Page 50 of Corporate Bondage

“We have to get out of here, now.” I grabbed his shirt collar when he didn’t instantly move. “I mean now, Gio. I have to get out of here.”

He glanced beyond me and lost focus. “Too late. My dad and brother are here.” He raised his hand and signaled to someone behind me. “We’ll leave shortly. I promise. Just give me half an hour at most to hear what he has to say.”

It clicked then. There was no resemblance between the two, but the coloring was dead on. To prevent myself from collapsing to the floor, I sat beside Gio. Fucking hell, why did my life hate me? Gio’s father was the man I thought I had killed.

“Gio, son, this is a great spot.” The voice was low and raspy, unlike what I remembered, but I could still hear the voice as it had been back then.

It’s all your fault.

The two men sat across from me and Gio. I closed my eyes expecting him to recognize me and accuse me of attempted murder but nothing.

“It’s a great place to hang out,” Gio returned. “I hope it wasn’t hard to find.” He paused then and placed his hand over mine on the table. “Pa, Nic, I’d like to introduce you to someone. This is my partner, Keith Eardley.” He squeezed my hand. “This is my brother Niccola but we all call him Nic and my dad, Piero Arcuri.”

Bile rose in my throat as the eyes turned to assess me. Piero Arcuri barely gave me a look over before returning his eyes to Gio. “I asked you here to talk business with you. What the hell are you thinking to bring him here? You know I don’t approve of this bullshit.”

Fucking hypocrite. I wished I could have called him out on it. Didn’t he approve of it when he was shoveling his cock down my throat? I felt sick to my stomach. My partner’s father had once bought my ass, and even though he never got to use it, he had jizzed down my throat. As bad as that was, it wasn’t even the worst part. I knew what I had with Gio was too fucking good to be true. This karma shit proved to me what I knew all along. I existed for life to get a kick out of me.

“Keith’s my partner, and we are open with each other,” Gio answered his father, ignorant to my turmoil. “If you can’t respect that and talk about business civilly with him here then we’ll just go.”

I wished I could support Gio. I wished to hell I could, but the numbness had not worn off yet, and I couldn’t speak. I probably wouldn’t even if I could, afraid that if I drew attention to myself, it would have his father pay more attention to me and figure out who I was. I glanced at his scarred face, repulsed at what they represented.

“I’ll get us a pitcher,” Nic announced and rose to his feet.

“You want to play tough balls with me, Gio?” his father growled at him. “Do you even have any?” He glanced at me and frowned, cocking his head to one side. My breath caught in my throat. This was it. Now he remembered who I was. He looked away to Gio. “Let me say what I have to and get the hell out of here before you make me really mad, boy. The restaurant— I need to use it.”

“What do you mean use it?” Gio asked, his voice strained from the emotions he was keeping in check. His body was coiled tighter than a spring.

“The local authorities are digging into our casino,” he explained. “Not that they’ve found anything, but we have to keep a low profile there and run a business without the other stuff. I need a place to make drops for now. The other contacts I checked out here did not come through, and your restaurant is the only alternative. I’ve a shipment already delayed because of this, and my client’s getting pretty crass.”

“You want to use the restaurant as a drop site?” Gio placed his fists on the table. “There’s no way I’m allowing that. I run an establishment for food and beverages. I’m not going to let you ruin it by turning it into a heroin distribution site.”

“Don’t get your panties twisted, you’ll get your cut. You’ll make more than you do running the restaurant.”

“Life’s not all about money, Pa. It’s my final decision, and nothing you say or do will change my mind.”

His father’s fist crashed into the table drawing attention to us, but the man seemed oblivious. “I am a co-owner of that business!” he snapped. “I have as much say in it as you do.”

“You are a silent partner! It’s in our contract. Plus, even if you had a say in how I run the business, it would be concerning the actual nature of the business and not your illegal schemes to run one on the authorities. It’s final. I’m not doing it.”

Nic returned with the pitcher of beer and plunked it on the table. Behind him was a waitress in a tiny skirt with the mugs.

“Thank you, sweetheart.” He winked at the waitress who strutted away, the little skirt giving us a view of the underside of her cheeks. The flirtatious look fell from his face, and he turned to his father. “Maybe we should cut him some slack, Pa. He’s always done things by the book. I’m sure if we look elsewhere we’d be able to find someone who is willing to cooperate just for the profits.”

“Shut your fucking mouth! I didn’t ask you anything!” Arcuri returned his angry eyes toward Gio, and even I flinched. I could feel my anger mounting in the way he was trying to pressure Gio into getting involved in his schemes. He would ruin Gio’s dreams if someone didn’t stop him, but how the hell could I? I couldn’t even say a word to the man. “That restaurant of yours came from your trust fund. Where do you think the money came from that went into your trust fund? That’s right. The illegal business you want nothing to do with. Well, I got newsflash for you Gio. You’re already in it, whether you want to or not.”

Gio touched my arm and rose to his feet. I got up, relieved that we were leaving. I didn’t know how much more of this I could take. If I had to listen to him threaten his son one more time, I would finish the job I started twenty years ago. I had to get out of there and cool off.

“Stay away from the restaurant,” Gio said in warning. “You’ve connections. Find someone else. I moved away from Vegas to get away from you and your shenanigans. Don’t bring that shit with you here.”

He stalked out of the bar, and I was right behind him. I turned to glance back at Arcuri to find the man watching me. I was no longer so sure he didn’t remember me, and even if he didn’t, at some point it would come to him. My relationship with Gio would be as good as over. He and his father were fighting now, but that was a far cry from knowing someone almost killed him. How would Gio react knowing that person was me?

I hurried to catch up with him, sensing the little time we had left was soon to be expired.

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