Total pages in book: 77
Estimated words: 77160 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 386(@200wpm)___ 309(@250wpm)___ 257(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77160 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 386(@200wpm)___ 309(@250wpm)___ 257(@300wpm)
I glanced at Remo, who looked as lost as I did.
“You can’t just wander the fuck off without Luca’s permission,” I reminded him.
“This is gonna be one of those ‘ask for forgiveness, not permission’ things,” he said, making his way to the door.
“Get your ass back here,” I called as he made his way to the door.
“Look,” Dom said, turning back to us. “I was just kidnapped and held prisoner by a woman I’ve never seen before in my life. One who is really fucking pissed off at me about… something. I gotta go find out what it was.”
With that, he was gone.
It seemed that both Milo and I decided in unison that Domenico was not in the mood for us to physically detain him.
“You fucking Navesink Bank guys,” Remo said, sighing. “Is it ever not a woman with you?”
“Honestly, no,” I said, sighing.
“I like her,” he said, nodding toward the bedroom.
“I like her too.”
“Your ma is gonna love her.”
“All I’m gonna hear is how pretty our babies are going to be.”
“Well, she wouldn’t be wrong. Though, you might want to wait to make the introductions until after her face heals up. Yo,” he called when there was a loud rap on the door.
The family resemblance was strong. Same height, builds, facial structure, same green eyes. The only real difference was a scar cutting through this guy’s lip.
Clearly, another of his brothers.
“Milo, this is my brother Santino. Santo, this is Milo Grassi. Our cousin somehow or another.”
Santino shifted his paperwork to shake my hand. “Nice to meet family,” he said.
“You got something?” Remo asked, nodding to the papers in his hand.
“I got the mortgage paperwork. Don’t ask,” he added at Remo’s curious look.
“You know what I do; gotta ask…”
“No, I won’t get caught for it.”
“Then show me.”
He waved toward the dining table and we all went to sit down.
“Alright, so. He bought it in foreclosure originally. For twenty,” Santino said, passing his brother the paperwork.
“Twenty?” Remo asked, stiffening. “Why the fuck wouldn’t he take my forty then? The second mortgage?”
“You’d think. But no. That was only for five.” More paperwork was passed.
“So the place is worth twenty-five. Still doesn’t make sense.”
“From what I can tell, that five wasn’t used to infuse into the casino. It was used to pay back a debtor.”
“Pat,” Remo said.
“Yeah, Pat. Those were Pat’s guys. He wouldn’t have his hand in that unless he had skin in the game. So, what I’m thinking is… Pat is invested. He gave the five mill, but instead of getting it back simply in installments or a lump sum, he has an unofficial stake.”
“You’re sure it’s unofficial?”
“All the paperwork only lists Frank.”
“That’s good.”
“What’s your move then?” I asked.
Remo sat back, inhaling deeply, then letting it out slowly.
“That’s the thing, ain’t it? If I kill Pat, his stake goes away. But Frank has no reason to sell to me.”
“A protection racket?” I suggested. “If nothing is official, you strong-arm your way in instead. Tell him you’ll protect him from Pat and his guys.”
“Still won’t want to sell to me.”
“This might help,” Santino said, passing more papers to his brother. “His house back in Colorado is about to go into foreclosure. So is his condo here. And his Ferrari? Suddenly missing. He can’t stop spending. It’s all going up in flames.”
“What are you saying is my solution here?” Remo asked.
“I think Pat dies, no matter what,” Santino said, shrugging. “He’s been nothing but a menace anyway. His last girlfriend was in a coma from how badly he beat her. Think family had to take her off life support after three months.”
“Jesus,” I mumbled.
“How does Pat dying help me?”
“Well, how do you feel about being a partner to Frank?” Santino asked.
“Disgusted,” Remo admitted.
“I figured. But his only way out of this, legally, is to get a partner to infuse cash back into his pockets, so he can pay off his debts. His credit is shit now. He can’t get a loan.”
“I don’t want to pay off the asshole’s debts.”
“Look, this would be a long game. You partner with Frank. Make sure it is somewhere in the paperwork that the place goes to you if Frank dies or goes missing.”
“Then he goes missing.”
“For five years. Then you can have him legally declared dead. But in the meantime, you’re in your rights to renovate, run, do whatever the fuck you want.”
“What do you think I should be offering?”
“Twenty-five for a fifty percent stake.”
“Why wouldn’t he just fucking sell the place and make my life easier?” Remo grumbled.
“Short answer? Pride. Longer answer, his dad was a real sonofabitch. Didn’t believe in failure. He gave him the money for this place. Selling would be a failure. So no matter how logical it is, he’s fucked in the head about it.
“The twenty will give him more than enough to pay off his house debts and buy another car. The five mill from Pat… disappears.”