Page 120 of Pretty Lies

He kind of liked it.

•••

“Where is your pup? Theo says he never leaves your side lately. Your sister was watching him for a while, wasn’t she?”

That question had Cory smirking. “She was watching him. And he’s probably sleeping on my side of the bed—Della lets him do that shit when she thinks I don’t know.”

Sitting across from Cory, the man who greeted him was already dressed in a three-piece suit despite the time of day.

“If you’re here to talk with me this early in the morning,” Tommas said, leaning into supple leather of a couch that faced a row of bookshelves, “then I assume you have good news for me?”

Cory grinned, tipping up his lukewarm to-go cup of coffee in his boss’s direction. “That I do—you can call off any Outfit hounds on Luis’s trail. He met the incinerator at four this morning. Joe stayed behind to discard the ashes.”

Tommas let out a laugh. “Is that all?”

“Well—”

“I thought something happened. Not this, but I won’t complain. I appreciate you, specifically, letting me know on the Luis front. How did that come about?”

He did a quick run-through of events. The replay wasn’t that interesting. Frankly, it had all happened so quickly that he hadn’t even bothered to make a proper call through to his boss to ask for permission, but he didn’t really have to. The Outfit had put a bounty out on Luis quite a while ago. The guy was free game.

Cory was just here to give Tommas the news face to face because after the money the man lost in the warehouse, and everything else that changed their business due to Luis, it just seemed appropriate. Plus, as his Uncle Theo would say, if he had a direct line to the boss himself without having to go through other people, why not use it?

That’s how the game of the Outfit was played.

“Good, good,” Tommas murmured in reply to Cory, reaching for a drawer in the ornate coffee table sitting on the floor between their respective seats. He rifled through the drawer, asking, “Anything else?”

“It might be important for you to know there will be a bit of noise from the south side next week. Della made a deal with Miss Wang that will benefit both your business from loans and the parlors across the city.”

That had Tommas glancing up. “I think you mean Mr. Wang.”

“Nah, he has a daughter. And with her in charge of the operation, the Outfit will see a four percent increase monthly for their protection, of course.”

Tommas sat a little straighter, though his hands didn’t leave the drawer. “And what will Mr. Wang’s daughter gain from this new arrangement?”

“Freedom. Apparently, it’s worth the cost.”

A soft noise echoed from Tommas’s throat.

“How much was Wang in debt to Costello?” the boss asked.

“More than he should have been. There were terms made. Some agreements put through that covered interest for a time. Della had a better solution. It’ll benefit everyone across the board, so when the noise picks up in the south over one little death, less concern from the mob would be appreciated.”

Business never stopped.

Even when Cory had multiple balls in the air. Now with Della managing her father’s operation as a whole, and Cory back on the streets with Theo to keep everything smooth for the higher ups in the Outfit, his attention had to be everywhere again.

Tommas sighed heavily. “I’ll keep that in mind. Really, four percent higher? They’re already paying us—”

“A lot,” Cory said. “Yeah, I know, she did well with that one.”

“Good to see her settling in, I suppose.”

Wasn’t that what counted?

Then, Tommas shifted direction entirely. “Which saint do you prefer—when you find yourself praying, which saint do you ask for help when it seems too trivial for Him?”

“Why?”