Total pages in book: 76
Estimated words: 75699 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 378(@200wpm)___ 303(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75699 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 378(@200wpm)___ 303(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
He hasn’t answered, but maybe he’ll answer if I use the burner phone Falcon gave me.
I punch in the number.
No answer. It eventually goes to voicemail.
You’ve reached Vincent Gallo Junior. I apologize that I can’t take your call at the moment. Please leave a detailed message and I’ll return your call as soon as I get the chance.
That’s it, in his beautiful deep monotone voice.
Nothing like how it sounded when he was looking in my eyes, telling me how beautiful I am.
Will he return the call this time?
I open the book that I pulled off the library shelf. Then I laugh out loud. The Godfather by Mario Puzo.
I grabbed a fucking Mafia book.
Who says the universe doesn’t have a sense of humor?
12
VINNIE
Two hours later I’m back in my office. I grab a burner phone, leave the office, and then leave the building. I’m on the streets of downtown Austin when I call the number the nanny left on the card.
It was just a number. No name. Nothing else.
“Hello?”
“Yes, hello. You gave me this number?”
“I’m afraid I don’t know what you’re talking about, sir. Are you trying to reach Freddie’s dry-cleaning? Because I get my number mistaken for theirs a lot.”
Is this some kind of message? I don’t know, but I decide to play long. “Yes, I am. My apologies. Looks like I transposed a few numbers. So sorry for the bother.”
“Not at all. I’m used to it. Have a good day, sir. I’m sure you’ll be able to get in touch with them soon.”
The call ends with a click.
Then I wait.
Five minutes go by. Then ten. Just as it’s coming up on fifteen minutes, my phone buzzes with a number I don’t recognize.
“Yes?” I say into the phone.
“Vincent Gallo?”
“Freddie’s dry-cleaning?” I say.
“Yes. My name is Natalie. I’m on a burner phone while I’m out running errands at the grocery store. You got me at a good time. I was able to leave the house.”
“You’re Belinda’s nanny?”
“Yes. More like a governess. I take care of her, and I see to her lessons.”
“How do I know you can be trusted?” I ask.
“How do I know you can be?” she says back.
I frown. “Seems we’re at an impasse then.”
“I only want to protect Belinda.”
“Then we have something in common.”
“If you truly intend to marry her, Mr. Gallo, there’s something you should know.”
How much can I truly say to this woman? I don’t intend to marry that child, but do I need to act like I do?
“Go on,” I say.
“She’s special. I’m not just talking about the fact that she’s a musical prodigy, which she is. Her IQ is excellent, nearing genius level, and her father…”
I already know where this is going. After what my grandfather did to me, I don’t labor under any delusion that these people are above harming children. After all, the McAllisters deal in children. And he was acting pretty lecherous when he was talking about her over our cigars.
“And her father what?” I say, my voice low and dark.
“He… He harms her.”
I knew it was coming. Even so, my stomach sinks like I just swallowed an anvil.
“I… I had a feeling that was the case. Why else would she have asked me for help?”
Her voice cracks as she continues. “She doesn’t tell me a lot, Mr. Gallo. She’s scared. So very frightened. I tell her she can trust me, but she’s still not completely honest with me.”
“Why did she feel she could trust me? She’s the one who gave me that note.”
“That was my idea,” Natalie says. “I thought… If you were going to be the one who would eventually marry her, perhaps you would be interested in helping her.”
“I’m very interested in helping her. But I’m not sure what I can do.”
“Can you get her out of the house?”
“You realize that would mean you’re out of a job, Natalie.”
She sighs. “I don’t care about that. I’ve been with Belinda for two years now, and I’ve grown to love her as if she were my own. I can’t stand the pain that she’s in. I can’t stand how he trots her out as a showpiece when people come over, as he did with you and your grandfather today. She hates that. But what can she do?”
“I wish I could help.”
“He’s going to break her, Mr. Gallo. He’s going to take that beautiful and talented little girl and strip her of everything.”
“But why would he do that if—”
I stop abruptly. That’s exactly why he would do it. Revenge. He wants to leave me a shell of a human being for a wife. Even at the cost of his own daughter’s mental health.
These bastards truly think of women and girls as chattel and nothing more. Pawns in the big boys’ games with each other. They don’t see them as human at all, not even when they’re defenseless children with no means of fighting for themselves. It’s disgusting. Just the thought of it sends a wave of anger through my entire body.