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Hal had wondered more than once if the boss had chosen his woman wisely or if he was just that damn lucky in love.
Prosper greeted him at the door and nodded to a seat across the table. Hal sat himself down across from Gianni while Pinky fussed around them, handing out sugar and pouring cream. When she rearranged the cookies on the platter for the third time, it was obvious she was stalling.
“Okay, out with it.” Prosper looked at his wife.
“What? It’s nothing. Just making sure you boys have everything you need.” Pinky hedged away while her hands fluttered around the table like frantic butterflies.
Prosper grabbed her lightly at the waist and hauled her back into him. Then he said gently, “What’s got you worried, darlin’?”
Pinky let out a mournful sigh. “It’s just that Dolly has been so looking forward to this trip. She’s been packing for a month, for goodness sake. I just got off the phone with her because she’s so excited she can’t sleep.” She paused, looked at her husband and frowned. “Now, with you calling Gianni here and then calling in Hal— well, I know enough to know whatthatmeans …” Pinky’s voice trailed off . Then she looked at each man individually and boldly in the eye.
“I just hope that you all will do anything youcando to straighten out whatever this is so that you won’t have to cancel the trip. Ihopethat averyspeciallady, whom we all know and love, will not have to be disappointed.”
Then, having had her say, Pinky Worthington lifted her nose just slightly in the air, walked out the door, and closed it firmly behind her.
The three men looked at each other with expressions that could almost pass for guilt. Thoughts swept through their minds of how often the women in their lives had been disappointed, frightened, or had otherwise found themselves in harm’s way because of the choices they had made.
Prosper cleared his throat and looked to the closed door, but he did not comment on his wife’s remark.
“So, you’re probably wondering why the fuck you’re here.” Prosper pinned Hal with sharp eyes.
“Yeah, you could say that.” Hal nodded. Then he looked at Gianni. “How’s your daughter doing?”
“Valentina is well, thank you, and thank you for what you did for her.” Gianni pulled at the collar of his starched shirt as if he might be choking. “As you can imagine, those episodes are problematic. She had no business being on Saints’ property in the first place, but I assure you, as I assured Prosper, Valentina’s contrition is only surpassed by absolute embarrassment at the trouble she caused.”
Hal hated the thought of Valentina feeling shame or embarrassment for something that was not in her control. Although Gianni did have a point. She definitely should not have been at the clubhouse, especially on a night like that. But still, he didn’t like the fact that she was obviously getting flack for it from her father. Hal shrugged his shoulder dismissively. “Shit happens, I’m glad she’s okay.”
A thick, awkward silence settled in the room, and Hal shot Prosper a puzzled look— he was pretty sure that a show of gratitude from Gianni wasn’t the reason for the meet-up. Gianni seemed to be still struggling for words, and Hal became more curious with each passing moment.
“There have been grumblings…” Gianni finally hedged.
“Grumblings? What do you mean bygrumblings?”
“Threats.” Prosper helped fill in the blank
Hal’s mind quickly sorted through any possible threat that he had not foreseen in his work to keep the surveillance at the compound state of the art and virtually free of bugs. He shook his head because even though he supposed, theoretically, anything was possible, a threat to the Saints’ security so soon after he had worked on it was pretty damn unlikely. He had spent a lot of his own time and the club’s money making sure that a breach at the club would not happen again.
“I don’t get it. The club’s security is tighter than a cat’s ass,” Hal shot out.
At the guarded look on the faces of the two men before him, Hal leaned forward in his chair. “Unless this ain’t about the club?”
“This ain’t exactly about the club.” Prosper confirmed.
Gianni spoke next, “The threat is internally motivated and coming from my organization. It is directed solely at the Bonzini family.”
“Tell me more.” Hal leaned forward.
“The unfortunate incident with Santino Abiatti and his alliance with the Colombians had further reaching implications than we had originally thought. In an unexpected and unprecedented move, what was left of the Abiatti family has now joined in with the Colombian Cartel in a full scale effort to take over and absorb the Sicilian branch of the family businesses. They have begun with the Bonzini organization.”
Hal raised an eyebrow and looked to Prosper. “I thought this was all supposed to be taken care of after the attack? We backed the Aces, and the mob was supposed to take care of their guys. Where do we land on this? We got trouble with the Hez’s crew? Are they going back on the deal they made with us and should we be expecting them to pull this shit too?” Hal’s mind was reeling. There were so many layers to this kind of pushback; it was a complicated and delicate balance to manage mutiny of this type, especially under such a large scale.
“The club’s on target.” Prosper reassured Hal. “I checked in with Beast and Derringer to be sure. They tell me that the transition for the Aces expansion ain’t been real smooth, but territory take-overs never are. Things are a little tense right now in the southern chapters, especially in Florida. Our brothers are doing a decent job at keeping a lid on it, though. I had a long conversation with Hez. He hates the Colombians more than ever; they’ve been a goddamn thorn in his side and they have been trying to infiltrate his drug business in Pahokee. The Aces are dealing with that, and their methods have been pretty damn effective so far. But what we didn’t count on was the Italians fucking things up on their side of things.” Prosper threw a look at Gianni.
Gianni shrugged.
“Meaning what?” Hal frowned.
“Meaning that some of the families have split and moved their loyalties and operations in favor of rebuilding the Abiatti empire. There have been threats made to those of us who remain loyal to the Bonzini family.” Gianni leaned forward on the table. “Even now, we have begun negotiations to work this all out, and I’m hopeful that the matter will be settled quickly, but in the meantime…” His voice sounded heavy, resigned, and tired.
