Total pages in book: 81
Estimated words: 77124 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 386(@200wpm)___ 308(@250wpm)___ 257(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77124 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 386(@200wpm)___ 308(@250wpm)___ 257(@300wpm)
“Been a long time, man,” he greeted Anthony, pulling him in for a quick hug, complete with back slaps on both their parts.
“Too long,” Anthony agreed.
“Hey, sweetheart,” he said, turning to me. “I’m Giovani,” he told me. “My friends call me… when they need money,” he said, getting a surprised little laugh out of me.
“Gio, this is Saylor,” Anthony introduced me. “We’re working together on… a job.”
“Yeah?” Gio asked. “And you need me for it?”
“We need to pick your brain on something,” Anthony agreed.
“Yeah? Alright,” he said. “Come on back with me," he said, turning to walk back behind the counter.
We followed, walking through a prep area where three men were hard at work making various foods that we’d seen in the refrigerated case behind the counter, then a smaller stock area until, finally, Gio turned into an office.
This was the only place that even hinted at mafia to me. Unlike the rest of the building, it had been completely redone with slate gray walls, wide-planked dark wood floors, a seating area complete with a couch, two chairs, a coffee table, and a bar cart, and a sleek wooden desk with two leather chairs in front of it.
Gio moved behind the desk, but neither he nor Anthony sat down until I dropped down into my seat.
Which was absurd.
But also kind of hot, I had to admit.
“So, what’s going on?” Gio asked, his accent slipping out a bit more.
“Saylor and I are both trying to find out some information about a crew that the Family is worried about.”
“The Family,” Gio repeated, glancing at me. “You Family now?” he asked. “Know that Lombardi fuck is progressive like that, but didn’t know the Costas got themselves female capos now too.”
“She’s not in the Family,” Anthony corrected him. “She’s…”
“An arms dealer,” I supplied when Anthony hesitated.
“No shit,” Gio said, nodding. “Good for you, babe. So, what, you supply the Family?”
“No. Anthony and I just happen to have a common enemy right now,” I told him.
“Lorenzo wanted me to check out a Czech crew he heard whispers about. The same crew broke into Saylor’s warehouse and stole her inventory.”
Gio made a clicking noise.
“A heavily armed crew then.”
“Hence why we’re here. Saylor has a contact that said the only known Czech crew he knew of operates out of Staten Island.”
“So here you are,” Gio said, waving out toward the building in general.
“Here we are,” Anthony agreed. “Got any information you can give us?”
“Well, we do have a Czech crew operating around these parts. Matej Dvorák is the name of the gun who is running shit.”
“What are they into?” I asked.
“Enforcing, mostly,” Gio said, shrugging. “Never had an issue with them. They knew the drill when they moved in. Never missed a kick-up payment. Never caused any problems we’ve needed to clean up.”
“Do you have any idea if there’s been any sort of dissent in their ranks lately?” I asked.
“Diss—“
“Gio, the fuck is Ciro talking about with—” another voice said as he came into the room, making me turn to find someone who had to be Gio’s brother standing there.
There was a slight family resemblance, but where Gio clearly spent a lot of his free time in the gym, this guy had more of a sleek swimmer’s build that he had dressed in an impeccably in a tailored 3-piece gray suit, complete with cufflinks, and a handkerchief.
Where Gio was more on the clean-cut side, this guy was covered in ink—on his hands, his neck, sneaking out of the sleeves of his shirt. He had one of those ‘longer on top’ type haircuts that he had slicked back and a small stainless steel hoop in his nostril.
Hot.
The guy was hot.
Just in an entirely different way than his brother was hot.
“Didn’t know we had company,” the new guy said, gaze landing on me, his smile at once going all smoldering and charming. Which made Gio roll his eyes.
“Saylor, this is my idiot brother, Elio. El, this is Saylor.”
“Nice to meet you, Saylor,” he said, extending his hand, and when I took it, he used his other one to cover mine.
“Yeah, you too,” I said, pulling my hand back. I was sure I would be a sucker for his particular brand of charm if fucking Anthony Costa wasn’t sitting right beside me smelling all spicy and delicious. Like I’d smelled when I’d gone home after grinding all over him in the gym.
“Ant and Saylor are just asking about Matej,” Gio told his brother.
“Yeah? He trying to move into Manhattan?” Elio asked, closing the office door, then leaning against it.
“We think an offset of his crew already has,” Anthony told him.
“Hm,” Elio said. “I haven’t heard of anything going on with the crew breaking off, but I don’t really keep that close an eye on that organization. But I could probably get you a meeting with them, if you want,” he added.