Chapter 13 #2
“Don’t make excuses for them.” I handed him back his phone. “Someone should have recognized him.” I’d only seen pictures of him too, and I could tell right away it was him, even from the blurry footage.
“They will now.”
“He showed up to see how far he could get.” I slammed my hand on the table. “He knew we’d see him on the cameras.”
“He’s challenging you.” Lucas dropped his phone in his inside pocket. “We’ll be ready for him the next time he arrives.”
“If I’m not there, the order is to have him detained until I get there. I’m going to find out what this son of a bitch wants from my family.”
“I’ll make sure everyone understands.”
“We can’t let him slip by us,” I said. “After what happened in Miami with Chello, I have to neutralize Medina.”
“That might not be an easy task since we don’t know who he’s working with and what he wants.”
“Marchello is working on it.”
My brother was using all of our cartel resources to figure out what Medina wanted and why he insisted on playing these games. There was something off about this situation.
“Any news on the missing cars?” I rubbed my temple. “I explained what happened to the buyers, and they’re willing to wait until I can get replacement cars here.”
The Accetti dealership prided itself on customer service. We were never late with a delivery. My father would demand answers once he heard what happened .
“I have our best people on it.”
“I need them to work a little faster.”
“I’ll see what I can do.” Lucas stood. “Will you be at the club tonight?”
“Not unless Medina shows up.”
“It’s only going to be a matter of time before he states his demands.” He nodded toward the bar. “But right now, I think you might have a more pressing problem.”
I followed his gaze to the bar where Romeo Bello was cozying up to Sable. “What the fuck?”
I got up, buttoned my jacket, and hustled in their direction.
“Milo,” Lucas said as we walked. “I don’t want to spend the night in the police station having to bail you out.”
“Isn’t that what I pay you for?”
Sable sat on the stool, her long legs crossed, and her perfect curls flowing down her back. This situation was entirely my fault. I left her unattended. Why wouldn’t the vultures swoop in?
“All I’m saying is you should have come to me when you found out Chance was in over his head.” Bello traced his finger down Sable’s arm. “We could have worked something out.”
“You and I are going to work something out if you touch her again.” I wedged myself between them, knocking into Bello’s chest and bumping him out of the way.
His guards surrounded him within seconds. Impressive. My own men were strategically placed around the room, but this wasn’t a situation I needed them to intervene in. Not right away.
“Milo,” Bello said. “If you leave a woman like this unattended, you have to expect someone is going to take advantage of that opportunity. ”
“Only if they were foolish enough to approach what’s mine.” I glanced at his guards and then back at him. “Are you a fool?”
“For a man who doesn’t have his brother and father standing on either side of him, you’re pretty brazen.” Bello smirked. “Where exactly are they?”
“Why don’t you step outside with me so I can fill you in?”
Out of respect for Jojo, no one fought inside the property.
As a matter of fact, there had never been a hit or even an attempted hit on anyone’s lives within a three-block radius of this place.
That was saying something, considering most of the clientele was affiliated with organized crime in one way or another.
“Now who’s being foolish?” Bello asked. “Your father would never lose it over a woman, but I guess we all know why, considering what happened to your mother.”
When Bello stepped toward me, my men hustled to the bar, overpowering Bello’s men just as fast as I swiped my blade from my pocket. I grabbed Bello’s arm and slammed his palm down before plunging the knife through his hand and pinning it to the bar.
Sable gasped as blood spurted out of Bello’s flesh when I gripped the knife and pulled it out of his hand. He groaned in agony as sweat beaded on his forehead. His face went pale when he saw the hole in his hand.
“I hope for your sake someone in here has taken a ‘stop the bleed’ training.” I turned and helped Sable off the barstool. “Lucas, take care of everyone’s check tonight.”
Jojo nodded at me from the end of the bar.
“Sorry for the inconvenience.” I waved at him as I guided Sable through the restaurant and toward the exit. My guys were close behind, already calling to have the car pick us up out front.
She stopped, practically digging her heels into the marble floor and stiffening her body so I couldn’t move her.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
“What’s wrong?” She snagged her arm from my hold. “You just drove a knife through someone’s hand. Who does that?”
“He fucking deserved it.” I thumbed behind me. “He disrespected you and me and my mother.”
“Civilized people don’t do what you just did.”
“I never said I was civilized.” I grabbed her arm. “The car is here.”
There was a good chance that Bello’s men had already taken him out of the back door and were rushing him to their doctor. There would be no hospital or police involved. That wasn’t how we dealt with this kind of altercation, but I still needed to make myself scarce.
“We have to go.” I held her tighter. “Right now.”
“I’m not going anywhere with you.”