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Angelone tapped his index finger to his lips. Time had been kind to him. He hadn’t aged all that much from the last time I’d seen him nearly thirty years ago. The air of authority still swirled around him. Only this time, I wasn’t afraid of anything he could do to me.
“Hmm. I believe you do, Elliott. You traded one life of servitude with me for another with Salvatore. That motherfucker has you by the balls.”
I clenched my fists at my sides, which only made Angelone grin.
“And if it isn’t Salvatore, then that pretty little girl—what’s her name? Ah, Vivian. It’s Vivian, isn’t it?” I took a step forward, and his smile only broadened. He was goading me. I knew it. Yet it took every bit of my restraint not to tackle the fucker. “She is a lovely piece,” he mused.
I wanted to bash his skull on the concrete floor until he never had another thought about her again. Instead, I ground my teeth and waited impatiently for him to get to the fucking point.
“You owe me.”
“I owe you nothing,” I scoffed.
“Because of you and Salvatore, I spent six years up the river.”
Jesus Christ, he sounded like a poor man's Don Corleone. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said to him, trying not to laugh in his face. I looked down at my suit, examined the lapels of my jacket. “Last I checked, I’m no fed. So I’d say there’s no way that I had anything to do with your trip to prison.” I shrugged. “Maybe you should have tried to be more law abiding.”
His jaw worked as he tried to tamp down his own temper. At least I had an effect on him too. “I want something.”
“Don’t we all?”
He glared, and I shoved my hands into my pockets. “You’ll get it for me.”
“That’s a pretty big assumption.” I feigned disinterest. Even started toward the door.
“Your father was a stupid man. A stupid, stupid man.”
I stopped, my brows dipped as I stared at Angelone. “I won’t argue with that.”
“What he did to you got him killed.”
The hairs on my neck stood at attention. “He killed himself.”
The look was unimpressed, as if disappointed in my naiveté. He lifted a shoulder. “Whatever you say.”
He knew something. I wasn’t going to give him any more information, if that’s what he wanted.
“I think we’re done here.” I spun on my heel, but only made it two steps before he spoke.
“The jaune.”
Unease slithered through me even as I kept a neutral expression on my face. Donato and I had a buyer looking for the largest known canary diamond, the existence of which was only a rumor to most people. But I knew it was real, and where it was. How Angelone was aware we were negotiating to purchase it had my hackles up. And more than that, how did he know our code word for it?
“I have no idea what you mean.” I feigned ignorance while my insides were churning with possibility. Did we have a rat? Or was the owner of the diamond playing me?
He tilted his head to the side, face awash with disappointment. “Don’t play stupid with me, son. That’s straight out of your old man’s book.”
My lip curled up in disgust. These insults were beneath me, yet they dug deep. I tried to let them bounce off, but he’d struck a nerve.
“You’ve wasted both of our time.” I resumed my trek toward the door.
Angelone placed a hand on my chest to stop me. I looked down at it and rose a brow in anare you sure you want to go this routegesture.
“You. Owe. Me,” he reiterated.
I sniffed. “No. I don’t.”
“I want in on that diamond. I know you know where it is.”
