Then Nikki drove up, they got inside, and they continued to search for Duke.
CHAPTER THIRTY
After nearly five hours of nonstop searching every street and every crook and cranny they could search, and after nearly five hours of entertaining pure horror in their hearts, the decision was made by Mick himself to go to The Carson and regroup. They had every available man on the lookout.
Sal and Reno were on their way to Philly from Vegas with their own army of men.
Tommy flew his family to Vegas to get with Reno’s oldest son Jimmy and to take charge of security for the Gabrini side of the family should anything go down over there.
Amelia had not been contacted because Mick was afraid she would contact Hammer Reese, the former head of the CIA and the government’s current head of all special ops, and he would involve law enforcement. The cops were too busy running into the theater and were handling that chaotic scene when the abduction took place. They didn’t even know an abduction had taken place. But if nothing changed, even Mick knew he would have to contact Hammer himself.
With Big Daddy Sinatra flying in from Maine, it was going to be another family get together. They hadn’t all been together since Roz’s birthday and that tanker explosion. Although it felt like déjà vu all over again for all of them, it was 10x for Mick. He didn’t know how much more of this he could take.
But as Nikki drove them to Mick’s Carson-Benning hotel, the silence in that SUV was deafening. Nikki was nursing pain that felt like a bruised rib from that fall from the van she endured, but she knew her physical pain was nothing comparedto the emotional pain the family was going through. She didn’t even mention her discomfort.
Mick, who was seated on the middle row against the door, looked over at Roz. Jackie was seated in between her parents and her head was leaned onto her father’s shoulder. Duke wasn’t just her twin, but her best friend. They rarely did anything without the other one. She was worried sick.
Mick was worried about her too, but he was even more worried about Roz. Because Roz was quiet. Loud Roz was usually who people thought of when they felt she was at her most destructive, but Mick knew better. Quiet Roz was the most lethal. Quiet Roz meant she was falling to pieces and nobody would ever know it.
But Mick knew it.
That was why he reached over, took her by the arm, and coaxed her into movement. And with his help, she got up, went over to Mick, and sat on his lap. She began sobbing as soon as he held her and she buried her entire body into his. He held her tightly. Because he knew how she felt. It was a miracle that he wasn’t balling his eyes out too.
Nikki saw Mick sit Roz on his lap and hold her tightly. To her that was the most underrated thing about Mick Sinatra. Everybody knew how deadly he was. Everybody knew how vicious he was. But nobody knew how loving he could be toward his wife. They fought often. They were constantly at odds with each other seemingly more times than not. But beneath the surface was their love and devotion to each other. That was the part that always got lost in the drama. It was beautiful to Nikki. It was what she hoped her and Teddy’s love story could be some day.
But she couldn’t see that day ever coming unless they completely walked away from the Sinatra Crime Family and did their own thing.
Case in point: She was thinking about love. Teddy was thinking about what could they do to get out of this war. “We need to go to Frankie, Pop,” Teddy said. “I can talk to him. If I can only get him face to face I can get him to stop this shit before it does everybody in.”
Mick didn’t respond. It was too ridiculous to him. He wasn’t dignifying that comment with a response. Until Teddy said: “I get that he ordered that kidnapping. I’m not trying to minimize that. And he won’t answer my phone calls and I probably wouldn’t get past his gate. But we all know he would never hurt Duke.”
Mick quickly looked at Teddy. “We all don’t know shit,” he said to his son. “Don’t you see what happened?”
Nikki looked at Mick through the rearview as she drove. “What happened?” she asked him.
“When Monk blew up my tanker in front of my house, it wasn’t just a warning like we thought. It wasn’t just him putting us on notice that he would strike again. He was warning me that his next hit would be close to home. That was the warning. My son is as close to home as it gets. And your ass doesn’t think he won’t do anything to Michello? To my son? Why? Because he’s your fucking friend? What planet are you living on?! Monk Paletti is a mob boss. Get that through your fucking head. He’s a mob boss in revenge mode. No boss of his caliber is going to let friendship get in the way of vengeance. And don’t you forget that!”
Mick was beside himself with rage. Nikki got it. He was taking his anguish out on Teddy. She knew that. But she also knew he was telling the truth.
Mick could have gone on and on dressing down Teddy, but when Roz groaned as if his anger was paining her even more, he stopped his tirade and held her tighter. And he did stop long enough to call Alex Drakos and ask him to put Gloriaand Kimmie under his protection. Once he explained why, Alex Drakos understood. It was done.
“Isn’t Oz in town?” Teddy asked his father. Oz Drakos was his half-sister Gloria’s often-estranged husband.
“Yes, he’s in town,” said Mick.
And that response alone made clear to Teddy that his father no longer had any confidence whatsoever in the future of Gloria and Oz.
Silence returned as they made their way to the hotel.
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
Security was even tighter than normal as many of Mick’s capos had made their way to the hotel by the time they drove up.
When they got out of the Escalade, a wall of protection surrounded them as they made their way to the penthouse. Not having Duke with them, and not knowing where Duke could possibly be, made the situation bad enough. But when they entered the penthouse and found Bella Caine asleep on the sofa inside the apartment, wearing nothing but Mick’s big dress shirt, it got worse. They all just stood there.
Teddy and Nikki had forgotten that Bella was even there.
Jackie was shocked she was there and dressed so provocatively.
