Total pages in book: 83
Estimated words: 79209 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 396(@200wpm)___ 317(@250wpm)___ 264(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79209 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 396(@200wpm)___ 317(@250wpm)___ 264(@300wpm)
“Waiting for the right time.”
“No such thing as the right time.”
“Well, you just buried a bunch of your friends, and there are bullet holes all over the place… Wanted to give you a chance to take a breath before I dumped this on you.”
He rubbed one of his knuckles, but his stare never wavered.
“Russo asked me to return. Said they’d changed their…business ethics.” I still wasn’t a rat. I still wouldn’t roll on the men who were once my allies, even if they were now enemies. “I rejected the offer but stuck around to watch him grovel a bit. It was like watching an ex beg for you to take them back, and you know there’s no way in hell that’s going to happen, but it’s still fun to watch.” I smirked. “Not that I’ve ever been in that situation before…”
“What else? Because that information doesn’t seem time-sensitive.”
“Well, I knew distance didn’t make the heart grow fonder, so they wanted me for something. That was the real reason I was there—to figure out the source of the issue.”
“And did you?”
“Yes. And this is where the bad news comes in.”
His eyes quickly shifted back and forth between mine.
I told him about the Skull King and his lieutenant Icarus. Told him about the rumors of the violence headed to Sicily. “Anyone in the powder business is on the chopping block right now, and I think it’s best if we focus our efforts on the arms side of things. Not just to avoid the wrath of Icarus, but also to make sure the grip on our guns is tight. There’s about to be a major shake-up in the game, and everyone’s going to scramble as they change their business agendas. You’re sitting on a gold mine, and assholes are going to do whatever they can to take it from you. Mark my words—shit’s about to get real.”
He took in that information without a reaction, absorbing it in silence for a while before he found a response. “I’m surprised this is your attitude. Based on what I’ve observed from you, you seem like someone who would hunt down Icarus before he had the opportunity to affect business.”
“Maybe if I were in the powder business, but I’m not anymore.” Now I worked for Vincenzo Mancini and their wine and arms operation, and I cared more about protecting this business than risking the people I wanted to protect. I started to make different moves than I had in the past, thinking about Francesca’s safety before everything else. “But the Skull King has an enormous operation in Florence and Rome, and everything I hear about Icarus tells me he’s not someone you want to cross. We drop the powder line and focus on our main enterprise. That’s the smart move.”
“After defeating the Lombardis, it seems like a waste.”
I slowly shook my head. “Not worth it, Don. And trust me, assholes will be coming for us. They’ll try to take this business from you just because the Skull King isn’t interested in it. You have a unique opportunity to monopolize an industry that everyone wants a cut of. You can still run the tomato factory the way you run the winery. There’s still a lot of money to be made—and you have Frankie to operate that on your behalf.” I wanted to keep Francesca in the safe zones, handling food and wine products with business partners who were upstanding citizens. Her father wanted her to run this someday, but now was definitely not the time. We had to get this plane through the turbulence that was about to drop us from the sky. “We stay out of their way. We let Icarus focus on the big players, like Cosa Nostra and the others. And we watch our backs.”
His eyes had wandered elsewhere as he thought about all I said, slowly rubbing his palms together. He eventually relaxed back into the couch, arms crossed over his chest, eyes lost in consternation.
“How did you know I was there?” I needed to know if he was tailing me, because if he was, then he either knew I was seeing Frankie…or he was very close to figuring that out.
His eyes moved back to mine. “You aren’t the only one who knows people, Wolfe.”
I held his confident stare and searched for an answer to a question I couldn’t ask. But I didn’t see the rage I expected to find—the evidence that he knew I was sleeping with his daughter. Because if he did, he probably would have already pulled a gun on me. “I know it’s a difficult time right now, but we need to rebuild. We need more men. We need more security. Be prepared to watch friends turn into enemies. Be one step ahead of everyone.”
We sat together at the dinner table. Francesca had another gourmet meal waiting for me when I got home, and we enjoyed it together over a bottle of wine. Now I wondered if I should have rented my place instead of bought it. Francesca’s villa was a lot smaller than my homes, but there was a coziness that my residences lacked.