Total pages in book: 76
Estimated words: 74214 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 371(@200wpm)___ 297(@250wpm)___ 247(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 74214 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 371(@200wpm)___ 297(@250wpm)___ 247(@300wpm)
“Under drawers and behind picture frames. I get it. Is this a porn thing?”
“Porn?”
“As in ‘you’ll know it when you see it,’ or am I looking for something specific?”
“Honestly, I have no fucking idea. I just know he’s dead, my place is targeted, and my manager is roughed up. It’s gotta be linked.”
“Got it. Where did Ed live?” he asked, making my head whip up. “What?”
“He lived in the same complex as Hazel. Not the same building, but the same apartment complex.”
“I mean, there are only, what, two of them in Navesink Bank. That’s not weird.”
“No, but it’s another coincidence. And I think there are too many of them to ignore at this point.”
“Alright. I’ll head over there now. Want me to check out Hazel’s place too?”
“Fuck no.”
“Why not?”
“Because it’s an invasion of privacy. And I’ve been to her place.”
“Not to look around.”
“What do you think you’ll find? She’s new in town. Didn’t seem to even know about the Family until yesterday.”
“Or she’s a good liar and she’s working with them.”
“And why would they hurt her?”
“She was turning on them? To sell it? Who the fuck knows. Just sayin’, it’s important to be open to all angles.”
“That’s not an angle I’m interested in investigating. At least not now. If something changes, I’ll let you know.”
“Sounds good. I’ll get going then,” he said, draining the last of his coffee and leaving through the back door.
Alone, I answered all the calls from my brothers and boss before making the one I was dreading.
“I know you hate lockdowns, Ma,” I started.
“What? Oh. I don’t care about that. Is Hazel okay? Are you taking good care of her? Does she need anything?”
“Hazel’s fine. She’s asleep upstairs.”
“In your bed?”
“It’s the only bed in the house, Ma.” I closed my eyes and pinched between my brows. Only my mother would be curious if I was making a move on a woman who’d just been attacked.
“You know, I always love when one of you boys has to take a woman in. It just allows for a whole new level of intimacy right away. Emotional, I mean,” she rushed to add. “You learn so much about someone in a much shorter period of time. Is she very hurt?”
“She’s a little roughed up. It could have been a lot worse.”
“Thank God it’s not. She better not be lifting a finger.”
“I’ve already fed her,” I assured her.
“That’s the son I raised. And you’ll be keeping her there with you until the threat is over?” I could hear the silent And for the rest of your lives?
“Actually, I was thinking of sending her to stay with you.” No way in hell. I just wanted to get a rise out of her.
There were two full beats of silence. “Well, that’s not possible.”
“Why not?”
“Well, I hear your sister and cousin will be staying with me. I have no room.”
“There’s my old room.”
“That’s, uh, set up for the kids.”
“What about Nino, Massimo, or Santo’s rooms?”
“They’re all… getting redecorated.”
They weren’t.
But in the interest of not lying, she was going to get right on top of redecorating them now.
“Doesn’t the living room couch pull out?”
“I’m afraid I just carpet cleaned the whole thing.”
She was going to have a busy day to back up her lies.
“Oh, well, then. I guess she has to stay here.”
“That’s probably for the best.” I could hear the relief in her voice. I couldn’t wait until all this insanity was over so I could tease her about this shit for all eternity.
“Do you need me to bring some more food by?”
“No, we’re set.”
“It’s no trouble.”
“I can cook.”
“You’re going to cook for her?” she asked.
“You did teach me.”
“I did. I did. She’s a lucky girl. Okay, I have to get back to my redecorating. I’ll call later to check on Hazel.”
“Sounds good, Ma. Love you.”
“Love you too.”
I shook my head as I moved around the kitchen, jotting down a note in my phone for what I needed from the store. It was a lot. My pantry and fridge were nearly bare. What can I say? I was a single man. And who wanted to spend all the time cooking for just themselves?
I shot off a text to my cousin Smush—Sofia—asking if she could squeeze in a quick shop for me.
I had a feeling we were losing her as our personal shopper soon. She seemed to be gravitating more and more to this one client she had. Enough that there was a lot of scuttlebutt around the family that she might be involved with him.
But as long as I had her, I was going to use her.
So when she agreed, I amended the list with some essentials for Hazel: toothbrush, body wash, changes of clothes, and any other shit she might need.
Yeah, I’ve done this many times before.
That had been her response to the growing list.