Total pages in book: 84
Estimated words: 80471 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 402(@200wpm)___ 322(@250wpm)___ 268(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 80471 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 402(@200wpm)___ 322(@250wpm)___ 268(@300wpm)
“It’s Renzo,” the boss called through the door, making her break away from me, and rush to unlock the door.
Renzo moved inside, his thumb snagging Cinna’s chin, and turning it side to side to check out the damage, before glancing around.
His gaze went to Lip, then Joel, and finally me before landing back on Cinna.
“Seems like we got more to talk about than I realized,” he said, moving toward the kitchen.
“You want some coffee?” Cinna asked, and I suddenly remembered her lack of a third cup.
“From you? No,” Renzo said, shaking his head. “What’s with the kids?” he asked.
“Strays,” Cinna said. “Joel,” she told him, waving toward the couch, “is a neighbor. You should hear his parents wake up and start screaming at each other any minute now. And Lip was the homeless kid who helped you guys find me,” she told him.
Renzo, a man who picked up strays himself, Cinna included, just nodded at that.
“Alright. Well, shit is handled at the apartment building. We decided to take all the bodies. Better not to have cops sniffing around, since we don’t know who that crew was talking to about what. It was a long night. You owe Rico a nice meal,” he said, looking at Cinna.
“Thanks, Renz,” Cinna said, sucking in a deep breath.
“Now why do I get the feeling two of my most trusted capos have been lying to my fucking face about more than just fucking each other?” he asked.
Cinna was not a woman who blushed. But her cheeks went pink at that.
“Renz,” I started.
“I’ll get to you. I want answers from Cinna first,” he said, giving her unnerving eye contact.
Renzo was a fair boss. But he wasn’t going to let you off easy when you fucked up.
“It’s a long story,” she admitted.
“And I got time. So you better start fucking talking.”
“I was working one night,” she started. “And three guys came out of nowhere. Chased me into an abandoned warehouse. And beat the ever-loving shit out of me. Tried to do worse,” she said, making Renzo’s jaw tense. It wasn’t like he was naïve to the risk that the female capos in his organization were taking that the men never really had to consider. But he didn’t like realizing shit like that got close to happening.
“They… almost killed me,” she admitted, face twisted like those words tasted bad in her mouth. “It was pure luck that I managed to get away,” she added. “And I… I went to Dav,” she said, leaving off whatever thought process had her making that choice.
A muscle was working in Renzo’s jaw, the only proof of his emotion. But he wasn’t going to let his feelings make him soft.
“And the reason I didn’t get a fucking call?”
“I honestly don’t think she could have,” I piped in, watching as his gaze slid to me. We had an entire silent conversation then, wanting to spare Cinna the embarrassment of having me tell the boss how wrecked she was.
“Alright,” Renzo relented. “Then why the fuck didn’t you call me?” he asked. “If it was as bad as all that, seems like there would have been a long recovery time where one or both of you should have been fucking contacting me.”
“I begged him not to,” Cinna admitted, making Renzo’s gaze shoot to her.
“You? Beg?” he scoffed, shaking his head.
“Yes. I begged, Renz.”
To that, Renzo sighed. “Why?”
“Because I didn’t want anyone to think less of me,” she admitted.
Renzo stood with that for a second. “It wouldn’t be the first time a capo got their ass handed to them.”
“This was different,” Cinna insisted. “It was bad.”
“Even so.”
“Renz,” I said, shaking my head at him. “It’s… different,” I reminded him.
“You think any one of my men would look down on you for getting hurt? Would think it had something to do with you being a chick? Unless you are fighting with your pussy, can’t imagine how that has jackshit to do with this. Everyone knows you can handle yourself, Cinna. You were outnumbered. That’s all it was.”
“Maybe,” she said, not willing to fully concede. I had to imagine that there were things Cinna understood about her place in the criminal world that we could never grasp.
“So, what, you hid out with Dav while you recovered, then the two of you finally gave in to the tension sparking between you for years?”
“Something like that,” I agreed.
“And, what, you decided to continue working this case without bringing me in?” he asked, looking at Cinna.
“Right,” she admitted.
“Christ, Cin, the fuck am I supposed to do with this shit? I can’t have my fucking capos running around like they don’t have anyone to answer to.”
“You could bench me,” she said, sounding a lot calmer about that possibility than I knew she was. Cinna lived for the job. It would kill her to sit home twiddling her thumbs. “Or take more of a cut. Pull jobs from me.”