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Jimmy’s house had been a refuge during my short and shitty marriage. His guys taught me the pawn shop business and how to be a fence. And Tony was always on his best behavior around his uncle. Now the house on the hill reminded me more of a set for a Gothic horror movie than anything else.
As we pulled to a stop, I fed Onyx the remaining cracker over my shoulder. I gave his fuzzy head a last scratch. The goofball would be on full alert as soon as we got out. He had a sense for tension in the humans around him and would protect me at all costs. The six of us, plus Jimmy’s guards, would put my dog on instant alert.
“Remember, no changes to the script. If you don’t know what to say, don’t say anything. People like to fill the silence. But don’t. It’s an easy way to fuck up. Last thing, know that you have the best team backing you up if this thing goes south.” John, the king of positive thinking, reached for the door handle. “Breathe. It’s a good plan.”
“He’s right, Lee. We’ve got your back. Follow John’s lead if anything goes off track.” Derek held my gaze in the mirror for a few beats. All the unspoken things that stood between us seemed to coalesce into a wall, then evaporate like smoke on a windy day. Our connection was stronger than ever.
If we pulled this off today, Derek and I had a chance at happily ever after. I was sure of it.
We needed to get moving before I lost my nerve. Because the way they were talking was going to make me cry or scare the shit out of me.
“Thank you. Now, boys, put on your big-girl panties and let’s do this.” I smiled at Derek in the mirror and held my hand out for John.
“Damn straight.” Steel opened his car door. Ahead of us, Noah and Damon were already standing outside their vehicle, hands hovering over their weapons as they scanned the front yard.
Showtime.
Derek got out and opened the back door. I scooted out after John, and he draped a possessive arm around my waist. I heard more than saw Steel set Onyx free from the back of the SUV. My dog rushed to my side, and I clicked a thin leather leash to his collar. He glued himself to my leg, and his hackles were up as I’d expected.
Jimmy’s house guards were filing out of the shadows, some from inside the house, others from behind the overgrown hedges. A big Lincoln, the kind Jimmy had always favored, idled behind our Range Rover in the driveway, blocking us in.
“Amber Lee, it’s been too long.” Rossi, Jimmy’s longtime consigliere, stood on the top step, the front door open behind him. His words should have sounded friendly, but they didn’t. It was an accusation.
“Rossi. Uncle Jimmy is expecting us.” I gave the older man a nod. He looked much the same as I remembered, but his once-black hair had turned to salt and pepper.
“You expect me to let all of them in too?”
“Unless Jimmy is coming out here, at least these two are coming with me.” I gestured at Derek and Steel. “My last talk with Tony wasn’t exactly friendly. I’d like to know someone in there is watching my back other than my dog.”
Rossi considered me for a moment. “If this was about anything less valuable than those fucking watches, I’d send you packing. This distrust is offensive.”
“Don’t blame Lee for my overprotectiveness.” John stroked the side of my face with one knuckle. He matched the brief intimate gesture with a possessive tone that would have made any woman’s knees weak and caused Rossi to roll his eyes in disgust.
“Only lover boy, two guards, and the damn dog. The others stay out here.” Rossi turned on his heel and we followed him into the foyer, the familiar double staircase and brass chandelier unchanged in two decades.
Jimmy held court in the drawing room on the far end of the first floor. Rossi jerked open the double pocket doors with a flourish. A decorator had updated the room with new furniture, stylish drapes, and a massive flat-screen TV. The overflowing cigar ashtrays and the old bar cart were exactly as I remembered.
Jimmy sat in an oxblood leather wingback chair between two windows across from the muted TV showing a horse race. He was old. It was startling, the man I remembered as a force of nature diminished by time. His white hair was thinning, and his big meaty hands were twisted with arthritis. I quickly did the math. Jimmy had to be well into his seventies. He’d lived a hard life, and it showed.
Three other men I didn’t know sat around a low table playing cards and drinking coffee. Each had at least one gun strapped to their body. His guards.
I moved forward to take Jimmy’s hand, as was custom, but John caught my arm and anchored me to his side. Again, he’d staked his claim. Jimmy’s eyebrows rose in mild surprise.
“So, this is it, you brought me a boyfriend, not a businessman.” Jimmy’s commanding voice coming from the old man in front of me was a mismatch that knocked me off balance. The script I’d carefully memorized blanked from my mind.
“No, a partner. I’m John Smith.” The reptilian gleam was back in John’s eyes.
Jimmy ignored him. “You better have my fucking money, Amber Lee.”
“You want to talk business? No.” I shook my head and looked around the room. The words of the memorized script we’d practiced flowed out naturally, full of a bravado I didn’t feel. “It’s too crowded in here. I don’t know those guys.” I waved at the three card players. They were all Tony’s age. No way I trusted them. And neither should Jimmy.
“Well, if my guards go, so do yours.” Jimmy jabbed his chin at Derek and Steel, who stood three steps behind John and me.
I looked at John like I was asking permission, but I was trying to hide my excitement. The meeting was unfolding as planned.
John turned to Derek and took a thick leather folio, then dismissed him and Steel. The coffee-drinking thugs followed. That left Rossi.
“Rossi, you too,” I said. The consigliere could have split his allegiance between Jimmy and Tony. The plan only worked if Jimmy was alone.
