic shelf of cleaning supplies, if you slid the shelf one side, you'd see another door. If you walk through that door, you'd walk into the warehouse, and this warehouse was soundproof so no matter how loud a person screamed in here, that sound would never leave the walls of the warehouse.

Hunter could see the capos waiting at the centre of the warehouse, standing in a group in front of the large wooden table. There were no chairs, just the table. This particular table was not meant for sitting at, no. It was used for placing bodies if you wanted to cut certain body parts out.

The Capos were having a conversation about who-knows-what and when they saw him walk in, they continued talking amongst each other but their voices were now lowered, as if they didn't want him hearing what they were talking about. When he approached the circle of men, they went silent.

Hunter saw Joe in the crowd of men, just like he had asked him to be.

“Good evening gentlemen.” Hunter said putting his hands in the pockets of his suit pants.

“Evening.” Some of them muttered back.

“Firstly, I just want you all to know that I respect you a lot because I would like to believe that you all earned your position as capos but, I also want you to know that I don't need anyone to like me or sing my praises. Because, as you know, King promoted me to underboss and that's who I am now. Underboss of the Black Souls.” Hunter paced away as he said this. Adding, “Whether you like it or not.”

He then began pacing back to the group of men. “As it's supposed to be, everything comes to me. You have an issue with the business? Me. You have a complaint to make against one of the family members? Me. The money? You give it to me. Every 1st of the month, no later than 23:59. Understood?”

Nobody said anything. They were all looking at Hunter as if he was crazy. They surely did not expect this speech.

“I asked. Does everybody understand?” Hunter asked firmly, like the boss that he was.

“King gives us until the 5th to pay.” Ray answered.

“That was when the money was going to him. Now it's coming to me, so 1st of every month.”

People mumbled.

“Great.” Hunter nodded looking up at the men one by one. He then frowned. “Someone's missing.”

The men just stared back at him.

“I know there's six of you.”

Just then the door opened, and Lucas stepped in. Everyone was now watching him approach. When he reached the crew, he cleared his throat and stood with them looking around at the men wondering why they all had annoyed or upset looks on their faces.

“You're late.” Hunter told him.

“Yeah...” He responded.

“'Yeah?'” Hunter frowned looking at the time on his Rolex. “What time did I call this meeting?”

“Nine I think.” Lucas responded, shrugging.

“You think?” Hunter took a few steps towards him. “Do you know what time it is now?”

Very unwillingly, Lucas looked at the time on his watch. “It's ten past nine. Who cares?”

“'Who cares'?”

Lucas looked around at the other men and then shrugged.

“You're late and that means nothing to you?”

“What is it supposed to mean to me?” Lucas responded with a snare.

“Shit, first you call a short-notice meeting, and then you tell us we're now paying on the 1st and not the 5th.” Ricardo shook his head. “I don't know what the hell King was thinking but just get on with it, I have a business to run.”

“The kid said what about the 1st?” Lucas' snare got worse. He then chuckled in disbelief. “Must be shitting me.”

“And what is this one doing here?” Angelo asked gesturing at Joe, who looked uncomfortable since Hunter had gotten here. “Talk about respect, is this respect? You call a meeting for the capos and invite this kid? Unbelievable.”

“This must be April fools. There's no way King put this baby in charge of us.” Lucas laughed mockingly.

Hunter quickly pulled out his pistol and pointed it at Lucas' head.

“Woah.” A few of the men shouted, taking a step back. Although they took a step back, Hunter saw that they all had their hands ready to pull out their pistols.

“What's your problem, kid?” Ricardo asked him. Ricardo was the capo in charge of illegal gun smuggling.

Hunter then pointed the gun at Ricardo. Sending more tension in the group. At this point the guns were out but no one had the balls to point it at the new underboss that King had picked out.

“The problem is that you all don't respect me.” Hunter said and then cocked his gun. “I'm not your kid, I'm your boss.”

Ricardo chuckled. “So, you're just gonna shoot me? First day as underboss and you take out a family member? King would really like that, hey?”

“Am I just gonna shoot you?” Hunter repeated, not breaking eye contact. “That depends on the next words that come out of your big mouth, Ricardo.”

They stared at each other for a while and then Ricardo responded. “What the fuck do you want me to say, kid?”

Pow!

Hunter fired his pistol. It took Ricardo about three seconds before he fell back and crashed on the floor. The other men tried not to make it obvious, but they were tensed now.

“You see, now he's gone!” Hunter snapped at the men as if one of them had shot him. “The next time someone disrespects me again, I'll put a bullet in their head like I did Ricardo.”

He then turned to Lucas, the late comer.

Lucas immediately took a big step backwards and raised his hands. “I'm sorry boss. I have a family man...”

“Shut up.” Hunter told him. "You're sorry for what?”

"I'm sorry for showing up late to the meeting.”

Hunter then pointed his gun at Lucas, grinding his molars.

"I'm sorry man.” Lucas repeated, his voice shaking.

"If Hector King had set up this meeting, would you have been late? And unapologetically?”

Lucas contemplated his answer. “No.”

Click! This made Lucas flinch. Hunter had tried to fire but there was no bullet in his gun.

“You're lucky, I guess.” Hunter said, tucking his pistol away, behind his pants.

Hunter looked around at the faces of the five men. They were ruthless men, but this act of Hunter's gave them horrified expressions. It was like knowing a cub and then all of a sudden witnessing that cub turn into a lion and devour an animal. They also knew that they couldn't touch Hunter. Hunter belonged to King and if you touched him, you touched King. With nothing to do with their guns, the men started packing it away one by one.

Internally, Hunter was pleased. He knew that he only had one bullet in his gun, and he knew that he'd have to use it tonight. On whom? He had no clue ten minutes ago but unfortunately it had to land on Ricardo. But that was the only way he'd earn respect from these men, if they knew that he was as ruthless and unafraid as them.

“So, what was the two issues that you ran off to tell King about, skipping me?” Hunter was asking the men.

No one spoke.

“Your silence sounds like defiance to me.” Hunter said pacing. "Speak... the... fuck... up!”

“This stupid man took one of my girls, put some shit in her head and got her to marry him. Now he refuses to pay my monthlies.” Lucas said. “What do I do?”

“Does this girl want to stay with him?” Hunter beckoned.

Lucas scoffed. “I think he's paying her privately. Taking it out of my cheque.”

“Do you own a gun?”

Lucas frowned, "Of cause.”

“Then blow the idiot out.”

“Bridgette or Herman?”

“I'm guessing Herman is this fool interrupting my money.”

“Yeah.”

“Then that's who.” Hunter fixed his suit jacket. "Send your message across, he can either keep her but continue paying you monthly or he can return her and only have to pay when he needs her to do some service. If he doesn't cooperate, then take him out, and take Bridgette back. That simple.”

Lucas nodded.

“What's the other issue about?”

Angelo sniffed and then looked sideways at Hunter. “A year ago, we borrowed this guy a million dollars because he got into this situation where he gambled a few of his clients' money. The clients were apparently going to sue his company if he didn't give back their money, so he came to me. I borrowed him that money and he promised to pay it back within a year with interest of cause. It's been a few weeks now and he won't pick up my calls.”

“How many weeks?” Hunter asked him.

“Three.”

Angelo watched Hunter, waiting for him to respond.

"But you're a loan shark, why do you need me to tell you what to do when someone doesn't return the money he owes?”

“Because this is not just any guy…”

“Who is this guy?”

“Holland. A billionaire that owns this company called Three Way Factor.”

“So, he's a billionaire, huh?” Hunter asked, pacing. “Why doesn't he just pay it back?”

“I don't know. Think he's trying to buy time.” Angelo shrugged. “Maybe he doesn't have the money.”

“Well, three weeks is enough time to buy. You borrow something and give your word that you'd return it in a year, then fucking return it in a year.” Hunter said stopping in front of Angelo. “You know what? Pay this guy a visit. Don't ask your soldiers, you do it. Pay him a visit and get that money. Use your pistol if you have to. Don't kill him, just threaten him. He clearly doesn't know who he is dealing with.”

“Sure.” Angelo said.

“One more thing before you all leave. There'll be some changes with regards to my salary. It's going up ten percent for some of you.”

The men grumbled.

“Lucas, capo in charge of prostitution, ten percent more.” Hunter continued.

Lucas, the only one who was not wearing a suit, didn't look happy about this new change. “Look... boss, business is quiet now since that Rocky dude placed some of his girls a block from mine. His girls look younger and fresher, I can't compete with that.”

“His girls look younger? Then get more younger girls to join. You still can't compete after that then you tell him to get off your turf. He doesn't listen then shoot the guy. No excuses. Ten percent. You may go.”

“But–” Lucas tried.

“I said you may leave.” Hunter interrupted firmly.

“Was it because I was late?”

Hunter didn't answer, Lucas was pushing it now.

The threatening look on Hunter's face was enough words, Lucas turned and walked out.

“Paul, in charge of illegal gambling, ten percent. Make your boys work harder.”

“Woah man, you know the FBI are on our asses because they can see something is up. One of these days we might just get busted.”

“Until you're not busted, ten percent. You may leave.”

“Yo, come on. The thing is we need to lay low for a–”

“I said you may leave.” Hunter said to him firmly.

He looked Hunter up and down and then walked to the exit.

“Lastly, the drug trafficking. Ray. Fifteen percent. Increase production, increase demand–”

“Woah, hold up little Jake.” Ray said. “I know you never went to school, but you can't increase demand. We can increase production but what's the point if the demand is still the same?”

Hunter felt belittled by Ray calling him that. As much as he would have liked to make another threatening example out of Ray, he couldn't. Ray was once his boss. He used to deal for Ray in the streets before he got sent to juvie. Then again, Hunter thought, that doesn't matter because Ray never gave him free money or free anything. He had to work for that money.

Hunter took a step closer to Ray. They were now eye to eye. “You call me that again, I'll make sure you regret the day you woke me up on the corner of that street. You don't know me anymore.”

Ray just stared back.

“Now leave.” Hunter said, after staring him up and down.

“How can I leave when you still haven't answered my question, little man?” Ray asked him.

“Branch out. It's a big city.”

“I already got soldiers on almost all corners of the street; how do you want me to 'branch out'?”

“'Almost all'?” Hunter asked him.

“Look, I know you don't know shit about this, but we aren't the only mob in this city. I can't just take up all the corners.” Ray shrugged.

“If this is still about the fifteen percent then I need you to know that you're wasting your time trying to 'school' me. Fifteen percent.”

“I treated you right little man, what's this 15 percent when everyone else gets 10 percent?”

Hunter just looked at him sideways.

Ray smirked at Hunter, nodded his head like he had just accepted a challenge and then left.

“You're in charge of protection racketeering right?” Hunter asked one of the caporegimes.

“Yeah.”

“What's– what's your name again?”

“Luciano.”

“Good, get your crew to take this body away. Make it look like a robbery at his store.” Hunter told one of the caporegimes. “Pay a visit to his wife and let her know that we are sorry for her husband's demise, and we'll take care of the funeral costs.”

“Okay.” Luciano responded.

“Ricardo was head of the gun trafficking department. I'll get his successor to take his place.” Hunter said. “The rest of you are dismissed.”

Hunter then walked away. As he walked away, he smiled to himself. Maybe he had to thank the suit for that confidence to stand up against men he once feared. But he couldn't give all the credit to the suit, he too had this ruthless, cold-blooded nature in him. He had never been afraid to pull the trigger. Even his first time. When Hector had let him pull the trigger on some man at one of their warehouses downtown to prove that he was ready to be a made man, his hands did not tremble. He didn't even know what that man had done and why Hector's men had tied him up at that warehouse. When Hunter was called in by Hector, he saw the man kneeling in front of Hector with his hands tied behind his back. He looked badly beaten. He's face was unrecognizable with all that blood dripping from his face. He's lips were swollen and he's eyes almost swollen shut. What he did to deserve that punishment, Hunter had no clue.

“You ready to become a made man, boy?” Hector King had asked him.

“Yes, sir.” Hunter had responded.

“Give the boy a piece.”

Ricardo had then rushed to pass Hunter his gun. The gun was heavier than Hunter had expected. Holding that gun made him feel like he too had some power now. Like he too could be feared by someone.

“You shoot this man, and it proves to me that you're worthy.” Hector had told him. “Hold the gun with both hands.”

Hunter looked from Hector to the man and then held the gun properly in both hands. He pointed it at the man and then pulled the trigger.

Click! He was confused why the gun didn't go off.

“Cock the gun first and then pull the trigger.” Hector said to him. And while Ricardo was showing Hunter how to do that, Hector told the victim, “What a way to die, huh? Being the first body of an amateur.”

The man was so close to death that he had no energy left to plead.

“He's ready.” Ricardo told Hector.

“Go ahead, son.” King said.

Hunter didn't wait long. Pow!

It was like he was born for this life. Destiny had known and that's why it had put him into this world, without a mother or a father. Destiny knew that baggage wouldn't do him too well. With nothing to lose, he would become the best underboss that this mafia has ever had. He didn't intend to kill any more of his men, but Ricardo had to be sacrificed so that no one else would stand on his way of running this family. Hector depended on him to generate more income and keep everything running smoothly. He wouldn't let anybody screw that trust up. Nobody.