Chapter 33—Tommy
I don’t flinch when the lights come on.
I barely move.
Still—I’m caught.
“Tommy, why are you sitting in the dark?”
“Contemplating life.”
Dante laughs. I don’t. Things have been fucked before. Just not like this.
“What’s the mighty playboy thinking so hard on? Which girl to get with next? How tiny we can get away with for the servers’ uniforms? Come on, man, you’ve got no issues.”
He flops down onto the couch opposite the one I’m sitting on in the club’s office.
It’s quiet. Been like this for a while. I sent everyone home an hour ago so I could think.
I came here earlier this morning when I couldn’t sleep.
No one even saw me come up. All eyes were on the stage, where Trixie was doing an interesting new move involving her and a very enthusiastic volunteer holding a cucumber.
I had to get out of the penthouse. I needed space. But going home wasn’t an option. I knew I would only think about her, and that wouldn’t help. The point was to focus on things beyond her.
But it was a mistake coming to the club. Because this is where I found her. Where I thought things were one thing but turned out to be something else.
“Seriously, man, what’s up? You don’t seem good. Well, not like your usual lately. That ballerina dump you or something?”
“Or something.” I sigh and rest my head back on the couch, staring up at the silver tiles I had put in. It’s meant to make the place look classy and moody all at once, matching the tone of the rest of the club.
All I see now is a bad disguise for what this place really is: a depressing strip club.
“Did you know Carl was stealing from us?”
“The club?”
I straighten up to look at him. “The famiglia. He was taking large amounts from the club since he started.”
“Damn. Good thing he’s dead, huh? That should end it.”
I shake my head. “He wasn’t working alone.”
“No shit. Who was it?”
I huff without humor as I shake my head.
“Funnily enough, Danny had video surveillance added to parts of the building, like this office, that I wasn’t aware of.
Guess it’s routine for him. He just forgot to tell me.
” I still can’t believe I didn’t know about it.
Though I should have figured he would have done something like that.
“The footage shows Payton taking some cash and looking at the books.”
His eyes go wide. “The books? Shit. No wonder you’re in a mood. It’s one thing to take money, but to look at your personal books? That’s fucked up. Did Danny take care of her already?”
It’s a fair question. Normal to ask. It’s what’s expected, after all.
“Vinny’s having her released.”
He hums at that, but his eyes are filled with sorrow. Pity. It’s no use denying how I felt about her. Dante saw. They all did. I liked her. A lot. This hurts on too many levels to count or describe.
“Why did you do it?”
“Do what?” he asks.
“Steal.”
I look him in the eye as I make my declaration. Any hurt or betrayal is long gone from my voice. I’ve dealt with them for hours now as I thought it over.
He smirks and laughs with a shake of his head, denying it. Till he stops.
“You know what I always say. No harm in trying.”
“You didn’t try. You did it.”
He shrugs, and his smile doesn’t falter. Not even when he speaks.
“No one was looking. It was a simple thing to do. I didn’t know you were going to come to this club when I had Carl start. It wasn’t about you, if that’s what you’re asking.”
“Next you’re going to tell me you did all this to show how vulnerable the famiglia is and that you were just holding the money for us till we figured it out? That you were going to give it all back or some bullshit?”
“Yeah, sure.” His smile widens, as if we’re discussing a prank we played on a colleague and nothing more.
“Why doctor the videos, then? Why make it look like Payton did it?”
“Did I?” He raises an eyebrow. “I assumed there were cameras everywhere when we put them in. How would I have known where all of them were?”
“Bullshit. You put the idea in Danny’s head, knowing he’d go for it. It’s common knowledge that he’d do anything to protect us, and you took advantage. What you didn’t expect was that he added more than just what was in the office.”
His smile finally falters.
“He rigged up the hallway too.” Something Danny didn’t focus on at first once he saw the video with Payton. Not till I started to question things.
“Funny how when we checked those cameras, we saw it was Trixie coming and going. And you know who else we saw with her? You. Standing in the hallway each time, waiting for her to come back to you. You never stepped into the office, knowing you’d get caught, but you had her do it.
Even dressed her up a little like Payton, then doctored the video that you knew was there. But you missed the others. “
He adjusts in his seat to cross his legs and pick at invisible lint on his knee, not once denying it.
“Was it just you, Trixie, and Carl? Or were there more?”
He looks up at me with narrowed eyes and a face full of menace, all humor gone. “So many.”
I take in his words and his position before me.
“So no one else,” I conclude.
“If there’s a head to a snake, someone will always be there to cut it off.” He speaks casually, but I see the glint in his eyes. The thought that it could be him who takes down the mighty snake—or lion, in this case.
“But it won’t be you,” I say confidently.
We stare at each other for a while, not looking away, just assessing the other’s next move. I have several thoughts, but I don’t act on them.
I want more answers.
“Why?”
“You already asked that.”
“And you gave me bullshit. The money might have been there for the taking in your mind, but it wasn’t always. If that was the case, that it was easy, why involve anyone else? Why start before you gained closer access to this club’s money? Why bring in Carl of all people? You knew we’d suspect him.”
He shrugs as if the answer is obvious. “He was easy to manipulate. And if you suspected him, then you would be quick to pull the trigger and end this.”
“Vinny knew he was just a pawn.”
Dante snorts. “Yeah, and perfect Vinny never gets shit wrong, right? Nothing ever passes by him?” He snorts again, this time with a smile.
“I’m assuming you’re the one who got past him, huh?”
“Obviously.”
“Tell me. You want to gloat, so tell me. How did Dante, a twice-removed cousin, get something past the almighty don of the syndicate?” I intentionally gloat about my brother, knowing Dante better than he thinks.
He hates when someone thinks they’re better than him.
His natural flaw. Just like mine was to trust someone who shared my blood.
“Twice removed. Ha. What a joke. Better call it what it is—a bastard child who no one wanted. But because this famiglia is old-fashioned enough not to let their bloodline go, they welcomed me into the fold. After I proved myself, of course.”
“Of course.” I dip my head in agreement. We might come from old traditions and be ruled by some out-of-date ideologies, but we still don’t let just anyone in who’s claiming to be part of us. We have rules in place. Tests to confirm a person is who they say they are. We even run background checks.
“It was easier to cover a lot of shit up when I was young. Helped that the asshole who fucked my mother never wanted it to get out. He was a faceless john till I tracked him down after some interesting DNA results. Turns out I’m not just a Leone. I’m also a Maranzetti.”
Shit.
The Maranzettis went after Dad when he first tried to bring everyone under one leader. They took him out. It was in the middle of the shit going down with Milly, and when she left, we thought they’d killed her too. But with the help of Carl, oddly enough, we wiped out the entire family.
Or so we thought.
“So that’s what this is about? Trying to get your family back?” Because he’s no longer part of mine.
“I actually don’t give a fuck about either group. I just want what’s owed to me.”
“Owed?”
“If one of them had just fucking claimed me instead of putting me up for adoption, I’d be where you are by now. Higher, actually. I’d have the money, the territory. No one questioning my name. Not making the same mistakes. Not fucking up in Russia like you did.”
Ouch. The guy knows where to stab with his words. But too bad for him, I already learned how to accept my past. Mistakes and all.
Last night, along with learning about what happened with Payton and the other shit Danny found, I realized I was happy. I was truly happy. I was in love. A love I never saw coming but fully supported. Till I fucked it up.
I regret nothing that happened. I have to let her go, though.
I can’t keep her. Her family stole from us.
There has to be a punishment in there for that.
But because of what we had, I learned to accept what happened in Russia for what it was: a wake-up call to get to her.
To have her in my life. To eventually lead me here and find out who Dante really is.
Everything has a reason, apparently. Russia, Payton… even this.
“I get why you’re pissed at my family. I even understand that you think you’d be running the city by now.
” I take a moment to stare at him with a smirk of my own.
“You wouldn’t. You’d fail miserably at it, actually.
You can’t see past your own greed. To run an empire, you need to see others for what they are.
Help where you can. Crush when you have to.
It’s not about how far you can build yourself, but how you can build others to lift you up. ”
He rolls his eyes, proving my point without saying anything.
“Why bring Payton into this?”
He looks away.
That’s all I need.
“You might be after the money, but I don’t think it was that when you picked her, was it?” I’m trying to work through this as I talk. He doesn’t look at me, giving me clues that I’m on the right path.
“It was you, wasn’t it? The guy in the fedora.”
He says nothing. But he doesn’t need to.
“You used to wear one in the winter. Thought it made you look cool. Some movie bullshit. But Bobby said you looked ridiculous, and you stopped wearing it.”
He glances at me and, surprisingly, holds my eye. I’m actually a bit impressed that he’s not looking away like he did before, showing his guilt. “So what if I did kill them? They were stealing from the company, weren’t they? Isn’t that what Danny found?”
He knows that’s what we found. Which only makes me question him more. Did he plant the details for that too? To cover up the murders or that he’d been stealing for longer than my brothers and I realized? How long has this been going on? How many people did he take out for his own benefit?
“You thought you were in the clear, huh? Till Payton let it slip at lunch that she saw someone. She saw you. And you knew I was going to look into it, to give her some peace by finding out what the cops couldn’t.
Something I bet you even let happen. We gave you all the access to do this, didn’t we?
You might have been able to talk your way out of what happened with Carl, but you hedged your bets anyhow.
“You knew who Payton was when you ran her background, I’m sure.
You only gave me the minimum, enough that I didn’t question what happened to her family.
Something you had access to but withheld.
I didn’t care at first. But then you got worried that she might say something, so you set her up with the money, just in case.
You weaseled your way into lunch to see if she would say something about the money, but then she called you out. You acted fast, I’ll give you that.
“That’s why you made that little video that Danny found the other night.
Even stamped it for a few days before, thinking that would give you enough time.
But it didn’t. You failed to consider that I gave Payton that day off.
I might have been at work, but she wasn’t.
I doubt you noticed. Or maybe you did and just forgot, too caught up in making sure you didn’t go down for something like this.
Something that apparently has been months in the works.
Maybe even years. Tell me, did you approach Payton’s parents to work for the famiglia and steal for you, or did you just steal from them? ”
He holds out for a second before his eyes narrow and he snarls his confession. “It was easy to get them to trust me. Just like I did with you.”
They probably didn’t even know who they were really working for if Dante convinced them to do something. Probably just a side gig in their mind. Victims. Just like Payton. And Dante was behind it all.
“You send Carl up too?” I need to know if he planned for my girl to be abused. Dante is greedy, but could he be capable of that too? We’ve known each other most of our lives. Thoughts of what he was, who I thought he was, clash with the man before me now.
I have to know just how far he was willing to go.
He shakes his head. “No. I didn’t send him, but I didn’t stop him.”
A slight relief, but not enough for me to forgive him for anything. “That’s why you finished him off,” I say with a nod. It all makes sense now. “Just to make sure he didn’t talk. You plant the gun on him, too, since I was too wrapped up in Payton to notice, or was he really going for one?”
“Does it matter?”
I shake my head. “Guess not. You only needed me to catch him assaulting her. You knew I would fire.”
“Your family’s known for being love-blind. It was worth a shot. Just like this one is.” He pulls a gun from his shoulder holster and aims it at me.
Took him long enough.