“Honestly, no,” I said, sighing.
“I like her,” he said, nodding toward the bedroom.
“I like her too.”
“Your ma is gonna love her.”
“All I’m gonna hear is how pretty our babies are going to be.”
“Well, she wouldn’t be wrong. Though, you might want to wait to make the introductions until after her face heals up. Yo,” he called when there was a loud rap on the door.
The family resemblance was strong. Same height, builds, facial structure, same green eyes. The only real difference was a scar cutting through this guy’s lip.
Clearly, another of his brothers.
“Milo, this is my brother Santino. Santo, this is Milo Grassi. Our cousin somehow or another.”
Santino shifted his paperwork to shake my hand. “Nice to meet family,” he said.
“You got something?” Remo asked, nodding to the papers in his hand.
“I got the mortgage paperwork. Don’t ask,” he added at Remo’s curious look.
“You know what I do; gotta ask…”
“No, I won’t get caught for it.”
“Then show me.”
He waved toward the dining table and we all went to sit down.
“Alright, so. He bought it in foreclosure originally. For twenty,” Santino said, passing his brother the paperwork.
“Twenty?” Remo asked, stiffening. “Why the fuck wouldn’t he take my forty then? The second mortgage?”
“You’d think. But no. That was only for five.” More paperwork was passed.
“So the place is worth twenty-five. Still doesn’t make sense.”
“From what I can tell, that five wasn’t used to infuse into the casino. It was used to pay back a debtor.”
“Pat,” Remo said.
“Yeah, Pat. Those were Pat’s guys. He wouldn’t have his hand in that unless he had skin in the game. So, what I’m thinking is… Pat is invested. He gave the five mill, but instead of getting it back simply in installments or a lump sum, he has an unofficial stake.”
“You’re sure it’s unofficial?”
“All the paperwork only lists Frank.”
“That’s good.”
“What’s your move then?” I asked.
Remo sat back, inhaling deeply, then letting it out slowly.
“That’s the thing, ain’t it? If I kill Pat, his stake goes away. But Frank has no reason to sell to me.”
“A protection racket?” I suggested. “If nothing is official, you strong-arm your way in instead. Tell him you’ll protect him from Pat and his guys.”
