AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Gathering the power I feel in that moment, yet dismissing carnality, I square my shoulders. “I’m a Galloway.Youdo not mistreat a Galloway. I will kill you. You’ll know what it means to be dead to me! Merry Christmas, asshole!”
37
Santino
Afew days ago, I went into Galloway Enterprises to speak with Gina. She had her secretary come down with $750–the hourly going rate for a private party—saying I wasn’t worth a penny more.
Mere minutes ago, Gina had Christmas gifts dropped off for my mother and Antonia—after costing my job! Now, she’s threatening my life?
I clutch the phone to my ear, listening to the crazed lunatic. A fusion of sexual frustration and a massively bruised ego cause me to sit silently.Dig your grave, sweetheart!Gina The fucking Grinch Galloway has another thing coming if she thinks we’re over. A smile slices through my pinched expression as Gina brazenly shares her location and hangs up.
I glance over at Toni, placing the shiny red gifts under Ma’s tree, saying shereally likesGina now.
All I’ve tried to do this entire time was try and explain. Her sister stole all my shit. Now, I’m angry!
“Who’s the girl, Santi?” Big Tony asks, with a mustache created by melted marshmallows from a cup of hot chocolate. While my world crumbles around me, Antonia’s father has shown progress. He left Essex County Correctional Facility, seemingly a changed man.
“Uncle Santa’s future wife,” Toni says for me. “Auntie Gina introduced me to the Feds—”
“The Feds?” Tony chokes.
“Dad, you signed the consent papers a while back.”
His eyebrows pull together. “You’re a silly girl, Antonia. Why would you want to get mixed up with those . . .”
“To be on the different side of the law as you!” I snarl.
Tony rasps. “Santino, woah! Did ya have to say something like that in front of my daughter?”
“First, Dad, I’m not a silly girl. I’m thirteen. Uncle Santa,” Toni laughs nervously, “What the heck is wrong with you?”
Ignoring Antonia, I ask, “Big Tony, you busy?”
“You threatened to take a hammer to my knees if I didn’t . . . Ahem . . . Do that thing.” The idiot’s eyes slide back from my niece to me. Neither of us knows what code he’s speaking in.
Toni’s face falls. “Dad, if it’s okay with you, I’m heading upstairs to check on Nonna.”
“Um, yeah, sure, doll.”
She’s complaining about how he calls other women “doll” while heading up the stairs.
Running a hand along my unshaven jaw, I assess him. “You are a fuck-up, Big Tony.”
He rises from the kitchen table. “You’re starting to act like Uncle Piero and —”
“My fucking Uncle Piero and Cecco, Tony,” I snarl. My forearm slams him into the side of the refrigerator. Restraining his neck, I reply, “I see you have a new van, no windows.”
“Uh, it’s empty. Promise.”
I laugh softly. “Tony, it was empty the last time. You still wound up in Essex, remember?”
“Okay, so what’s it to you, then?”
“I need you to follow my truck.”
“Where and why?” He chews his top lip apprehensively.
“Didn’t I fucking follow you around one night in the rain, huh?”
