Page 78 of Working for the Mob

“There’s Larry now,” Barney said, and shot a goofy grin to his brother and my eyes widened in fear. Lawrence Valuncia, the man bombarding Lannington’s food supply. The man in charge of the well-being of all the poor people in West Lannington. The man responsible for sending Jamie to the hospital.

He barely registered me as he walked through the store.

“Are you doing all right, Larry?” Barney asked.

“We need to be prepared for a retaliation,” Lawrence said, in a low and rough voice. “After Friday night, and then the meat this morning, they’re going to be cooking something up. Stay alert.”

“Uh, boss. Do you really think it’s wise to be talking about that in front of the guest?” Barney asked, and Lawrence’s glacier eyes found me, as if he noticed me for the first time.

“Who are you?” he demanded.

My thoughts raced. I didn’t want to give him my real name, but I had to saysomething. “Um … Casey. Casey Johnson.”

It took every ounce of courage I had to put my hand out for him to shake, but he dismissed it with an icy glower.

“She’s buying fifteen pounds of meat for her friend’s birthday,” Barney said, brightly.

“I told you not to sell anything over three pounds today,” Lawrence snarled, and smacked the chunk of corned beef out of Barney’s hands and onto the floor.

Barney tutted and rushed to pick up the slab of meat from the ground. “You didn’t say nothing about selling to women. You said this morning, ‘Don’t let me catch you selling over three pounds of meat to any man out there today.’ And as you can plainly see, this is a fair lady.”

Being referred to as a “fair lady” by a Valuncia made my insides squirm. I shuddered as Barney put the beef back onto the slicer.

“My god, you’re an idiot,” the mob boss said, and rubbed his forehead. Barney used the distraction to continue slicing. Chop. Ch–– “Stop that goddammit!”

He smacked Barney’s hand off the slicer with more strength than was needed and Barney was forced to take a step back. “I said ‘no.’”

If Lawrence treated his own brother like that, I didn’t want to know what he’d do if he found out I was from East Lannington.

“You’re being a little prickly today, aren’t ya?” Barney asked, and shook his head while holding his hand.

I eyed the door with the most desperation I had all day.

“Why don’t I pay for this, and just get out of your hair? Will a ten cover everything?” I asked.

Lawrence eyed the packages in my arms and his frozen eyes searched my own, sending my blood cold. Danger radiated off the man.

“A ten is too much,” Barney waved his hand at me. “That’s double how much they cost.”

Lawrence opened his mouth to say something, but I slapped the ten-dollar bill on the counter. “Keep the tip,” I said, and hurried out of the store without waiting for a response.

Once outside, the blood still pounded in my ears; it wasn’t over yet. I tried my best not to look around and to not run––it’d be too suspicious––so I hustled to Art.

The shop door creaked open behind me and I quickened my pace, wishing Art would start the car. Only his hat was visible over the door of the car, but I still thoughtstart the carfuriously, hoping he could hear the loud thoughts.

I flung the door to the car open and hissed, “Drive dammit!”

Art jolted alert. “What happened?” he demanded

“Just get out of here,” I said, close to hysterics. I needed to put as much room between myself and Lawrence Valuncia as possible.

Art started the engine and pulled onto the main street to drive right by the butcher shop. I chanced a peek through the window and my heart froze as Lawrence Valuncia’s icy glare followed the car as we drove past. He stood in the shop’s threshold, with his hands clenched at his side.

Chapter 23 – Art

My heart was still racing as we snuck into the back of the café. Luckily, it was empty.

Lucy must be in the front prepping for the lunch rush. I dragged Genevieve to the stockroom, leaving the deli meat in the back. Shelves of cans and sodas lined each wall, as well as a new addition of flour, salt, and jars of yeast.

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