Page 39 of Consumed By the Mafia

“Abigail Fitzgerald. Don’t talk that way about another human being!”Her grandmother’s sharp reprimand never did fail to make her wince.

“Well, my vote’s for the ditch.” Ryoma tipped his head closer as they neared the gate. “I’ll persuade you to give me his name later and we’ll see if we can dig him up. No sense in you wondering.”

She bumped his arm. “Or you can help me learn to leave the past behind.”

“Who says it can’t be both?”

The personal portion of the gate rolled back, parting for them, and Ryoma angled ahead of her without releasing her hand. As soon as she was past, the gate rolled shut again, leaving them standing on the streetside of the driveway in front of an idling black SUV and a scowling man she assumed to be its driver.

The scowling man straightened from where he’d been leaning against the vehicle. “Mr. De Salvo said I’m to take you where you want to go, but don’t make a habit of keeping me fucking waiting like this, yakuza.” He pulled open the driver’sside door and jumped in without another word or a single glance in Abigail’s direction.

Ryoma opened the nearest back door and motioned for her to climb in first.

Abigail slid to the far side, making room for him, and reached for her seatbelt.

As he settled into his own seat, Ryoma said, “I’m super sorry that your job is asking something inconvenient of you today, Gerardo. Maybe you should’ve declined if you weren’t up for the task.”

Abigail could see just enough of Gerardo’s profile to see the way the man’s lips curled in a brief sneer.

“Fuck you. You’re not as special as you think you are,” Gerardo shot back as he threw the SUV into reverse.

Ryoma seemed to find the response funny, because he chuckled before rolling his head to the side and drawing Abigail’s gaze back to him on some wordless command. “Should we try things your way first?”

Abigail blinked at him for a single second before her brain kicked in.Right. Searching for bodies to press.The conversation about her past had thrown her mind off-track for a beat. She rolled the question over, thinking about places she’d previously observed and trying to compare the list to what she remembered of things Peter Marchesi had told her. If she factored in the apparent certainty that he was actually working with the Irish, then every single word he’d said to her had been skewed. Not to mention she was coming from behind.

Well, she’d thrown everything else out the window, why not her methods?

Abigail smiled across the small middle seat at Ryoma. “How about you take the lead on thewhere, and keep your promise on letting me take lead later?”

Ryoma opened his mouth, his eyes crinkling with amusement and something much more dangerous, but Gerardo spoke over him.

Voice gruff with disdain, Gerardo said, “We’re taking orders from a motherfucking fed now? What kind o’ operation is this?”

Abigail frowned in Gerardo’s direction. It wasn’t like she’d expected any of the De Salvo men to like her, but she was agreeing to help them solve a problem that had apparently been plaguing them for some time. To her mind, he ought to at least be choking back that displeasure.

Ryoma glared forward and gave a hard kick to the back of the driver’s seat. “She’s literally doin’ what the bosstoldher to do, dickhead. You got an issue with that, take it up with him. Otherwise, keep your fuckin’ mouth shut.”

“Yeah?” Gerardo accelerated aggressively as he transitioned onto a major road. “Maybe I just tell the boss you were too busy lickin’ that government pussy to pay attention.”

Abigail dipped her hand into her pocket, pulled out her new phone, and swept over to the recording app. She calmly set the device down and spoke over Ryoma’s building response. “Gerardo, was it? I don’t give a damn if you like me or not, but let’s get two things straight. First, whatever your problem with law enforcement, I am a human being and I will neither tolerate nor accept being treated or spoken to in that manner. That includes the way you speakaboutme when you know Ican hear every word. Second, as Ryoma already said, I’m here because I’ve agreed to work in alliance with your boss. If this is the way you treat your allies, you’re more disgusting than I could possibly have thought. But that isn’t the impression I had of Mr. De Salvo, and something tells me you don’t want to sully his image with your foul behavior.” She let her words hang in the air, watching carefully as Gerardo’s grip tightened over the steering wheel.

After a beat of silence, Gerardo growled, “Put a gag on your bitch, yakuza.”

“I’m about to put a gag onyou,” Ryoma said, speaking so low Abigail wasn’t entirely sure the words would carry.

Abigail scowled. “You know what? I have a third thing.”

“Of-fucking-course you do,” Gerardo said.

“I have no interest in tolerating your hatred, either. This man is not some walking embodiment of all yakuza. His name isRyoma.”

Gerardo snorted. “No it ain’t.”

Ryoma shifted in his seat. “You motherfucker.”

Abigail’s eyebrows shot up her forehead. “Excuse me?”

“What? Your little lover boy couldn’t be bothered to tell you?”

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