Page 44 of Tainted Love

He pauses in the foyer with wide eyes. Luckily, he doesn’t notice my bag in the corner behind me and he keeps his back toward the living room. Let’s hope, for his sake, he stays that way.

“What’s up, Marty?”

He chews on his cheek, hesitating. “There’s no real great way to say this and I know you shooting me is a possible consequence, but I’m banking on you hearing me out before doing that…”

I lean against the door, waiting silently for him to go on. When I say nothing, he fidgets on his feet.

“I want to hire you to kill my father.”

My eyebrow twitches. “You what?”

Marty stands up a little taller, forcing all his piddly confidence into his weak voice. “I want to hire you to kill my—”

“Don’t repeat that shit out loud, kid.”

“Someone needs to say it,” he says. “Might as well be me.”

“Why?”

“My father’s a thug. Just like my grandfather was before him and my great-grandfather was before him.”

“So, what? Why fix what ain’t broken?”

He folds his hands in front of him, entwining his fingers together. I’ll hand it to him. He’s trying very hard to make himself look pretty badass right now and to a less savvy person, it’d probably work.

“The system is broken, Hart. Every year, my family’s name loses a touch more of its credibility.” He turns up his nose. “I mean… calling out a hit on a man for twenty thousand in casino debt? Twenty? It’s pointless and petty and it sends the wrong message.”

I shrug. “Not arguing with that.”

“It’ll take a legitimate businessman to bring my family back to greatness, Hart.”

“And you’re that businessman, I take it?”

“Yes.”

“Why come to me?” I ask. “Why not just go to Daddy with this shit?”

“Because you can’t teach an old dog new tricks. My father has always believed that the man with the highest body count controls Chicago. I disagree but he’s pretty set in his ways, as you yourself can probably attest to.”

“You’re assuming Chicago wants to change,” I point out, straightening up. “There’s a reason why busting kneecaps never goes out of style. It works. Wearing a snazzy suit and shaking a few hands won’t change that.”

“I’d like to prove that wrong, Hart. I’d like to convince this city that diplomacy still exists in this world.” He takes a step forward. “I want you by my side when I do.”

Jesus fucking Christ.

I barely hold in my chuckle. “You want me to be your partner-in-crime?”

“I know what you did for the dancer man,” he says, raising his brow. “There’s no way he just stumbled on that money overnight and I don’t believe his daughter for a second when she says she paid it off. You’ve got good business sense. We may not like each other much — at all, really — but I know potential when I see it. Also…” His face twitches, like a bad poker player with an ace up his sleeve. “It’s your fault that he’s still breathing at all right now.”

I pause, replaying the last twenty-four hours in my head, laying the pieces together. “You ordered the hit on the restaurant.”

“I did,” he says, pride oozing off his pathetic lips.

“And the Lutrovas?”

“Convenient scapegoats.”

“Figures.” I shake my head. “Shooting up a place full of people doesn’t exactly scream diplomacy-in-action to me, kid.”

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