Page 14 of Mafia Princess

Anderson took a seat on the La-Z-Boy.Motherfucker. Did he not know a man’s La-Z-Boy was right up there with his woman? You didn’t touch it, you didn’t even fucking look at it, let alone use it.

“Why are you in my apartment?”

He leaned back into the La-Z-Boy, patting the armrests before gliding his hand up the smooth leather. Oh, the fucking horror.

“You’re chasing after the wrong family.” He said it so calmly, like he was discussing the weather.

I crossed my arms. “Not like I care, but what makes you think that?”

He snorted. “Fucking rookie,” he muttered. “You really need to make it less obvious that you haven’t been around here long.”

I scratched my jaw. “First, fuck you. And second, fuck you. Third, I’ve been here for four years.”

“Four years,” he scoffed. “No wonder you’re so fucking clueless.”

I narrowed my eyes. “Please tell me exactly why the fuck I’m listening to you insult me in my own damn apartment?”

“Because if you’d been here long enough, you’d know the Valentis have been around for the last fifty years.”

“God, are you that old?”

“No. I just remember my grandfather telling stories about them, about Allesandro Valenti.”

“Lorenzo’s father.” I’d done my homework. I knew the history of these motherfuckers better than I knew fifth grade math.

Anderson nodded. “They called him the Professor, a very intelligent man, just like Lorenzo. He was more popular than John Wayne in the seventies.”

I plopped down on the couch. “Is this why you’re here, to give me a fucking history lesson?”

“Like I said, you’re after the wrong goddamn family. It’s during the last five years that shit started to go wrong on these streets, am I right?”

I shook my head. “Wrong. Children started to disappear around two years ago, smartass.”

He shook his head with the most annoying smirk on his face. “Children started disappearing long before that. But no one took notice because only about two cases a year got reported. It was two years ago that it got so out of hand everyone started to notice.”

I moved to the edge of my seat. “What are you saying, Anderson?”

“When did the Mancusos move into town, Stone?”

The way he asked that question, I knew he already had the answer, but I answered it anyway. “Five years ago.” And then I clicked where he was going with this. “But it doesn’t fit into the timeframe with the child disappearances.”

Anderson lifted a brow, the corner of his mouth twitching. “If you’re as smart as you think you are, you’ll know it was about five years ago that drugs started to flow on these streets like fucking champagne at a New Year’s Eve party.” He slanted his head. “Do you think that’s a coincidence, Stone?”

“This morning I arrested a guy and found cocaine on him. He said he was dealing for the Valentis.”

“And you believed him?”

I shrugged. “Why shouldn’t I?”

“Because there is no fucking way anyone with half a brain would give up the name of their dealer,” he snapped his fingers, “just like that.”

“Obviously, you don’t know Gio, then. He’s one stupid individual.”

“I’m not kidding, Stone. If he was dealing for a family like the Valentis, there’s no way in hell he’d snitch on them. He’d be good as dead.”

I leaned back on the couch. “So, you think he’s lying?”

“Oh, I know he’s lying.”

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