did, but there’s something about Lumiere Place. Something about the location, and the colors, and the proximity to the Arch. It’s just beautiful, and as Tommy and I make our way through the revolving glass door, the inside affects me the same way the outside does. It’s mostly white with brown accents, and there’s a huge picture of the Arch behind the check-in counter. I love it.
“This is a nice fucking place,” Tommy says as we step up to the counter and wait for a clerk to address us.
“Yeah, it is,” I agree. “Never seen the inside before. Now that I have, I want it more than ever.”
“Between this place and River City, you’d be next level, Dominic. I don’t know how you were able to get into all this casino stuff, but it’s impressive. You’ll be set for life if you can couple this up with River City.”
“That’s the plan, right?” I reply. “This isn’t just about my life. It’s about the lives of everybody in my crew. Our kids and their futures, too. We close the deal on this place, and we’re talking about our families being set for life, not just me. We gotta make this happen, Tommy. We can be untouchable.”
“Sounds like you’re trying to become the boss,” Tommy says with a big smile, but I wave him off.
“Fuhgeddaboutit. Frankie’s gonna be the boss, but maybe we can lock us in for the future, and if I get it, you’re coming with me.”
“Don’t get my hopes up, Dominic,” Tommy says with a chuckle.
I’ve never openly talked about what it’d be like to be the boss of The Family, but it’s a position everyone wants. When you’re the boss, everybody in the family has to kick up to you. Everybody. So, for me, if I can get Abram Baskov to stop being a fucking asshole and let me buy him out of the Lumiere, I’d be owner of two hotels, and partner on two more. On top of that, I’d be getting money from everyone in The Family until I die. Tommy’s right, I’d be set, and anybody else I wanted would be set too. I could also have anybody who gets in my way clipped with a snap of my fingers, and no one would ever find the body, and it’d never come back to me, because when you’re the boss, you’re never around when a hit takes place. At least that’s how it should be. Leo and Jimmy had a bad habit of breaking that rule, which is why they’re in the position they’re in now, but I know better than to be thinking about that. Frankie has the position locked in, but I won’t need to be the boss if I can make this deal happen.
“Mr. Baskov is ready for you,” a voice says from behind me. Tommy and I turn around to find a young, clean-shaven black kid in a dark brown suit staring at us. He’s got a bald head and a nametag that says his name is Anthony. “He’s in the lobby to your left.”
“Kinda sneaky, ain’t you?” Tommy says to the guy, who just smiles as we walk towards the lobby.
Tommy and I approach the lobby together, where there’s a few people seated in cream and red plush chairs. Some of them are on their phones, others are clicking away on laptops, but they all look like occupied business people—all except for two.
Standing in front of a table in the exact center of the lobby are two men—one large guy, and one average size guy with black hair that’s styled like he should still be in the eighties. The big guy is tall and heavier set with a bald head that’s covered in tattoos, and a black suit that’s struggling to hold his big body inside of it. The average guy is trying to hide the fact that he’s covered in tattoos too, but they’re still visible as they peek out from under the collar of his black suit when he moves, as if they’re trying to escape. His hands are covered in symbols I can’t recognize from a distance, but I know they’re traditional Russian mafia tats.
I don’t know who the big one is, but the average one is Abram Baskov. His father, Ivan Baskov, was the head of the Russian mafia in Chicago a few years back. But that didn’t end too well, which is why Abram has resettled here in St. Louis.