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“This is my father’s place,” I say, subtly leaning toward Emily, my eyes on her lips. “And the cash you counted this morning isn’t mine. I’m on the payroll, but the money is technically the Grucos.’”
Her eyes dip, and she’s slow to respond. Eventually, she looks up again and takes another drink of water. After setting her glass down, she traces circles around the rim.
“This is your father’s place?”
“That’s what I said.”
She frowns, and I regret my harsh tone. I’m not used to this, to answering questions or humoring people, men or women. I’ve never been the charming type, not even to women I fuck. My methods of seduction usually start with a delivered apple martini and end with a casual suggestion of heading up to the room I conveniently had rented, with little in between. I don’t spend more than a few hours with a woman, and I certainly have never employed one.
“Right, but… I’m sorry, I don’t mean to be insensitive or pry, but… isn’t your father… you know?”
“Dead?”
She flinches like the word bit her, then nods. “Yeah.”
Fucking Franco.
“Franco is quite the chatterbox, isn’t he?”
Her eyes widen, and she sits straighter, her palms up. “Don’t be mad at him. He was just warning me not to fuck with you. I called you an asshole to him, and apparently, that was a no no.”
One side of my lips lift. “Mmm, well in that case, he’s off the hook.” I lower my eyes down her body on impulse then get up to retrieve a glass of water. “You are too, by the way. The boss likes you and has some work he wants you to do for him.”
“Work that involves stealing more shit from detectives? Because I’d rather not.”
I chuckle and run a new glass under water. I fill it up then shut off the tap. “As if you have a choice.”
I take a sip while walking back to Emily and sit down next to her. “No, it doesn’t involve the police. The familia has enough contacts to know just about all of what the police have concerning them. Of course, there’re always the few undercovers and informants who slip through the cracks, so who knows, maybe you’ll come in handy there too.”
“They know just about everything?” she asks, skepticism clear in her tone. “Except whatever I stole for you?”
I take another drink, then set my glass down. “That was a personal matter.”
“A personal matter?”
“Mmhmm.”
“You’re a capo in the familia. Doesn’t everything concerning you also concern them?”
I shrug. “In theory, yes.”
“But in reality?”
I don’t hurry to respond, instead taking in Emily’s curious expression. The way she’s leaning forward, her forearms on the table. Her eyes narrowed and serious. Her lips pursed. She almost looks like a detective sitting across from me in an interview room.
“In reality, the police have taken a special interest in me. I’m off limits, of course, but that’s only in theory too. There are plenty of bad cops on the payroll, but you can’t turn them all. They’re always watching, just in case they get the opportunity to pin the Grucos against me.”
She nods slowly. “And what would make them take a special interest in you?”
The way she says it makes me think she already knows the answer to that. Fear doesn’t show in her expression, so the shock of learning my reputation must have worn off.
I raise a brow. “You don’t already know?”
“I do,” she says, sliding her arms from the table and resting her hands in her lap. “But I don’t like accepting rumors at face value.”
I let out a sigh. “Fair enough… I’ve killed more than a few of their fellow officers over the years, mostly undercovers, and mostly quick, simple deaths where bodies were never found. But over a decade ago, I did get a little dramatic and made things personal for them.” I picture the face of the barely-twenty rookie cop, crying on his knees with piss soaking his pants. There is nothing,nothingin my life that has ever been sweeter than hearing him beg, followed up by gurgled screams.
“Plus,” I add. “One of them was the son of the Chief of Police, who happens to still hold that title. You can imagine the grudge he holds against me. It’s enough that even the familia can’t fully ensure my protection, and it isn’t as simple as killing him. That would only escalate things further.”
