𝗕𝗟𝗢𝗢𝗗 𝗔𝗦 𝗧𝗛𝗜𝗖𝗞 𝗔𝗦 𝗪𝗔𝗧𝗘𝗥 ⚔︎

3

in a dark and dingy basement on the west side of queens, captains of the lavigne family gathered to talk business. the room had no windows. they all sat silently around a rickety, wooden table, a few smoking cigarettes or fidgeting in their chairs — worked for and answered to mike davis. their names were hugo, alan, richie, james, and leo. the men, all dressed in casual suits, eventually began to settle and looked around expectantly at one another, waiting for somebody, anybody, to speak.

"so," richie said, his grating, nasally voice echoing around the room. "anybody care to explain why we've been brought into this shithole?"

hugo, a lithely figured man with olive skin, cleared his throat. "we're here to talk about something important."

"on a sunday evening?" alan said, fiddling with the rims of his glasses.

"i should be watching the a-team with my wife right about now," james muttered, slouching in his seat like a toddler at dinner.

leo's face held a look of intrigue. "what is it, hugo?"

hugo leaned back and delved his hand into his trouser pocket. as the captains began muttering amongst themselves, he brought out a small, ziplock bag of cocaine. he slowly slid it into the middle of the table and prodded a finger into it. upon seeing this, the men stopped and stared up at hugo.

richie scoffed and put his hands up in mock surrender. "if that is what i think it is, i'm out. no fuckin' way."

"me too," james said, nervously swallowing a lump in his throat.

"this ain't all of it," hugo said, his tone low and authoritative. he put his hands in his pocket again and brought out another ziplock bag, this time filled with a light brown powder.

"heroin?!" alan exclaimed. "you've lost your goddamn mind, hugo."

"let's hear him out," leo said, tucking some of his mousy blonde hair behind his ear. "that's reasonable, is it not?"

"cocaine, heroin, and reasonable do not go in the same fuckin' sentence together," james snapped.

hugo hushed the crew of squabbling men. "hey, hey, hey..." they all stopped their bickering and looked over to him. "let's talk about this."

he put his hands together and rested them on the table in front of him before picking up the little bag of cocaine.

"do any of you know how much a gram of this costs?"

none of them answered his question.

"$275," hugo said, his gaze shifting from one captain to the next. "for ten grams, that is almost three thousand dollars."

alan's mouth dropped open in astonishment. "3000?"

"yes, alan. 3000. that means, split five ways, we can easily make 550 each from one ten gram bag of cocaine."

"wow..." james breathed. "that's a lot of money."

"hell of a lot of money," leo said. "so, hugo, what are you proposing? are you saying that we... take on a new business expenditure?"

hugo nodded. "yes. that's exactly what i'm saying."

richie gritted his teeth with great annoyance. "are you fuckin' crazy? have you got any idea what mike what do to us if he found out about this? or worse— edward?"

"i don't know, fellas..." alan laughed. "it's a risk i'm willing to take."

james looked like he was going to burst into tears. "you can't be serious."