“Fuck him and his syndicate!” Mick yelled. “I would have taken out more had I found more.”
“So what are we gonna do now?” Teddy asked. “Because I’m not going to war with Frankie.”
Mick looked angrily at Teddy. “Then your ass won’t be working for me! Didn’t you hear what I said? He ordered a hit on my son. They tried to take out my son.”
“Did they know he was your son?” Tommy asked him.
“Yes, their asses knew. Monk knew too. That’s why they ambushed him!”
“How could Frankie know for certain when you claim you just found out for certain yourself?” asked Teddy.
“It was obvious if you looked at him that he was mine. Monk had men stationed in Rome and everybody in Rome knew. They all knew.”
“They all knew you had a son,” said Teddy, “but Ma and none of us knew?”
Mick stared at his son. “Monk’s supposedly your best friend. Why didn’t he tell you I had a son in Rome?”
“Because that’s your personal business and he knew to keep his ass out of it.”
“Well his ass is in it now,” Reno said. “Monk was out of line.”
“Big time,” agreed Sal.
“But it’s Monk!” Teddy said angrily. “This is Frankie we’re talking about.”
“So what if it’s Frankie,” said Mick. “What’s that supposed to mean to me?”
“It means what are you thinking, Pop?!” Teddy was shaking he was so upset. “We never heard of this so-called son until just now and you expect me to turn on Frankie over his ass? Somebody I don’t even know? Somebody you just said you don’t even like?Fuck him!”
But Mick was enraged, too, and he jumped over his desk, grabbed Teddy by his shirt, and punched him so hard that Teddy fell on his ass.
Although he had the wind knocked out of him, Teddy,being Teddy, jumped right back up and got in his old man’s face. It took every man in that room to keep them from tearing each other apart.
“Stop it!” Big Daddy was yelling as he, too, was trying to separate both men. “Stop this shit right now!”
But Teddy broke free and both men got hands on each other again and began wrestling all over that office. They were knocking over chairs. They were destroying expensive vases.It was so chaotic that Mick slammed Teddy against the wall, knocking every picture to the floor and shattering the glass of the frames, as they wrestled for control.
Big Daddy and the Gabrinis were all trying to pull them apart again, but it was a herculean task.
When they finally succeeded, and Mick was pushed back and away from Teddy, who now had a bloody nose, the violence suddenly ceased.
Mick looked at Teddy. “I don’t have to give a shit about him. He doesn’t give a shit about me either. But nobody, and I mean nobody, puts a finger on a child of mine but me! Frankie knew he was my son and he attempted to assassinate him anyway. What the fuck did you think I was going to do? I can’t let that stand!”
“Damn right,” agreed Sal.
In fact, everybody in that room understood what Mick did was necessary. But that didn’t make it easy to digest because they all loved and respected Monk Paletti. Everybody was breathing heavily, and everybody was upset. That was why nobody noticed that Roz had already walked out. That Roz was no longer in that office.
And she didn’t just walk out of that office.
She walked out of that house too. She got in her Mercedes-Maybach and took off.
The girl was gone.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
First, she opened Mick’s office door gingerly without being noticed, saw the one she was looking for, and then whispered. “Reno?”
Then a little louder. “Reno?”
