Total pages in book: 45
Estimated words: 40969 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 205(@200wpm)___ 164(@250wpm)___ 137(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 40969 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 205(@200wpm)___ 164(@250wpm)___ 137(@300wpm)
“We’ll see about that.” I toss my phone, license, credit card, and keys into my wristlet.
“Whatever. The Lyft is here,” she states, dropping the conversation as we leave my apartment and head towards the parking lot. I leave the whole whatever comment alone because something tells me there’s more than meets the eye when it comes to her talking to Mace.
NINETEEN
Wylde
“Things going good with you and Celeste?” Nico asks. We’ve talked business, looked at the numbers, how much the casino is helping the Donotello famiglia. It’s doing better than I expected. The same could be said for Nico and his father. The proof was in the pudding, and judging by how well it’s working, we came up with a plan. Three years, that’s all it’s going to take for them to recoup the money they gave me along with the interest that was steeper than any credit card interest rate you could think of. It was worth it, to see how well it’s going, a week after opening. A simple trade. The money laundering sticks to the casino side and the casino only. Since there’s a bank on property, an absolute necessity for a hotel of this caliber, it was easy planning for all of us involved. The next thing I knew, Emilio was asking if I’d like to stay in business with the famiglia even longer, a fact they’d like. It would mean I’d profit a shit ton more. The gray matter, what I’d like to call it, has me stewing over it for the time being. It’s one thing to launder it and not make a profit off it in a misconstrued way of thinking, another for me to be a bigger part of it.
“Things are going great. I was with her last night, and if I play my cards right, I’ll be with her tonight. That’s if shit doesn’t hit the fan tonight when shift change happens in the security department.” I take a breath, pissed more and more with what I didn’t see coming by a long shot. “I’m going to have to replace Terry sooner rather than later. So, yeah, if you got a guy or an in with another business entity, I’m all for it.” Nico raises both eyebrows, elbows on the arms of the chair. The hackles on my neck have been raised for a while when it comes to Terry, and this week along with today is only making it worse.
“I’ll talk to Pops. He may know someone who’s not entrenched with the family. What did Terry do this time?” I thought we were turning a corner when he kept an open line of communication with me. Then, when he had not one but two security guards call out today, I knew something was up.
“Not sure. I’m hoping to get to the truth of the matter tomorrow. Something about Terry calling and telling two guys it wasn’t their day to work even though the system said otherwise. I figured things out when I got an email from one and a call from the other. Fucking pain in my ass is what it’s becoming. Of course, my phone doesn’t fucking stop ringing. So, I didn’t see it until it was too late. When I questioned Terry, he made it out like they were a no-call, no-show.” Talking about it and thinking about it is still pissing me off. I’m about to move Pierre away from Monica and make him my personal assistant instead of hers, then maybe shit won’t be falling by the wayside. There’s nothing worse than missing calls, texts, and voicemails. It’s another thing to be so bogged down that filtering out the emergencies versus the non-emergencies makes it worse. Why I ever thought I could do this without an assistant, I have no clue. Fucking fool. That’s who thought that.
“I’ll work on that tomorrow, then,” Nico offers, standing up and buttoning his suit jacket. Tonight wasn’t one for pleasantries and drinking a glass of bourbon or having dinner as old friends. It was all about business. Still is, even though he asked about Celeste.
“I’d appreciate that more than you know. If not, I’m going to hire a headhunter to find one. This fucker, he can’t stay in this position much longer, and once I hear the other guys out, if I’m right with what my gut tells me, I’ll be the one escorting him out of the building.” We walk towards my office door. Nico has to go back to work, and I’m heading towards the club that’s in the South Tower. The security cameras had me clocked onto Celeste and what I know now is her friend Tyra, the reason she was so melancholy last night when I stepped into her spa.
“Let me know. I have no problem helping muscle that dickhead out of here,” Nico responds as we make our way out of my office. With any luck, I won’t be returning tonight either.