Page 98 of Alfie: Part Two

“That’s our next topic,” Finn replied. “First of all, give the people some credit. And us. By blowing this shit outta proportion, we’re aiming the fire at the police. They’re not doing their job if a crime syndicate solves the case for them.” He took a swig of his coffee. “The attacks were barely mentioned in the news before the last one, because the number was suddenly big enough. But now…? Now it’s taxpayer money at work. If there’sone thing we love to bitch about, it’s when we’re not getting what we pay for.”

It was a fucking tragedy that he couldn’t be more correct. Our viewers would probably forget the speculations about the messenger, so to speak, within a week or two. The debate that would overshadow everything, and go on for longer, was that the police had fallen asleep at the wheel.

“Secondly, we wouldn’t ask you to suppress any news topic,” Finn said. “That’s how you raise suspicion.”

Fair enough.

“You keep doing your job as usual, West,” Shan added. “On that note, we want you to know your position is secure. You have the entire board behind you.”

As I should have. I’d brought the ratings up seventeen percent. But…fine, it felt good to hear.

“You have us behind you too,” Finn said. “That’s partly why we wanted you to come in today. We’re not going to suppress any topics or tell you how to run your show, but we have one suggestion I think will benefit us both.”

I was listening.

“We wanna make sure you get the police commissioner on air,” he revealed. “Viewers will wanna see him, but he’s shit at public speaking. So we think it’ll take some of the heat off us.”

I nodded slowly. We would’ve tried to get him, regardless of Finn’s suggestion, but there was no denying it would be easier with assistance.

“We have a deal,” I replied.

“Fantastic.” Finn flashed a quick, satisfied smile and moved on. “The news will break early on Tuesday morning. Before then, not a fucking word about this to anyone.” The latter was aimed at Alfie. “I know your folks have suffered enough, but don’t tell them the fuckers are dead yet.”

Alfie pinched his bottom lip and shook his head. “I’mma postpone that till the last minute. Chances are she’s gonna get pissy with me again.”

“What do you plan on telling her?” Kellan asked.

Alfie lifted a shoulder. “I dunno. Like, she don’t gotta worry no more. And once she sees that on the news, she can connect the dots herself.”

As much as I knew Giulia would detest the lack of answers, I believed that was the best way to go as well.

“Daddy?”

“Yeah, princess?” I added a stick of butter to the pot and stirred slowly.

“I think Shorty wants a baby sister.”

Oh, really. I glanced down at Ellie on the floor, where she was dragging a shoestring around for Shorty to chase.

“That’s not what I heard,” I told her. “He let me know the other day that he loves being the center of attention. He doesn’t want to share you and your brother.”

She looked at me dubiously.

“Especially now that it’s almost Christmas,” I pointed out. “He wants all the presents to himself.”

That made her snicker. “I’m gonna give him sooo many presents. Nonna gave me a quarter every time I said a Spanish word, so I’m rich!”

I exhaled a laugh—but then a genius idea came to me, and I made a mental note to add it to my Christmas list. It was something we could all do together as a family, pick up some Spanish. And not only for Giulia’s sake but the rest of Alfie’s family on her side. It would mean a lot to them.

Honestly, Alfie understood more than he admitted, or gave himself credit for, but he always refused to answer in Spanish. Same with Italian, although he’d prattled off curse words more than once to demonstrate his skills.

“Aight, Colby’s home!” Alfie announced, coming down the stairs. “I’mma talk to him outside. Trip’s in the shower.”

“Okay, sweetheart.” I got Ellie’s attention. “You can go upstairs and get ready. Soon as he’s done, it’s your turn. Then we’ll eat.”

It might be the first time in her life she’d sprinted for a shower, and we had Giulia to thank for it. She’d bought Ellie shower gel with glitter in it.

In the meantime, I brought the sauce down to a low simmer and checked the chicken in the oven. Five or ten minutes to go. I’d started the sauce too early.

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