Page 1 of Escape You

1

Big Joey's Kid

Mia

“What the hell were you thinking?” I tossed my phone on my office desk.

“I needed the cash,” Leo said with his head held high. As if he had every right to break into a home not two blocks away from here and steal a bunch of worthless crap.

I sauntered around the table, exchanging a look with my right-hand man, Vic. The old man regarded me as if this were some kind of test. Was it? I should have known Uncle Mickey’s crew wouldn’t let me take the lead just because he was dead, and they had no one else stepping up to clean up the mess.

“If you need money, you come to me. You got that? Is it your daughter?”

“She’s back at the hospital.” Leo’s daughter was a sickly child and frequently ended up at the ER with rare infections.

“You should’ve trusted me to handle this.” I turned my back to him and punched in the code on the lockbox keypad. This was a long shot, but the crew had to understand I was the boss now. They had to understand I would do anything to protect them. I grabbed a couple of stacks of money and shoved it in a brown bag. “Here’s your cut from the run we’re doing in two weeks. It should be more than enough to cover the hospital bill.”

Leo took the bag with a flicker of fear in his eyes. He knew this offense would not go unpunished. “Thank you.”

“When you leave here, you will go straight to the Damiani’s house and give them ten percent of your loot.”

His body jerked a little before he spun around to face Vic. “She can’t do that.”

As it were, I’d never been a patient woman, but these assholes were pushing my limits. I gripped the handgun tucked in the back of my pants and pressed it to the nape of his neck. “We don’t shit where we eat. You will make that family whole with the advance I just gave you. If you don’t fucking like it, you can go somewhere else. Find a new town, a new crew.”

Leo stood frozen. After several beats, he lowered his head and nodded. When he turned and met my gaze, I set the gun on the desk

“Yes, Boss.”

“Go.”

He clutched the bag to his chest and strode out of my office. When the door shut with a thud behind him, I let out a breath. “They still don’t trust me.”

“It hasn’t even been a week.” Vic sat on the wide ledge under the window. Outside, in the parking lot, Leo got in his car and careened away from the building.

“What I need is a big job. Something that shows them I don’t need a dick to run this business.”

“You gave him one hundred thousand dollars. What kind of contract will earn every member of your crew that kind of cash?”

“I just told you. A big one.”

The old man rubbed the wrinkles on his forehead. Vic and I had been recently thrown together into this partnership. After Uncle Mickey was shot and killed, leaving us vulnerable to every other rival gang out there, Vic had decided to stay and keep an eye on Big Joey’s kid. I wasn’t a kid anymore, though I had a ways to go before everyone saw that.

“Why don’t you tell me what you’re planning to do so I can give you sound advice you’ll ignore.”

I was sure that was a joke. Vic had changed in his old age. Maybe he’d seen enough bloodshed, or maybe after seeing Uncle Mickey’s gruesome death, he finally realized life was too short.

“First, I need to make sure the city council is behind me. After the stunt Leo and the others pulled, no doubt they’ll look to one of the other neighboring bosses for protection. I can’t let them do that.”

“There’s a council meeting in two days. We can crash it.”

“It needs to be sooner than that.”

“Why?”

“Why? Did you forget what we do for a living during your stint in Arizona with Dom?”

“Fuck, Mia. You’re running a new arms deal this soon?”

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