reporters that works at the paper has someone following you and taking photos. I saw the ones that he took of you and me that night at 230 Fifth and then one that he took of me the next morning as I was skulking out of here.”
I knew that reporters followed me around. I didn’t let it worry me; it had been that way since I was a child. Nothing they would ever see me do would be newsworthy. The only concern I had was what they thought about Alana being with me.
“Why did he show you these pictures?”
“Because he wanted to know what I was doing with you,” she said.
“Why?”
“He says he’s concerned for me. I told him not to be, that you were my fiancé.”
I knew it was wrong, this was a business arrangement, but I really liked the sound of that.
“You are right to not be concerned. I’m used to being followed by reporters. I don’t talk to them, present company excepted. I can assure you that no one else is going to talk to them either. May I ask who the journalist is?”
“His name is Nate Hunter.”
I knew much about Nate Hunter. For one thing, he was considered the best investigative journalist in the city…so of course I’d checked him out. I had found him to have fewer morals than most of the men who worked for me. On top of that he seemed to be an arrogant brute that enjoyed pushing people around. The final nail in his coffin was that for about five months, Alana had been his girl. Right or wrong, the thought of another man’s hands on her…especially one so unworthy, disgusted me.
She looked about to say something else when the buzzer rang.
“Mr. Romalatti, I’m here.” It was my driver, Jon.
“Thank you, Jon. Miss Blankenship will be right down.”
Once Alana was off to pick up her things I called Tony,
“Hi Tony. I met with my crew today. None of them have seen any signs of trouble nor have they received any warnings or threats. I told them all to keep their eyes open. Did you have a chance to talk to Paulie?”
“I did. The boy has his mother’s stubborn streak, I’m afraid. I raised him to know how important blood is, but he seems to have forgotten. He says that he can’t give me information about an “on-going” investigation. I should have grounded the little snot more when he was a kid.”
I smiled, not to laugh at Tony’s family problems, but just at the way he spoke. Of all the people I would be leaving when I took the journey I planned to go on, I would miss Tony the most.
“Well, at least three of our crews are on this, we should be able to find something out soon, hopefully before any more blood is shed. I suppose I should have a meet with Carmine too.”
“Do you want me to talk to Carmine?”
“No, thank you Tony. I’ll take care of it.” I hung up the phone, dreading yet another task.
CHAPTER NINE: ALANA
I had been staying at the penthouse for just over a month. Sammie had been nothing but a gentleman when he was there and we had started working on building his life story from the bottom up. He’d done it all completely clothed, and although that had been my rule, sometimes I couldn’t help but ponder breaking it.
He told me about being born into Mafia royalty and what that was like growing up. He’d played with the kids of his father’s associates and as far as he knew when they were all kids…they were family. He didn’t find out what his father actually did for a living until he was ten. By the time he
The Adventures of Hotsy Totsy