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“He thought the Feds were working him. Said some guy in a suit came to him about a year ago and gave him a list of businesses to forget about because they’d fallen under federal indictments. He didn’t hear anything from us and thought I’d shown up to kill him for cooperating.”
“Did you kill him?”
“I recommended he give me the books of the businesses he stopped working on and take a long vacation. I don’t know why he hung around.”
Fatigue and downright sleepiness have me in a chokehold. I sip the coffee which is far stronger than Evelyn ever made. Black, no sugar, no cream, nothing.
“Probably because we’d find him. Or maybe he did run. When he realized we didn’t even know he was missing, he went back to life as usual. No one wants to uproot themselves to go on the run from La Familia.”
“Agreed. Anyway, Jean-Paul said the IRS slammed him with a tax fine that he had to pay out of his own pocket. It bankrupted him, so he closed up shop.”
“He didn’t call us?”
“Uh, yeah, said he left several messages for Oz and your father, but no one got back to him.”
I groan. “That makes sense. Neither one of them wants to be seen in the one of the most gang-polluted neighborhoods in Brooklyn. What are we doing about it?”
“I got all the paperwork and took it to your guy.”
“Michael?” I ask him to be sure. I only speak to my accountant about once a month. He’s not in the life and doesn’t ask questions about the money I make so long as he and the IRS get paid.
“Yeah, he told me to bring him the rest of the businesses that failed. He wants to double check to make sure no errors were made.”
“I think we should hold off on that until I can speak to him. He needs to get a deeper understanding. I want him to clean our money, not clear his conscience with the Feds. What about the other businesses?”
Lorenzo scrolls through his phone. “Two others went down the same way. The owners feel like we deserted them when they were doing us a favor by washing money. On Rossi’s side, only two of their businesses went down. One was an actual fire, but it was a hookah shop that their consigliere, Peter, backed as a sure thing. The only thing sure about the smoke shop was it going up in flames.”
“Suspicious? Insurance fraud or what?”
“No, an actual fucking fire. They’ve had several citations from Fire about code violations, and what do you know? Those codes are actually good for something. Turns out it really is a fire hazard. The other business said a guy came in demanding money for protection, claiming to be from Montegna’s organization.”
“Claiming?”
“Yeah, claiming because the owner was a plant by Don Montegna in the Rossi vineyard. It’s a florist not too far from here. He laughed the guy out of the shop because according to the shop owner, he was in the perfect location. The perfect setup.”
“How’d he figure that?” I ask.
“Montegna paid him to keep an eye on real estate in the area that might go up for sale. You live in the neighborhood. It was unlikely anyone would harass him in this area, so his shop was safe. Washing money for the Rossi family practically guaranteed him protection from all sides of La Familia. He’s operating fine.”
“Funny that all of these shops going under are coincidences being brought to my attention at the same time. Do we have the soldier who told Oz about the shops being torched by Montegna?”
Lorenzo raises an eyebrow. “Sorry, Less. We don’t. No one knows where he got off to. Oh, and one of the Rossi capos said you should know that some hitman, Gramercy, has you fitted for a toe tag. I have to look into it more because the guy sounds like a bedtime story where the boogeyman comes to town, kills a bunch of people, and vanishes into thin air. No code, no rules with this guy. No one’s off-limits.”
The pieces are coming together, but something’s still missing. After downing my coffee, I spend the next few hours scrubbing down my kitchen. I made Evelyn leave in such a hurry, the place is a mess, and I’m not going to ask Lorenzo to clean up after me.
My heart aches every time that smiles flashes at me from a memory I never want to lose. She doesn’t belong here, not with me and the darkness that erupts from those corners of my mind. I can’t protect her from the likes of human scum who did what they did to me if I’m too focused on her losing herself to be with me. I never want my depravity to taint her.
I have to stay busy so I don’t haul her back here, into my bed where I need her. She doesn’t want to be with me, anyway. A part of me feels the lie in those words, a misunderstanding I may have purposely misunderstood because it’s easier to let her go than to let her stay and love the monster I truly am.
Three days pass with me looking into the books and businesses that were the catalyst to my heartbreak. The reason this treaty was forced on Evelyn and me was because we were under attack. We both fell in love for loyalty.
No. I fell, and she wants nothing to do with me.
Kings is quiet when I finally arrive around four in the afternoon. Aromas of food being grilled over open flames tell me they’re prepping for the dinnertime rush. In just a few hours, the kitchen closes, and the dungeon opens.
Dimitri doesn’t waste time with his typical theatrics, bringing me straight into a VIP room for the restaurant.
“What have you found, Dimitri?”
