“You didn’t run it by us. You don’t own the restaurant.”
“It’s a door. Relax, you can take it down?—”
“That’s not the point, for fuck’s sake.”
Normally, Gabriel got into it with Greystone, but he’d do battle with Teddy if he had to. Didn’t matter who was on the other end of his knuckles.
“On New Year’s Eve, Barbi said she’d love to have dinner out, go to the theater. I wanted to bring her toourrestaurant, then take her to a show. She’s got a disguise, but she’s not safe being out and she’s definitely not safe being seen with me?—”
“There’s a dozen or more tables in here,” Teddy barked. “The salon’s been booked for?—”
“I asked Tara to move their reservations.”
Teddy furrowed his brow. “We’ll lose thousands. What the hell is wrong with you, G?”
Gabriel clenched his teeth, his hand closed into a fist. “I’ll give you the goddamn money, you son of a bitch. I’m doing something nice for someone I care about and you—you of all people—are lecturing me about money. I started Santini International for Luciano. I started Santini Wineries, Santini Spirits too. As Boss of Cosa Nostra, I own half of Italy.”
Gabriel pulled his phone from his pocket, opened his bank app, and sent Teddy twenty-five-thousand dollars.
“I sent you twenty-five large. Transfer the money to the restaurant,” Gabriel bit out. “Take the damn door down tomorrow but let me give her a fairytale evening tonight.”
Teddy’s mouth dropped open.
“I gotta finish payroll.” Gabriel stormed into the office as Angelo returned from his smoke.
Too angry to sit, Gabriel paced the small space.
“I was gone for five minutes,” Angelo said. “What happened?”
“My asshole brother,” Gabriel seethed as Teddy strode into the office.
Ignoring him, Gabriel pulled his laptop over, showed Angelo the photo of the Bratva who shot him. “Pavel Donskoy, alias Bob Smith. Get me his home address.”
“That’s gonna take me a minute, G,” Angelo replied. “I can’t surveil him until I know where he lives, you know?”
“He’s tight with a Dmitri Petrov who knows the Russian Ambassador, Yuri Bulgrov.”
“You insult me, G.” Teddy sat behind the desk, got busy on the computer. “You ask Angelo, butI’ma hacker.”
Gabriel glared at him. “Mind your business, Theodore.”
“Teddy, how’d you become a hacker?” Angelo asked. “You take a course or something?”
Teddy was too busy on his computer to answer.
“I’ll be chillin’ at the bar,” Angelo said. “We leaving soon?”
“Stay,” Gabriel said. “Make sure no Bratva show up here. I’ll be back with Barbi.”
“You got it, Boss.”
Angelo left, shutting the door behind him.
“I need to finish payroll,” Gabriel said.
No response from Teddy.
“Theodore,” Gabriel snapped.
