Total pages in book: 76
Estimated words: 72325 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 362(@200wpm)___ 289(@250wpm)___ 241(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 72325 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 362(@200wpm)___ 289(@250wpm)___ 241(@300wpm)
“He’ll want to know if we had anything to do with it. You…”
“I know what to say,” I snapped. “I wasn’t born yesterday.” I loved Julian like a brother, but sometimes, he also annoyed me. Like he was the straight A golden child in the family, and I was the black sheep who was failing all of his classes—which, I had to admit, had generally been the case when we were kids.
At least, when we actually showed up for school.
I strode over to the consigliere, believing this was just a formality. For all our expendability, Dons didn’t like to lose their men. It wasn’t a matter of love. It was more of a matter of loyalty and experience. Their replacements just didn’t have the experience. They had to learn things from scratch. Dons also had no idea whether the new guys would stay loyal to them or not.
I found Roselli and Gambini in living room the size of a fucking ballroom. They were smoking Cuban cigars as well as whiskey. Gambini turned to me, giving me a nod. I couldn’t say I loved the guy, but he was a damn sight better than my boss, who was ogling a passing waitress like the fucking loser he was.
“Mr. Winslow, nice of you to join us,” Gambini was polite to me. “It’s been a while. How have you been?”
“Can’t complain, Don Gambini,” I addressed him in a steady tone. “What about you?”
“Not bad, but I’ve been concerned lately,” he confessed. “You see, one of my men was killed. Violently killed. And much to my surprise, it happened not far from your place.”
“I heard that,” I said calmly. “That blast woke me up, Don Gambini. I went down to check it out, but I had to stay away because of the cops. I only found out it was Baxter the next morning.”
The expression on his aging face tightening, he furrowed his brow. “So, you’re telling me you had nothing to do with it? What about your buddies?”
“It wasn’t them, either. They were at home,” I lied. I had to, or else none of us would see the light of day again.
“And are there witnesses to that?”
“I don’t know, sir.” My tone was as sincere as I could make it, but I wasn’t sure Gambini was buying it. Honestly, I had no idea if the guys had been alone. Rocco would’ve been home because of Tommy, but there was no fucking way I’d bring that up. Rocco kept his son as far off the radar of men like these as he could.
“So, if I check your phone records, I won’t find any calls between you at the time of that blast,” Gambini continued. Roselli said nothing, but he was paying attention to my responses. “Correct?”
“Julian called me,” I said, keeping eye contact with him. “He wanted to see if I’d heard the blast. He read online that it had happened near my building. Plus, he knows I have a sweet spot for the Rusty Bucket.”
“Slater,” Roselli began, taking a couple of steps toward me in what was probably supposed to be a menacing way. “If I find out you were behind that bombing, I’m going to the fucking zoo and feeding you to the lions. Probably even they know not to insult Don Gambini like that.”
“He said he didn’t do it, Nick.” Gambini put his hand on my boss’ shoulder. Then he turned to me. “That will be all, Mr. Winslow. Thank you.”
Fucking prick. Roselli, not Gambini. I couldn’t tell if Gambini believed me or not, but in the absence of hard evidence, he’d maintained the peace. Unlike Roselli. I would have loved to throw that asshole through the glass that lined the entire room and provided a spectacular view of the water. We’d served his fucking father for years, yet the son still treated us like shit.
I plucked three bottles of imported beer off a tray as I strode out of the mansion. Roselli was a prick, but I couldn’t lay a hand on him, unless I had a death wish.
Finding myself back out on Gambini’s lawn, I scanned the area. There was no sign of Rocco or Julian. There were just groups of men in cheap suits like me, surrounding their bosses like the fucking secret service. As I looked for my buddies, I kept an eye on the front gate. It was the closest means of escape unless we wanted to go for a swim.
A silver Mercedes was idling there, and from the way the men had snapped to attention, the guy inside was a VIP.
Except it wasn’t a guy, it was a girl. A super fucking hot girl.
The woman left her car to a valet and walked along the path toward the house. She had on a red, ankle-length dress, but the slit that went almost up to her waist showed almost the entirety of a very shapely leg every time she took a step. Gambini’s men were certainly paying attention as she strode away, but she never looked back.