Page 42 of Nothing to Beat

Her hand tightened in Tripp’s.If Zairn didn’t, Tripp would.Ackley was near the top of the chain.Would anyone in the Golden State risk pissing him off?

“Ackley is a stubborn, arrogant—he cares about nothing except himself.”

“Think you’re biased, RoRo?”Porter asked Roxie.“He did try to finger your fiancé.”

At that time, Roxie and Zairn didn’t know each other existed.Didn’t matter, some wounds never fully healed.

“Biased or not, the only way to get answers would be to rock up and get in front of him.”

“We can do that,” Tripp said.“Whatever we need to do.We do have a jet after all.”

“Our State’s Attorney, Tim Unst, has the reins on the web of your father’s case.If you talk to him, you’ll get a better picture of how it might play out, but he’ll tell you the same as I will: there’s no guarantee.”

Especially when there was a chance of money or power changing hands.

“Give me it straight,” she said, shifting to the edge of her seat.“The Gambattos are losing territory, that means they’re losing money.If my father walks away from this, if you don’t get a conviction, will he take back what he’s lost?”

Was there any hope he might be out of the game for good?

Before responding, Porter took a deep breath.“If you asked any of the other families, they’d tell you the Gambattos are done.”Bravado?“We’ve been going hard and the feds aren’t far behind.”So if the city failed to secure a conviction, the country may step up.“But I, personally, wouldn’t put money on anything either way.I’ve seen stranger things happen.”

Great, just the answer she didn’t want.

“If Gambatto Senior is convicted, do the chances of recovery go down?”Well meaning, Tripp supported her, but she couldn’t rely on her father going to prison if even the prosecutor wasn’t sure it would happen.“Can he run things from the inside?”

“It’s not like it used to be.No more steak dinners and hot baths every night.That said, in prison, he’s likely to live better than any other inmate.”

“I don’t care about his life in there,” she said, blood hot.“I care about what he can do to those on the outside.”

To her.To Breck.

“I can’t answer that with any certainty.”Just what did this guy know?“What I will say is, although there’s no guarantee he’ll be convicted, there’s also no guarantee of anything being left at the end.This will drag on for years.We’ll take Joey down, then California will.At some point your father will face his reckoning.Make no mistake, it will be damaging.”

Damaging enough?

“You can’t live your life under threat of the what-ifs,” Roxie said, shifting to reach over Tripp and take her hand.“The best-case scenario is as likely to happen as the worst case.”

“Moreso,” Porter said.“Assuming you want your father in prison or ruined.The other families won’t let him just stroll in and take over again.The McDades are strengthening their power base every day.”

Which could indicate the Irish would be more inclined to murder her father than put up with any attempt at poaching bullshit.

If it was just her, she’d live with that.But Breck was in New York dismantling his life to show her that even if her father wanted something from them, they wouldn’t be able to provide it.What if he did all that and her father did go to prison and lose his authority?

He’d be nothing.It wasn’t so hard to laugh in the face of nothing.

A phone rang.Tripp’s.They sat so close that it buzzed against her thigh.

Raising his hips, he retrieved it and then his jaw moved.

“What?”she asked, recognizing his hesitation.Though asking the question was sort of dumb.“It’s Breck, isn’t it?”He half shrugged, his thumb moving toward the—“I’ll answer it.”She presented her palm, he didn’t seem sure.“You want to lie to him?”

SIXTEEN

TRIPP PUT THE PHONE in her hand; she answered while getting to her feet.

“Hey, stranger,” she said, stepping around Tripp’s legs to stride over the living room.

“Take a hit in a sensitive spot?Voice is higher than it used to be, brother.”

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