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Costello fingered the tops of his cards. “Better than the alternatives,” he said, but he wasn’t sure he believed his own words.
A quick end.
Or a lifetime of being drugged and servicing men against her will.
Gianni flipped through his hand but his eyes were dark, and his jaw line tensed.
“You got the hots for your girl?” Tony laughed.
“No. Of course not. Just another girl. Just a job.” Gianni pointed to the middle where the pile of chips waited. “Marco, your bet.”
Marco focused on his hand. “I’ll bet five.” He tossed in two chips equaling the five-hundred-dollar pot. “If you don’t care, why worry about where she ends up?”
“I’ll call.” Tony tossed in his chips. “Marco, you’ve never lost a girl to the playroom. Feelings for the girl or not, it’s not easy.”
“I guess. But they’re just Lullaby girls. Either they get bought by an asshole or they live upstairs playing with different assholes. An asshole’s an asshole.” Marco laughed. “Costello, your bet.”
Costello tossed in his five hundred. “The adoption party at least tries to line up the girls with a decent match. If the client’s happy, they treat the girls better. Which means the girls behave better, which means they’ll keep them on the Lullaby. The girls don’t perform right because they’re matched wrong, and they stop getting their supply.”
“And the girl probably ends up face down in her bathwater,” Tony added.
“How many?” Gianni pointed at Costello.
He looked over his hand and trashed the three of diamonds, leaving him with a Jack, an Ace, a seven, and a six, all clubs. Gianni dealt him one card to replenish his hand and made his way around the table.
“But the amount of money Frank puts into this place.” Marco started up again. “He’d make four times as much if he didn’t spend so much time getting these girls ready.”
“Why don’t you leave the math to Johnny,” Costello said and tossed in some more chips, calling Gianni’s bet and raising him another three thousand.
“Too much for me. I’m out.” Tony folded his cards.
“Johnny’s younger, knows technology better than Frank.” Marco looked at his cards. “I’m just saying, maybe Frank should listen to him a bit more, that’s all.” He studied his chips for a minute then tossed his cards down. “I’m out.”
“Who says he doesn’t listen to him? All Johnny does in our meetings is go over projections and charts. Frank never stops him from having his time with the numbers.” Gianni folded his hand and motioned to Costello to show his.
“Frank won’t like it if he finds out Johnny’s been complaining about his leadership of this family,” Costello said with a bland tone.
“You wanna have that chat with him?” Marco huffed a laugh.
Costello chuckled. “I want nothing to do with that conversation.”
“You gonna show your hand or what?” Gianni shoved his shoulder.
Costello looked at his Jack, Ace, seven, six and the four of spades he’d added, making his Ace-high flush. Still, it was far better to leave the others guessing. “ Nope.” He shook his head and tossed his cards face down into the discard pile.
“Hey, guys.” Maria rushed through the kitchen door. “Sorry to break up your card game, but there’s an issue upstairs.”
“So, handle it.” Marco waved his hand at her and started to collect the cards.
“All four of your girls got into a fight at story time. Nancy is about to burst into flames. The night nannies just arrived, but you need to get up there.”
Costello’s jaw clenched. She’d promised she could make it through the entire day without needing him to be called in. One fucking day. It shouldn’t be so hard for an adult to manage herself.
“What happened?” Gianni asked as they followed Maria to the stairs.
“I don’t really know. I was getting the cookies out for the girls and then the four of them all started shouting and pulling hair. I think it had something to do with one of the blankets.”
“Who started it?” Costello asked, the dread already sinking into his stomach.
Maria looked over her shoulder as they reached the second floor. “Ariana pushed Mae first from what I could tell. They’re all sobbing. It’s a mess. We’ve taken the other girls to their rooms.”
Marco had his belt off and folded it his hand before they even reached the dayroom door, leading the charge. As soon as they stepped inside the room, Costello found Ariana.
Standing behind a sobbing Mae and Courtney, Ariana had her face covered and lowered. Her shoulders were shaking.
“Courtney, come here right now.” Marco’s voice boomed, startling the girls.
She wiped her cheeks and shuffled slowly over to Marco, sobbing harder when she took note of the belt swaying in his hand.
“Let’s go. You can give me your excuses later.” Marco grabbed hold of her arm and yanked her toward the door, delivering one hard swat with the belt across her jammie-clad ass. Her howl faded as he dragged her down the hall.
