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Are you up yet?
It only took a few seconds to respond.
Sure am. Join me for lunch?
Can’t. Too much work to do. I won't be home until tomorrow.
I don't like the bed empty.
Her words made my dick stir in my pants. I looked at the naked woman in front of me collecting her money off of the floor. She looked up at me and winked. If I hadn’t found Vienna, then maybe I would have had some fun with this chick. But now, she wasn’t at all what I wanted.
It won't be for long. I'll see you in the morning.
My phone rang—it was Pops. I didn't even answer it. I killed the rest of my whiskey and slapped Marco on the shoulder. “Family’s calling. Let's move.”
He nodded and followed me into the back of the club and down the staircase. The office was filled with smoke as usual, and there was a group playing poker in the corner. My father was on his phone, and it seemed like he was leaving a voicemail.
“You're here? You're here and you don't even come down to say hello?” He was addressing Marco, the only man who could make that giant feel small.
Marco look sheepish. “It was my fault, sir. I was watching the girl upstairs. The new one, looks like she's got some promise.”
Pops rolled his eyes. “Like I care about some slut with promise. Now did you set up the meeting?”
Marco and I sat down in the chairs across from him. “Sure did. Eight tonight. I made sure he was only to bring one guy.”
“And you think he'll actually do that? He doesn't even know who you're affiliated with.”
“I told him I knew the Mexicans. He bought it.”
My father's mouth dropped open a little. “The Mexicans? Jesus! He actually believed that? I don't work with those dirty assholes! It makes us look bad, weak. They ride around in their trashy cars, while I sit in the back of the Mercedes like I'm supposed to.”
“Yeah those Mexicans are a wreck. But no one wants to mess with them because they’d put a bullet in your ass in a second. Trust me. I learned all about them in prison.”
He rolled his eyes. “Great, now we're working with felons.”
I shook my head at him. “Pops. I am a felon.”
Pops put his hands up in protest. “No you're not. You are doing a job. A job that is paid. That doesn't make you a bad person. These people? They're just drug pushing assholes. Bad apples.”
There was no use arguing with him. In his eyes, there would always be a difference between our family’s business and the low life crime that packed the prison cells. To him, I was perfect, because I'd always followed his rules.
“Go upstairs and get something to eat and then take one of the cars and go handle this. I want it to be done and over with. I'll call Armani and let him know that the situation is handled tomorrow morning. And then I expect to see you at mass on Sunday.”
I nodded. “I'll see you Sunday, Pops.”
He nodded to both of us and we filed out of the office. My phone was burning a hole in my pocket; all I wanted to do was call Vienna and find out everything that was going on. She didn't want to be involved in family business, but it seemed she had her own to attend to. I would keep her out of these interactions in the future, if we even had one.
I still had to deal with her when I got home.
16
Vienna
Luka was going to be gone all day. It was the perfect opportunity to take a good look at his apartment and see what I could find out about my father. Roberto needed me to tie him to it. All this time, they just assumed it was Luka who killed him, and they needed me to find the proof that he did. The entire Agnelli family was ready to move on my command. And as much as I needed to find something, to gain some closure, a much larger part of me wanted to find something that exonerated him. He was the father of my baby. I didn't want Luka to be guilty of this crime. Of course, I knew deep down that he was a murderer. I had known that growing up. But now he was mine. And I needed there to be some sort of redeeming quality about his work. If I found something that would prove that he did not kill my father, I wasn’t sure what the Agnelli family would do. I knew I needed to be careful. Because if I wasn't, they would take me away from him. Or worse, they would take him away from me.
I wasn't going to let this end that way. I wouldn't let them kill him.
I was searching under the bed when I found a shoebox. It was old and dusty and it looked like it was something that would belong to a child. I pulled it out from its hiding place and blew the dust from the lid. When I opened it, I found old baseball cards and an old Playboy magazine. I let out a small laugh. They were mementos of Luka's past. I closed the lid and pushed the box back underneath the bed. I moved my hand over and something hard brushed across my skin. I pushed my hand up and felt the distinct outline of a gun. I carefully unstrapped and pulled it out. It was a 9mm. I looked around the room and realized that the way that his bed was angled, it was so that he could crouch behind it and grab the gun if he needed to protect himself. There was nothing but a couple feet between the bed and the wall. When I had first arrived, I had thought his bed’s placement was at a strange angle in the room, but now it all made sense. He was always thinking ahead. Being in his family, he had to. I re-strapped the gun to the mattress and moved toward his nightstand.
