Ringo leaned in. “Messy as fuck.”
Ellie squeaked next to him and avoided the photo pile altogether. “Like you could do better?”
He sent her a look that silenced her quickly.
She looked to Allie for guidance. “Can we go home?”
“No.” Allie stood up and turned to stare out the window closest to us. I wanted to grab her and pull her away from the line of fire. Firenze was not as slow.
“Signora Valentini, step away from the window.”
Loppa was on his feet, too. Allie took two steps to the left and then she pointed at Loppa’s chair and ordered him to sit without saying a word.
“Why not, Allie?”
“Because we’re targets now, too. Which is why we need to know how Johnny is involved,” she explained.
Ellie opened and closed her mouth.
“Baby sis, what happened with Johnny? Why the sudden wedding?” Allie’s tone was much quieter. Without moving, she’d created a calm space for her sister to trust her and let down her guard.
Ellie glanced at Ringo first. Interesting.
I caught his attention and lifted a brow at him. Did you know? I asked with that gesture.
He shook his head sharply once.
“Ellie?” my wife prompted.
“It’s about the money.”
“Grandfather’s money?” Allie prompted.
Ellie hung her head and with that movement, her shoulders slumped. “No, mine. I won the lottery.”
Allie crossed to her sister and knelt on the floor in front of her. “Talk to me.”
Ellie licked her lips, nervously. “Remember when we got the first settlement? On his house in Chicago?”
Allie nodded. “I remember.” She slid her hand onto Ellie’s knee.
Her sister latched onto her hand like a lifeline.
“I did something stupid.”
The pause after her statement was long enough Loppa and Firenze shifted around the room to gain better vantage points to watch the exterior.
“What did you do?” Allie laid another hand on her sister’s death grip.
“You know how you were worried the Feds would seize it and stuffed your half into the bank? Well, I took all my money and bought scratch offs. I lost half of it. Then took the half that I didn’t lose on and tried to lose it, too. Because they couldn’t take it if I didn’t have it, right? But I won.”
Allie didn’t say anything, opting instead to lightly rub her sister’s hands between hers.
“And then I took half of that money and kept playing.” Allie swallowed. “I didn’t even care at that point. It was going to be gone with the lawsuits so I thought, fuck it.”
Allie nodded. “I put mine in an interest-bearing account and keep moving the interest to my savings so they can’t touch it.”
Her sister grimaced. “At that point, I was playing the numbers games. And that’s when I…”
