Page 137 of Steal My Heart
Nic enters it, and we follow him inside. “We need to keep going down the hall and around the corner,” I whisper to him.
He responds by darting out and closing the door in our faces.
Alessandra tries the doorknob, but it’s locked.
“Calvani men are the worst,” she whispers, silently stomping her foot.
Angelo
“I’m the boss; you want to be the boss. In negotiations, we’re at what’s called a deadlock,” I inform him.
“Fuck your business school terms. I’ll show you deadlock.” He raises his gun, pointing it at my skull.
“Brute strength over brains; is that really all you’ve brought to the table? Kill me, and your wife is a dead woman, and you can explain my corpse to our baby sister,” I say calmly. “Let’s cut the shit and get down to what this is really about.”
“Please, enlighten me.” Fabien lowers his gun, placing it on the table. Giving it a spin, it comes to a stop with the barrel pointed at the empty chair to his right.
“Your fragile ego couldn’t accept that Vitto chose me to lead whenyoufucked up.”
He absorbs my words silently.
Leaning across the table, I tell him, “I would have never ordered your hit if you hadn’t tried to kill me first.”
“You’re such a lying prick.” He slams his fist down on the table. “I would have never ordered your hit if you hadn’t tried to kill me first!”
“I have myformerlawyer’s phone. Read the entire conversation between you and Bennett.” I seethe. “You ordered the drive-by, and when that didn’t take me out, you tried to destroy me by turning the new mayor against me.”
“What bullshit are you spinning? I don’t know a Bennett. But yeah, I ordered the drive-by. After you tried to off me in prison.”
“No,” I say emphatically.
“Yes,” he says emphatically.
“Was your cellmate’s nickname Cornbread?” I demand.
“Yeah. What the fuck does that have to do with any of it?”
“Were you communicating with my lawyer named Bennett?”
“Already told you no. I got my own damn lawyer to keep you out of my business.”
“Did you try to kidnap Al at Lundi Gras?” I press.
He crosses his arms. “No.”
“When you assume, you make an ass out of you and me.”
There’s nothing to do but laugh.
“What are you going on about?” Fabien demands.
“We’ve been played, big brother.”
A slow clap of hands has us both snapping our necks to the stage.
Remi
“Are you sure about this? Crawling through the air vents might be a movie thing,” Alessandra worries as we move Sienna’s couch closer to the opening.
