Mateo Lujan

39 | Mateo Lujan | Capo of Security | Costello Crime Family

[capo-mateo]

themiacostello‌:

Location: Sapphire Availability: @capo-mateo​

It had taken Mia a while to be able to come here when she decided to get sober. She had been a fixture at the club, or at any clubs in Chicago that mattered. Wherever she was partying, that’s where people wanted to be. Eventually, she came back with a few friends, mostly different people from her partying days. It was still the hottest place to be in the city. And now Mia was no longer sober, but no one really knew that. She knew better than to be anything with alcohol in it and anything she might need to take, in the privacy of a bathroom, was tucked away in a delicate gold heart necklace. She was dancing by herself when she turned around and spotted a familiar face. The woman made her way to Mateo, a smile on her lips. “Didn’t expect to see you here tonight Mateo.” 

Things had been rough since Marcel had been killed. Tensions with the Sinclairs were at an all time high and some moves had been made on both sides that pointed to war breaking out any second. He was trying to channel his grief into being productive and amping up security everywhere while trying to get ready to participate in whatever offensive they were inevitably going to be delivering soon. More and more often, however, after a long day at the office Mateo found himself at a club or a bar just trying to unwind or maybe forget about things for a while. It wasn’t exactly wise but with Marcel’s death on top of Mateo’s not really dealt with grief about Maria, he was having a hard time. He seemed to be having a hard time a lot, lately. He was nursing a drink at the bar when someone he didn’t expect to see here approached him and he blinked. “Didn’t expect to see you here, either. Please tell me your bodyguards are just lurking in the wings because if you start ditching them like the rest of the family I’m locking you all in a bunker for the rest of your lives.” It was half a joke but the Costellos not respecting their security details was quickly becoming the source of all of his grey hairs. 

[capo-mateo]

sofia-costello‌:

Sofia would personally have loved to pretend none of this was happening, and the possibility of a generator sounded super attractive, even though it would only be running emergency services. The thought of a hot shower and a nap made her practically weak at the knees, but she needed to focus on Luca, no matter how attractive creature comforts might be. “Yeah well, some people are selfish. Thank God I’m stronger than that.” She patted Matty on the arm, trying to do it in a manner that wouldn’t make him all weird again. They’d never really resolved things, though she got the sense Matty considered them resolved. He was such a man. “We can keep looking. I’m not gonna sit in a hotel room waiting for Luca to turn up.”

“Thank God.” Mateo echoed, vaguely amused. He loved Sofia, obviously, but he knew better than most that she could certainly be selfish but he didn’t need to comment on that, aside from his echo. He didn’t mind the pat on his arm, figuring he’d made himself clear on how he thought of her so would continue to interpret any friendly touches she gave him as just that. They climbed into the car and he sighed slightly. “He might already be at the hotel.” Still, they diligently looked in a few usual spots, only to have him not turn up. Mateo took them back to the Roma, saying they’d check inside for him, which they did, though Mateo mostly checked with his men to see if Luca had turned up. He hadn’t, not quite yet, so Mateo told his men not to let Sofia leave and slipped out to go look for Luca by himself. He knew she wouldn’t be happy about it but it was for her own good and she could be mad at him after they got to the other side of this blackout mess.

END. 

[capo-mateo]

livia-moreno‌:

Hearing that Mateo had been at the lab made Livia feel a lot better about the state of things, though her stomach twisted slightly when he mentioned that some looters had been trying to get in. She hadn’t put any money into the lab – it was all Costello owned. But it was where she worked and perfected her products. The idea of someone breaking in and ruining the equipment, or even some of the product that was stored there – it concerned Livia. But Mateo was a smart man, good at his job – someone who surely had a grasp on things. It wasn’t her place to question him, nor to make suggestions on what should be done.

“That’s good,” Livia said, in reference to him discouraging a few looters. She followed him for a moment before catching up. She glanced over at him, almost laughing when he asked if she’d seen anything crazy.

“Oh, fuck yeah I have,” she said with a simple nod. “Nothing useful. Just people being lunatics. Lighting shit on fire seems to be the go-to these days. I guess everyone’s really into arson these days.”

“Be honest. How bad do you think shit will get?”

“I’d say it was for warmth but that’s clearly not true.” What was it with people lighting stuff up when there was a crisis? There were definitely more productive things they could’ve been doing but no, all they wanted was to light stuff on fire. It seemed stupid to Mateo. The question made him consider for a moment. “Depends on how long this lasts. There’s already arson. If this goes for a few days or a whole week there might be total anarchy.” Mateo wasn’t exactly looking forward to that but he had plans in place. He could keep their people safe, or as many of them as possible as long as they weren’t idiots and stayed at the safe house he’d made out of the Roma. “How about you? What are you betting on?” 

[capo-mateo]

lucacostello‌:

Luca hated being the one to break this news. More than anything. Matty deserved to hear it from someone else, someone who could give him more information. Something useful. Luca was just another body that Matty had to worry and look after. He’d come all this way just to try and find him. Given the state of things, it had been pretty fucking selfish and stupid of him to just walk away from Roma. But Luca wasn’t himself. He’d just lost his father, and all he wanted to do was fucking self destruct.

Luca hugged Mateo back, standing there for just a few seconds without really offering much to say. 

Luca wondered about his other siblings – how they must’ve been dealing with the news. His mother. Luca pulled away from Mateo, looked at him as best as he could, given the darkness. Would they figure it out? Would they band together and figure it out? Luca’s actions with Paityn were treasonous. If anyone ever found out – the consequences could potentially be deadly.

He swallowed, deciding that dwelling on it only made it all hurt worse.

“Have you heard from my brothers and sisters? Is Sofia okay? Mom?” Luca asked, realizing now that he hadn’t really been in touch with any of them since Chicago had gone dark. It was stupid and reckless of him to go so long without being in touch with any of them. And he now regretted it. Their father was dead. Now wasn’t the time to runaway.

“I wanna see Sofia.”

Mateo was willing to let the hug last as long as Luca needed it to. His father had just died, that deserved whatever comfort Mateo could give him and more. But Luca did step back after a moment and they just looked at each other, in the relative darkness. There were no real words for this kind of thing, Mat knew that. There was nothing anyone said when Maria had been killed that made him feel better and he was sure the same would be true for Luca now. So Mateo wasn’t going to pile on any more useless words he would just wait until Luca was ready to go then take him back to safety and the rest of his family. 

Questions came a moment later and Mateo nodded. “I’ve heard from all of their security details and most of them are at the Roma last I was updated. I took Sofia there myself.” They’d all been accounted for fairly quickly, except for Marcel, and it had been a concern for Mateo but there had been so much going on. Clearly he should’ve made that a bigger priority. Something he could torture himself with later. It made sense that Luca would want to reach out to the rest of his family, especially Sofia. “I’ll take you to her.” It was as simple as that, really. They deserved to be together to deal with this and there was still a lot for Mateo to do to make sure they didn’t lose anyone else in this damn blackout. Work was always a good distraction, an outlet, a way of dealing with things without really dealing with them. It would be harder to ignore Marcel’s absence when things went back to normal but at least, for the blackout, Mateo could keep his mind off of the fact that was still twisting his insides into knots. He hoped he was doing a damn good job of not letting that show on his face. 

[capo-mateo]

penny-sinclair‌:

This man was so angry. Penelope could feel it in every inch of their conversation. His words were tense and filled with a hate that was probably well-deserved when it came to her last name, though she was finding more these days that she was less and less attached to the darn thing. “You say that as though I should know everything my husband chose to do. Things would have been very different if I’d been the one running things. Families would have been so far beyond any limits.” That was the only comfort she could offer on the topic of his sister as she truly didn’t know who she had been or even that the Sinclairs had anything to do with her. Whatever that conversation, she hadn’t been privy. “I do hope you can learn to see past your blind hate one day, Mateo. You might find you were shooting in the wrong direction.” 

Mateo shook his head, frustrated. “Don’t pretend you’re innocent. Maybe you weren’t completely running things but you’ve been a big part of your organization for a long time.” There was nothing she was going to be able to say to calm him and every word out of her mouth seemed to have the exact opposite effect. “Don’t fucking count on it.” He snapped, done with this conversation. He downed his drink and walked away, having enough sense left to at least realise he needed to leave before things got worse. She didn’t understand and it was pointless to think he’d be able to make her so he might as well just leave. Mateo didn’t want to give her the satisfaction of knowing she’d ruined his night, either, so he just stormed away. 

[capo-mateo]

sofia-costello‌:

The “Find my Phone” app took a while to log into, and then simply told her that her brother’s phone was turned off and that GPS wasn’t working at the moment due to cell tower issues. Super duper. Fucking hell. Shoving the phone back to Matty, Sofia took a deep, cleansing breath, eyes closed, to try and centre herself. She was going to have to take a yoga class or something. “A game that could distract people from all of this hasn’t been invented yet, but if you think of something, I’m sure it’ll be a million dollar idea.” She accepted his offer wordlessly and let him lead her wherever. “We’ll have to check his usual hangouts and see if he’s there.”

Maybe Sofia’s tracking hadn’t worked out so well since she gave him back his phone fairly quickly. Well, they’d just have to look the old fashioned way, then. “I don’t know. Get them into the hotel long enough with the generator on and some of them will probably start to forget what’s going on outside.” That could work for the people who didn’t have to worry about the logistics of things, anyway, which didn’t include Mateo but could included Sofia. Mateo dropped his arm from around her shoulders when they got to his car, pulling out his keys. “Ok. I do want to circle back to the hotel after we check a few to see if he’s wound up there. I can keep looking after that if he’s not.” 

[capo-mateo]

livia-moreno‌:

Mateo Lujan, head of security for the Costellos, was certainly on Livia’s good side. He’d personally set up security at the lab whenever Livia first made an appearance in Chicago. Clearly safety was a priority for him. Losing product meant losing money. Not only for her, but for the Costellos, too, and that simply wasn’t an option. 

Livia turned to face him, arms folded as she came to terms with the fact that her apartment was likely fucked. Thankfully, she didn’t have a lot of valuables in there, and she’d only moved in about a month and a half ago. She could let it go.

“Roma sounds like a good place to hole up. I’m down,” she simply said, eager to get somewhere calm, away from the craziness of the streets. “How’ve things been? Anything crazy happen?” She wondered. “Lab seems to be okay, as long as people manage to stay away.”

Mateo nodded, even though his words had been less of a suggestion and more just a statement of what was about to happen. Better that she agreed and came willingly, though. “Nothing too crazy yet, other than this kind of shit.” He motioned to the crowd and the fire. “I was just at the lab, actually. That’s how I spotted you. Discouraged some looters while I was there checking for any of our people.” He started walking, assuming she’d follow since he’d left his car back by the lab and they’d need to get back there to go to Roma. They sure as hell weren’t going to walk all the way there. He was pretty terse with employees, professional and business like, but she didn’t work directly under him so he supposed there wasn’t a need to maintain it so strictly. To that end, he glanced at her. “How about you? Seen anything crazy?” Maybe it was slightly delayed but at least he was sort of making an effort. 

[capo-mateo]

lucacostello‌:

It made Luca sick, to have to give Matty this news. Matty had been in Luca’s life since he was little. He was family, in every sense of the way. Luca watched as Matty took a step back, horrified. There was disbelief for a moment, his mind likely trying to make sense of things. 

“Halloween,” Luca simply said, voice low. He wiped at his eyes with the back of his hand. He stood in his place, tears trickling down the sides of his face. “I don’t know what happened. No one knows. I got the call a few hours ago. Didn’t wanna be at Roma,” Luca explained, voice strained as he spoke. Luca stared at the floor now, not wanting to meet Matty’s gaze. Luca knew right away that Matty would try blaming himself.

Luca’s stomach twisted. The Sinclairs had probably done this. Paityn had all but confirmed it. Nothing was certain yet, but it was the most logical explanation. 

“What the fuck are we supposed to do without him, Mat?” Luca asked, voice quivering as he stared at his feet. “Not the fucking business. Fuck the business. But us. Family. What the fuck do we do without him?”

Halloween. That hadn’t been long ago. No wonder Mateo hadn’t been able to find Marcel when he was trying to round up all the Costellos but if he’d been faster, if he’d been paying more attention...but none of that mattered now because the hard truth of it was that Marcel was gone and there was nothing anyone could do about it. Still, the very fact of it made Mat feel like he was falling down some kind of bottomless pit, at least that was the feeling in his stomach. 

Luca explained as much as he could, which wasn’t much, and Mateo shook his head helplessly and ran a hand over his face. All right, at least he knew as much as anyone. Seeing Luca’s tears made Mateo’s shock start to dissipate and while he still felt like falling in on himself he couldn’t do it. Luca needed him, it had been his father, after all, not Mateo’s, he took a deep breath and squared his shoulders. The feeling in his stomach wasn’t gone but this was more important, being here for Luca, comforting him, taking care of the rest of the family. That was his job, after all. 

“We’ll figure it out.” Mateo assured him, forcing his voice to be steady and walking over to put his hands on Luca’s shoulders. “We’ll band together, and we’ll figure it out. Ok?” There were no pithy words of sympathy, just the truth as Mateo saw it because they would figure it out, they had to. Then he pulled Luca into a hug because there wasn’t much else to do or say. First the Sinclair girl, not this. Luca was sure as hell being put through the ringer and if Mateo could’ve taken all that pain in his stead, he would have in a heartbeat. That wasn’t possible, though, so all he could do was be here for Luca as best he could. 

[capo-mateo]

sofia-costello‌:

The thought of crashing in one of the suites at Roma sounded fantastic right about now, but she’d have to worry about Luca first. If he got hurt because she wasn’t vigilant, it would be her fault, no matter how he’d gotten himself in trouble in the first place. “Gimme your phone, I’ll use Find My Phone to track him down.” She’d installed it on his phone for this exact reason, though she only ever used it in emergencies. “I wasn’t being serious, Matty. Gawd, learn sarcasm.” She didn’t want to know who hadn’t checked in yet. The list might make her feel guilty, and she only had enough energy for Luca at the moment. “First we find Luca, then we can go to the hotel.”

Mateo rose his eyebrows slightly but dug out his phone and handed it over. He supposed he shouldn’t have been surprised she’d come up with a way to track Luca’s phone, Mateo probably should have done that himself. “Good idea.” He rolled his eyes when she mildly scolded him. “You didn’t sound very sarcastic and a game would be a good distraction.” They were nearly at his car but he nodded at her comment. “Deal, but we can’t just stand out here.” He had his gun with him, of course, but it would be safer to at least sit in the car with the doors locked. 

[capo-mateo]

penny-sinclair‌:

Pushing his buttons had to be one of her new favorite things. All of the men in her life had always tried to be so poised until the doors closed. Penelope was envious of people who could show their emotions in front of others like they didn’t care for what anyone else had to say. Plus, Penelope Sinclair was everyone’s type. “My husband is in jail, don’t tell me the truce isn’t intact.” Her meeting with Cassandra earlier in the day more than cemented that. Her husband had fucked up but so did Marcel when he made the decision to blow Paityn to hell. “As for your sister, I am truly sorry. That is not who I am or who I strive for the family to be going forward. I am not my incarcerated husband and I hope you would agree.” She really didn’t know who his sister had been or the role that her family had played in her passing but things were changing. 

“I’d say it’s a solid maybe.” The wedding had definitely destabilized whatever tentative truce that had been reached between the two families but there could’ve been some conversations that Mateo hadn’t been privy to. Still, as he said, there was no real truce for him, not personally. The apology did nothing to calm him. “Are you? I find that hard to believe when you don’t know who she was.” It seemed like she was just saying it to say it and he of course didn’t believe her about whatever direction she might be thinking of taking the Sinclairs in. It wasn’t likely that he was really going to talk about Maria with a Sinclair, of all people, but he’d already let his anger take over and it didn’t seem like it was going to subside any time soon. 

[capo-mateo]

lucacostello‌:

Paityn had left his apartment just in time. The last thing he needed was to be seen with her, so soon after his father’s death. It was risky. He’d been laying on the couch with Tallulah, completely ignoring his phone now. It was cracked, almost ruined by the fit he’d thrown earlier, right after leaving Roma.

Luca heard a knock, probably security again, urging him to go to Roma. Luca had refused to even open the door. They weren’t welcome in his apartment. (Though, he knew that if he was really in danger, they’d break down the door. They understood that he needed space – for now, at least.)

But he heard Matty’s voice. Luca sat up quickly, heart racing. He stood from the couch, walked over to the front door and swung it open without thinking. 

“Mat,” Luca said. His eyes were still red, burning with tears. Fuck. Matty didn’t know yet.

Luca stepped to the side, deciding it’d be best if Matty just came in. 

“You haven’t heard,” Luca said, voice breaking. “My dad… died.”

Luckily, the response was pretty immediate and Luca opened the door quickly and Mateo almost took a step back because of how upset he looked. No, not just upset, devastated. Something was clearly very wrong. “What happened?” He was all concern now, even as he walked into the apartment, turning to face Luca again once he was inside. His mind was racing with what could have happened, running through scenarios and things that could have upset Luca so much. He didn’t have long to come up with ideas before Luca spoke again. 

“Heard what?” There was an urgency in his voice, and a mounting sense of dread. That was only confirmed at Luca’s next words. My dad...died. 

Mateo’s expression crumpled for a moment, before he could school it, eyes widening in horror as he took a step back, as if the words had had a physical impact on him. “What?” He couldn’t seem to think properly for a second as the shock of it rolled through him. Marcel, dead? Not only had Mateo failed in his responsibility to protect the family but Marcel was a man he’d looked up to, trusted, loved as part of his family, because that’s what the Costellos were to him. But now, apparently, he was gone. “W-when? How?” He couldn’t seem to wrap his mind around it and it was unfair to ask Luca these questions but he felt too much like he’d been hit by a train to really think clearly at the moment. 

[capo-mateo]

penny-sinclair‌:

What did she care if someone who hated her was shocked at her response? It wasn’t like she owed him a damn thing. Especially not the way he enjoyed digging and crawling under her skin. “Sounds to me like you’re protesting too much, Mateo. So I caught your eye, nothing to be ashamed of.” She shrugged, being completely facetious at this point. “You sound like a petulant twelve year old. I don’t know if anyone told you but this is a night for relaxation. We’re practically in a truce right now.” Wasn’t her husband behind bars more than enough to prove that she was willing to play ball?

Mateo narrowed his eyes and snorted. “You’re not my type.” It was flat and matter-of-fact, hoping to clearly express he had no interest in her whatsoever. Maybe even standing near her had been a mistake, he could feel his temper slipping and fast. Her digs didn’t help him keep a lid on it and he clenched his jaw. “I don’t relax around Sinclairs. There’s no official truce anymore and even if there was there would never really be one for me. I’ll never make nice with the people who had my sister killed.” There were a number of reasons he shouldn’t have said any of that but Mateo was too pissed to care about them right now. 

[capo-mateo]

sofia-costello‌:

Sofia bet money that he wasn’t at Roma, while also hoping that he was. Luca had the magical ability to find trouble, like a truffle pig or something. Matty wiped away her tears and she kind of wanted to kick him in the knee because he was being so sweet and romantic but of course to him this was all normal. What an asshole, adorable though he was. “Okay. As long as it’s safe there, I guess we’re going to Roma. Maybe me and the girls can get a game of canasta going or something.” Trying to act casual, she glanced around. “What’re you doing out here anyway?”

Mateo didn’t see a gesture like wiping her tears away as romantic, he just thought it was kind. As he’d said, he thought of her as a sister, after all, and he’d wiped away Maria’s tears when she’d been crying. In his mind, it was exactly the same thing. “It is, trust me. We’ve locked it down. There’s enough space and beds for everyone and a pretty good stock of food.” He pulled back a little and just put his arm around her shoulders as they started to walk, heading back in the general direction of his car. “Sure. Some kind of game or distraction would probably help everyone at this point.” Now that he’d found Sofia, he was going to take her back before looking for anyone else. “Trying to find as many of our people as I can. A lot of them are at the hotel but some haven’t checked in or I haven’t heard from yet.”

[capo-mateo]

This blackout business was a little bit insane and it was definitely keeping Mateo busy. He’d been gathering as many Costello family members and employees as he could and getting them to the Roma, which he had securely locked down as a safe house. He’d been so busy that aside from using his phone as a flashlight and to make various calls, he hadn’t had the time to really check it. There’d been some sort of news alert but he assumed it related to the blackout and had had so many other things going on that he hadn’t gotten around to checking it. While getting everyone to the Roma was a task in and of itself, it went a lot more smoothly when people stayed there when he got them there. Apparently, Luca had decided to leave. Keeping in contact with Luca’s detail had made it so Mat didn’t completely freak out about it but it was still dangerous enough out there that Mateo wanted Luca safe with everyone else. 

His men had informed Mateo that Luca was back at his own apartment so that’s where Mat had just arrived, getting out of the car and heading up there. He nodded at his employees who were standing guard outside the door and knocked. “Luca? It’s Mateo. What’s going on? Can I come in?” Part of it didn’t seem to make sense, that Luca would leave a relatively safe place just to come back here. His apartment certainly wasn’t as secure so that lead Mateo to believe that something had caused Luca to wander off and he wanted to know what that was. 

@lucacostello​

[capo-mateo]

sofia-costello‌:

Sofia flung herself against Matty and sobbed for a second before wiping the tears and probable mascara streaks away, taking a long sniff and composing herself. Now that Matty was here, everything was okay. Her previous problems with him were, for the moment, totally forgotten. “Of course, I’m always okay. We should find Luca though. He’ll probably fall in a manhole if we leave him to his own devices.”

Mateo caught her as soon as she launched at him, holding her tightly and securely and not minding that she was sobbing other than that he was worried about her well-being. Their last interaction had been awkward but he’d hoped they could put it behind them and this was a crisis situation anyway so none of that mattered. He pulled back a little to look at her when she said she was okay, gently wiping away a couple of the tears she’d missed. “As far as I know, he’s at the Roma with most everyone else. I’ve made that our safe house for as long as the black out lasts and have been trying to get everyone there.” He didn’t mention that he hadn’t yet located everyone but he was definitely working on it. 

[capo-mateo]

livia-moreno‌:

The streets weren’t safe. And Livia knew better than to be out and about, when all of Chicago seemed to be in shambles. But she needed to get to her lab, no matter the cost.

While the Costellos provided more than enough security, she wanted to ensure that her lab remained untouched. The batch that she’d produced that morning was worth a lot of money, and losing it would not only piss off the Costellos – but it’d piss Livia off, too. She didn’t like it when people fucked with her work. 

After ensuring that the lab was secure enough, she headed back home, noting the eerie calmness of the streets. Or so she thought. She rounded a corner to find a group of people outside of her apartment building, setting fire to the entrances for no apparent reason.

“Oh, fuck.”

The streets weren’t safe which was exactly why Mateo was out on them trying to find and round up as many Costellos family members, loyalists, and employees as he could. He’d settled on the Roma as a safe house because it had was big, had food, beds, and a back up generator that would keep the lights on for at least a while. He had half his security team locking down the hotel and the rest were out with him, keeping in touch by text and phone calls so he’d know if they found someone and if they’d gotten them safely back to the hotel or not. The wedding had been an epic security fuck up on his part and he’d be damned if he was going to have the same thing happen here. 

Part of his strategy involved checking other Costello owned businesses and spaces to see who might be hanging around. One of those places had been the laboratory where most of the Costello family’s drugs were manufactured. It was generally a secure place but someone had decided to take advantage of the black out since when he go there, someone was poking around who shouldn’t have been. Mateo naturally had his gun and rudely interrupted what would’ve been a ransacking and made sure the lab remained untouched. He’d just been making sure that the whole place was secure and their weren’t more looters lurking around when he noticed someone just leaving. He decided to follow them but it wasn’t until they reached an apartment building and she spoke that he realised who she was and put his gun away to approach her. Mat glanced over to what the crowds were doing and frowned. “I’m not sure how they think that will help.” He shook his head then looked back at her. “Moreno, right? We’re using the Roma as a safe house. I’ll take you there since I doubt there’s much you could do here.” 

[capo-mateo]

sofia-fashionista‌:

Someone with blonde hair ran by him and Mateo was pretty sure he recognized her so he followed. Using the flashlight on his phone, he held it up making sure the beam was next to her face and not right in it so as not to hurt her eyes. A wave of relief went through him as he saw who it was. “Sofia, thank god! Are you okay?”