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“We just gonna sit in this silence, bro?” Ren glances over. “You good with that?”
“Works for me.”
“You can’t ignore it forever,” Ren says as we get close to our destination. He’s looking at me across the seat. “You can’t pretend like it’s fine.”
“I’m not pretending.”
Now the motherfucker wants to talk? How convenient for him—we’re trapped in the damn car together. Bastard’s smart. Picked his ground to have this stupid battle.
“I get it, you’re pissed. You don’t like that I went behind your back. But, Erick—”
“I don’t want to hear your excuses.” I stare at him. My eyes narrow. My hands shake. He wants to talk? Alright, we’ll talk. “I had something with her. I know she fucked up trying to run, but I still don’t believe everything was fake. I can’t believe it.”
“Why not? The girl’s the daughter of a con man. She learned some shit from her father.”
It’s like he knows exactly what’s been running through my head these past few days.
Hearing it out loud nearly kills me.
“She’s not like that,” I say, but what if she is?
“Maybe, maybe not, I don’t know. I just don’t want you to keep dragging yourself through this shit.”
“I’m not dragging myself through anything. Hellie’s back at the house. She’s paying off her debt. When she’s done, we’ll let her go, and I can forget she even exists.” I hold up a hand before he can speak. “But don’t think I’ll ever forget whatyoudid.”
Ren’s jaw works. I can tell that pisses him off. “I’ve always been looking out for you, bro. I’ve always had your back. Now you’re going to act like I’m the one who turned on you?”
“That’s exactly what I’m going to do. You’ve had it out for Hellie since the second she showed up. I don’t know what it is, maybe you’re jealous, maybe you really do think I was distracted by her, but either way you did your best to make sure you fucked things up to get your way.”
“That’s not how it went down.” He sounds exasperated as he leans away from me. “I was just trying to see if she was for real, and if she was, I planned on leaving it alone. Iwantedher to pass, don’t you get it? I wanted her to ignore her opportunity. It killed me when she climbed into that fucking car, because I knew it would hurt you so much. I was pissed, man. I didn’t want this to happen.”
“I bet you didn’t. I’m done talking about it and I don’t want you to bring it up again. We’re colleagues. That’s all.”
I can tell Ren’s not done, but the car parks. I get out and stride into the hotel with Ren on my heels. One of the porters spots me and waves for me to follow him, and I find Gallo sitting with Frost at a bar in the far corner of the casino.
“Strange place to meet,” I say, taking a chair next to Frost. I wave at the bartender and ask for their best whiskey. Time to wipe that conversation from my mind. Ren hovers nearby, staying out of the way, but watching closely.
“I wanted to make this brief.” Gallo’s expression is grim. “I heard a disturbing rumor this morning.”
“Your doctor finally tell you that swollen pathetic lump between your legs is actually a cancerous lesion?” Frost asks, grinning. The asshole’s already trying to start shit.
Gallo doesn’t take the bait, lucky for me. “Danny Accardi’s been spotted in town.”
Frost’s smile disappears. I sit back, stunned into silence. Danny Accardi? Hellie’s father? There’s absolutely no way. Here, in fucking Vegas, the one place in the entire world he shouldn’t be?
“That makes no sense,” Frost says before I have the chance.
“My intel is good.” Gallo shakes his head when the bartender asks if he wants more. I sip my whiskey, savoring the burn, trying to make sense of this. But any way I look at it, there’s no reason for the old man to still be around. “He was spotted last night. Apparently, he grew a beard and he’s real skinny, but it was definitely him.”
“Why didn’t your guys grab him?” I ask.
“It was an associate of my family, not a member. By the time the guy made the call to my people, and my soldiers showed up, Accardi was long gone.”
“Well, fuck.” Frost laughs to himself. It’s mirthless, too surprised to have any humor. “What’s that crazy asshole doing here? I thought he’d be long gone.”
“I have no idea, but we can catch him now that we know he’s around.” Gallo stares between us, looking grim. “This shit with the paintings is alright. The last payment came through, even though you tried to fuck me.”
Frost grunts. “Get over it. As if you wouldn’t have done the same.”
