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“I’m just interested in the business side.”
“I’m happy to hear this because anything else would be unpleasant for all involved.”
Fuckin’ Frank and his veiled threats. “You got nothing to worry about.” Let the fucker believe what he wanted to believe. “But I gotta ask, how did Cheryl take the news you were her father?”
“About the way you’d expect.” He huffed out a humorless laugh. “Basically told me to go to hell.”
“Did you know when we were all in New York?” That would really be fucked up especially since he basically blackmailed her.
“Before Cheryl’s mother got into the meth we had a good thing goin’ then it all fell apart. Her drug problem got worse and I refused to deal with her. She’d claimed Cheryl was my kid, but she never had any proof, so I figured she was just bullshitting to get me to throw money her way.”
“So, what changed?”
“She had the paperwork to back it up. I had it thoroughly checked out and everything was legit.”
“Why couldn’t you just let her and I be together back then. Leave shit alone so we could make our own way.” Nick leaned across his desk. “Did that ever cross your mind?”
“I figured it’d be best to get Cheryl out of Brooklyn. As you remember, there was a lot of shit going on with the Russians. Ididn’t want to make her a target so I decided it was safer to send her three thousand miles away.”
That explained some of Nick’s nagging questions. It also put Frank in a slightly different light but still?—
“I would’ve protected her, but you never gave us a chance to make our own decision.”
“Never would’ve worked. You were just starting out trying to get the club in Manhattan off the ground. I know what it takes. The hard work, the long hours. Believe me, I did you both a favor.”
“A favor? Are you fuckin’ kidding me?”
“I admit things didn’t work out exactly as planned. I wasn’t expecting her to be so stubborn. When I went out to L.A. that first time I wanted to help her out, but no, she turned me away, wanted nothing to do with me.”
“If that’s true, then how did she get with Russo?”
“Things changed and Cheryl needed my help. Funny the lengths people will go to protect who they love.”
Another comment shrouded in mystery. Frank sure knew how to spin a story.
“In other words, you were able to manipulate Cheryl into marrying that piece of shit.”
“Fair assumption.”
Nick had the uncontrollable urge to jump over his desk and shake Frank until he spit out the truth, but experience told him that would be useless.
“She was living in some shithole in downtown L.A. I wanted to give her money, set her up in a better place but she turned me down every time until the night she needed my help.”
Nick longed to slam his fist on his desk and demand the full story, but this time he had to play the game according to Frank’s rules if he wanted answers.
“Johnny was easy to manipulate. Fresh outta prison he was willing to do whatever I said. I set him up in some jazz clubs I invested in?—”
“Which conveniently washed your dirty money.”
Frank ignored his accusation. “It worked out good for all of us.”
“Except Cheryl getting stuck with a jerk off like Russo?”
“You got to let those old grudges go, Nick.” Frank shrugged. “Probably the reason you never got along was because you were too much alike.”
“Ahhh, fuck no. Do not put me and him in the same sentence.”
“Granted he’s a big mouth, but you have the same drive, same one-mindedness.”
