Chapter Fifty Nic
Chapter Fifty
Nic
“Hi, there. My associate and I are hoping to speak to Dominic Russo?” All things considered, I sound surprisingly normal.
The woman behind the desk looks up from her computer. She’s chomping on gum and is at least two decades younger than I first thought.
“Excuse me?”
“We’re looking for Dominic Russo?” I repeat. I can’t believe we’re doing this. Except Harriet’s right, in a way. If we went to the cops and told them about Vicky, I don’t foresee them being sympathetic to her claim that George had attacked her first.
The receptionist snaps her gum. “Why?”
“We have—”
Harriet elbows me out of the way. “We need to show him something.”
The woman is unmoved. “You need to show him something?”
“Yeah. And he’ll want to see this, I promise.”
Her eyebrows shoot up. “Excuse me?”
Harriet is fucking this all up. I’m about to jump in when a voice calls from the back hallway, “Ariana? The contractors from the city here?”
“Actually, boss,” Ariana says, eyeing us. “It’s two randos. Says they’re here for Dominic.”
“Dominic?”
A man emerges from the back. His black hair is slicked off his face, and his nose is crooked, like it’s been broken a few times. He’s short, wide, but something about him sends a chill down my spine.
His gaze is cold and flat as it travels between me and Harriet. “What do they want with Dominic?” he asks.
Ariana shrugs. “Dunno. Whaddaya want with Dominic?” she directs to us.
“Um…” Harriet says.
I cut in. “Hi, there. I’m Nic Allbright. And you are…?”
“Ariana,” the woman says.
Right.
“And your boss…?”
The man arches a single eyebrow. “Me? I’m the owner of Big Load Excavating. Tony Russo. Dominic’s my kid. What’d he do now?”
“If possible, we’d love to talk in private. No offense,” I say to Ariana.
She snaps another bubble with her gum and shrugs.
“We have…” I glance at Harriet.
“A proposition,” Harriet finishes. Not the word I would have used, but okay. Sure.
Tony smirks. “A proposition, huh? Well, who am I to pass up a proposition? Come on back.”
His office is large, with shiny leather seats and a wide oak desk that probably cost more than most people make in a year.
I’ve never been to a mob boss’s office before, but it’s much less threatening than I expected.
If I didn’t know better, I’d think Tony was just another overpaid CEO, hiding a lack of empathy behind expensive furniture.
Tony takes a seat behind the desk and gestures for us to take the chairs on the other side.
“Is Dominic here?” Harriet asks.
“He’s…around,” Tony says, brushing this off with a wave. “But don’t you worry your pretty little head about that. Anything you want to say to my kid, you can say to me. In fact, better you say it to me. Dominic can be a bit of a live wire.”
I rub my head where Dominic kicked it. Is it my imagination, or is it still sore?
“What’d you say your names were?” Tony asks. His eyes land on me. I lick my lips. “Nic. Nic Allbright.” I’m suddenly grateful to be on the other side of a desk from this man. It hides the fact that my hands are balled into tight fists in my lap.
“And you?” Tony directs this to Harriet.
“Harriet? Baker?” She says it like it’s a question.
Tony leans back in his chair. “You look familiar, Harriet Baker.”
“Me?” she squeaks.
He nods. “I never forget a face, and I’m sure I’ve seen yours. Where’d you two meet my kid anyway?”
“Um.” Harriet glances at me. “Well. We had a little encounter with him the other day.”
“Oh yeah? An encounter, huh? Where?”
Harriet’s quiet. Little beads of sweat have popped up across her forehead. She looks close to a panic attack.
I brace myself and take over. “Look, I’ll be straight with you.”
“Great,” Tony says. “I’d appreciate that.”
I tilt my chin at Harriet. “Her stepfather is George George.”
Tony picks up a pen and starts clicking it open and shut. “George George? What sort of silly name is that?”
“He was murdered about a month ago,” I say.
Tony’s lips tilt down.
“And?”
“And that’s how we know Dominic. We met him at George’s office. Well. Met is being generous. I was there and Luke barged in and he called Dominic and then I ended up with a head injury and Mindy ended up shot—”
Tony sighs. “You’ve lost me, son. Look, if you can’t explain what you need from my kid, I’m going to have to ask you to leave. I’m a busy man. I don’t have time for whatever this is.”
“I just— He assaulted me.”
“Well, that’s your word against his, isn’t it?” Tony rises from his chair. “I think it’s time for you to go.”
Harriet finally stirs. “No. Wait.” She tugs her phone out of her bag and sets it on his desk. “I have something you need to see.”
The video of Dominic is cued up on the screen.
“Watch it,” she says. “Dominic’s on it. I started filming moments after Luke shot someone. In fact, in this video, Dominic and Luke are discussing the shooting. It’s very interesting.”
Tony slowly sinks back down to his chair.
Harriet continues. “The thing is Luke and George were involved in some seriously bad shit—murder, bribery, arson—a lot of which has become public recently. Whether you were involved in it or not, this video proves that your son was. I’m betting you don’t want it getting to the cops.
Could bring unwanted attention to your business. ”
Tony’s face darkens into a scowl. “Dominic didn’t tell me he was there. That kid needs to get his head on straight. But if you turn that video over to the cops, I promise—you’ll be very sorry.”
My stomach lurches. We’re going to end up buried somewhere on this lot if we’re not careful.
“We’re not. We won’t!” she adds hurriedly. “But we just want something very simple in return.”
Tony’s chin tucks into his thick neck. “Let me get this straight. You’re here to blackmail me?” He looks like he can’t figure out whether to laugh or shoot us.
Harriet’s cheeks redden. “I’d rather call it an exchange.”
“What is it you want exactly?”
A bead of sweat runs down my back. I clear my throat. “My sister’s sitting in jail. She was charged with George’s murder. The cops have a ton of evidence, but it’s all circumstantial. She didn’t do it.”
Tony’s mouth pulls to one side. “What makes you so sure? I think it’s possible you might be a little biased, kid.”
Harriet pipes up. “We’re pretty sure his sister didn’t do it, because we’re pretty sure we know who did. Someone I care about a lot. Someone I’d prefer didn’t go to jail.”
Tony crosses his arms against his burly stomach. “This is all fascinating stuff. But what the hell does this have to do with Dominic? Or me?”
“Well.” Harriet clutches the arm of her chair like a life preserver, but her voice is steady. A swell of admiration rises in me. “Luke’s already in jail. He killed Barbara—the town librarian—and he shot our friend Mindy. Almost killed her. He’s a real piece of shit.”
“No kidding,” Tony murmurs.
“So we were thinking. Why not put one more murder on him? We were thinking your organization could help persuade him to confess to George’s murder too.”
Tony’s mouth falls open. He presses a hand to his heart. “My organization? You mean my excavating company? What makes you think I have the ability to do anything like that?”
“Call it a hunch.”
Tony snorts. “And if I don’t?”
“Well, I used to work at Humans—”
“Humans?” He sounds impressed. “That tabloid, right? My wife loves that shit.”
“Yeah. Well, then you know. They love scandalous stories. And they’re great at digging into people’s lives. If you know what I mean.”
Tony whistles. “First blackmail, and now threats? You, young lady, have some real cojones.”
Harriet grins. “Thank you. Though why would it matter if they looked into you, right? You’re just the owner of an excavating company.”
Tony snorts a laugh. “Touché. You’re lucky you caught me in a good mood, you know that?
Some days, I wouldn’t give two shits about helping Dominic out.
He’s my kid, but he can be a real pain in the ass.
What you’re asking though? It isn’t that complicated.
But how do I know you’ll hold up your end of the bargain?
That you won’t just go ahead and release that video anyway? ”
“Because we don’t have a death wish,” Harriet says.
Tony smirks. “Fair point. All right. You have a deal.”