Page 1 of Effortless

CHAPTER ONE

“HOW’S THE Skip’s pet doing today?”

“Did the big boss send the little boss to work in the slums with the rest of us today?”

“Oh, too good to look at us, Tom?”

“Sure he is, Randy. Little underboss-in-waiting hates getting his hands dirty, ain’t that so, Tom?”

Tommaso Rossi’s greatest enemies had always been boredom, and a severe lack of patience when it came to other people. He was easily distracted, but as quickly as his attention could be caught, it was lost. Add that into the fact he didn’t like to wait for anything, and it could be a bad combination for a man like him.

He blamed these characteristics of his on his father, Tommas Rossi. The man had given Tom both his name and his restless nature.

It helped that Tom’s father had also given him a decent drive to get shit done when it needed to be done. His father, an Italian crime boss for the Chicago Outfit, handed down the wisdom that blunt honesty was a better gift than lies. Deceit would do nothing for his end-game except make him untrustworthy in the eyes of others. A man in the mafia wouldn’t benefit from having a stain like being a liar on his back.

Tom worked hard. Constantly. Another lesson from his dad. His last name afforded him a certain amount of respect for some situations in their criminal organization, but it also meant fuck all if he hadn’t earned it.

That’s why when Adriano Conti’s crew members tossed insults and ribbed him with their comments as he strolled through the warehouse, Tom didn’t even look at the young guys. Stupid, useless fuckers. Replaceable foot soldiers.

He knew it.

They knew it.

Their words meant less than shit beneath his thousand dollar Italian leather shoes. They weren’t going anywhere at the end of the day.

Except maybe jail.

Tom didn’t have much issue with letting the comments roll off his shoulders on any other day. He was a secondary Capo working under Adriano—his uncle. Adriano had been Tom’s mentor—one of many—for longer than he cared to remember. Before he knew how to drive. Years before he’d ever gotten his dick wet properly. Men like Adriano had been the ones to teach Tom the business—the family.

A long time.

It was Adriano’s warnings and reminders from years gone by that Tom heard in the back of his head when the comments and ribbing started. The foot soldiers for Adriano’s crew had been coming for Tom on this level since before he was a teen.

It’s your rite of passage, Tommaso. We all dealt with that nonsense, too. There’ll come a time when they won’t even be able to look you in the eye.

Fact was, Tom got the insults worse than anyone else ever had, and he didn’t need Adriano or his father to tell him the truth. To the foot soldiers in the crew, Tom was nothing more than a spoiled, secondary Capo, underboss-in-training, and the son of a boss. That was it.

He couldn’t be like them. They couldn’t be like him.

“You can’t say hi today, Tom?”

Out of all the voices following him, Tom did care to acknowledge that one. One of his oldest friends—Lou.

Over his shoulder, Tom waved a hand in response. For now, that was the best he could do for his friend. It was better they didn’t seem too friendly while the other foot soldiers were around. No need for Tom to go causing Lou any problems on his side of things.

They all had fucking masks to wear, after all.

Lou was one of the only soldiers in Adriano Conti’s crew that didn’t treat Tom like shit whenever he had to be in the same vicinity. He was the only one that didn’t try to push every single one of Tom’s buttons just to see if he could get him to react.

He swore it was a game for them.

Tom let Adriano’s office door slam shut harder than he intended to. The space was empty. The Conti Capo hadn’t even showed up yet, but he made damn sure to tell Tom to roll his ass out of bed before eight.

Sinking into a torn leather chair, Tom scrubbed a hand down his face.

Once it doesn’t bother you anymore, they’ll back off. Don’t let them see it gets on your nerves, Tom, his father used to say.

Tom didn’t know how much more unaffected he could seem than avoiding all eye contact, refusing to speak, and demanding respect when he was in charge. He no longer engaged the insults and teasing unless he absolutely had to, and never with violence.