I dig into my purse and pull out a folded piece of paper. “Stole it off Tony’s desk last night.” Another lie. I haven’t been at the club in two days. I take a quick sip of my cocoa when Corey’s face pops into my head.Why can’t I just stop thinking about him?
It’s the way he looks at me, I think.
The way his hands feel on my skin.
No, it’s more than that. I just don’t want to admit to it.
I can’t ever admit to it.
“What’s this?” Lev asks, unfolding the papers.
I watch his eyes scan quickly over the document and grow wider and wider.
“It’s the entire list of Tony Fretolli’s contacts. Every person he associates with. Every business he involves himself with. Every piece-of-shit criminal he works with. And all the other family members having to do with his organization.” It’s not, though, it’s only a quarter of the list, and the majority of the people on it are dead. I smile at him like a giddy schoolgirl.
“My father is meeting with him today,” he says, greedy eyes still reading over Fretolli’s secrets. He’s inhaling the cheesecake like an award-winning vacuum.
Tony is meeting with Niko today? “Why? I thought your father was cutting him out of everything.”
“Oh, he is, beautiful. Tony called him for a sit down. Something fucked up must be happening for him to reach out and beg like that.” He laughs as he licks the last remnants of the cheesecake off his fork. If he starts licking the plate like a dog, my camera is coming out.
Then I realize what he just said.Something big must be happening. Tony believes Niko is behind his men being slaughtered like pigs. And he’s never going to own up to the fact it’s Tony himself ordering the damn pork sandwiches. Tony Fretolli is not sitting down talking to anyone. He’s probably cutting them up into little pieces and selling it to the neighborhood butcher as a new kind of organic meat.
“You know,” he says, dipping a tissue into a glass of water to wipe the mess of white gunk caked around his lips. “You shouldn’t go back there. With the things Tony is into, you’re not safe. Big things are going to start happening. Do yourself a favor and stay away. Dance privately if you need the money. I know plenty of men who’d pay for you.”
Heat surges through me, but I ignore the words and quiet my rage. Now is not the time to lose my shit on him. “What do you think is going to happen?”
“Really,” he chuckles, “you want to go there?”
“Yeah, seriously, what’s going on?” I ask, grasping the mug hard in my hands.
“Hun, the Jakovs are much more powerful than the Fretollis. The Italian mob? They’re nothing in this city now, haven’t been for the last ten years.” He leans forward and takes a slurp of his coffee. “Today, most of the top guys in the families are doing time or dead,” he whispers. “We think it’s time for a changing of the guard, so to speak.”
“You don’t think Anthony Fretolli is powerful?” I ask, taking a small casual sip from my cup.
“Nah, he’s just crazy. People listen to him out of fear, not respect. My father said it was Angelo Acerbi that was respected in that family, and him and his whole family got gunned down years ago. My senior year in high school.” He shrugs and offers me a small calculating smile, “With all the disgusting shit Tony and his crew are dabbling in? The chemical shit, the kids—we think it’s time for that entire organization to be read itslast rites.” He motions the waitress over and takes out a roll of cash, flashing it like a stack of cards. My mind spins out of control.He’s talking about killing Corrado too.
“What do my sister and I owe you, gorgeous? My sister has to get out of here,” he asks the waitress.
She writes out the receipt and they banter while I think of a dozen ways I would love to see Lev die. It’s a sick thought, but it’s there, breathing, living, festering inside me.
When the waitress sashays away, he nods toward the door, dismissing me.
I don’t move.
“What’s wrong? Come on, get out of here. I want to hit that,” he says, grinning ear to ear, gaze locked on to the waitress’s—her name is Melissa—ass.
“Don’t touch Corrado.” My tone is even, it’s not a plea nor a question. It’s a bold-faced demand.
He leans back, the waitress suddenly dropping right out of his thoughts. A smile playing at his lips. “And what will you give me so I don’t touch Corrado Fretolli?”
I lean forward and bite along the bottom of my lip. “Big boy, you take me into the backseat of your Porsche right now, and I’ll give you anything you ask for.”
Chapter 14
Corrado
Imush Enzo in the face and shove past him. My head isn’t right and I just need the truth. I need the truth about her.
