Mick could tell how genuine his concern was for Roz. Roz could tell it too. “I’m fine, Kelly.”
“I don’t know what mission you guys are on, but maybe you should stay here with me until it’s over.”
“I’m good, Kelly, truly I am. I’m with Mick.”
Those simple three words warmed Mick’s heart. He felt proud when she said those words.
Kelly felt empty. But Roz left with Mick.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
“Nikki get behind the wheel,” Mick ordered as he pulled up to the parking lot of The Kakaya nightclub. “You stay here with Mrs. Sinatra.”
“Yes sir,” Nikki said.
Mick looked at Roz, who was already sitting on the front passenger seat. “Nikki’s in charge. Your ass do anything counter to that and you’ll answer to me.”
“I would have liked to go inside myself, but okay.”
Mick gave her a hard look. He knew how stubborn Roz could be.
Then Teddy looked at Nikki. “She’s not your mother-in-law right now,” he said. “She’s your subordinate.”
Mick looked at his son as if he’d lost his mind. Mick Sinatra’s wife was nobody’s subordinate!
But Teddy and Monk laughed. “Just playing with you, Pop, damn. I already know Ma is nobody’s subordinate but yours. I know already.”
Mick gave Roz another glance. He hated that he brought her along, but pleased to have her by his side too. Especially after the way she made him feel back at Kelly’s place. He, Monk, and Teddy headed for the entrance.
The Kakaya was filled with so many Russian nationals and other partygoers that it was standing room only as the place was alive and jumping. Mick handed over a wad of cash to get in and then the threesome made their way through the crowd. The sound of music and laughter and conversations were deafening.
“Maybe we should split up, Mick,” Frankie said.
But Mick didn’t agree. “No,” he said. “We stay together.”
Because Mick knew a guy like Gagarin, who was able to wrangle himself a high-maintenance woman like Bella, wouldn’t hang out in the club proper. He was looking for the rooms.
When he saw a guard on a back door, he made his way in that direction. Monk and Teddy followed him.
Mick pulled out an even larger wad of cash. If Teddy had to guess, he would guess it was a couple thousand bucks. The guard was about to grab for it and allow Mick and his crew entrance into the back rooms, but Mick pulled the wad back. He needed intel first. “Gagarin,” he said. “Which room?”
The guard hesitated, looked at that thick wad again, and then held up four fingers. Mick gave him the money, he opened the VIP-only door, and then Mick, Teddy, and Monk walked in.
They could hear sex sounds emanating from the various rooms as they walked up the hall. It felt like a brothel to Monk. Although he’d never subject himself to such unsavory rooms, he was not naïve. He had to get his guys out of more than their share of rooms like those before he took over as boss of the Bonaducci crime family.
When they made it up to room four, they heard sounds coming from that room too, but Mick didn’t bother to knock. He used his shoulder to force open the door.
When it flew open, Bella was naked in a bed and on top of a naked Datvey Gagarin. She was riding Gagarin hard when Mick first busted in, with her breasts bounding, and although her movement stopped when she saw Mick, her need to cover her naked body never entered her mind. She just stared a Mick as Mick, for that brief moment in time, stared at her.
But Datvey, terrified, quickly threw her off of him and onto the bed as he quickly tried to reach for his pants where presumably his gun was lodged.
“Don’t even try it,” Mick said as he walked on in. Mick, seeing the state of disrobing Bella was in, closed the door behind before Teddy and Monk could see anything.
Since they both figured why Mick did not want them to enter that room, Teddy and Monk were relieved.
“If I was that kind of man,” quipped Frankie, “I would have no problem seeing Bella Caine in whatever state of disrobement she’s in. She’s a gorgeous woman.”
“She’s gorgeous,” said Teddy, “and she’s also my sister’s mother. No thank you.”
