Chapter Twenty-Four
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Miko
If I had been thinking clearly, I would have probably known to expect this.
There was no way I could run away from a meeting with Cosimo and not expect him to get suspicious.
I guess I figured it might be a phone call or a request for another meeting. Not a surprise drop-in.
But there he was.
Sitting on my couch in an apartment he’d never been in before, beside a tense-looking Venezio and a starstruck Chuck, who, I imagined, had been running his damn mouth since my boss showed up.
“So,” Cosimo said, looking past me toward Max. “You must be Max.”
“That’s me,” she agreed.
“Chuck here has been telling me all about you.”
Great.
“I bet,” Max said, giving Chuck a hard look. And the guy had the good sense to duck his head, knowing that he’d probably fucked something up.
“I’ve been doing some digging around,” Cosimo said, making my stomach twist. “Turns out Nero is on an out-of-state job for you. And Venezio here said he was doing a job for you. Gav mentioned you asking for Zeno’s address. And then, as if that wasn’t enough, I got word that Salvatore did an emergency job for you today.”
Fuck.
“So, now the question is: What the fuck are you keeping from me, Miko?”
This was exactly what I had been hoping to avoid. But, objectively, some part of me knew that the more people in the Family I brought into this clusterfuck, the more chance there was of Cosimo or Lorenzo finding out what I was up to.
All I could do now was cop to it.
Apologize.
Pray Cosimo would understand.
“I was working on a job,” I admitted.
“A job you didn’t tell me about?”
“Yeah. I wanted to… get it finished first. Wanted to kick the money up to you, then to Lorenzo from there.”
“But something went sideways.”
“You could say that.”
“Let me guess,” Cosimo said, his gaze landing on Max again. “She’s got something to do with that.”
“I picked his pocket,” Max admitted, making Cosimo’s lips curve up.
“Is that right? Isn’t it just like a Costa woman to start off in this family by causing some kind of trouble?”
I didn’t correct him.
Because the more time I spent with Max, the more sure I was that there was only one end to this.
Her, me, rings on fingers, promises of forever.
“I’m gonna need this story from beginning to end,” Cosimo said.
“It’s not over yet,” I admitted.
“Guessed as much.”
“Well, this is… none of my business,” Venezio said, slapping his hands onto his thighs as he moved to stand. “Chuck, it’s been… twelve hours.”
“It’s only been six,” Chuck said, brows pinching.
“No. No, it hasn’t,” Venezio said with a head shake as he made his way to the door.
My gaze slid to Max, a million things passing silently between us in a second.
“Hey, Chuck. How about we pick out something to order for dinner?” Max asked.
“I’m not hungry.”
“Yes, you are,” she said, grabbing his forearm to drag him off the couch and pull him into the kitchen with her, giving me and Cosimo as much privacy as she could with the open-concept floor plan.
I was aware of her deliberate lack of conversation, likely trying to overhear me as I started in on the whole thing with Cosimo.
He just let me talk, getting out everything I could from the first idea to leaving Gavino at Lil’s place.
“You’ve been busy,” Cosimo concluded.
“Yeah,” I agreed.
“And up until today, you haven’t had any help.”
“Well, Zeno.”
“That doesn’t count,” Cosimo said, shaking his head. “And if it wasn’t for something completely unforeseeable, like a woman picking your pocket for shits and giggles, this job would have been done, and you would have made the Family half to three-quarters of a million dollars.”
“That’s the gist of it, yeah.”
“I always knew you weren’t going to be with me long,” Cosimo said.
“What?” I asked, feeling like the ground was falling out from under me.
“You were too ambitious,” Cosimo told me. “I was waiting to see when you’d get the balls to go off on your own,” he added.
“What was that?”
“I wanted to make sure you had them.”
“Balls,” I clarified.
“Yeah. It was one thing to do my bidding, to anticipate my needs. That is shit you can train a dog to do. I needed to know you would be able to go off on your own, to take chances, to handle shit without conferring with a boss.”
“But that’s… not how this organization works.”
“It is, though. I mean, none of us would ever admit to that. We don’t want everyone going off and doing whatever the fuck they want before they’re ready. But before we’re gonna recommend you for a capo position, we want to make sure you have what it takes.”
“And what it takes is defying orders?”
“If you’re gonna be the one running shit, you need to prove you can do it before you get promoted. You did better than I did on my first solo venture. I fucked that shit up to high hell.”
“I got two women beaten, a man killed, and another almost murdered.”
“I dunno. There’s no way to know what might have happened if Max hadn’t lifted your wallet.”
“The guy was tracking me.”
“Yeah, but you might have been able to fight him off, off him. There were too many variables. Besides, that Henry fuck clearly talked to someone that he shouldn’t have. His death isn’t on you. If he kept his mouth shut, he’d probably still be alive. And living much easier on your dime.”
“True,” I agreed.
“And it’s not over. Clearly, this fuck still has your diamonds if he was trying to get that Lil chick to take them. As soon as Zeno has a name for you, you go over there, make him pay for what he did to the girls, get your diamonds back, kick up the money, and finally get your own crew.”
“What happens now?” I asked.
“What do you mean?”
“When it comes to finishing this?”
“I’m good with you handling it yourself. Pull in your brothers or Venezio, if needed. But I’m not gonna step in. I have faith in you. Now that that’s done, I gotta get going. Got a fucking headache from that kid over there,” he said, glancing over toward the kitchen.
Max looked away quickly, but not before I caught her watching and listening.
“Thanks, Cosimo,” I said.
“Bet you’ve been worrying yourself sick thinking this was gonna go another way.”
“You could say that.”
“Take care of your girl. Looking forward to the wedding invitations.”
With that, he was gone.
The relief was strong enough to make my fucking legs feel a little weak.
By the time my ass hit the cushion, Max was across the apartment.
“That didn’t seem too bad.”
“It wasn’t. He essentially told me that he was waiting for me to take the initiative like this and that now that I have, he thinks I’m ready for my own crew.”
“Wait, what? Really? I thought the mob was all about its rules.”
“I thought so too. But, I guess, a part of it is knowing which ones to break and when.”
“Well, that’s good then, right? Is he pissed about the money?”
“Well, since it was out of my pocket only, no. Besides, he was right. The diamonds aren’t gone. So long as we can get to this bastard before he manages to unload them, that is.”
“Should we be calling hospitals or something?” Max asked. “See if anyone came in with a gunshot wound?”
“We could, yeah. But I want to look over Lil’s security footage first. Maybe send it over to Zeno. If he stays on busy streets, Zeno might be able to follow him to wherever he ends up.”
“I was thinking of tacos,” Chuck said, coming toward us.
“I thought you said you weren’t hungry,” Max said as she flicked through the security footage before handing the tablet to me.
“You don’t have to be hungry for tacos, though,” Chuck insisted.
Just to shut him up, we ordered tacos.
“So, what happened to your face?” Chuck asked after wolfing down eight tacos that he, supposedly, hadn’t been hungry for.
“The guy who tried to kill you tried to kill me too. And my friend.”
“He’s here? In the city?” Chuck asked, looking a bit green.
“Yep. That’s why you had a babysitter today,” I told him. “And will keep having one until we find him. Though, I think it’s safe to say we might not be able to get Venezio to do it again.”
I’d probably have to rotate Venezio, Gavino, and my brother between Chuck and Lil to keep any one of them from going too crazy.
Then, of course, the problem would become getting Chuck out of my apartment again.
Because, quite frankly, I wanted to fuck Max on just about every surface of this apartment without having to worry about being seen or heard.
“Have you heard from Megs?” I asked as I reached to pull Max’s legs over mine.
“Yeah. She sent about a thousand pictures of the inn and the town and hers and Nicole’s dinners. They seem really happy. And not at all suspicious.”
“Good. I’m glad.”
“What happens if this takes longer than we plan?” Max asked, and I felt a surprising fluttering sensation in my chest at her using the word ‘we.’
“What do you mean?”
“With Megs and Nicole.”
“Oh, well. If it becomes necessary, the apartment will need to be fumigated. There could be a gas leak. Refinishing the floors. We could keep them out of there for months if we need to. But I don’t see this going past the weekend,” I told her. “He’s getting desperate. And he’ll be even more motivated with a hole in his leg to deal with.”
“Do you think he will still try to… come for us all, though?” Max asked.
“Hard to tell.”
“What would you do in his shoes?”
“Depends on my plans after. If I wanted to stay in the tristate area, I would probably still clean house. But if I were thinking of heading off somewhere with the money, I would leave well enough alone.”
“If he can get someone to move the diamonds.”
“If,” I agreed.
“What would you do if you were him?”
“I would stop trying to unload them all at once. That’s a rookie move. I would try to fence them in multiple states. But that’s assuming he has the money to hold him over.”
“What about Henry’s money?” Chuck asked.
“What about it?” I asked.
“Wouldn’t he have stolen that before he killed him?”
“Was it all cash?” Max asked.
“Yeah, of course it was.”
“We looked all over that apartment,” Max said. “There was no cash. But then why is he so desperate to sell the diamonds?”
“You know that most people who win millions in the lottery end up just as poor—or poorer—than they were before they won?” Chuck asked.
“Fun fact, man,” I said.
“Maybe he’s being reckless about the money,” Chuck said, shrugging. “Nice car. Expensive clothes. That kind of thing. Luxury hotel room…”
Max shot me a surprised look as I reached for my phone, ready to text Zeno the information about luxury hotels.
Right then, there was a pounding on my apartment door that had us all jumping.
I was about to tell Max to take Chuck into my room, to go into my closet and find some guns, when Zeno’s voice carried through the door.
“Open up. It’s creepy as fuck out here.”
“It kind of is,” Chuck agreed.
I looked to Max, brows furrowed. “I think it was peaceful how quiet it is,” she admitted. “But I can see what they’re saying.”
It was one of the things I liked best about the building. How when they renovated it a few years back, they invested a ton of time and money into insulating it better. It kept heating and cooling costs down, sure, but it also made the building shockingly quiet. By New York standards anyway.
I looked through the peephole out of a protective sort of paranoia before unlocking the door and letting Zeno in.
He’d thrown an enormous faux fur, floor-sweeping jacket on over his already absurd outfit and was carrying a laptop in one hand as he rushed past me into the apartment.
“I half expected those twins from that horror movie to come riding up on their tricycles at me,” Zeno said, suppressing a shiver. “This is nice, though. How’s Lil?”
“She’s recovering,” Max said. “We’re gonna check on her tomorrow.”
“What are you doing here?” I asked.
“We were just going to call you, actually,” Max said.
“About what?” Zeno asked, plucking a cold taco off the tray on the table and taking crunching bite.
“Possibly looking at luxury hotels for this fuck,” I told him.
“Funny you mention that,” Zeno said, taking another bite with one hand as he opened his laptop lid with the other. One-handed, he clicked in a long-ass password before the screen came up.
“He ducked into a cab at the cross street outside of Lil’s place. He was limping pretty bad.”
“You were able to follow the cab?” I asked.
“It didn’t go far,” Zeno said. “You know that new tech hotel they built?”
“No,” Max and I said at the same time that Chuck said, “Yes.”
“Well, there’s a new tech hotel. Now, I like tech, obviously,” Zeno said. “But sometimes it goes too far.”
“Too far how?” Max asked.
“There’s no staff. Well, there is a cleaning staff, but only sometimes. The whole place is run on cards and scanners and apps and shit like that. Once those autonomous robots hit the market, I bet they will be doing the cleaning. You never have to actually speak to anyone. An introvert’s dream, I guess, but also a huge security risk.”
“Anyway,” I prompted.
“Anyway, our suspect is clearly some kind of intolerable tech bro. He couldn’t resist getting himself an overpriced, sterilized room there. That’s where the cab dropped him off. Convenient, I guess. No one to see his bloody leg, to call the cops. He just scanned his card and made his way up.”
“Please tell me you have a name and room number.”
“Well, let me just say… these tech bros know what they’re doing. They’re good. But I’m better. Getting in was a lot of work, but not impossible.”
“What’s his name?” Max asked, voice tight.
“Devon Hoffman. Twenty-nine.”
“Wait… Hoffman?” I asked.
“Yeah. He was Henry Hoffman’s cousin. Fucked up family they got going on,” Zeno said with a head shake as he reached for another taco. “From what I can tell, he’s been a deadbeat a long time. Never holding a job down longer than a few months. Constantly getting into drunk and disorderlies. Seems like our boy Henry took him in as a favor to his aunt.”
“And Henry trusted the wrong guy with his secrets,” Max said, eyes sad.
“Alright. We know his name. And we know where he is,” I said. “Can you get me in there?”
“That, unfortunately, I haven’t figured out yet. But I do know from watching too much surveillance footage that this fuck is a smoker. And since the hotel is non-smoking, he has to go outside. Which he has since he got there. Several times a day. Now, I haven’t seen him emerge since he went in after getting shot. But I imagine it’s only a matter of time.”
That was something.
Snatching someone off the street was a lot easier than it should be in a city full of witnesses. From there, I could take him to one of Brio’s killing rooms. It could be as clean or dirty as I wanted.
But it only solved one problem.
“Can I use his card to get into his room?” I asked. “Or would I be caught on all kinds of cameras?”
“Both. But… it’s winter.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means that no carefully placed code that overrides the current security footage will work quite as well as a guy in an oversized coat wearing a balaclava mask.” He paused to chew. Then, “So long as you keep it on and wear gloves, you’re golden. Get in, get the diamonds, get out. Disappear into the crowd.”
“Keep the mask on in the room?” I clarified.
“Yeah. I mean, first, it protects from trace evidence. You wouldn’t believe how much hair and skin cells we shed all around without realizing it. But also… I’m not entirely sure how they know that the rooms are empty and ready to be reoccupied again.”
“You think there’s a chance of cameras in the rooms?” Max asked, horrified.
“Normally, no. I mean, that’s against too many laws. The only reason I’m suspicious is because there’s a strange line in the terms and conditions. You know, the ten-page shit that everyone scrolls through and signs off on without actually reading it. Something about not holding the company liable if they are filmed without their consent.
“So, yeah, you keep the mask on the entire time. Even as you walk down the street after, just in case. If I can get into the cameras and follow people, the cops are capable. In theory. Likely not in practice, but you never know. Not worth the risk. Just wear it, slip into a store, go into the bathroom, get rid of it, and walk back out. All done.”
“Alright,” I agreed, anxious to get to it. After I found and purchased a balaclava. I wasn’t even positive what that was, but I figured it was something akin to a ski mask.
“I’m coming with you,” Max said.
“Absolutely fucking not.”
“He kicked my ass. Twice. He nearly killed my friend. I’m going.”
“Sugar, you’re not.” I knew that stubborn set to her jaw. And, to an extent, I did agree that it was her right to fuck that bastard up for what he’d done to her and Lil. Not to mention poor Henry.
That said, there was no way I was putting her at risk. I couldn’t tell her that, though.
“You’d have a hard time stopping me.”
“Not if I bring some people on this to babysit you. Listen, this isn’t about you not being capable. Or not earning the right to beat his ass. But the thing is, this is Family business. I can’t let you in on it. That’s not how shit works. Maybe I could have if Cosimo didn’t find out. But now that he has, things have to be by the book.”
It was a relatively harmless lie.
Whenever possible, we didn’t want anyone else involved in our business. Especially if that business involved murder.
On a personal level, though, I didn’t want a body on her conscience. For me, that was part of the life. And I knew I’d feel different if it were a life-or-death situation. If, for example, she’d shot the bastard dead back at Lil’s place.
This was different.
It wasn’t self-defense.
It was straight-up murder.
I could live with that.
I didn’t want Max to have to learn how to.
So she was keeping her pretty ass in my apartment. Even if I had to handcuff her to the bed to make that happen.
In fact, I might really like that plan.
“I don’t want you going alone,” Max insisted as I got up, wanting to get moving as soon as possible.
“Worried about me, sugar?” I asked, leaning down to press a kiss to the top of her head. “I won’t be doing anything alone.”
Except, maybe, tossing Devon’s hotel room.
Snatching someone off the street was, at minimum, a two-man job. Likely three.
With my brother out of town, Venezio needing a break after babysitting Chuck, and Cosimo not being an option, I had to branch out a bit.
“Yo,” Brio answered on the first ring, the sounds of yapping dogs in the background.
The Family’s resident lunatic was also our animal-loving rescuer. “You busy tonight?” I asked.
“Eh, could be… less busy, if need be.”
“Wanna have some fun?”
“Always,” he was quick to agree.
“Know anyone else who could be free tonight?”
“Nico don’t usually got much going on. I’ll call ‘em.”
“I need a car with fake plates. And a balaclava.”
“The dessert?”
“The mask.”
“Alright. We’ll scoop you in an hour.”
With that, we hung up.
“You’re going to be careful, right?” Max asked.
“Always,” I promised her, reaching to take her hand and pull her down the hall with me. “I plan on coming home to you. Every night,” I added as I moved into the closet to grab an extra gun and ammo. “But I want to leave this with you. Nothing points to there being anyone else involved, but just in case.”
“Okay,” she agreed. “At least it’s not as heavy as Lil’s gun.”
“I want you to keep it nearby, but do me a favor…”
“Don’t leave it around Chuck unattended,” she filled in for me.
“That’s my girl,” I said, placing the gun on the bed so I could pull Max flush against me, wrapping her up tight. “Don’t be worrying about me.”
“I’m not gonna be able to help that,” she said, voice muffled from burying her face in my chest.
“It’s gonna be a few hours, maybe half a day, then this is over. For good. After that,” I added when I felt her stiffen, likely thinking I meant we would be over, “I plan to take you to bed for a week straight.”
“Mmm,” she sighed. “Promise?”
“With short breaks only for showers and picking up food.”
“There’s one flaw in your plan,” she said when we both heard Chuck’s hearty laughter.
“I’ll pawn him off on my brother,” I said, kind of excited at the prospect of torturing one of my brothers. What can I say? Big brothers never get sick of tormenting their younger siblings.
“Okay,” Max agreed, pulling back to look at me. “So, be extra careful then. Because it wouldn’t be nearly as fun spending the next week with you in bed injured.”
“Sugar, even then, I’d rally,” I said, snagging her chin with my fingers, then leaning down to seal my lips to hers.
Things were getting a little hot and heavy when there was a knock at the door that had us springing apart.
“Ride’s here,” Zeno called.
“Gun,” I said, handing it to her before we both made our way out into the common area.
Zeno looked at ease with his feet up on the coffee table and the remote in his hand.
“I’m hanging,” he said, and I saw a gun sitting on top of his laptop beside him.
“Thanks, man,” I said, nodding.
Sure, Zeno was a bit of an… unconventional mafia guy. But he’d been raised in the life. He could handle shit if he ever needed to. And the instinct to protect was strong.
“So, kids, are we ready for some comedy gold?” Zeno asked, patting the couch for Max to join him and Chuck.
I felt her gaze on me the whole way out of the door, but I tried to push that away as I followed Brio and Nico out of my building and toward the waiting car.
I needed to focus.
The more I could concentrate, the easier this job would be. Then it would be done.
And Max and I could finally get some alone time.