“Look, it’s simple. He ain’t focused on nothin’ but that World title.”

Tony Di Luca walked backwards along the marble and gold clad upstairs hallway of Alceo Dentari’s family mansion. He did so so that he could both talk to and lead his colleague and partner, Vincent Rinaldi.

“The Boss is goin’ round claimin’ to be this, that an’ the other...” Di Luca said as he started to slow down, coming to a full stop outside of a familiar, large, heavy door. He didn’t continue with his train of thought though, instead he leaned into Rinaldi and whispered, “Leave the talkin’ to me, right?”

Rinaldi’s nod was missed as Di Luca turned and did a little rat-ta-tat-tat on the door. He waited for a faint ‘enter’ to come from within before pushing it with all his might and, as the voice commanded, entering.

“Tony!” exclaimed Alceo Dentari with a smile as Di Luca emerged from behind the door, closely followed by Vincent, “An’ Vinny! To what do I owe this pleasure?”

“Boss, we need a word.” Di Luca said bluntly. He wasn’t planning on exchanging pleasantries with The Boss. He was here purely for business.

“We?” Asked Dentari as he look towards Vinny. He knew as well as anyone, whatever the issue was that they were here to discuss, it woudn’t have been raised by the big big guy.

“Yeah, we.” Replied Di Luca, who also looked at Big Vinny. He raised his eyebrows as if to say ‘follow my lead’ and closed in on Dentari’s desk.

“Well then, I’m all ears boys.” Alceo said as he leaned back in his chair. “Somethin' toublin' yous?”

“Actually, Boss, there is.” Replied Di Luca, “See, we ain’t too sure you goin’ after the World title is the smartest move right now.”

The smile faded from Dentari’s face. “I ain’t havin’ this discussion again.” He said as he leaned forwards  again and busied himself with the paperwork spread across his desk. “An’ here I was thinkin’ yous was in comin’ in here with somethin’ important.”

But in Di Luca’s mind this was important. He tried to make himself heard as he said “With all due respect, Boss, we-“ But Dentari was right there to cut him off.

“Cancer Jiles is walkin’ round with the very belt that should be ‘round my waist right now.” Dentari said, speaking over Di Luca until he was forced to stop, “You both know that belt shoulda been awarded to me the moment it was stripped off a’ Heidi Christenson. I earned that belt, I deserve that belt.”

“Look, Alceo...” Di Luca said when he could finally get a word in, “I... We ain’t sayin’ you don’t deserve the belt. We just think, right now, your time an’ efforts might be spent better focusing on the belts we actually do have right now. These belts ain’t exactly nothin’, you know?”

“They still ain’t enough.” Dentari replied quickly. “They might be the best some people can aspire to, but they ain’t enough for guys like me. They ain’t enough for Alceo Dentari.”

Di Luca looked slightly hurt by those words. “An’ what about us, Boss?” Di Luca asked raising his voice slightly, “What about Vinny an’ me? Are part a’ them ‘some people’? Are these belts the best we can ever hope for? I think you’re forgettin’ Tony an’ me are champs too. An’ I’m sure I speak for both a’ us when I say we wanna stay champs.”

“An’ I think you’re forgettin’ just who’s in charge here!” Dentari said as he rose to his feet.

Di Luca knew Dentari getting out of his chair wasn’t a good sign, but he had to continue. He’d dug this far down after all. “I know who's in charge, Boss, but that don't change the fact that we ain’t gonna stay champs if you spend all your time chasin’ the World Title.” he said, his voice wavering slightly. “We got The Philosopher Kings, MSX, Tres Brujas, an’ god knows who else gunnin’ for us. You said it yourself, if we ain’t workin’ as a unit then we ain’t gonna hang onto these belts for too long.”

“Tony...” Dentari said softly.

But he was cut off by Di Luca, “You got more important things to be doin’ than goin’ for that World title.”

“Tony, I’m only gonna say this once.” Dentari said, his unusually soft voice prooved to be extremely unnerving, “There ain’t nothin’ more important that the World title.”

“An’ I ain’t gonna stop at nothin’ til I get it.”

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