“Johnny was a dick.He used me to try to claw his way in.I don’t have to worry about that with Ringo.”
Her eyes grew a little wider.
Her mouth moved but nothing came out.
“So, yeah.That’s why he carries a knife.”I shuffled the pages in front of me.“What do you think about pansies?Personally, I hate them, but the landscaper says they’re cheap.”
“You’re serious?”
“Yeah.Pansies suck.You see them everywhere.”
“You’re fucking serious?”
I frowned at her and set the page of numbers down.“At first, I was just trying to get over Johnny.Now?I’m screwed, Kat.I shouldn’t have anything to do with him or that family, but Allie is all in.”
“Just because Allie lost her mind doesn’t mean you have to jump after her.Damn.Ineverthought I’d say that.”
“Which goes to show maybe things aren’t going to turn out as bad as you think.”
What a bunch of bullshit.
18
Ringo
Ellie was here, but not where I was allowed to enter.For a little thing, Molly had the ferocity of a chihuahua on steroids.I sipped the premium whiskey and studied the bar.I’d spent at least an hour in the alley behind the bar trying to find any sign of where Pornstach ran off to.Then I visited Ellie’s condo again.
Alfonzo Conti-Messina himself met me there.His girl was going to pull through.But he had to remind me of what I owed him.
“He knifed her.”
More proof that Johnny Porciello wasn’t and never would be a professional.She’d be dead if it was one of ours.“Did you reach out to Vincent?”
“He’s still sore you took out all five of his men.You couldn’t let one live?”
That didn’t deserve a reply.“Did the sale go through?”I’d given him the information for the family’s lawyer.
“It’s going through.I spoke with my cousin.”
Which one?
He read my face.“You know.He’d be your third cousin, I guess.”
“How is Remo?”I knew of him.He wasn’t a bad person—a banker by trade.He’d only been scorched by Don Conti’s failures.I’m certain his sudden rise to power was giving him nightmares, though.Not a single male heir in the Conti family lived long.Don Conti being the exception of the past three generations.
Messina studied the pavement.“He’s on board.What did you do?Threaten him?”
Didn’t have to.Dianora and Leandro followed in their fathers’ footsteps well, eliminating or tyrannizing the competition.“I don’tthreatenpeople.”
His chin tucked closer to his neck, as if avoiding the garrote prepared for it.
I switched to the subject he came here for.“The company Adelmo created, it’s too legit.I’ll need a business manager who is squeaky clean and knows their shit.Notfamily.I think for all of our sakes, letting it continue as-is might turn down the heat on us.”
Alfonzo licked his lips.He’d have come to the same conclusion, but I also knew he was eyeing the vacuum and calculating just how far he could shove his toes in before they got cut off.
“Did you talk to your uncle from Sicily?”Mario visited him last week.
“Yeah.”
