Page 26 of Nikki Sinatra: For Her Lover
Teddy nodded.“Right.”
“You had his beloved Sal Gabrini.”
“Uncle Sal didn’t invent the Bugatti,” said Teddy. “He just drives one.”
“And you just wrecked it.” Then Roz realized what she’d just said. “See there!” She had accusation in her voice. “Mick was right. He knew exactly what his ass was talking about. Both of y’all wrecked cars within a day of each other. Mick was absolutely right. You and Nikki can’t drive!”
“Make another right,” Teddy said as he continued to look at the GPS on his phone. “And then hook a quick left.”
Roz did as he asked and they turned onto a street that was as blighted and rundown as the previous streets they turned onto. But unlike the prior streets, this one wasn’t overrun with apartment complexes but trailer parks. With plenty of trailers everywhere. The most dilapidated trailers Roz had ever seen.And she’d seen some doozies. “Damn,” she said. “People live like this?”
“Lots of people,” Teddy said. Then he spotted his Corvette. “Pull over,” he said quickly, and Roz pulled over to the side of the road.
After she pulled over she saw Teddy’s car parked in the driveway of one of those trailers. “What is Nikki doing at somebody’s house this time of night? That’s what I wanna know.” She looked at the clock on her dashboard. “It’s almost eleven.” Which reminded her to phone her twins to let them know she’d be late.
After she phoned them, she leaned back and folded her arms. Then she looked at Teddy, who was still staring at the trailer. “Are you going to tell me what this is about? What made you decide you got to have GPS on Nikki?”
Teddy didn’t answer that question. He just continued to stare.
Nikki looked at his soft green eyes that seemed out of place on such a hard, no-nonsense, rugged face. He was a strong, tough guy. They didn’t call him Teddy the Strong Tower, or Teddy T, for no reason. But Roz also knew he was very vulnerable when it came to Nikki. He was always afraid he could lose her, and Nikki was always afraid she could lose Teddy. Roz knew because both of them confided in her. Up to a point.
In Roz’s view, Teddy wasn’t helping his case with all of his late-night outs from what Nikki had been telling her. But she understood that vulnerability. She was tough as nails too. Nobody was tougher than Roz. But she had that same weakness when it came to Mick.
“You keep that GPS turned on when you’re driving that ‘Vet?” she asked him.
“No,” he admitted.
“Then why you got it on when Nikki’s driving your car?”
“If something happens when she’s out in the field and I need to get to her, I need to know where I can find her.”
“Don’t hand me that baloney,” Roz retorted. “If something happens to her, how would you know until it’s all over? It tracks the car and that’s all it does. You’ll know where she last parked your car, but tracking her is all that does. So don’t even try that with me, Teddy. Why are we sitting in this car this time of night like the damn Police on a case? What did Nikki do?”
Teddy didn’t like to tell Roz his business at that deep level because he knew, if she so choose, she could tell his father. And if his father was displeased, he would come down hard on Teddy and Nikki both. They were the boss and the underboss of the Sinatra Crime Syndicate, or the SCS as former CIA Director Hammer Reese told them the Feds referred to it, and Mick didn’t allow for any chinks in their armor. He and Nikki not on the same page was a major chink.
“We’ve been going at it lately,” Teddy admitted, “and she’s been spending more and more time away from the house. She claims she’s following up on leads, but she never tells me what leads.”
“So you’re saying she’s lying?”
“I’m saying I don’t know what she’s talking about and she won’t explain it to me. I reminded her ass that I’m her boss, the boss of this entire organization, but she tells me do I want her to quit? Just like that. One day I’m going to tell her ass yes quit.”
“And on that day,” said Roz, “be prepared for her to quit you and that job and never go back. You know how Nikki can be. She don’t play. You come at her like that, she’ll take you up on it even if it wasn’t what she truly wanted to do. Don’t go there unless you’re prepared to stay there.”
Teddy looked at Roz. She was one of those gorgeous but tough black women that everybody knew, by her look alone andwho her husband was, to not even think about disrespecting. He respected her above any woman he’d ever known, including his own mother. Roz would tell it to you straight and didn’t care about the blowback. He was certain his father married her because she didn’t compromise. In many ways, Teddy followed in his father’s footsteps when he married Nikki. He also knew, although Roz would never tell him, that he and Nikki weren’t the only couple having trouble. Mick and Roz were going at it too.
“How’s Pop?”
“What do you mean how is he? He’s fine.”
“I haven’t seen him around much lately.”
“His hands are full at Sinatra Industries. There was an attempted hostile takeover last month that riled him and his board of directors. They’ve been working overtime to ensure it never happens again.”
Teddy was surprised. “I had no idea. Why didn’t Pop say anything?”
“Why would he say something to you? He told you he always keeps his corporate life separate from his syndicate life. That’s why he’s letting you and Nikki run his syndicate so he can run his international corporation without fail.”
“Although everybody knows Pop’s still running the syndicate too. All the other bosses treat me like I’m still Pop’s underboss. And they treat Nikki like she doesn’t count at all. I have to get on their case every other week about her.”
