Total pages in book: 131
Estimated words: 126682 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 633(@200wpm)___ 507(@250wpm)___ 422(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 126682 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 633(@200wpm)___ 507(@250wpm)___ 422(@300wpm)
She perks up at that. “Those guys with the muscles dressed in the tight black shirts and crotch-hugging jeans?” Rolling her eyes toward the ceiling, she sighs. “God, I hope there’s a fight.”
Chuckling at that, I leave her to figure out how to run the bar and mix high-end drinks while I install myself in the office.
I park the stroller next to my desk and get to work.
“She’s something else,” Dante says when he walks in some time later. “I was just fooling with her about working behind the bar. Didn’t think for one minute she’d do it.”
“Never underestimate Livy,” I say with a smile, not looking up from my laptop.
“I’m beginning to understand why.”
I pause to look at him. “Livy is family, so everyone better be nice to her.”
“She doesn’t need you to put the fear of God into the employees to give her preferential treatment. Liv earns that all by herself.”
“She’s one in a million,” I sing-song, appreciation warming me all over again. “She kind of stood in for the mother I never had.”
“Yeah.” Dante stops next to the stroller to peer inside. “I got that from the bits and pieces you told me.” He brushes a finger over a soundly sleeping Claire’s brow. “Talking of which. Any news about your mother?”
“No.” I chew my lip. “She all but vanished.”
He looks up. “No news is good news.”
“I hope so.”
“She’ll contact you if she’s in trouble.”
Up to now, that’s how it worked between us. She’d screw up, and I’d clean up her mess. The uncharacteristically long silence leaves me edgy.
“What does her psychologist say?” he asks.
“That Mary is one of those cases who never made progress. I met with her therapist once a month, and every month he’d tell me the same thing.”
His gaze is sympathetic. “That there’s no hope?”
“That she won’t change unless she wants to. I can’t force her to do it.”
“Give it time. You did everything you could.”
“Any word from the whisky distillery?” I ask to change the subject.
Dante’s face drops. “They didn’t bite.”
“Why not?”
“They said they got a better offer.” His features harden. “I have a feeling that offer involved a gun being pushed against the CEO’s head.”
“Shit.” I drum my fingers on the desktop. “We needed that deal.”
He turns serious. “You have to tell Sav about the loan.”
My tone is harsh. “No.” Softening my voice, I continue. “He’s got enough to worry about as it is.”
“What the hell are you going to do when it’s time to pay?”
My throat closes up at the prospect.
“That loan shark is a dangerous son of a bitch,” Dante says. “If you don’t give him the money, he’ll come after you.”
“I’ll make a plan. I’ll find a loophole in the books.”
“That’s not going to solve our cashflow problem.” He leans his palms on the desk. “You’re busting your ass to save this place, and I’ve gone with it because I agree with you. Sav isn’t in the best state of mind to deal with this shit right now. But you can’t do it all on your own. You’ve got to let him in. I’m not going to stand by and let someone break your arms and put bullets in your knees.”
A shiver runs through me. “We’ll be all right,” I say with more conviction than I feel. “We just need a few good nights.”
Sighing, he straightens. “I’ll see what I can do about finding another supplier.”
“It’s not as much the supply as the kickbacks we need,” I point out.
“Don’t I know that.” He gives me a dark look. “One more week, and then I tell Sav myself.”
“Don’t worry.” I put on a bright smile. “I’ll talk to him.”
He studies me from under his lashes. “Promise?”
I cross my fingers under the desk. “Promise.”
“Okay,” he says, not sounding convinced.
“How’s the informant situation going?”
“Not fast enough.” He grabs an apple from the corner of my desk and throws it in the air before catching it. “We need more intel.” He continues with loathing. “Raphael is up to something.”
My back goes rigid at the mention of that name. “Up to what exactly?”
“That’s what we need to find out.”
He’s keeping something from me. “Tell me, Dante. I have a right to know if we’re in danger.” I glance at my sweet baby girl who sleeps like an angel. Tersia’s words come back to me when I say, “I need the facts to assess the risks.”
Dante is quiet for a moment. He looks at Claire, and then he says, “I’ll tell you if it’s dangerous to come to work.”
“Tell me,” I say, my voice carrying stronger.
He brushes the hair back from his forehead and stalks a few steps away before abruptly facing me again. “One of my guys said Raphael received a shipment of arms, but we don’t know what or how many he got.”
I go cold. “He’s getting ready for war.”