Page 91 of Dirty Pool

The man smiled. “And we’re almost there.”

But not quite.

The Irish were still holding back.

For now.

What would happen when they answered?

Who would be waiting at the proverbial door?

It scared the hell out of him because he knew how wars worked, and everybody was nothing more than collateral. He’d known it for a while, but the fact was, he tried to ignore it. He hoped it wouldn’t get this far.

Yet, here they were.

Gabbie on one side.

Him on the other.

Michel was going to correct that.

Starting now.

If he couldn’t figure out a way to get Gabbie back by going through the Italians, then he would go to the source that was keeping her away. After all, if what the Irish needed was to get rid of their problem with the Italians … then who better to give them every bit of information they needed to do it than the son of a Cosa Nostra boss?

Michel knew how la famiglia worked.

And he knew how to ruin it.

To his own legacy, that would be the greatest betrayal. What choice did he have?

SIXTEEN

“What are you reading, lass?”

Gabbie refused to look up at her father’s voice. Instead, she continued flipping to the next page in the thriller. Charles sighed at her silence, but he shouldn’t be surprised. Awkward silence or all out shouting could sum up the last weeks of their lives under this roof.

Her father’s roof.

Because she wasn’t allowed to leave.

Or have her phone.

… go to school.

Charles thought he was teaching Gabbie a lesson, but all she learned here was just how controlling her father could be when he wanted to. And she didn’t like it one bit. Sure, at first, she had been willing to play along. Like every other time when he got a little too overbearing, she figured he would get it out of his system quickly enough. He’d let her go back to her place and be normal.

Or as normal as she could be.

Nope.

Here they still were.

“Will you at least look at me?” her father asked, not unkindly.

Gabbie continued reading her book. Some might consider her behavior childish, but she no longer gave a shite. That was the problem—this was the only way she had to show her father how unhappy and disappointed she was in him for the things he was doing to her. She had tried literally everything else.

Shouting.