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“I got about eight hundred meters before the cops caught up to me. I found out later that the guys in the gang I was trying to join set me up. I was made an example of by the system and served ten years of a twelve-year sentence.”
“Wow, that’s awful,” Viv said, and she meant it. What happened to him sucked and not giving him a chance to turn himself around would be a dishonor to her Gram. He was just the type of person her grandmother was constantly trying to help. And now it was Viv’s turn to lend a hand. Of course, it didn’t hurt that Hot Irish Guy was—well, hot.
“I have two questions,” Viv said.
“Shoot,” he said, leaning back in his stool.
“Can you cook and when can you start?” His smile almost lit up the place and she knew she did the right thing even if New Kid was shooting her daggers from the back of the diner.
“What’s the problem, New Kid?” she asked.
“He’s not going to outrank me, right?” he asked.
“I don’t think that’s even possible, New Kid,” Viv said, rolling her eyes for good measure. “Now back to work and stop eavesdropping.” She watched as Tommy pretended to wipe down the booth he had been working on for the past ten minutes.
“How about we take this to my office, and you can fill out the paperwork?” Hot Irish Guy nodded and grabbed his dishes.
“Thank you,” he said, following her back through the kitchen to deposit his dishes into the sink. He followed her back to her tiny office and crammed into her space, making it feel even smaller.
“Um—” she squeaked, suddenly feeling nervous. “I guess you should tell me your name—unless you’re good with Hot Irish Guy.”
He chuckled and his deep baritone laugh filled her office. “It’s Cillian James but everyone calls me Kill,” he said.
“Kill?” Viv questioned. “That’s a pretty ominous name. You have anything else you need to tell me before we make this official?” She asked.
“Nope,” he said, taking the papers from her. “I’m good.”
Roadkill (Savage Hell MC Series Book 1) Universal Link->https://books2read.com/u/bWPeRM
What’s coming next from K.L. Ramsey? You won’t want to miss Salacious! It’s coming in August 2024!
Ross
Ross Ballerini wasn’t sure how he was going to get through the next few hours, but he had to. He promised his father that he would try to be strong for his mother and little sister, but who was going to be strong for him?
When his father called him into his hospital room, he knew that he was going to be given instructions about what to do when the inevitable happened. His father had stage four lung cancer and there was no getting past the fact that he was going to die. The doctors were amazed that he had made it past the six months that they had given him. His dad was on borrowed time, and they all knew it. That’s why he handed Ross a manila folder full of life insurance policies, banking information, and even instructions about how he’d like to be laid to rest. It was too much for his mom, Ross knew that much. He wished that he could tell his father that he didn’t want to have to handle it either, but he was the only one left who’d be able to take care of everything for him. At just twenty-eight years old, Ross had become the head of his family, taking his father’s place, as if that were even possible.
He hated that his father left him in charge of his business, but he knew that someday that would happen. If Ross had his way, he’d sell everything that his father had built and take some time to travel, but then, he’d leave his mother and sister high and dry, and he just couldn’t do that. They’d need someone to take care of the two of them now that his dad was gone.
There was also the fact that his father’s business associates wouldn’t just let him walk now. He knew too much about his father’s business dealings and to say that they weren’t on the up and up was an understatement. His father had started training him at an early age to be ready to take over the family business someday. When he was younger, he didn’t realize that he was being groomed to be the new head of the Ballerini mafia family his father had begun with two of his best friends, who were like uncles to him, before Ross was even born. Hell, he didn’t even know that his father ran a mafia family until he walked in on his father and his “Uncle” Tony beating the hell out of a guy for not paying back a loan on time when he was just seventeen. His so-called uncle laughed it off, even saying that they had done much worse than what he had witnessed, but his father wasn’t laughing. He sat Ross down and told him the truth about his business and what he would be expected to do someday, once his dad was gone.
That day came a lot sooner than Ross had planned, and when he told his uncles that he wanted out, they told him that there was only one way out of the business—in a body bag. He wanted to believe that they were kidding, but they weren’t. Their sons were being groomed to take over for them someday, and Ross had a sick feeling that the vicious cycle might not ever end—unless he never had kids. No one would be left to take over for him and that suited him just fine. His lifestyle wouldn’t really lend to him getting a woman pregnant anyway, since he liked men—something that he’d never told anyone but his mother and sister. His bloodline and the Ballerini name would die with him, and he’d never have to force one of his children to take over for him once he was gone. He’d never leave that heavy responsibility on anyone else’s shoulders. He’d carry on his father’s business, for the sake of his mother and sister, but he’d do things his way—whether his uncles approved or not.
Ross had spent weeks going through his father’s papers, trying to make sense of his scribbled notes and directions from the grave. He could hear his father’s voice in every order that was written on each paper that was left for him. He had more questions than answers and Ross wasn’t sure who he could turn to for help. His uncles had left him to his own devices to figure it all out, and he wondered if they’d even respond to his pleas for some help. Probably not, but it might be worth a shot.
He pulled his cell phone from his desk and found his Uncle Tony’s number. Out of his father’s two best friends, Tony was the one Ross knew best. Tony and his son Leo were going to be his only hope of figuring out some of his father’s holdings.
“Tony Capo,” his uncle growled into the other end of the phone.
“Hey, Tony,” Ross said. “I was wondering if I could stop by your office with some of Dad’s papers. I’m having trouble making heads or tails of some of these things and I thought you might be able to fill in some of the gaps.”
“What, you don’t call me ‘Uncle’ anymore?” Tony asked.
“I’m twenty-eight years old now, Tony,” Ross challenged. “I think that the formalities that my father had in place don’t hold true anymore.”
“Family is family, Ross,” Tony chided, “so, I’ll let it slide for now. How can I help you?”
“I’m trying to make some sense out of my father’s chicken scratches and all this paperwork he left for me. He seems to have more companies than he told me about and I’m wondering how to handle all of this.” Ross had no idea that his father had himself spread so thin. How he did it all was beyond him, but Ross would need to figure it out sooner than later.
