Page 87 of Sweet Animosity

I just bet it did.

I really loved these two as if they were my very inappropriate great-aunts. That my actions may have put them in danger made me sick.

“Did he tell you his name?”

Barb shook her head. “No. Only for us to tell you he’d been there for a visit. And that you would know who he was. But we didn’t see you. Then he came back today.”

I swallowed as I sat down on the kitchen stool. “Today?”

Millie nodded. “At a very unseemly early hour, if I might add.”

Barb waved her hand in the air. “The racket! It was enough to wake the dead.”

“What racket?”

“Why, him knocking on your door, of course. It was so odd. I mean, he obviously had a key or something to get in there the first time. It was like he wanted to scare you or something.” She patted my hand. “But don’t you worry. Millie popped her head out and gave him what for. You have to teach these men right from the start how to behave.”

Oh, God. He could have so easily pulled his gun out and shot her.

I wrapped my arm around my middle, not sure I could take much more of their animated tale. I swallowed past the bile in my throat and asked, “And then what happened?”

Millie wagged her finger. “This time, we told him about your other man. I told him if he didn’t stop this nonsense, we were going to make sure that you told your other new big scary boyfriend from over at the Four Monks.”

Barb grinned as she lifted her iced tea in a mock toast. “That sure shut him up.”

I closed my eyes as I rubbed my temple.

“Everyone knows about the men at the Four Monks, dear. And he’s also Russian, so he definitely must know about them. We figured he would get the picture, and he did.”

I stood and placed my palms on the counter as I leaned forward. “He did?”

“Yes. He made sure we meant the Four Monks, and then he smiled and said that changes everything and to tell Vivian never mind. Then he gave us five hundred dollars if you can believe it and told us to go treat ourselves to something nice for our troubles. He then went on his way.”

Millie pulled the money out of her housecoat pocket and spread out the new bills before fanning herself. “We’re going to get dressed up and head to Maple & Ash for dinner. Do you want to join us? They have great dirty martinis.”

Tell Vivian never mind?

The man’s threats had turned my world upside down, and now he says never mind?

That couldn’t possibly be it.

But maybe it was.

Judging by what they said, he’d completely changed his mind after learning the Four Monks were involved.

Var had been telling me this whole time he wasn’t just some underling in the Russian Mafia.

Maybe even the mere mention of the Four Monks was like saying the name Corleone to an Italian. If you knew, you knew.

Was it possible?

Maybe.

Wow.

Could this entire shit show finally be over?

An odd, unsettled feeling churned in my stomach.

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