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4
Romano turned out to be a bust. It was a beautiful place, sure, but it was more fit for a romantic dinner than it was for people trying to have fun. Or at least I thought that was what we wanted. By the look of it, Jason and Nate were trying to drink their minds away, which wasn’t even that hard. They had two beers and a glass of wine each and had already started to act like idiots. I was so used of having men around me, I kept forgetting these two were just boys.
When we were getting ready to leave the rooftop, Jason said he was in the mood for a card game so I just invited him to Ignazio’s casino in Chelsea. It didn’t have the view they had at Romano, but I felt like a salmon in the frozen Canadian waters here. After seeing Jason and Nate starting to act weird after those beers, I wanted to get them somewhere where I could control things. Ignazio owned half of this street, and in the middle, he had converted one of the red brick apartment buildings into a high-class casino. It was a nice place with that industrial New York in the ‘20s flare. I liked this part of the city because it still captured the essence of the city. It used to be an industrial neighborhood back in the 19th century, and the landscape had preserved that. Even now, after all the residential developments, it was a hub for commerce and goods in the city. Maybe I liked it so much because I knew my family made its history right here on these streets. My grandfather helped build these buildings; he worked on the docks that were only five minutes away and ended up controlling them. These were Nucci streets, and I felt good walking on them because I was the Nucci princess.
Ignazio was here, clinking glasses with some friends when we arrived, and that was good because I knew he wouldn’t make a fuss about me being here without a chaperone. He took me and my group to a table in the far corner and told the dealer to split the deck while he picked a few bottles of wine. I wasn’t stupid enough to think there weren’t at least three men watching me like hawks right at this moment, but I was fine with it.
Nate was on my right side, and Jason on my left, both checking their cards while Mir dragged her chair behind me because she had no idea how to play Hold ‘em, so she hugged me from behind and rested her chin on my shoulder.
“How does this game work anyway? You only have two cards.”
With the corner of my eye, I saw the dealer smiling, amused by her.
“There will be more on the table, you’ll see. Hey, Jason, you should really teach Miriam to play poker, or you’ll find yourself stuck with Go Fish for your entire life.”
Everybody laughed, and Nate approved with a nod.
“Yeah, man. I’m sorry for you; not everyone is as lucky as me.” Under the table, his hand slid to my naked knee, and I felt goosebumps forming, but not in the fun way. Tonight he had pushed some boundaries, kept touching me, playing with the hem of my dress, and he even shoved his face between my boobs once. I knew it was all part of what I wanted, but he was just so…eager to do it; it took all the fun out of it. “My girl is a lady who knows the world.”
Who the fuck said I was his girl?
“Who taught you, Cat?” Jason asked me, pulling my attention away from Nate.
“Actually, Ignazio did.”
“Who?”
“The owner, the one who greeted us when we arrived, remember? I jumped in his arms?”
“Ah, the super gay dude. He owns this place?”
“Hey, don’t say it like that.” I frowned. The tone he had when he talked about Ignazio’s lifestyle was grating. I loved that man to death, and if Jason had a problem with him, I was happy to introduce him to the two gorillas that were in charge of the security here. They’d open his mind.
“Wow, chill, girl, I don’t care. How do you know him anyway?”
He used to be a bounty hunter that my grandpa used to recover money, and he worked hard, proved his value, and now he was a trusted soldier of my brother’s syndicate. But of course, I couldn’t say that.
“He’s a family friend. You know, he’s Italian and all,” I mumbled like that explained it, like all Italians in New York had a club where they met three times a year to make homemade pasta.
“You know, Cat, I always wanted to ask you,” Miriam spoke directly in my ear, not realizing how loud she was talking, making me flinch. “What does your family do exactly? There are, you know…rumors.” Here. We. Go.
None of it was a rumor, and I was pretty sure they all knew that. At least once a year, the Nucci name was in the newspapers because of some investigation. My father had been in jail four times, and they all knew it; my brother was under racketeering charges – that didn’t lead anywhere – in ’92. Everyone in my school had heard about my family, but for some reason, Miriam always brought it up.
“Mir, my family owns a lot of businesses and makes a lot of money. People like to weave fairytales around that.”
“I see. But you know they say…”
“Miriam, drop it. If you wanna find out what my brother is doing then you could go and ask him.” Chances were Gino would torture her to make sure she was not an informant.
“I wouldn’t mind. Your brother is seriously hot.” Jason scowled, and she smiled sweetly in his direction. “For an old man, I mean.”
Nate got bored of the whole thing and snapped his fingers.
“Are we playing or what?”
“Sure.” I shrugged.
The dealer started showing the cards, and we played a couple hands before the boys got tired of losing their money to me. We played five dollars a hand, way under the normal buy-ins for Ignazio had, but he was willing to make an exception for me. Nothing good could come out of bankrupting my friends.
