“Not this time, Boss. You already own most of this area. The other business owners feel you’ve been locking them out. They’re fed up. And there are safety considerations.”
“Bullshit. They’ve known about this expansion for years. It was tentatively approved last year. Now all of a sudden they have reservations? Now all of a sudden they feel left out? I’m not buying it, Robby. It’s those same hippy-ass, longhaired environmentalists fucks making all of these demands. Nobody listens to them.”
“Well somebody’s listening right now,” Robby said “because they want to put a pause of construction. I got the notice today.”
Sal couldn’t believe it. “Show it to me,” he said and Robby gave him the letter. But Robby also thought he saw something above his head. And when he glanced up and saw a beam on a scaffold falling straight down toward him and his boss, he pushed Sal out of the way and dived in the other direction himself. The beam fell hard within inches of Sal.
But Robby wasn’t as fortunate. One of his legs was trapped underneath the beam. Sal and every worker out there ran to his aid.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Three hours later and Mick and Teddy arrived at the hospital in Vegas only to find Robby asleep in his hospital bed. Roz hurried to Gemma and Reno and Trina, who also lived in Vegas. But Mick and Teddy looked at Sal, and all three of them stepped out in the corridor.
“How’s Roz?” Sal asked.
“She’s managing.”
“She couldn’t make it?”
“She’s preoccupied with two-a-day rehearsals in New York,” Mick said. “She’s got an opening night coming up in less than three weeks.”
“What happened, Uncle Sal?” Teddy asked.
“The guys forgot to secure the beams before they started moving them on a scaffold. One got away.”
“Damn,” said Teddy.
“It could have been all of them falling. None of them had been properly secured. And if Robby hadn’t pushed me out of the way, it would have been my ass trapped underneath that beam too.”
“How’s Robby doing?” Teddy asked.
“Great considering. He didn’t break any bones, thank God. Got a big fat bruise on his leg, but other than that he’s mostly just shook up. But he’ll recover.”
But Sal knew Mick came to Vegas to get an answer to one question only. “Was it an accident, Sal Luca?”
Sal nodded. “I already thought about that. But yes, from everything I’ve seen, it was an accident. I told you that over the phone.”
“We’ve been having lots of accidents lately.”
Sal agreed. “I get that. But this was an accident. Frankie wouldn’t try to kill me.”
“I told Pop that,” said Teddy.
But Mick wasn’t hearing it. “You people have been giving Monk Paletti too many benefits of the doubt for my taste. And for far too long. A man with a syndicate to run has to look out for his syndicate first and last. He’s an ally when he can be an ally. He’s the enemy when he has no other choice.”
“But why would he do it, Uncle Mick?” asked Sal. “Why would he come for Robby? That don’t make no sense.”
“Maybe you were the target,” said Mick.
But that made it even more nonsensical to Sal. “Why would he come after me? I didn’t do shit to him and neither did Robby. This is Frankie we’re talking about. You’re barking up the wrong tree on this one.”
“For real,” said Teddy.
But they both could tell that Mick wasn’t at all convinced.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
NEARLY TWO WEEK LATERand Mick drove one of the big SUVs in his fleet of tricked-out Cadillac Escalades and parked in front of the office at the shipyards. Just behind Teddy’s brand-new Porsche. When Nikki, who was standing at the office window, saw Mick drive up, she headed back to the conference table. “The Boss is here,” she said to Teddy.
