Page 36 of The Woman in the Warehouse

He was dressed like Anthony in dress slacks and a black button-up, but he went without a jacket, and his sleeves were rolled up to reveal a watch I imagine cost more than the average family’s monthly income.

“Been a long time, man,” he greeted Anthony, pulling him in for a quick hug, complete with back slaps on both their parts.

“Too long,” Anthony agreed.

“Hey, sweetheart,” he said, turning to me. “I’m Giovani,” he told me. “My friends call me… when they need money,” he said, getting a surprised little laugh out of me.

“Gio, this is Saylor,” Anthony introduced me. “We’re working together on… a job.”

“Yeah?” Gio asked. “And you need me for it?”

“We need to pick your brain on something,” Anthony agreed.

“Yeah? Alright,” he said. “Come on back with me," he said, turning to walk back behind the counter.

We followed, walking through a prep area where three men were hard at work making various foods that we’d seen in the refrigerated case behind the counter, then a smaller stock area until, finally, Gio turned into an office.

This was the only place that even hinted at mafia to me. Unlike the rest of the building, it had been completely redone with slate gray walls, wide-planked dark wood floors, a seating area complete with a couch, two chairs, a coffee table, and a bar cart, and a sleek wooden desk with two leather chairs in front of it.

Gio moved behind the desk, but neither he nor Anthony sat down until I dropped down into my seat.

Which was absurd.

But also kind of hot, I had to admit.

“So, what’s going on?” Gio asked, his accent slipping out a bit more.

“Saylor and I are both trying to find out some information about a crew that the Family is worried about.”

“The Family,” Gio repeated, glancing at me. “You Family now?” he asked. “Know that Lombardi fuck is progressive like that, but didn’t know the Costas got themselves female capos now too.”

“She’s not in the Family,” Anthony corrected him. “She’s…”

“An arms dealer,” I supplied when Anthony hesitated.

“No shit,” Gio said, nodding. “Good for you, babe. So, what, you supply the Family?”

“No. Anthony and I just happen to have a common enemy right now,” I told him.

“Lorenzo wanted me to check out a Czech crew he heard whispers about. The same crew broke into Saylor’s warehouse and stole her inventory.”

Gio made a clicking noise.

“A heavily armed crew then.”

“Hence why we’re here. Saylor has a contact that said the only known Czech crew he knew of operates out of Staten Island.”

“So here you are,” Gio said, waving out toward the building in general.

“Here we are,” Anthony agreed. “Got any information you can give us?”

“Well, we do have a Czech crew operating around these parts. Matej Dvorák is the name of the gun who is running shit.”

“What are they into?” I asked.

“Enforcing, mostly,” Gio said, shrugging. “Never had an issue with them. They knew the drill when they moved in. Never missed a kick-up payment. Never caused any problems we’ve needed to clean up.”

“Do you have any idea if there’s been any sort of dissent in their ranks lately?” I asked.

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