“How?”
“I don’t know.”
“Don’t let her die.” He stares at me.
“No shit,” I say. “I know that.”
“We need her more than ever. We need her to be the perfect sex slave at the end of this.”
The anger comes back full force, but I ignore it. “I understand.”
“No, you don’t.” He steps toward me. “This is all falling apart. At the very least, we need to give the Romanos this mob slut as a gift if we can’t get to Toni or if something goes wrong. If you can’t get information from her, at least make her into a useful gift.”
I grit my teeth. I don’t fucking like the way he’s talking. I don’t like thinking about giving her back either. Now’s not the time. I grunt at him, looking past him at the tray on the counter and nod. “I understand,” I say, but the idea of Grace working as a sex slave for the Romanos makes my stomach turn.
There’s a short silence between us. Finally, my father shakes his head and sighs. “Let’s go,” he says.
“What?”
“You’re coming to this meeting with me.”
“I thought you wanted to deal with them exclusively.”
“I’m tired of being a fucking go-between, especially when you keep giving me bad news.”
I watch him for a second. I don’t want to go to this meeting and leave Grace alone. But I can’t trust him to speak for me at this meeting. If there’s something I can do to protect Grace, I need to go.
I have to trust her. I have no other choice.
“Fine,” I say. “Let’s go.”
We follow my father to the front door. Grace is going to be okay. She doesn’t want to disappoint me.
We drive in separate trucks to the meet. I don’t feel like having him come back to my place after it’s over, and he doesn’t seem to care either way. The less I talk to him at this point, the better.
The meeting with the Romanos is at a diner at the edge of town. That doesn’t surprise me, since I doubt they’d want to bring some outsiders like us into their central compound. I’m betting it annoys the fuck out of my father though. I want to sneer at him and tell him, See? See? This is how they treat us, and you’ll never be one of them. That’s useless and childish, and won’t get me anywhere. He won’t believe me. He’ll always be looking for an in.
I need to outthink my father. I can’t win this by sitting back and throwing insults at him. I know I’ve been too busy with Grace to concentrate fully on the hit, but I can’t help myself. Now I need to figure out a way to buy myself some more time and to stop my father from going through with his awful fucking plan.
Marco rises from his seat at a corner booth and stands with his shoulders squared as we approach. The diner is full with locals and regulars, but it’s really showing its age. The laminate table tops are beginning to peel, and the leather seats have holes and tears in them. The floors look like they’re covered in a permanent layer of grime and grease. I suspect that this place isn’t open because it does good business, but because it’s just another front for the Romanos.
“Welcome,” Marco says, shaking my father’s hand first and then mine. “I’m glad you two are here.” It’s a firm handshake, but it’s a mere formality.
“It’s good to see you, Marco,” my father says.
I nod at Marco, not wanting to debase myself by kissing his ass.
“Sit,” he says. My father slides into the booth, and I sit next to him. Marco leans toward us, his hand folded in front of him, that sleazy smile on his face. “So, my favorite men. How are things?”
“Good, as always,” my father replies.
Marco looks at me. “How’s that little present I gave you?”
I hate that filthy smile. “She’s fine,” I say. My heart seems to beat slower, and my blood chills.
Marco laughs loudly. “Fine?” He shakes his head with disbelief. “That girl is more than fine, Gio. She’s fucking gorgeous. You got lucky with this one.”
“Yes,” I grunt.
