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“Do we stop laundering?” Kenny asked, his voice trembling slightly.
“Everything, anything that ain’t legal.”
“But, boss, that will cost us—” Bullseye began.
“It will cost us a lot more in federal fucking prison than to halt operations for now,” I snapped.
“We ceasing operations at the other joints too?” Kenny asked. His concern was the lucrative smoke shop he managed.
“Nah, keep everything else running. Hell, run it harder if you have to,” I said as I looked at Gia. “And if she’s around, she’s an extension of me, do we understand? No one touches her or says fuck all about her family.”
The room grew silent as the smell of blood infiltrated the room. Whether they agreed with it or not, Gia was now as much a part of it as we were. She knew things she shouldn't. Things that could destroy our family. Yet as I looked into her soft, rounded eyes, I trusted her.
ChapterSeventeen
Gia
The small recorder in my bra stabbed me in the chest every time I moved my arms, so I sat motionless and wordless as Enzo exchanged words with his crew.
“I’ll see you next week, Bullseye. Let’s meet at the smoke shop this time around,” Enzo said as he pushed in the chair he’d been sitting in. “Can you guys take care of this?” He gestured toward Rudy's body. After a nod shared among the men, we exited through a one-way door with no handle on the outside at the back of the building.
I kept my arms crossed as the recorder slipped further into my bra, and I worried it would fall out. That would be a fatal mistake. I’d get the rough end of Enzo's business demeanor, and it wouldn't end well for me. We walked toward the car, and I sat in the passenger seat. I took a deep breath as the car rumbled toward the mansion. A nauseating heaviness filled my chest from watching a man be murdered less than an hour ago. The Vigliones were involved in deeper shit than we ever imagined. Sex trafficking? Even if Enzo didn't see it as such, that was another level of federal charges. He scoffed at selling drugs but welcomed the sale of bodies?
“Why so quiet?” Enzo asked, shifting his glance between the road and me.
“Just didn’t expect that,” I said, as nonchalant as possible. We weren’t an innocent family, and I wasn’t in a place to pass judgment, but how could I not? I understood Rudy had to die—he couldn’t let that kind of liability walk out the door—but to do it in such a bold way? I didn’t expect that kind of recklessness from Enzo.
“I knew what was gonna happen, and I didn’t want to bring you because of it,” he said as his fingers gripped the steering wheel.
“Why did you?” I asked.
“If Silvio called that hit on you, I couldn’t leave you there alone.” His lips drew into a frown. I couldn’t imagine not trusting my own father like that. If you didn’t have family, what did you have?
“I can handle myself, especially if you gave me my damn gun back.” I cocked a half smile at him.
“I don’t trust you enough for that.” He smirked at me and tipped my chin up with his finger.
I slapped his hand away. “Fuck you.” He was right to lack trust in me, but it didn’t make me any less mad.
* * *
Enzo
Gia’s hipsswayed with every step as we strolled up the walkway toward the house. My eyes lingered on her incredible ass. She was a queen and she knew it.I can’t ever let her know what she does to me. Women like her get drunk off such power.
“Will you wait up?” I yelled toward her as I quickened my steps to keep pace with her. She didn’t slow down as she actively avoided my gaze. I grabbed her arm and spun her to face me.
“Enzo, I really have nothing to say to you.” She stared at me with fire in her eyes. “I don’t understand how you can trust me with your pistol and your dick, but not enough to let me have the only thing I can use to defend myself. You don’t fucking trust me?” There was something about Gia that made me trust her with my life, but a larger part told me a girl like her would jerk your dick off with one hand while pulling a gun on you with the other.
“Gia...” My fingers pressed into the soft skin of her arm in a firm hold as the front door opened. She ripped her arm from me at the sight of Silvio staring at us.
Silvio eyed her up and down, his gaze hovering on the plunged neckline of her shirt. Gia covered her chest with crossed arms.
“Get in the house, now,” Silvio demanded as he pointed toward the library. We walked inside, and Silvio’s eyes darted back and forth between us. “Enzo!” He gestured toward the door, and I looked back at Gia. “She’ll be fine, go!” he screamed, and it wasn’t a choice any longer.
I stepped into her to hand her my keys, keeping one apart from the others as I offered them to her.
“Go to my room,” I commanded her in a whisper. She grabbed the ring of keys, keeping her fingers on the one I’d been holding. I tried to tell her with my expression to go and lock the door. She nodded toward me, and the click of her heels disappeared.
