Total pages in book: 78
Estimated words: 75337 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 377(@200wpm)___ 301(@250wpm)___ 251(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75337 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 377(@200wpm)___ 301(@250wpm)___ 251(@300wpm)
“So, you know the chick who got shot while Cesare and I were doing that job?”
“The one you’re supposed to be paying to keep her quiet?” Lorenzo asked. “Tell me you didn’t fuck that up. If she’s talking to—“
“No. It’s not like that. She hasn’t said shit to anyone.”
“What is it then?”
“You remember what you said to me about her?”
I watched as realization dawned on him.
“Come the fuck on, Salvatore,” Lorenzo said. “At your age, you haven’t learned to keep your dick in your pants? What happens when she is pissed off that you didn’t call her, huh?”
“Gets better than that,” Brio said, rocking back on his heels, clearly enjoying himself. The bastard. “Guess who’s staying at his place.”
“Wait… say what?” Emilio asked, looking taken aback. Because, well, everyone knew I had no interest in anything serious.
And I never had.
Not until Whitney, anyway.
“You got the witness in your apartment? She’s there now?” Lorenzo asked.
“Yeah.”
“The fuck, Sal?”
“It’s worse than that, actually,” I admitted.
“Great. Eventful morning,” Lorenzo grumbled. “How is it worse than that.”
“Girl got bruises all over,” Brio interjected.
“Not by me. The fuck?” I asked when both Lorenzo and Emilio sent me hard looks. “You don’t know me better than that?” I added. “No, I went to her work to check on her leg wound. It had been infected. I’d been treating it again to make sure it didn’t get worse, and she’d need to see an actual doctor. But when I got to the diner, I noticed she was covered in bruises.”
“Was it that fuck?” Emilio asked. “The enforcer who shot her? Did he track her down?”
“Almost would have preferred that, but no. Turns out her sister has an abusive ex. Whitney has done everything she can to hide her sister, so since he couldn’t find her, he tried to force the information out of Whitney. It got ugly.”
“Oh, so she just needed some protection?” Emilio asked, relaxing slightly.
“Don’t let those shoulders slump just yet. There’s a problem.”
“Other than you fucking her?” Lorenzo asked.
“Yeah, other than that. The guy who did this—“
“Who I offered to cut the eyelids off of,” Brio chimed in again.
“Don’t you think you’ve done enough removing of body parts lately?” Lorenzo shot back.
“There’s never enough removal of body parts,” Brio mumbled under his breath. The sick fuck.
“What is it?” Lorenzo asked.
“The sister’s ex, the reason she’d been so trapped, and it had been so hard for Whitney to get her safe? The ex’s dad is the police commissioner.”
“Oh, fuck,” Emilio hissed, reaching up to rub the back of his neck.
“Yeah,” I agreed. “I couldn’t exactly go and just… take care of him. Though, trust me, I wanted to. I might have a good parole officer, but not even he can be bribed out of keeping me out of jail if that shit went down.”
“You understand the implications of this?” Lorenzo asked. “If you’re harboring this woman, if it gets out that you’re involved with her… there’s going to be a target on your back. And that impacts the whole Family.”
“I understand that,” I said, nodding. “And I get it if you’re pissed. It’s just…”
“Yeah,” Lorenzo said, sighing. “Sometimes… it’s just…” he agreed, likely recalling how he and his wife had come to be together. And, for that matter, how Brio and his woman had as well. “Alright. I need to give this some thought. Look into this sister’s ex. She’s safe with you for now, but I don’t think she should be left alone at the diner at night either. So if you can find someone who isn’t busy to volunteer to sit with her when you can’t…”
“You know, I think I have someone sitting his lazy ass on my couch right now who could be persuaded,” I said, giving Emilio a smirk.
“He fucking eats up the attention he gets when he’s sick or hurt,” Emilio agreed. “It’d be good for him to have some responsibility.”
“Alright. That’s settled for the time being. I appreciate you coming here and leveling with me,” Lorenzo said. “Even if you did fuck her when I told you not to. I get that sometimes… when it’s the right woman, you can’t control shit like that.”
I didn’t know what the future held for me and Whitney, but if she was the right woman, if that was what this sort of string was that seemed to pull me back to her over and over, then, well, I guess I could get used to that fact.
“You can go,” he said, but when Brio went to turn with me, he barked, “Not your crazy ass. We need to have a talk about appropriate punishments.”
“Good luck, man,” I said, giving him a nod as he followed Lorenzo into the dining room.
“He’s had this talk with him at least a dozen times in the past,” Emilio said, walking me out. “Don’t know why he thinks this time will be different.”