Page 19 of Gianni DeLuca

I looked across the table at the man who’d become my best friend a few years after Laffy. “I never make threats. And you also know I would never compromise who you are for personal or business gain. Whatever secrets you have or don’t want others to know will remain just that.”

His body visibly relaxed. “I’m not telling you what to do.”

“Good because I don’t take kindly to people telling me what to do.”

Roberto exhaled loudly before speaking again, “All I’m saying is that ever since the casino’s grand opening, you’ve been different. Missing meetings, not answering important calls, pushing up the whole idea that we’re leaving the streets.”

“Something that has always been a part of the plan. I want legit businesses so we can live free the rest of our lives.”

“You’re a damn fool if you think you can leave unscathed. Karma doesn’t work like that. You’ve killed people, Gianni. You don’t get to be rich and drive off in the sunset with your woman.”

“Why the fuck not?” I leaned toward him. “The people who run this country make decisions every day that kill people. Hell, some had killed people themselves when they served in the military. And guess what? They’re living extraordinary lives and ride off in the sunset every damn day. Why can’t that be you and I? Yeah, we may have killed people on the way to immense wealth, but we’ve given people jobs, making good money they can’t find anywhere else. The minimum wage is a fucking joke. Wages are decided by people who never worry about money in their lives. Whether a man works for us on the streets or at my restaurant and the casino, he’s getting paid decently. So, excuse me if I think I have a right to a legit life even with my sins.”

Roberto countered, his voice firm, “All I know is the streets. I don’t want to work at this bullshit casino. I can’t be contained like this.” He jabbed the table with his middle finger. “Get your head back in the game and out of this fairy tale you’ve concocted with this woman. Come on, Gianni, the possibility that this woman will betray you never crossed your mind. Not once?”

I simply glared.

“Not only will you lose everything you’ve worked for, but you may also just lose your life.”

“And if I stay in the streets, I’ll die, whether physically, emotionally, or metaphorically, I will fucking die.”

Roberto rose from his chair and calmly prophesized, “Then die mothafucka.”

He slammed the door behind him, and I sat there wondering at what point my best friend would kill me. It could be next month or next year. It might even be years from now. But if given a chance, he would. I’ve always listened to my gut. The same core that told me I could trust Diamond is the one telling me that Roberto had a burning inferno inside of him that needed to be unleashed. I just didn’t know if I had it in me to end his life first. Fuck. Iwasgetting soft.

Chapter Thirteen

Diamond and I werecuddled up on the sofa in my office at the casino. My pants were still undone, and her dress hitched high on her thighs after a naughty tryst on my desk. She tugged on the fine hairs on my lower abdomen as we debated our favorite gangsters on film. I lovedScarfaceandCarlito’s Waywhile she had an infinity for the originalGodfather.

Paris grinned. “I loved Sonny. His passion was so fucking sexy. Hated when he was ambushed.”

“That scene is hard for me to watch. Papa was ambushed the day he was murdered. Sonny was much like my father...without the cheating, or I hope he wasn’t the cheating man. Always loud, boisterous, the life of the party, fun, passionate. He had this fiery temper, and his mouth got him in trouble with Tucci. We’d grabbed wine for one of my mother’s dinner parties, and I stopped to pick up a quarter I saw on the ground. Before standing again, I heard Tucci call my father’s name and then multiple booms.

I covered my head, and when the gunfire stopped, a car squealed off. My father fell near me, his face mangled, his body covered with blood. I can still taste the silver and the coldness of the blood around us. I shifted my body until his head rested in my lap. I didn’t care that his face was destroyed. All I wanted was my father back. He was still alive and looked at me but couldn’t speak. I begged and prayed to a God who didn’t listen that day. Papa died in my arms as the sirens of the ambulance approached. Experiencing that type of violence and trauma changed something deep inside of me.”

She held me to her and gently rocked me like I was a baby. “You were different after that. It’s like the light in your beautiful hazel eyes went out. You were like an angry zombie stomping through the world. That night I gave myself to you was my way of reminding you that you were alive, that you can still feel. I thought it worked because you seemed so peaceful and happy that night. And then you left me. Hearing the details of what happened to your father makes me understand you more and allows me to truly forgive you. And knowing how they viciously beat and murdered my father after what happened to my brother killed something inside me. Made me not care or give a fuck.” She looked at me. “Maybe all of us in this game are just hurt and traumatized people who continue to hurt and traumatize others. Like it’s a vicious cycle we can’t seem to break. Except I want to break the cycle.”

“Me too.”

We must have drifted asleep because a loud banging on my office door startled us. Then I heard Verona’s voice. “You fucking coward. I know you’re in there. Fucking sending me a text to end us.”

“Verona, get the fuck away from my door. There was never an ‘us,’ and you should feel lucky I sent you a text. I usually just stop calling or taking a woman’s calls.”

“You owe me.”

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