“There’s a seat warmer back here,” Artie whispers to Angel and they both gasp, clicking buttons much the same way I did when I first sat in the Orlov town car. “Auntie, are you richer now?”
I turn around to tell them not to be rude, but Angel speaks first. “Of course she’s richer. Maxim is a CEO.”
“Nessa is a CEO,” I remind them.
“Yes, but she isn’t in the tablets,” Artie objects.
“Thetabloids,” Angel corrects.
“She was inThe Postlast year,” I point out. “We had a party about it.”
“But Maxim is richer,” Artie says definitively. “Dad says hotels are lucrative.”
“Very lucrative,” Maxim muses.
“Okay fine, yes!” I say, exasperated, but I grin, part of me thrilled by their banter. I haven’t seen them as often since the wedding, and I’ve missed them. “I’m rich now, maybe the richest person in the world.”
“Thatis not true,” Angel says, and we all laugh. When I look back at Maxim, he’s smiling, too.
“Since you’re so rich now, can I get two books today?” Angel asks.
“And chocolate croissants?” Artie adds. My two favorite little shits.
“Bleeding us dry,” Maxim sighs, and my eyes light up like they do any time he makes a joke.
“We’ll see.” I turn and give them an exaggerated wink that I know looks stupid because they both giggle.
I don’t think of the chef again.
23
MARY
“You were reckless,”Nate says for the third time as he drives us through traffic to my new home. I wince as I press the bag of frozen carrots to my cheek that Nate grabbed from a corner store in a huff.
I can only hope that my dear and ever-nosy husband is still out visiting one of his clubs, because if not, I will get no peace this evening.
As it is, I’m getting none now.
“What were youthinkinggoing in there alone?” Nate asks again. “You don’tthinksometimes.”
“Stop yelling at me,” I grumble, but he is right. I should have waited for him and Leo to get to the drop point before going in on my own. They were on their way, but they were taking a long time and I was getting antsy.
Davini drops are usually harmless; we provide large sums of weapons, they move said weapons wherever they’d like, marking up the cost on their end, and give us an additional cut of that.
Easy peasy.
There were a number of unfortunate events that led to tonight going so horribly and the first of these was that the Davini family decided to send Johnny D.
The Davinis are a key partner from New York; not the top family, but beloved underbosses which translates to: no way in hell can I kill one of them without causing anincident. Knowing this, Johnny has gotten too comfortable.
Johnny D is around my age with a fragile ego and probably CTE from all the concussions he’s had. I beat his ass bad at Leroy’s last year and he still isn’t over it, but I am an adult, as is he. I believed we were past that, and if we weren’t, that we’d work it out in the ring next time.
Simple mistake on my part.
Nearly the moment I approached, Johnny D told me he wanted a rematch. I laughed, which, in retrospect, was the next mistake of the evening.
He got defensive, puffing out his chest and taunting me like myfearwas the reason I wouldn’t fight him in the middle of a business transaction. It’s unlike me to deescalate a situation, though, and today was no different.
