“I’m in a truce with your old man,” Milo continued. “We don’t have a peace plan yet; he
won’t go that far, not even with me, and me and your old man go back a ways. So why would I
risk ending the peace with, and incurring the wrath of, a man like Mick the Tick? Do I look like I
don’t have a brain in my head? Do I look fucking stupid to you?”
Teddy leaned forward. “You mentioned Gio. What do you know about Gio?”
“I know he paid my men to help him out. I thought it was about some personal vendetta
shit he was caught up in with some civilian, and wanted to keep his hands clean so as not to
have any blowback on you or your old man. Mind you, if I would have known what Gio was
really up to, I would have warned you. You know I would have, Teddy! What I got against you?
But I didn’t know shit until after the fact. Until after whatever went down at that bakery had
already gone down, and two of my best men were dead. By your hands, from what I
understand.”
“What chatter are you hearing?” Teddy asked him.
“I ain’t hearing nothin’. I come all this way from New York to meet with you when I don’t
even like coming to Philly. But for you, I come. But why would I, in New York, be hearing about
shit going on in Philly when I don’t even like Philly? Does that make sense?”
Teddy was staring at Milo: studying him. And he saw what he needed to see. “No,” he
said. “It doesn’t.”
He could tell Milo inwardly sighed relief. “Good. Meeting your ass like this made me feel
like I was going to the principal’s office. I’m too old for this shit.”
Teddy smiled.
“Anything else you wanna know?” Milo asked.
“If you see Gio Savarino, give me a call.”
“I’m gonna do more than that,” Milo said as he grabbed his gloves and his cane. “He’s the
reason I lost two good men.”
“I need him alive, Milo.”
“I know that. I didn’t say I was going to kill him. But I will fuck him up.”
Milo rose to his feet. Teddy rose too. They shook hands. “Tell your old man I said hello.
Making money hand-over-fist, I hear, with S.I. How does he do it? And you with your business.
The Feds treat me like I’m public enemy number one. They don’t even sneeze in your
direction.”
“That’s what you think,” Teddy said. Milo laughed. And then he left.
And although Teddy did have a general rule against drinking on the job, his stress level,
which was usually high, wasn’t usually this high. And he still had to face his old man!
“Fuck it,” he said out loud, sat back down, and drank down that entire mug of beer.
When he got outside, and got on the passenger seat of the waiting SUV, Joey was sitting on
the backseat.
“I saw him leave,” Joey said. “What did he say?”
“He said he didn’t know shit about it. He said Gio hired his guys to moonlight.”
“To moonlight?” Joey asked. “Is that what they’re calling a botched hit on a Sinatra now?
Moonlighting? Like they’re some fucking cops doing a security guard gig on the side?”
“MJ thought his men were being hired to run a hit on some personal enemy of Gio’s that
had nothing to do with us. That’s the only reason, he claims, he’s not going after me for icing
his men.”
“Going after you? That fucker knows better. He’d better know!” Then Joey stared at
Teddy. “You believe what he was saying?”
“No,” Teddy admitted. “Not a word of it.”
This shocked Joey. “Ah, shit, Teddy! You didn’t believe him?”
“No.”
“So what does that mean? War?”
Teddy exhaled. “I saw more than his lies.”
“What more you needed to see?” Joey asked.
“I saw fear,” Teddy said. “And I’m not talking he was afraid of meeting me. He’s a mob
boss. What the fuck he look like being afraid to meet with me?”
“Many of them are, Boss,” their driver chimed in. “Don’t underestimate yourself.”
“He’s right,” Joey agreed.
“It wasn’t that kind of fear,” said Teddy.
“The kind of fear that said this shit bigger than him,” Teddy said. “The kind of fear that says,
whoever’s behind what’s going on, has MJ’s ass over a barrel too.” He turned and glanced at
Joey. “He’s scared shitless.”
“But what can we do about it if MJ’s denying everything? We’ve gotta tell Pop now. He
already knows some of this shit anyway. Why else would he, all of a sudden, want to meet with
us tonight? But I’m willing to bet he don’t know this shit. Fuck! We’re going to war with Milo
Jalarni? That’ll be some war. That man’s got reach.”
Teddy had already turned back around in his seat. “And we don’t?” he asked.
“I didn’t say we didn’t. You know we do. We got more reach than his ass will ever have.
But I’m saying that shit ain’t gonna be easy. Milo Jalarni is somebody. I’m saying Pop ain’t
gonna like this.”
Teddy knew it too. Because he knew Mick the Tick. He knew Mick always held him up to
this impossible standard. And when things went sideways, he always pointed the finger at his
oldest living son. Teddy already knew he was going to be blamed for killing Milo’s men, even
though their asses were trying to kill him. He was going to be blamed for letting Gio go rogue.
For letting Gio beat the shit out of Gloria. For his dead men. For those missing weapons. For
that nine-and-a-half-million-dollar debt he owed.
And now, on top of all that shit, they might have to go to war with the Jalarni crime family.
Teddy wished he could disappear. Fuck all that pressure and leave.
He could do it.
If it wasn’t for Nikki, and the fact that he’d be leaving her, he would do it.
But who was he kidding? Nobody leaves the mob.
He wasn’t kidding anybody but himself.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
The security gate opened and the chauffeur-driven SUV drove through the gate and toward
Mick Sinatra’s mansion. Teddy sat in the backseat, along with Nikki, and both were holding
hands. Joey and Gloria sat in the seat further back. For very different reasons, none of them
wanted to face this music. But all of them knew they didn’t really have a choice.
Gloria, wearing heavy makeup and dark shades to cover her black eyes and bruises, looked
at Joey again. “Are you certain you can’t tell?” she asked him once more.
“With those shades on, no, Glo, you can’t tell. I told you that already.”
“What about the makeup?” Gloria asked. “Is it covering everything?”
“Goodness, Glo,” Joey said. “Give it a rest!”
“She’s okay, Joey,” Nikki said.
“No, she’s not,” Joey said. “We all told her we can’t see what that fucker did. We told her
already. Why she keep bugging us? She needs to give it a rest.”
“That’s easy for you to say,” Nikki said. “You aren’t the one looking like Rocky Balboa when
Apollo Creed got finished with his butt.”
Teddy laughed. Even Joey had to smile at that.
“She wants to be sure,” Nikki added.
“Thanks, Nikki,” said Gloria. “Joey gets on my nerve with that. When Dad beat him up so
bad he had to be hospitalized, I was right by his bedside, doing everything for him. But w
hen
something happens to me, he expects me to just suck it up like a man, and keep it moving.”
Nikki smiled. “That doesn’t even sound like you,” she said.
Gloria smiled too. “Right?” she said in agreement.
“I know you’re no man,” Joey said, “but you still can suck it up.”
“What does that even mean?” Gloria asked, and while Joey explained what he meant, and
the two of them kept going back and forth, Nikki looked at Teddy.
“I’m going to need to go to New Orleans this weekend,” she said.
Teddy looked at her. What was she talking about? “New Orleans? Why would you need to
go there?”
“My father called. He says he needs my help. I need to go and see what’s going on.”
“Wait a minute,” Teddy said. “Is this the same father who all but told you to kiss his ass?”
It sounded really cold coming from somebody else. But it was the truth. “Yes.”
“And you’re going to drop everything and go help him?”
“But why bother, Nikki?” Teddy asked. “He treated you like shit, yet you still want him in
your life?”
“Your father treated you like shit,” Nikki said. “Don’t you have him in your life?”
Teddy stared at her. He couldn’t even say it was different, because, in a lot of ways, it
wasn’t. “I still don’t think it’s a good idea,” he said.
“I appreciate what you think,” Nikki said. “But this has to be a one-vote decision. My
father. My vote.”
Teddy looked out of the window. Nikki could tell he was pissed. Then he looked back at
her. “I need you to understand something,” he said.
She stared at him.
“If I felt very strongly about it, and told you no, you can’t go, then you won’t be going. You
do understand that. Right?”
“If you were my husband, and said I couldn’t go, then I’d hear what you had to say. Yes, I
would. But a boyfriend?” She shook her head. “I’m not giving up that much power to any
boyfriend.”
Teddy inwardly smiled. Because he liked that answer. Not because she was willing to defy
him, but because she would be willing to obey him when they were married. And he
emphasized when in his mind. “Just be careful,” he said. “Don’t make me have to come down
there and get you.”
Nikki smiled. “Don’t worry,” she said. “I’ll represent you very well.”
Teddy loved the sound of that! And he held her hand tighter.
Then the SUV came to a stop along the circular driveway, which caused Teddy’s stomach to
get queasy. It was time to face the music. The Sinatra clan, and Nikki, got out.
“What I don’t understand,” Joey was saying as they got out, “is why would dad tell you to
bring Nikki? He never wanted any of my girlfriends to come with me.”
Teddy laughed. “If you don’t see the difference between those skanks you lay up with and
Nikki,” he said, “you need glasses.”
Gloria laughed. “Tell him, Teddy!” she said as they all began walking toward the entrance.
Although Teddy was affectionate with Nikki in private, he didn’t go all-out to show his
affection for her in public. He had this fear, this almost crippling fear sometimes, that the men
who worked beneath him would realize just how much she meant to him, and try to use her as
their bargaining chip should they ever need one. Nobody, Teddy was determined, was ever
going to use Nikki for leverage. And if that meant being there with her in public, without
treating her with an over-display of affection, then so be it. It was the price he was willing to
pay.
Not that Nikki didn’t appreciate that price. She understood it. He was looking out for her.
But that didn’t mean she liked it. She didn’t like it. She always wanted to be affectionate in
public with her man. Hold hands. Kiss. The whole nine. But she was with Teddy Sinatra. She
understood the difference.
Besides, that wasn’t what was bothering her as they made their way toward the entrance.
That phone call from her father was. And not just the call for help he made to her, which was
shocking enough, but the fact that Teddy didn’t want her to help. And when she did go this
weekend she knew, because she knew Teddy, that he wasn’t going to like it. And she knew,
because she knew herself, that Teddy’s not liking it wasn’t going to stop her from doing what
she’d already made up her mind she had to do. What worried her wasn’t Teddy’s reaction: he
was reacting okay. What worried her was the aftermath of his reaction, and if their still-new
relationship was going to be able to survive it.
CHAPTER TWENTY
Rosalind Graham-Sinatra, called Roz by everybody who knew her, was downstairs at the full-
sized bar when they all walked in. Wearing a pair of silk pants, a halter top, with a silk, open-air
kimono on top, she looked radiant to all of them. And when she smiled, she lit up the room.
“Good evening!” she said cheerfully. “Come get a drink before you sit down. The
household staff has the night off, and I’m not going to be waiting on any of your asses.”
They all laughed, it was typical Roz, and made their way to the bar.
“Where’s Pop?” Joey asked.
“He’s in his office on a business call. He’ll be out shortly.”
“The twins sleep?” Nikki asked.
“They’re in Jericho,” Gloria answered for Roz. “In Maine.”
“With Big Daddy,” said Roz. “He felt Mick and I could use a break.”
“Was he right?” Nikki asked Roz.
“He was right on!” Roz said with a grin, and they all laughed.
Nikki loved Teddy’s stepmother. And it wasn’t just because Roz was closer to Teddy’s age
than she was to Mick’s, or that she was African-American like Nikki. But it was because there
was something so independent and free-spirit about Roz that she always made Nikki feel as if
there was hope for her. Roz didn’t lose herself to be with Mick Sinatra. She once told Nikki that
Mick made her better than who she was, not less than. She also told Nikki, bluntly, that if any
man made her feel as if she couldn’t be herself, but had to conform to some image he wanted
her to be, then it was time to leave that man. “That includes Teddy, too,” Roz had said, even as
Teddy was standing right beside Nikki.
But even more than that, it was Roz’s natural decency that drew Nikki to her. It was as if
Roz’s warmness was the counterbalance to her husband’s perceived coldness. Although Nikki
knew perception could be misleading. The way Mick came to her rescue that day when she was
fully expecting him to send one of his men, made her know for a fact that he wasn’t always such
a cold fish. But why just being in his presence still terrified her, she’d never know. But she
knew she had company: he seemed to terrify his own children too.
Even strong-man Teddy!
“What kind of mood is he in?” Gloria asked Roz.
Roz poured the final drink. The fact that she didn’t immediately insist that Mick was in a
great mood said something to all of them. And when Roz turned the question back on Gloria, it
said even more. “Why would you ask?” she asked Gloria.
“No reason,” Gloria lied. “Just curious.”
Roz glanced at her stepdaughter. “No reason m
y ass,” she said bluntly. “Have a seat and
relax,” she added, to all of them, “he’s not going to kill his children. Don’t worry.”
Nikki quickly glanced at Teddy. Teddy had told her about his big brother Adrian, and how
Mick was forced to kill his own child, but none of them seemed to get the irony. They were
accustomed to their father’s wrath. Nikki was still getting used to it.
They all grabbed their glasses of wine and made their way into the beautifully-appointed
living room that was so big to Nikki that even the white, grand piano barely took up a scintilla of
the overall space. Teddy’s home was contemporary and smart. Mick and Roz’s home was
elegance on steroids.
Nikki sat on the sofa and, as she had suspected he would, Teddy sat down beside her.
Gloria, still concerned that her father would notice her bruises and she would need Teddy to
defend her, sat down beside him. Joey and Roz sat down on the second sofa facing them. It
seemed to Nikki that every one knew that the big, wingback chair facing the two sofas, the one
that appeared to be the most comfortable in the room, belonged to Mick.
“One thing I’ll say about his mood,” Roz said as if that conversation had never ended, “is
that he’s worried.”
They all looked at her. “Did he say what about?” Teddy asked her.
“No. That’s not my business. But it is my business to make sure, whatever it is that’s
worrying him, isn’t because of the actions of any of you. Am I right to not worry about that?”
None of them would answer. Because none of them could. Mick had entered the room.
It used to seem crazy to Nikki that, every time Mick entered a room, his children would rise
to their feet as if they were about to greet some dignitary rather than their own father. But
now she was rising too. Because she knew better now. It wasn’t that they thought of him as a
dignitary, but it was because they all had a very formal relationship with Mick; a relationship
not given to affection or friendliness, but to total respect and, if they were to be honest, total
fear. A man who would kill his own son, even if he had been forced to do it, was, in Nikki’s eyes
at least, anything but ordinary.
But even still: Roz remained seated. She did have an informal relationship with him. She