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“I know,” Silvio said. He shrugged casually. “It ain’t about that, Alessio. You know that as well as I do.”
I glared at him. “Then what the fuck is this about?” I rolled my eyes, feeling anger tear through my body with astonishing precision. I felt like my veins were inflamed with rage, like I could tear a block of concrete in two pieces just because of the anger controlling me.
“You know what it’s about,” Silvio said evenly. He met my eyes with his intense gaze and I didn’t back down at the black look in his eyes.
“I don’t know what that fuckin’ means,” I growled.
“He’s testing you, Alessio,” Silvio said. He shook his head sadly from side to side. “Your old man didn’t take no shit from Douglas, and now that Gianni’s gone, he’s tryin’ to mess with you. It ain’t about what you owe him or don’t owe him. It’s about him thinkin’ he can push you around to get a higher rate.”
The anger intensified and I growled as the hair on the back of my neck stood up. Nothing made me angrier than knowing that someone was trying to fuck with me because they didn’t think I’d retaliate. I wasn’t my father – I was my own man, and Douglas Bennett was going to learn that as soon as possible.
“We gotta do something,” I said, leaning forward and closing my eyes. I tried to think – how could I hurt Douglas? He was rich – even richer than me – and powerful. But he had to have a weak spot…
“He just got a new wife,” Silvio said. He smirked. “Some bitch he bought from eastern Europe. She’s a real slut. You thinkin’ something to do with her?”
I shook my head. “He goes through women like some people go through tissues,” I said dismissively. “That ain’t gonna be enough to make him take me seriously. Plus, it’s the most obvious option.”
Silvio nodded. “What about a little…destruction of property?” His dark lips curled into a smirk. “You think he’d be hurting real bad if one of those warehouses suddenly blew up.”
&n
bsp; “No,” I said. “That hurts us, too. We depend on that asshole to get our stash. We can’t take the hit by shooting ourselves in the foot.”
Silvio nodded. “You’re right,” he said slowly. “You’ve got a good head on your shoulders, boss.”
I waved my hand dismissively through the air. The compliment was nice, but I wasn’t going to feel any better about this fucking situation until I had an answer ready to go.
“Well,” Silvio said. “There is one more idea.”
“I’ve got it,” I said suddenly. “He’s got a kid, don’t he?”
Silvio smiled unpleasantly. “A boy,” he said. “Some kid named Michael.”
I grinned. “How old is he?”
Silvio shrugged. “Like I know? Maybe twenty-five, thirty. He ain’t that old.”
My grin grew so wide that my cheeks ached.
“Perfect,” I said.
2
Beth
“What about this?” Heather held up a mint-green silk chemise. “I think this would be pretty with your skin.” She held it against my pale arm.
I wrinkled my nose. “I don’t know,” I said. “Green always makes me look kind of jaundiced, don’t you think? It’s these damn yellow undertones,” I added quickly. “I hate how I look right now!”
Heather snickered. “It’s this damn lighting,” she said, pointing towards the ceiling. “You’d think a store like Bloomingdales would be able to afford something that doesn’t make us look like old hags. Why the hell am I even spending my money here, anyway?” Her voice grew loud with the last few words, and a sales associate glared daggers in our direction.
I laughed too, blushing as the sales person glared even harder. “I don’t know,” I confessed. “Sometimes I think I’m just not cut out for shopping.”
“Beth,” Heather whined, putting her hand on my shoulder. “You’re getting married in like, two months! You don’t have any lingerie! You’ve got to come up with something.”
I frowned, walking over to a rack of red and black things made of lace. I held something up, staring skeptically at the scrap of fabric. It barely looked big enough to cover one breast, let alone my whole body.
“I don’t know,” I said again, tucking the fabric back on the rack before Heather could swoop in and demand that I try it on. “I’m just not really feeling this today.”
