Page 32 of Princess's Revenge
“Enter,” comes the annoyed voice from the other side.
Christopher opens the door and we separate. Once again he guides me in with a hand on that special part of my back.
Inside, the Don is in his usual spot behind his desk, this time in a lime suit. He’s also halfway through another stogie.
“I got a call from Carmine de Luca,” he puffs out a cloud.
“Yeah?” Christopher frowns at him.
I ask, “Who’s that?”
The Don puffs out another cloud, then speaks impatiently, “He’s the owner ofThe Rat Trap.The place the two of you were seen about thirty minutes ago. He wanted to say—Thank you.”
“Oh yeah?” Christopher frowns again. “What for?”
The Don puts his cigar down and stands. I see the anger on his face just like last time. He comes around to us, “He wanted to say thank you for getting rid of that piece of shit, Fish. The H dealer.”
“Oh?” Chris acts surprised.
“Yeah,” Vincenzo stares lasers through Christopher, “he said he was grateful that my son and the Lupertazzi girl finally did something about the Cassaduchis. He said we had his full support. Said he’s not gonna tell nobody nothing.”
The Don’s speech cadence is a little off today. He sounds more like a gangster than a businessman.
“That’s great,” Christopher smiles at me, then shrugs to the Don, “still don’t know what you’re talking about, he must be confused.”
Vincenzo grabs Christopher with two hands on his collar, “WHERE DO YOU GET THE BALLS, HUH?”
I actually see spit fly out of his mouth. He’sreallyangry.
“I’ve been planning this for six months! She’s been here two fuckin’ days and the whole fuckin’ world knows she’s alive! What the FUCK, Christopher?”
Christopher gently pushes his father off him, then puts his hands up in a calming gesture. “We had a little problem with Jimmy, we took care of it. Then we took care of Fish.”
“We?” The Don looks at me.
“She was there,” Christopher takes my hand again, “it’s fine. It was going to come out sooner or later. I did the only thing Icoulddo. If de Luca backs us up, it’s still just a rumor.”
The Don combs his fingers through his hair, “What did Jimmy do?”
“He was shooting H,” Christopher shoots his brow, “he was buying from Fish. He was talking. I shut him up.”
“And as for where Christopher gets his balls,” I put my hand on the Don’s arm, “not from you. He’s actually getting things done. He’s not sucking the Cassaduchis’ asses to keep an imaginary peace that’s only peaceful for him.”
The Don breathes deeply and stares at me, then turns to Christopher, “You’ve been putting these ideas in her head?”
“No,” Chris almost laughs, I see it on his face. “She saw us downstairs with Jimmy.You’rethe one who let her out of her room.”
“Then I’ll be the one to put her back there,” the Don says, then yells, “Charlie!”
The butler opens the door and awaits instructions.
“Escort Miss Lupertazzi to her room and lock the door,” then he turns to me and glares, “from theoutside.” He shifts his angry gaze to Christopher, points and says, “You! Get out of my sight. I haven’t decided what to do with you.”
We don’t bother arguing. We leave the room politely, listening to the Don breathing hard. At the bottom of the steps, Christopher gives me a peck on the lips, “See you soon.” He winks, smiles and goes on his way.
The guy oozes confidence!
I lead the way to room and go in, hand the key to Charles and close the door.