“You are so fucking full of yourself, roadrunner.”
He shrugs. “Ask me nicely. I’ll see what I can do.”
Damn, I could really get used to that twinkle.
He makes a call. Then he holds the button for the intercom and gives Bruno an address.
After that, he calls Daddy.
Chapter Ten
Giovani
Joey has a suite ready for me at the club.
When I introduce Lily, his eyes pop. “You’re the girl he’s head over heels in hate with?”
She sighs, “You haven’t seen my Ms Lily feed either? Do you even have the internet in this town?”
He smiles and looks at me. His head shakes as he shows Lily into a back bar.
I head up to the suite.
The dark, stylish suite has a luxurious bedroom, but I won’t be needing that. A couch and two armchairs are arranged around a heavy glass table in the large, open sitting room, with well-stocked bookshelves, and an equally well-stocked drinks cabinet.
I stand while I’m waiting.
Leo Franconi arrives half an hour late. He’s a bear of a man. His eyes could burn you down in a minute. I don’t believe I’ve ever been this frightened in my life before.
I offer him a drink. He refuses. We’re still standing.
“So.” he snarls, “You’re the Moretti’s boy?” I don’t answer him. “What the fuck have I come to this shithole for?”
It’s pretty simple, so I tell him, “This,” and I drive my shoe hard and fast, straight into his balls. As he tips forward, I give him a hard smash with the edge of my wrist into the side of his neck. He topples, but he doesn’t fall. He puts out a thick arm to prop himself up, and he lets out a loud growl as he swings a savage kick at my shin.
I collapse hard onto the rug.
He roars.
“I don’t know how the fuck you see this ending, you spindly streak of turd,” he’s up on one knee, climbing to his feet and reaching behind his back, “But you just bought yourself a long, slow, and very fucking painful death.”
He’s reaching for a gun, so I feel no remorse, pulling my knife and jamming it down into his foot.
Blood gushes, and he howls. When I tug my knife out, it makes the blood spurt more. I jump up and behind him. It takes me using both hands to bend his gun hand up his back. He’s strong enough that he doesn’t lose a grip on the automatic.
I kick the back of his knee and he goes down. Keeping hold of his wrist, I have to twist and jump to stay out of his firing line.
When he’s face down on the floor, I put my foot between his shoulders and yak his arm, hard.
It still takes me two hard pushes to make him drop the gun.
I bring a hard kick into his kidney to reward him.
Kneeling on his back with his arm still twisted up for safety, I press the knife high at his jugular.
I snarl into his ear, “Still want long, slow, and painful death on the agenda, asshole?”
He growls. I jab the knife harder.
“Okay!” he blurts. “No!”
I ask him, “You wanted me to protect your daughter, right? So you made a big mistake sending a man to kill her. Because here I am, protecting her.” I twist his arm some more. “Aren’t you pleased that I’m doing such a great job?”
His eyes dart and bulge. I ask him, “Have you made a deal with the O’Malleys?”
“All but. What the fuck is it to you?”
“To me, not so much. To Lily, a lot.” I shove my knee hard into his back. “What did you plan to do to the O’Malleys? How did you plan to fuck them over?”
“Fuck off.”
“What was it going to be, bad dope? A call to the feds on the first shipment? Girls in cages to set them up for a trafficking rap?”
“You think you’re so fucking smart.”
“You’re going to put Lily in charge of it. She’ll oversee the deal, on the terms you agreed with Liam O’Malley. No shenanigans, no double cross. A straight deal.”
“She can’t do that. She doesn’t have the experience.”
I bang his ear with my fist. “This is how she’ll gain the experience. She’ll have backup. It will prepare her for when you hand over control of the family to her.”
His eyes stretch wide. “I’m not going to do that. You know a woman can’t be a made guy. It’s the rules.”
“And you know that we make our own rules, asshole. And you know that one of them is, you don’t do what you did.” His eyes bulge. “You know what I’m talking about. If word of that got out, around the L.A. mobs, for instance, you would be shredded to ribbons.”
“But you don’t need to fear the L.A. mobs, Leo.” I lean close to his ear. “You need to keep one eye open when you sleep, looking out for me. From this moment, Leo fucking Franconi, I own you. Now and for the rest of your fucking life. Don’t you forget it for a second.”