44. Chapter 44
Chapter 44
Ronan
“ K eep your cool,” Giaco warned before we opened the door to The Barley Stone, knowing the Cassidys were guaranteed to be inside. He gave me a look that let me know he wasn’t in the mood to clean up any physical or metaphorical messes.
I nodded. “Let’s go.” He didn’t usually need to warn me, but when I subconsciously clenched my hands into fists, I knew he was right. My fuse was shorter than normal lately, and it didn’t take much for them to light it. I took a long deep breath, stepping out of the entry and into the dimly lit room.
It was mostly empty, as usual. Did they ever have real customers? Even the regulars eating lunch at the bar today appeared to be planted. Mickey looked up from the table, nudging Luca with his elbow before they crossed their arms in a synchronized manner, like they’d practiced it for years.
“What are you doing here?” Mickey asked, drawing attention from the rest of the room.
I gritted my teeth, letting Giaco speak. Keep your cool. “You know exactly why we’re here.”
Mickey scoffed, taking a gulp of beer and setting the glass back on the table harder than necessary. “I assure you, I don’t.”
“The girl.” Giaco was nonchalant, and I resisted the urge to snap my head to look at him. She was more than just some girl.
“Which girl?” Luca cackled, high fiving the amused man next to him and huffing when Mickey elbowed him in the side.
I stepped forward, my reason fogged by the anger. “The one you had Nikki kidnap and torture,” I snarled. When the two brothers looked at each other and laughed, I bent over the table, smacking both hands on the surface to get their attention.
“We had nothing to do with that,” Mickey said. Both continued to look amused, and the closer the smirk on Luca’s face got to a full-on grin, the closer I came to wanting to smack him. Mickey sat forward. “But how did it work out for her? Maybe we want partial credit.”
I pulled my fist back, no longer caring what kind of issues would be caused by punching Mickey Cassidy—something I’ve wanted to do for twenty years. Before I could throw my fist and find out, Giaco grabbed my elbow. “What do you mean you had nothing to do with it?” he asked, stepping forward and regaining control of the situation. It took a moment for his words to register, and I dropped my hand, cocking my head to the side.
“I mean we had nothing to do with it.” Mickey shrugged, no longer looking amused and returning to his usual uninterested demeanor. “Nikki has good drugs, but she’s not on my roster.”
I looked at Giaco, and his face darkened. The muscles in his jaw rippled when he clenched his teeth, grinding them together while he took a deep breath. “ She has good drugs?”
“What the fuck does that mean?” I added, crossing my arms.
Mickey rolled his eyes, but Luca cackled loudly. “Why do you think we spend so much time at her crappy little strip joint?” he asked, like it should’ve been obvious. “It’s not because we need the women, and I’d much rather drink whiskey I already bought at the pub I own in my own neighborhood.”
“ Marone! Where does she get them?” Giaco asked. He had blinders on and wasn’t going to let them down until he got the answers he was looking for. What the fuck was Nikki up to?
“You would have to ask her that, wouldn’t you?” Mickey asked, rolling up his sleeve. “Look, gentlemen, it’s always a pleasure to see the Moretti brothers, and as much as I have no desire to help you, I don’t even have the information you’re looking for. I think it’s time for you to leave.”
Giaco stood and took a step back from the table with a curt nod. “Fine,” he said, putting his hands up in a faux peace offering. “But if we find out you’re lying, we’ll be back.”
“I’m sure our paths will be crossing again soon.” Mickey rolled up his other sleeve. For a moment, we didn’t move. We stood there, glaring at each other while the tension in the room grew thicker. When someone at one of the surrounding tables cleared his throat, we broke our stare.
“Unfortunately so.” Giaco turned around and headed for the door. I followed him, and the quiet stares behind us felt louder. We all knew this was only the beginning. There was always conflict between our families, and it was only going to get worse.
“Oh, and Moretti,” Mickey added, stopping us. We half-turned, looking back over our shoulders. “If one of my men ever goes missing again, you’ll pay for it. And I won’t send a drug dealer to handle my business for me. Understood?”
I didn’t respond, turning back toward the door and punching the egress bar to open it. The light flooded the entry of the restaurant, and I blinked until my eyes could adjust. “I don’t believe for a second that they had nothing to do with it,” I said when the door closed behind Giaco. “They were too amused.”
“They didn’t do it,” he countered bluntly. “Mickey was right. They wouldn’t have sent Nikki to handle it for them, and they wouldn’t have messed up.” My stomach sank at the thought of what that meant, and I felt the instant urge to go to Nellie.
“You don’t think they did any of it.” I didn’t question him. I thought about the car fire and the way Nikki had been concerned if anyone had been hurt. At the time, I didn’t think anything of it, but I hadn’t told her about the fire. I didn’t tell her about the brick or the vandalism at the bakery either, but she had known about those too. I gritted my teeth and bared them. “She did it all.”
Giaco nodded. “I think so too.” He rolled his hands into fists so tightly, his knuckles turned white and the veins in his forearm started to show. He didn’t have to tell me for me to know we would be handling the problem. “And she’s already got Detective Stanton and his fucking cronies in her back pocket.”
“That’s probably how he knew exactly when to show up,” I said. “She tipped him off.”
“I’m calling Enzo. We’re going to have to make a little visit.” Giaco got in and slammed the driver’s side door behind him. “She knows too much.”
I cracked my knuckles, sliding into my seat and buckling the belt. “We know more.”
“What are you doing here?” Nikki asked when we walked into the bar. She wiped the old counter down casually, eyeing the three of us without looking up, as if she didn’t have my girl taped up in her back room less than a week ago. Judging by the way she gulped, she was more nervous than she wanted to let on. She should be.
“You know exactly why we’re here.” Giaco stepped up to the bar, nodding with his head toward the small hallway that housed the office and storage. Enzo ducked in that direction. I heard him kick down the door to the office, knowing full well he’d have been able to open it with the handle. She wouldn’t have had it locked.
Nikki’s head whipped around, and she gasped. She ran from behind the counter, her heels clicking loudly on her way to the office. When we got into the small room, she released a sound that had to be described as a half-scream, half-grumble.
“What the fuck are you doing?” she yelled when Enzo grabbed a box of wine bottles and turned it over. Bottles crashed against the floor, shattering and creating a pool of semi-sweet-smelling alcohol. Then, he dropped the newly empty box on the surface of the desk.
“You’re leaving Boston,” I said. Enzo grabbed a pencil cup and a frame from the desk and chucked them into the box.
She laughed, still looking concerned while she straightened her back and pushed out her chest. She was pretending to be brave. “I most certainly am not.”
“You are. You’ll either leave willingly, knowing you’re never welcome back, or you’ll go to jail.” Giaco didn’t break his towering posture, his lips a straight line carved across his face. There was no amusement.
Enzo opened the drawer, ripping it from the wooden desk and tipping it over into the box. The clattering drew another brief worried look from Nikki before she regained her composure. Her laugh was forced—nervous. “You don’t scare me,” she said, lifting her head higher and taking a step towards him, wincing when the next frame Enzo threw in the box shattered. “I have friends, very connected friends who people like you couldn’t possibly touch. Friends who know more about you and your family than you realize.”
I knew it. “You can call your friends over at the FBI if you’d like. Tell them you’re moving. I hear Tucson is nice.” I met Nikki face-to-face, lifting my hands to frame hers. “I don’t care what you tell them, but I’m only giving you two options: leave Boston, or I’ll kill you and everyone you love and let you all burn with your fucking club here.”
Nikki gaped at me, her mouth still open when I let go of her face and stepped back. Then, she glared and tightly pursed her lips when Enzo tossed a plant into the box, picking the whole thing up and handing it to her. She opened her mouth to protest, but Giaco put his hand up, silencing her.
We turned around to leave Nikki standing with her things, a mixed look of shock, anger, and fear on her face. When she spoke, her voice was strained, almost desperate. “Be careful who you threaten. You think you’re safe, but not everyone in your family is as trustworthy as you think.”
Giaco glared over his shoulder, disregarding her warning. “You have until tomorrow.”