Total pages in book: 95
Estimated words: 91389 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 457(@200wpm)___ 366(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91389 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 457(@200wpm)___ 366(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
“No, Paulie. I’m not.” I walk over and sit on the coffee table directly in front of him. We’re inches apart. Our knees are touching. He looks extremely uncomfortable as I put my hands on his legs and hold him there, not letting him inch away like he wants to, staring straight into his face. I lean in closer, erasing his personal space. “I got questions and I need answers.”
He blinks rapidly. A bead of sweat rolls down his forehead and I can tell he wants to wipe it away. “Uh, yeah, Angelo, whatever you need. I’m not all that connected these days though. I married Lucy and we’ve been trying to have a baby and all that shit, and you know, when you went down, I was sidelined.”
“I’ve been thinking about that night a lot. You know what you have a lot of in prison? Fucking time. And I put that time to good use.” I reach back with my right hand and draw the revolver. Paulie’s eyes go wide as I shove it between his legs, right up against his dick. “Now you’re going to tell me some shit or I swear to fucking Christ I will make sure you and Lucy never have that fucking baby.”
Paulie nods rapidly. Fear colors every inch of him. I like the way he’s cringing back. He knows me better than almost anyone in the world, and he knows that when I say I’m doing something, I’m going to do it.
“Yeah, bro, yeah, I fucking swear, what happened to you, I had no clue that shit was coming, bro. I’m serious, it was fucked, it was—”
“Who knew where the shipment would be?”
“Tommy. Maybe Roc. I don’t know. I knew something was coming but not where. Vito definitely had no clue. Come on, Angelo, you didn’t give me fucking anything back then. I just did what I was told.”
He’s not lying about that. Paulie was reliable, but he’s not the brightest guy in the world. Of everyone on my list, he’s the least likely to have stabbed me in the back.
“After I went down, who benefited the most? Who’s spending big right now?”
“Tommy,” Paulie says right away. “He’s been running Club Cage. Vito and Roc still work for the Famiglia doing fucking grunt shit, you know how that goes. I’ve been doing my own thing. I swear, Angelo, I didn’t know those fucking Serbian pricks were coming, and the cops—”
“Shut the fuck up, Paulie. Last question. Did you see anyone on their phone that night?”
Paulie’s face twists like he barely understands the question. He shakes his head. “I don’t know. Roc maybe. Fuck, man, it was five years ago—”
“Wrong answer.”
I pull the trigger. The revolver cracks and a bullet rips into my old soldier’s body, tearing his crotch to steaming, bloody flesh. He screams and doubles over, falling to the side as I get to my feet.
“Oh, fuck, Angelo, fuck, call an ambulance, please—”
“You know, I almost feel bad about this. I don’t think you were involved in all that shit, but here’s the problem. I can’t be fucking sure. And I want everyone that was there that night to wonder if they’re next. It’s nothing personal.”
His eyes widen. “Angelo—”
I aim the gun at his head and pull the trigger twice.
Blood and brains stain the white couch pink and red. He twitches a few times, so I shoot him again, just to be sure.
Paulie stops begging.
Lucy appears in the doorway. Her hands come to her mouth and I can tell she’s trying not to scream. Horror plays across her face as she looks at me then falls to her knees and starts to babble, begging for her life.
“The Famiglia will provide for you,” I tell her as I walk to the door. “My condolences.”
The girl breaks down into sobs, doubled over on the floor. I should feel sorry for her, but mostly I think she’s got really bad taste in men, and I just did her a fucking favor.
Paulie probably didn’t betray me. But probably isn’t definitely, and I’ve had five long years to decide how I want to play this.
Just like I told him, there’s nothing but time behind bars, in the fucking cage they threw me, left me to rot, left me to stew on all the shit that went wrong.
I did my time. I kept my mouth shut.
And now I’m going to find the fucker that betrayed me and I’m going to put him in the ground.
Him and everyone that was involved in that night.
Outside, Elena’s standing next to the car. The driver’s coming around toward me, his weapon pulled. I grin at them and toss him the revolver, which he barely manages to catch, cursing the whole time.
“You probably want to get rid of that,” I tell him as I head to the back door. “Wipe it down first.”