Page 2 of Tesio
The tension dropped from his face for a moment, and shit, how much younger did he look when he wasn’t trying to dominate a room?
“Seems she’s fallen for a,” he paused, pursing his lips slightly, “abiker. She’s… she was in peril, and he rescued her.”
Well, shit. That didn’t bode well for us, because shouldn’t we have known that already? He wasn’t glaring at me again yet, which seemed like a bonus.
“Boss, she’s okay, right?” I’d known her since we were children, so I needed to know she was safe at least.
He suddenly chuckled, and I didn’t know when I’d ever heard that sound when it wasn’t done in that creepy, someone’s gonna die, kinda way.
“She’s happy, Tesio. I’d never do a thing to take away something she loves. That said, if he becomes a threat to her, if any of them do, we’ll take action.” There’s the Don we all know and love to hate, and hate to love.
“So my job is to keep an eye on cameras around their compound? I mean, in addition to the one I was viewing?”
He sighed, glancing at the bar across the room, tapping his fingers before he took a deep breath and turned back to face me. I knew he wanted a drink, but why was he not just ordering me to get him one?
“You want me to get-”
He lifted a hand, so I shut it like a good mafia boy, and waited for him to speak.
“They have their own ‘tech guy’, but I doubt his skills, and quite honestly, I doubt their setup, and preparedness, for protecting a mafia daughter. You’ll add cameras where we see fit, and those will be for our eyes only. In the meantime, we’ll monitor and stay away, but the threat to her safety was removed, and that benefits us greatly.”
What the fuck had I missed, while I’d been doing shit work, and out of the loop?
“And the threat was?”
He scowled suddenly, slamming a palm against the desk surface. If I hadn’t been a well trained kinda guy, I’d have jumped, but you don’t show weakness in the mafia, so I simply offered him that eyebrow thing in response.
“Casetti!” he practically spat, leaning forward to glare at me, like I caused whatever the cunt had done, because it was clearlybad. That guy was a fucking psycho. We’d wanted to take them out for a while, but as with all shit in this life, it had to be done in a certain way, to not upset the balance of power, yada yada yada.
“Uh… boss?”
That eyebrow lifted again, but he wasn’t looking as put together as normal now that he’d let out that little spurt of emotion. It was rare to see, but if anyone could make him feel like that, it was his daughter, Victoria, or Tori, as she preferred.
“When you say ‘removed’… you mean dead?”
Could a person grin like a fucking shark, because that’s what came to mind when he suddenly did exactly that, and grinned at me.
“While I’m frustrated that we didn’t get to do the takedown ourselves, justice was served, and we’ve absorbed what little Casetti had into our own coffers. You weren’t required to be involved, so you weren’t informed.” Ah there it is. My reminder that I’m just a minion, right?
“Understood, boss. I’ll keep watch,” I silently added the ‘like a good little boy’, but I honestly felt like he fucking heard it, because he pointed at the chair I’d just hopped up from. Clearly I wasn’t done. I dropped back down, and forced myself to keep an impassive look on my face.
“It’s a difficult business, running an empire like this, Tesio. Deciding who’s involved in each operation, and who knows what, is all part of a delicate balancing act. I needed you on other matters at the time, but you’re fully dedicated now to anything relating to Phoenix MC. I want to know their comings and goings, their business, their affiliations, and any scandals or confirmed criminal activity. Their actions could affect us now, and I won’t allow that to happen.” Right. That made perfect sense to this made man, so what could I say but ‘yes, boss’?
“I’ll get it done.”
“I know you will, Tesio. You never fail me.”
Was it me reading his mind this time, and catching the bit he didn’t voice out loud? I wouldn’tsurvivefailing him, not when the stakes were so high. Tori’s safety was everyone’s priority now.
Chapter Two
Being a police officerhad always been my dream, ever since I was a little girl. What kind of jobs did the other girls aspire to having? Well, they ranged from doctors to models, and everywhere in between, but for some reason it was rare to want to be a ‘copper’, at least where I grew up.
My dad was an addict, and that meant growing up was tough, and sometimes dangerous, especially when mum gave up and left us, and I had to practically raise myself, while keeping dad out of trouble, and alive, at times. Why did my mother feel that leaving me with him was the best option? Best for her, I guess.
Anyway, watching him descend further and further into addiction, which started with prescription painkillers, by the way, just in case you think he started off bad, and watching the life of crime it led him to… well, how could I not want something better out of life? By the time I was sixteen, I was living with a foster family, because he’d gone to prison yet again, and this time he was in for a long stretch. Armed robbery tended to do that.
Going through my training to become a police officer had been tricky, and fraught with the fear of people finding out where I came from. Leaving town, starting afresh, and following my dream, all big scary things for a twenty year old, but here I was, ten years later, still at the bottom of the damn pile.
