Total pages in book: 77
Estimated words: 75062 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 375(@200wpm)___ 300(@250wpm)___ 250(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75062 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 375(@200wpm)___ 300(@250wpm)___ 250(@300wpm)
“Really?”
“Yeah. Guess I didn’t realize just how locked down he had you. I figured I might be able to get a note to you or some shit.”
“No. I almost never get to leave. But I managed to convince Colin to let me work for his mom. It works out. Rizzo keeps an eye on me. And I have no choice but to take her abuse, since I can’t quit.”
“She’s a nightmare, huh?”
“Their dad isn’t so bad. He’s kind of just a beta in the relationship. But Rizzo is where Colin got his evil side from.”
“Well, you won’t need to work there long. That’s why I’m here. And why you need to take this,” he said, passing a phone to me. “It’s all on silent. Do you have somewhere to hide it?” he asked.
Taking a deep breath, trying to fight off any of the awkwardness I felt, I took the phone and quickly slid it into my bra.
“Yeah, that’ll work,” Massimo said, smirking at me. And, damn him, his smirk was kind of attractive.
“So, what now?” I asked, reaching for my coffee.
“So now my job gets easier,” he said.
“How so?” I asked, taking a sip of my caramel sugar sweet coffee, and not managing to hold in a moan at the taste. When Massimo’s brow rose, I rushed to explain, “Sorry. Weird, I know. I just… Colin limits my sugar.”
“He what?”
“He limits my sugar. To keep me the same size I was in high school.”
“You’re shitting me.”
“Unfortunately, no. Only a certain amount of sugar, no milk, very few carbs. I get a lot of salads. And grilled chicken with veggies. That’s about it.”
“Christ,” Massimo said, exhaling hard, his gaze moving to his own coffee.
“It’s fine.”
“It’s not fine,” he said, looking up at me. “But it won’t be for much longer.”
“You have, you know, permission?” I asked.
“Yeah. And a couple of my brothers as back up, if I need them. We were ready to start working out a plan without you.”
“That would probably have been a disaster,” I told him.
“Yeah? Why’s that?”
“Because Colin is really well-connected. I think everything will work out better if you have someone who can give you insights.”
“And now I have you. Will you be able to talk on the phone without being heard?”
“If I’m not loud, yeah. We can’t text?”
“Do you really want there to be evidence that Colin could look over if he ever happens to catch you using the phone?”
“Oh, true.” I could delete texts, but he was absolutely right. If I was caught in the moment, there was no way to delete the texts quickly enough.
I didn’t want to stop and think about what would happen to me if Colin found out I was working with the mafia to get him killed.
“Talking won’t be an issue. I’m alone almost all of the time,” I told him.
“Except for dinner time,” he said.
“Yeah. Aside from that.”
“What does he talk you about every single night like that?”
To that, I felt my lips curve up a bit as I looked over at him.
“His plans,” I told him.
“No fucking way. He’s that careless?”
“I think he is delusional enough to sort of believe that I am going to be his someday, so talking over dinner is somehow part of that.”
“What does he talk about?”
“The people he had meetings with. How good sales are. About random smaller-time dealers thinking they could compete with him. And then also partially about his plans to expand the house. Or move. He changes his mind a lot.”
“So you know just about everything.”
“Pretty much, yeah.”
“Think I’m starting to see why he keeps you so locked up. You’re dangerous.”
“I guess. But since I can’t go anywhere, I’m not.”
“Except when you are,” he said, giving me a nod. “I am going to need to pick your brain about the operation, the players, all that shit.”
“I get off at six. Then I have dinner with Colin at seven. I should be back in my apartment and alone, without the worry of anyone overhearing me by nine.”
“Nine,” he repeated. “Got it. Do you have any questions for me?”
“Ah, I guess… what is your timeframe here? Should I be on my toes, or…”
“I’m thinking at least a week. You have to get the information to me. And then we have to track everyone down, figure out what they look like, where they live, if they need to get caught up in the sweep or not.”
Sweep.
That was a very casual way of saying mass murders.
“I can help you with that.”
“Having you pick and choose who comes out of this and who doesn’t? I don’t think so. That’s a lot for someone’s conscience.”
He wasn’t wrong about that.
I mean, if you lined up all of Colin’s men, I wasn’t sure there was any of them save for Colin himself that I could say I wanted to see dead. But that was maybe only because they hadn’t directly hurt me the way Colin had, the way I knew Colin would if he felt he needed to.