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This is family.
This is what family is supposed to be.
Chapter 23
Aria
Isit,watching,asmy dealer nods to a man in all black. I know there’s a deal being made. Someone’s about to lose a shit ton of money on account of a stacked hand…
“So you didn’t get along at all?” I ask Tony, going back to our conversation. He and Alessandro had just spent the entire day together. I smile at him, knowingly.
He leans back in his chair, returning my smile.
“I made an effort…”
My fingers wrap around the glass that sits in front of me. And I lift it to my lips.
“Just don’t kill each other."
"You make it sound worse than it is," he says, shrugging.
“You weren’t there when he told me abouthisday.…”
“That's a fair point." A glass broke.
I can hear Luigi’s indistinct bellowing from the next room. The tasting room.
"A hectic place," Tony laughs, leaning back to see across the casino, his brow cocked. “Is that a stack?”
I nod once, my eyes on the table.
It was his turn to raise an eyebrow in surprise. Or rather, both eyebrows. He grins.
Is he going to let me off the hook?
“Your dealer is good…”
“The best, they say.”
“And you think this gets you off the hook for firing Josh?”
“He’s so sketchy sometimes, Tony…” I plea. “I mean, he hit on all the women and pissed off all the men, and I’m pretty sure he stole some of my money.”
He laughs. “Oh, he definitely stole money.”
He takes a swig of his drink.
“So do you think this thing with me and Alessandro is going to be a permanent thing?”
I shrug. “No idea.”
The two of them have been trying to work together on what to do about the Colombos. Turns out, we all had the same suspicions. I found that out when Tony started lashing me one day; asking why I’d ever make a deal with them when the plan had always been to strike them down where they stood.
We originally thought we’d made a deal with them. We’d give them the club and the revenue along with it, if they agreed to let us have exclusive contracts with our – and their – loan shark, Slim Finger. He’s a hot commodity after all, and we could start a new club with him in tow. I had the money to loan out, but I didn’t have the time to track down my own debts.
It seemed like a fair deal, even though I wanted to cut their fucking heads off and leave them on a stake outside the club for killing my men.
But in this world, nothing is personal.
