Page 88 of Pretty Lies

“I love dogs.”

Della gave Cory a look. “J was allergic.”

It took Cory a second.

The thought fleeting in his mind.

“That makes sense,” he said out loud.

Both women looked his way.

He shrugged, feeling silly when he said, “Always said he liked Mace—never touched him, though. Some people don’t …I mean, look at him, you know? Hadn’t realized it was something else.”

Chloe stared at Cory, quiet and contemplative. Another time, it might have set him on edge but right then, he was content to let this woman do whatever she wanted considering her current state and all.

“You two used to play together as boys. I haven’t seen you in years, Cory. I wondered if you two were still friends.”

“We ran in similar circles, Mrs. Costello.”

Della gave a small smile.

Chloe sighed and went back to petting Mace. “Well … thank you for bringing him in to see me. He did make me smile, after all.”

That was all that mattered.

•••

Cory stepped back from the front door of the Costello home to let a familiar man inside. Closing the door behind the Outfit boss, he offered a hand to take the black tweed coat Tommas wore when the man was ready to remove it.

“Cory,” his father’s cousin greeted.

“Boss,” he replied.

“Working today?”

Cory smirked.

Only a little.

“Working until I’m told otherwise,” Cory said.

Tommas nodded. “Isn’t that what we’re all doing?”

And that statement alone brought Cory back to the reality of why the Outfit’s boss was currently standing in the front foyer of the Costello family home. Not that business was ever particularly far from his mind, but when grief mixed with business … sometimes it was hard to tell the difference between which was which when they overlapped more often than they didn’t.

“Frankie is in his office,” Cory said.

“And his daughter?”

He took the coat Tommas finally shrugged off. “With her mother in the sitting room.”

“Have her join the discussion, please.”

“Tom—”

Tommas’s gaze cut to Cory, and his brow raised. He often found familiarity in the man’s face because of the blood relation between Tommas and his father. As a young boy, the friendship between his parents and the other high-ranking members of the Outfit blurred lines for the boys of the family who later joined the business.

After all, this man currently standing in front of Cory had also once taken him trick-or-treating, let him have sleepovers with his own son, and even taught him how to slice an apple safely with a pocketknife. Tommas was also now one of the only men in his life who could give the word for Cory to kill someone or be killed himself.