“That’s good,” I say.
“And I’ve decided… not to ruin everything.”
“What are you talking about?”
Doc sits up straighter in his chair. “Don’t freak, but I was gonna fly to Vegas and kill Parker before the contract was signed.”
I swirl my scotch. “We know.”
The look on Doc’s face is almost worth the ulcer he’s given me over the past week.
“What?!” he shouts.
“Be quiet! You’ll wake up January.”
“You didn’t know,” Doc hisses. “You had no idea about Vegas.”
I look at Bobby. “Apparently January Whitehall isn’t the only one who needs to be reminded that I know everything.”
Bobby smirks. “Yeah, I knew too.”
“So did I,” Adriano says, suppressing a yawn. “Even from the woods.”
Doc gets on his knees, almost tipping the chair over. “How? I didn’t tell anyone! I didn’t say shit! I was using my private server, I was—”
“Yourself,” I say. “And seeing as we’re your oldest friends who know exactly what you’re like, do you think maybe we’d guess you’d attempt to murder your way out of this, Domenico?”
“Well, shit…” Doc runs a hand through his hair looking about fifteen.
“You fucking idiota,” I say.
“What were you gonna do?” he asks. “Confront me about it before I left?”
“No. Sal and Gretzky were going to shoot you full of morphine and lock you in your bedroom.”
“The fuck!?”
I laugh. Bobby joins me and even Adriano gives a low, bull-like rumble.
“You fuckin’ assholes,” Doc sulks. “Well, whatever, I could have done it but now I’m not. Because I’m happy and I’m choosing not to.”
I want to call him a psychotic narcissist with the impulse control of a three-year-old but decide to take the high road instead. “I’m glad, my friend.”
“I was going to kidnap her,” Adriano says lightly.
We all turn to look at him.
“You what?” I demand.
“When I first came back to Velvet House. I thought about snatching January in her bed and heading for Mexico.”
“I was going to take her to Canada,” Bobby offers. “Ordered some fake passports and everything.”
I pinch the bridge of my nose. “I despise all three of you.”
“And we hate you too,” Doc says, raising his bottle. “To a better ending.”
I lift my scotch and Bobby holds up his Stoli.
