Page 45 of His Lair
“No. He doesn’t know anything about that. He just thinks my son owns a casino. That’s all. He doesn’t need to know anything else,” she tells me.
“You’ve fucking lost the plot.” I shake my head and pace the length of the room.
“If you don’t play nice, if you don’t come to the wedding and support me in this, I will make sure yourlittle whorepays the price for it,” my mother spits out.
Her threats against Lailani are just as laughable as the idea of her marrying a cop.
“And just what do you think you can do to her?” I ask.
My mother’s eyes light up. “Well, I’m about to marry a detective. If John happens to get a tip off that some whore is here selling coke for say… the cartel, he will have no choice but to follow up on that.” She stands and walks towards the elevator. “You’ll be getting a formal invite in the mail.”
As soon as the metal doors close behind her, I text Louie and Carlo.
Me:
We have a problem. I’m coming to the Royal.
Louie:
In my office.
Carlo:
On my way.
This is how it’s always been with my friends. Whenever I’ve needed them, they come through for me. They don’t ask questions. They are just there, ready to do whatever the fuck it takes to solve a problem.
By the time I get to the Royal Flush, Carlo is already in Louie’s office. Jazzy is on the sofa watching something on her iPad. Stopping in front of her, I pluck one of the headphones off her ear. “How’s my favorite princess?” I ask her.
“Uncle Sammie, how many princesses do you know?” she counters.
“Mmm, just one,” I tell her.
Her smile widens. “Well, I hope one day you meet another one. Because princesses are the best.”
“They are.” I place the headphone back over her ear and stand to face Louie and Carlo. “My mother just told me she’s engaged to some detective.”
Carlo laughs. Louie squints. “Is that a joke?”
“I wish it were,” I say, leaving out the part about her threatening Lailani because neither of them knows I’m even seeing her.
“Obviously you can’t let her go ahead with it. What does she really want?” Louie asks. They know my mother as well as I do.
“She saysmy blessing. She wants me to attend the fucking wedding and play happy families or some bullshit.” I shake my head. This cannot be my real fucking life. “I’ll deal with it. In themeantime, we got that shipment to collect tomorrow night,” I remind them.
The door opens and Emmanuel saunters in. Jazzy sees him, jumps up, and shouts, “Tío E!”
When the fuck did she start calling him that?
It doesn’t take long to figure out Emmanuel is back in town because Charlotte’s friend Evie is supposedly visiting this weekend. Louie tells us we all have to come to dinner at his place. He needs backup to make sure Emmanuel doesn’t do anything too insane. Not that anyone can stop him.
Louie looks to Carlo. “Bring Antonia and Jazzy.Hewon’t go doing anything stupid if Jazzy’s there.” He gestures towards Emmanuel.
“Cool, use my daughter in place of the antipsychotics we all know he needs. Why not?” Carlo grumbles.
“After dinner, we’ll go deal with the shipment,” Louie says.
“Great. Now, I’ve gotta go home and tell my wife she’s not getting her own house,” Carlo groans.
