Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 82094 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 410(@200wpm)___ 328(@250wpm)___ 274(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 82094 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 410(@200wpm)___ 328(@250wpm)___ 274(@300wpm)
And she’s not her.
“You’re right, Brice is a good one,” I say after another pause.
“I saw what you did a few days back. Do the others know?”
I freeze and slowly look at him. A dozen thoughts roll through my mind. I’ve done a lot of things lately. “You saw what, exactly?”
“An extremely big wire transfer moved from your account into an account owned by Stephen Panagos. I’m guessing you paid Brice’s Dad’s bill? Got to say, for a guy that got dumped, that sort of reeks of desperation.”
I take a breath to keep myself from starting something I’ll regret. “Shut the fuck up, Lanzo.”
He grins at me. “Just saying. Does she know you did it?”
“I promised her grandpa I’d pay them and I keep my word.”
“Getting dumped probably exonerates you from keeping those promises, you know.”
“I don’t give a shit. They needed help and I gave it, that’s all.”
“Right, totally normal to pay a big chunk of money to a rival gang.” He pushes himself from the bar and finishes his drink. “I’m not judging, by the way. I’ve done way stupider shit in my time. All I’m saying is Gareth told me you’re deep in denial about the whole thing, and I think you should look real closely at your actions if you actually think you’re not stupidly in love with that girl.”
“Getting relationship advice from you is like getting advice on how to stop swimming from a shark.”
He shrugs and runs a hand through his hair. “Ah, well, you’re right, what the fuck do I know? Just saying, paying her father’s debts isn’t exactly what you’d do if you really were over her.”
“I appreciate the insight, and also, still fuck off.”
He chuckles to himself and his face grows serious. “There’s one other thing, Carmine. I need to warn you about something. You know how I’ve been doing work for a certain government?” He pauses and mouths Israel and winks. “I’ve been looking at the Russians for a while now, you know, surveilling the oligarchs, getting a feel for what they’re up to, and I noticed some weird chatter the last few days. Turns out that Brice’s old man is back at it trying to raise money from some very bad people.”
I let that sink in. Taking cash from Greek mafias is one thing, but talking to the Russian oligarchs right now with everything going on in the world is fucking suicidal.
“Are you kidding me? He’s hitting up Russian oligarchs for money now? That’s as low as it gets.”
“Right? I know, seriously. We’re not even talking fun Russians that like hockey and Hollywood movies, we’re talking about mean Russians that get off on killing people and eating shitty caviar. He’s into some deep, dark shit right now, and I guess he’s pretty desperate to stay out of jail. Just figured you’d want to know.”
“Thanks for telling me,” I say, staring down at my hands as anger pulses into my spine. Her fucking father is the dumbest man in the entire world. No, he’s not dumb—if he were dumb, he wouldn’t be able to do so much damage—worse, he’s a fucking coward. That man is willing to throw his entire family under the bus if it means he doesn’t have to spend any time in prison. And the worst part of it all is he probably wouldn’t even see serious jail time, and definitely not in a big-time max security prison. They’d throw him into some comfy little blue-collar jail with, like, TVs in every room and pedicures on the weekends and the occasional conjugal visit. He’s such a piece of shit that he can’t suffer even a little bit if it means keeping his daughter safe.
Lanzo says, “Anyway, I’m going to go see if I can get Evander to fight a bouncer. I’m bored of this place already. Never did like the Oak all that much. Weird vibes.”
He walks off and I watch him go, seething. Brice’s father is going to get them killed—again. I didn’t know one man could dig such a deep hole, but it’s like he’s dead set on screwing them for life, and if the Greeks aren’t willing to do it then he’ll somehow make the Russians hate him enough to cut his throat.
I turn my back on the boys and drink my drink and stew, and after a few minutes, I find myself thinking about Brice, thinking about the money her family owes, about her father getting back into the same old shit, about her safety, about the Russians, and Lanzo’s words ring through my head.
He’s right and I hate it.
Here I am in my favorite place in the world with my four closest friends, men I haven’t seen in a while, and I’m busy glaring at everyone around me and drinking too much all because I miss her.