Mick thought about that question. Then he shook his head. “I have no idea if I did or didn’t. I only remember that a few weeks later, she said she had an abortion.”
“That you paid for?” Teddy asked.
Mick didn’t want to admit it. “Yes,” he said.
Which was a bridge too far for Monk. Although he got his nickname because he didn’t chase wine, women, or song like other mobsters did, it was no crock. He truly had morals. And boundaries. And Mick was crossing every one of them.
He looked at him. “I hate to say it,” he said, “but you’re a motherfucker, Uncle Mick.”
Everybody looked at Monk. But Monk kept speaking. “The shit you’ve done to so many lives for so many years? All the pain you caused. Everybody’s scared of you. Even my wife. And Ashley’s is fun-loving young lady who isn’t afraid of anything. I have to rein her in because of that. But she’s afraid of you.” Then he shook his head again. “You’re a motherfucker.” And he said it as if it was a fact. As if it could not be challenged.
Mick’s heart swelled with sadness. Every one of the faces that were now staring at him were disgusted by him. Especially Teddy. He was always disappointing Teddy. The only person in that room that showed him even a modicum of sympathy seemed to be Nikki. But even she was muted. Even she knew he didn’t deserve her sympathy.
And he didn’t want it. That was why he never allowed emotion to rule his decisions. It was coldblooded. But so be it. “I’ve got to get DeSouza off the streets to protect my family.”
“But what do you mean by get him, Uncle Mick?” Reno asked. “Do you mean we get him dead or alive? Or just alive?”
They all looked at Mick to see if there was still some compassion there. The boy he spoke of, if Cleo was to be believed, was his blood son.
But Mick was still Mick. “Not dead or alive,” he said. “I want answers first, and then I want him dead.”
They were all shocked. Especially Monk. “He’s your son, Mick!”
“He said he was the money man. That means he wanted my wife dead, my son dead, Nikki dead, and he wanted to snuff my ass out too. What I look like letting that fucker live?”
To Teddy, it was a logical argument. But totally void of reality. If Cleo Burgess was telling the truth, and apparently she was or Mick would not have paid for her abortion, that “fucker” he spoke of so dispassionately was his son. Which confounded Teddy. If he lived to be a hundred and three, he’d never understand his old man.
But before any of them could voice their opinions either way, the front door flew open and one of Teddy’s capos rushed in. “There’s heat at the cabin, Boss. There’s been a hit!”
And without fail, every single of one of them, led by Mick, took off.
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
When they arrived at Mick’s cabin, they could see before they got out of the SUV that every single one of their capos were dead.
“I’ll be damn,” said an astonished Reno. “How did this happen?”
Mick hurried out of the SUV and they all ran into the cabin behind him. But the capos charged with protecting Cleo on the inside were dead too, all of gunshot wounds like their colleagues outside, and Cleo was nowhere to be found.
“She’s not back here,” Monk said after searching the back with Nikki. They both hurried back up front.
Mick looked at Reno and Tommy. “Whoever did this had to have carte blanche to come on my property and walk into my cabin. There’s very few people with that right. I’m looking at five of them right now.” He was looking at Reno, Tommy, Teddy, Nikki, and Monk. “Where’s Sal?”
“There’s no way, “Tommy said, shaking his head.
“No way hun?”
“Hell no,” agreed Reno. “Ah come on, Uncle Mick! You know Sal Luca ain’t gonna kill your capos just to avenge that woman. You know better than that.”
“Then who the fuck did this, Reno?” Mick was yelling out in pure frustration. “Who’s doing this?!”
Tommy pulled out his phone to call his brother. But it went straight to voice mail. Reno called him next. Same result. Then Teddy and then Nikki and then Monk. All the same result.
“Then where the fuck is he?” Mick asked. “He has a beef with me, not any of you. Why isn’t he answering his phone?”
“Ever thought he could be in danger too?” Tommy looked Mick dead in the eyes. “My brother will never be so angry that he’d pull stupid shit like this. He’s family first like the rest of us. So let’s take that shit off the table right now.”
Tommy was the kind of man who didn’t scream out his points or was animated like the rest of the family. He was usually laid back. He was Dapper Tom most of the time. But he was also Backdoor Tommy when he had to be. But he was also cool with it. And chill. But that was why when he said something definitive, it landed differently. It landed hard. It landed with instant respect.
