Total pages in book: 89
Estimated words: 83755 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 419(@200wpm)___ 335(@250wpm)___ 279(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 83755 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 419(@200wpm)___ 335(@250wpm)___ 279(@300wpm)
That was all I had the chance to see.
Rocco was right. This hadn’t been a subtle incident. Nothing had been taken care of quietly. Someone had to have called the cops. Hundreds of bullets had been fired in that lobby. That building would soon be crawling with men and women in uniform. So, we crawled out of that hole in the glass and made a run for our cars. Adrenaline was still shooting through my veins. My victim’s image was still swirling around in my head. His gagging. His shock. The fear that had taken over him. Even the echoes of the bullets in my ears hadn’t faded yet. Back in Rocco’s Torino, I cupped my drenched forehead, believing my heart was going to explode. It was pounding like a damn war drum. But, when that powerful motor came into life, I smiled to myself. It was small; I didn’t think anybody would even notice it on my face, but it was there. We had won that war.
35
LEONARDO
Well away from the sparkly city lights, I looked back through the rear windscreen.
And it felt good.
Hell, it felt fucking great.
I couldn’t believe it, but I was happy to leave Vegas. It was about the last place in the world I wanted to be in.
Probably because sticking around meant that cops would crawl up our ass. Nothing was certain, but it was a possible scenario. None of us liked the idea of talking to those sons of bitches. We were all just dying to drive back to New York.
And that drive felt like heaven on earth.
Unlike the one to Vegas, it just didn’t feel like it took forever. Hours upon hours just flew by, with me and my boys all smiles and making jokes about the fuckers we had just wasted. About a situation where we had come out on top. We had done something big. We had taken out a mob boss—an important member of the organization. After a vicious gunfight in that lobby, Kanin and his boy were dead, and we were not.
Stopping at one of those shitty motels on our way, I realized we had an extra reason to feel good for ourselves.
Rocco and his crew stopped being dicks. Our contribution to the whole operation made them talk nicer to us. They had more than a few niceties for us, like:
“You kicked some serious ass back there.”
“That thing where you charged them with both guns blazing? It showed a lot of guts.”
“Stabbing that prick in the neck to finish him off? Brutal. That’s what a true gangster would do.”
I also loved Matteo’s take on this.
“That’s just the beginning, man. We mean something to them now. We’ve got their respect.”
This meant so much.
A mob crew looked up to us. Word would spread, and soon, the whole organization would do the same.
I repeated that about a hundred times in my head, because I was having a hard time believing it.
I hadn’t known respect. Ever.
Other than the two guys I’d been tight with since I was knee-high to a goose, nobody else respected me. No one would say: “I know Leonardo Turner. He’s a badass. He doesn’t take shit from anybody.”
Hearing a seasoned crew talk me up was like having Scarlett Johansson call me “smoking hot.” That’s how fantastic it felt.
Most of all, though, it wasn’t their comments that made me feel so good. It was the prospect of all those crews discussing me and my boys. The story of us getting rid of the Kanin’s and their crew would be on everyone’s lips. This was priceless. We had been busting our butts for months to accomplish this. We had toiled away, we had bled, we had come face-to-face with death, but we had done it.
Three days later, we were back in New York. Tired more than ever and having spent a night out in the fields. The plumbing in the last motel we’d tried to stay in was broken, so we had to improvise.
Our plan was to head back to Brooklyn. We would then contact Piper and ask to meet with her.
But Rocco’s text made us think twice.
Piper’s over at Maggie’s mansion in Sands Point. Follow us. We’ll take you there.
And here I thought things couldn’t get any better.
The idea of seeing where Maggie lived didn’t throw my socks off. Too much luxury never really did it for me.
The prospect of seeing Piper without planning a meeting first?
Yeah.
I loved that.
I was tired of driving to Manhattan and back, especially during rush hour. If a drive was what it took to see her again, I would take it. I just couldn’t wait to see the look in her eyes. To hug her again. Of course, I wouldn’t be the only one to do that, but I didn’t care. There would be time for us to talk about our personal issues in the future. Taking care of our enemies had bought us that time.