Page 8 of Saved By the Mafia Loverboy

It wasn’t often my father took time out of his busy schedule to visit, mostly only holidays and birthdays anymore now that me and my sister were adults. So being asked to come home to talk meant only one thing. I was in trouble. The only thing that would have made this worse is if he had sent a driver for me. At least he’d let me come in on my own terms. That meant he was giving me the benefit of the doubt.

Shane parked out front of the building, a skyrise with over 100 units. His top-floor penthouse was the priciest place in the city and from it he could almost see into my sister, Jenn’s, apartment. All he needed was a powerful scope and her curtains to be open. Which is why I opted for a nice flat on the other side of the city facing the opposite direction.

I rode the elevator up to his floor and listened to the cheesy music they had playing. You’d think for a man of his stature they’d offer something a little more interesting, but maybe he wasn’t bothered by it. The code needed to rise to the top level supplied, the doors opened to his expansive flat, decked in only the most modern furnishings, including a giant-ass painting by some new-fangled artist out of NYC.

The place was gaudy as fuck to me, but Dad had specific taste. He sat at his grand piano stroking the keys, a cigar perched in the ashtray on the black, glossy lid next to a glass of bourbon or whatever he was enjoying this evening. I strolled in, waiting for him to finish the tune he was playing, something by Sinatra.

“You rang?” I picked up his cigar and puffed on it a few times, the sickly sweet smoke a bit too strong for my taste. He looked up from the keys as he hit the last note and scowled, holding his hand out to me. I placed the cigar in his hand and leaned on the piano.

“You and a cop? Cameron, what has gotten into you?” He set the cigar in the ashtray and picked up his drink, sipping it slowly as he watched me over the glass’s rim.

I shrugged. There wasn’t much to tell so far. I liked her. We fucked. I’d been trying my best to convince her to go out with me again, but only today did it finally work. I was planning to meet up with her later on.

“It’s just a thing.”

Dad stood, picking up his cigar and walking toward the living room. His house slippers padded on the marble flooring making swishing sounds. I remembered being younger and getting yelled at for wearing my sneakers on this damn floor, leaving black marks the maid would have to clean up. Mostly by my mother, who apparently was not home right now.

“Just a thing, turns intosomething. And that is a dangerous game to play with the police.” He talked as he walked, and I followed him. Right through the living room and up to the windows. He stood, peering out over Jersey City and in the distance, the silhouette of the New York skyline as the lights began to come on. “In our line of business you have to walk a very fine line.”

I stared down at the streets below, ant-like cars crawling by at a snail’s pace. Even as the sun was setting the city was still alive. “I know that line.” Or I thought I did. I had crossed over it a few times with some conversations, which turned out to benefit the family. This time, I didn’t see that happening, not with Murphy.

“And you cross it often.” He looked at me through my reflection in the window, a scowl on his face. “You’re wearing my patience. You understand the influence I’ve built in this city is not to allow you to get away with anything you want, any time you want. Right?”

I snickered and thought about how many times this month alone I’d been dragged into the precinct. Most of them had been solely to see Murphy, but that first time, I had to give her credit. I deserved that.

“Yeah, I get it.” I didn’t want to press my luck and end up having to bail myself out. Returning his gaze through our reflections I nodded my agreement.

“Good, so you’ll start acting your age then, not your IQ?” He quirked an eyebrow and turned toward the living room. He walked away, but I remained there, puffing my hot breath on the window and creating a fog on the glass.

While I didn’t agree with my father’s assessment of me dating or being interested in Murphy, I did have to respect his authority in this aspect. If I crossed the wrong line and he had enough, I could go away for a while, or face fines. I didn’t want to press my luck. Jail wasn’t scary, but I liked what I liked and I didn’t want my style crimped.

“And about this lady cop, Murphy is her name, right?” I heard the leather of the sofa squeak and turned to see him seated, propping his feet on the table.

“Yeah, Kitty… Katherine.” I found a seat in the leather wingback chair across from the couch and propped my elbows on my knees.

“Well, Miss Kitty is either going to work for us or you’re going to cut her off. That is how we play this game.” He puffed on his cigar, a large ring of smoke floating upward over his head as he exhaled.

“And if she won’t?” I had a pretty good handle on Murphy. She wasn’t the sort to go dark. That’s what made the challenge of winning her over more exciting. If I was going to get to her, it was going to have to be by my superior ability to charm women.

“What did I just say? If she doesn’t play ball, you cut her off and walk away. This isn’t a game you want to play. And you know that. If you care about her at all, you won’t even want to put her in that situation.”

Dad was a good man. Some people in this city called him a lot of hurtful and awful things. Most of them were actually true. But they didn’t know the real man, the man who was my father. He did everything he did with a purpose, in a way to cause the least suffering for everyone involved. Like the time he’d discovered a plot on his life by his best friend who wanted to lead the family in a different direction.

Other men would have made a spectacle of the anarchist, put him on display, humiliated him so his followers would be forced to comply. Dad just put a bullet between his eyes while he slept, no time to even fear death. That was mercy. This was too.

He was right. If I cared about Murphy, I wouldn’t put her in the line of fire of our enemies, the cops or the Bratva. Either side would destroy her just to get to me, and by getting to me get to my father. He was a target; he always had been.

“Which reminds me.” Dad downed the rest of his drink and set the empty glass on a coaster on the table next to him. “Your friend may already be making enough trouble for herself as it stands.”

“How’s that?” This was news to me. I hadn’t told anyone except Oliphant that I had eyes on her, so if it got out, it had to have been him.

“Seems she’s turned a few heads with her eagerness to prove herself. They want to teach her a lesson about cops on their streets.”

“Bratva?”

“Yeah. Rumor is that they are going to sideline her, not to kill, just to teach a lesson. You’d be wise to keep your distance before they think you’re sweet on her and they end up connecting the two. We don’t need them breathing down our neck because you have a childish crush.”

“It’s not a childish crush, and I’ll handle it.” I rose, not even thinking about propriety. Before he could utter a protest, I was on the elevator, headed to find Murphy and warn her. If Bratva were on the move, she wasn’t safe anywhere.

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