Page 87 of Vicious Little Games

“Mostly. The rings should cover all I need for now, so we’ll spend the cash.”

Half an hour later, we pull up to the checkout line with a full buggy. I watch as the cashier swipes each item over a scanner that beeps, automatically adding it to our total, which is pretty cool. Not that I would admit that to Cole.

“We're also going to be purchasing some gift cards,” Cole tells the cashier.

“We are?” I ask him.

“How many and for what amount?” the twenty-something woman asks, looking tired and bored. I guess the scanning and beeping would get old after a few hours.

“Twelve cards with five hundred on each.”

“Five dollars on each?” the clerk looks up from her task for his clarification.

“No, five hundred dollars,” Cole corrects her, causing her eyes and my own to widen.

“Why do you need a dozen gift cards with that much money on them from this store?” I ask him.

“Because it can buy a dozen people groceries for nearly a month if they are stingy, and they will be since we're giving these cards to the women's shelter,” he answers while counting out bills from the wad of cash he seized from Annette.

I’m sure it’s a stupid question, but I want to know the answer. “Why do women live in a shelter?”

“Because they don't have anywhere else to go. Most have kids and are running from abusive husbands or fathers.”

“Like your mom did?”

He pauses his counting. “Something like that. But unlike my mother, most of these women can't afford to leave the city where those abusive assholes are living. It's usually only a matter of time until the fuckers find them again.”

“So why not buy plane tickets to get farther away?”

Cole blinks at me like I’m stupid. “Because these women may not have IDs with them, which you have to have for planes. And if they had the money for tickets, then they won't have anywhere to go once they relocate, no job either. Starting over is expensive. I don't have enough to give them for all that yet.”

“Yet. So, you're saying that you really will sell everything off if Daddy makes you his successor?”

“I would sell every property of my grandfather's in a heartbeat. Dante survived without them before, so his financial structure doesn't really need them.”

“And all the employees that will be out of a job? I thought you cared about the middle-class.”

“Those people can be hired at the casino or put up in Dante's condos and shit until they figure it out.”

“You sound like you've planned it all out.”

“Just some thoughts I've had when I think about what I would do if someone gave me a billion dollars to spend however I wanted. My mom got a lot of Yuri’s money and probably gave it up. Someday, I would like to track down all of his offshore bank accounts and empty them out too. I bet his buddies know where they are. They're probably living off it right now.”

“I’m sure Eli could help get them to talk. I wonder why my dad hasn't had him try yet.”

“Because he knows it will start a war. First, we would have to pull the rug out from underneath them, then we can question them.”

“Well, you should hurry, or you'll have to wait until Eli's back from his ‘vacation.’ Unless you're going to torture them yourself?”

“I will if I have to,” Cole says. “But I doubt there will be time to do any of this shit before I have to go back to New York.”

“Because you think you’re going to lose to me?”

“Because win or lose, I’m going to finish my degree. I’m too close not to now.”

“Right,” I say, knowing that and hating it all the same. I’ve gotten so used to seeing him all the time. Teasing him and arguing with him is fun. I’ll miss having him around when he has to go back to school.

“I’m sure Dante will wait for his successor to take over in a year, if not longer,” Cole says. “He’s just making plans right now.”

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