Page 30 of The Woman on the Jury

Some guys in power preferred morons working between them. JustYes menwho needed to be told what to do and how to do it. I preferred men with their own heads on their shoulders. I didn’t want to have to hold your hand. And if a situation turned serious, I wanted to know you could handle yourself without having to fucking stop to call me first.

“How’d you fall in with Leon?” I asked, making him a drink. He took it, and turned as I moved to walk away, but didn’t walk with me.

“He was the big dog on my block. Was looking for work. He let me scout.”

“How old were you?”

“Fifteen. Worked my way up from there. Always got something going on,” he said. He wanted me to know he was busting his ass, but not trash Leon in the process. Leon, who I was starting to suspect wasn’t kicking up what he was supposed to. Provided Venezio was making as much as he wanted me to believe.

“Got something important you can’t walk away from right now?” I asked.

“Never something that important,” he said, shaking his head. “You need something from me?”

“I have a security detail,” I said.

“For you?”

“For someone else,” I explained. “A woman. She’s convinced her grandfather was attacked by this group of brothers. And after she visited him in the hospital, she saw them again, and thinks they’re after her. She needs protection. So does her grandfather,” I added. But I had a good feeling about Venezio. I wanted him on Halle.

“I can babysit,” he said, nodding.

“It’ll be long hours. Eight-hour shifts at least. Every day until the threat is gone.”

“I got time. For the record, I’m better at night, though.”

“Good to know.”

“What’s the protocol if they do make a move?” he asked.

Shit.

That was a good question.

“Don’t have permission from the top for kills,” I said, getting a nod from him. “But self-defense will always be allowed. And protecting the girl at all costs. You don’t want these fucks getting their hands on a woman they got a beef with.”

Venezio’s brows went up ever-so slightly, and he gave me a tight nod.

Then he threw back his drink, putting his glass down on the counter.

“You got my number. Tell me when and where. I’ll be there.”

With that, he walked out.

Without being dismissed.

So many other capos would want to fucking gut him for that. I had to respect it. He was someone who would do what it took to get the job done.

I finished my interviews, then gave Miko a schedule to hand out to everyone who would be working security detail.

Done with that, I finally took my ass to bed.

And fucking dreamed about that woman with her defiant chin lift and her baggy-ass sweaters.

I woke up hard and aching.

I actually had to rub one out before I headed over to The Empress, or I didn’t really trust myself not to satisfy my curiosity.

CHAPTER SEVEN

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