Mick Sinatra 3: His Lady, His Children, and Sal by Mallory Monroe Read Free Book Online Page B

brothers and their mothers, who had
similar hopes and dreams, were heartbroken by this man too.   Now he had the nerve to try to control her
life?   She stood up, her arms folded.   “I think you should leave,” she said.
    “He’s using you,” Mick said.   “He’s using you to get to me.”
    “Oh, for crying out loud, Dad, really?   He’s using me to get to you?   I barely know you, why in the world does he
think he can get to you through me?   Like
you said, he’s a federal agent.   He
should know these things.”
    “He does,” Mick said.
    Gloria shook her head.   “You watch too many movies, Dad.   Better not speak too loudly. He may have
bugged the place.”
    “He did,” Mick said.
    Gloria smiled as if her father was losing his grip
on reality.   “What?”
    “He bugged your condo.   My men removed it.”
    “Your men what?   When?”
    “Last night, after he left here.   That was when he did it.”
    Gloria was concerned about Marco possibly bugging
her, but she was even more concerned about her father allowing strange men into
her condo.   “You had strange men coming
into my house?”
    Mick didn’t respond to that.   He already had.
    Gloria shook her head.   “This is crazy.    I don’t believe this!”
    Mick stared at her.   She was stubborn. And skeptical.   That was a good thing.   But his
word was law in their family.   He reached
into his coat pocket, pulled out an envelope, and tossed it onto the coffee
table in front of them.   Because it was
not sealed, a group of photos slid out.  
    “What’s that?” she asked.
    “He’s married,” Mick said.   “Happily married.   He has two small children.   He’s playing you to get to me, Gloria.”
    Gloria hesitated as she stared at the photos on the
table.   Then she picked up the envelope
and began to sift through the stack.   Marco, the man she had only recently met, was laughing with some woman
and two cute kids.   Their house looked
suburban.   They even had a minivan in the
driveway.   It was too typical.
    She looked at her father.   “So it’s true?   Is that what you’re telling me?   Adrian used to tell us all the time that you
had us snowed, that you were no more a businessman than Al Capone was a
salesman.   You’re in the mob, he
said.   And not just in it, but you run
the east coast mafia.    That’s what he
always used to tell us.   Teddy and I used
to think he was full of it.   Are you now
telling me he was telling the truth?”
    Mick stood up too, buttoning his suit coat.   She was upset with him, but that didn’t
change the fact that his presence was still intimidating.    But she would not be moved.   “Well is it?” she asked.
    “I’m the Chairman and CEO of Sinatra Industries, of
S.I.   I run my business.”
    “And the mob?”
    “I run my business,” Mick said.   “Don’t you worry about the mob. ”
    That was the most non-answer Gloria knew he could
have given her.   Which would make it a
yes.
    “You are going to stay away from that cop,” Mick
said in no uncertain terms.   “Do I make
myself clear?”
    Gloria looked down at the pictures again.   She actually thought she was going somewhere
with the guy.   But like all of her
previous loves, he was a user too.   And
the fact that her father wouldn’t outright deny his involvement in mob
activities gave her pause too.   She was
in over her head.    “Yes,” she said with
defeat in her voice.   “You’ve made
yourself clear.”
    Mick could sense her defeat.   He considered her.   “You’re a beautiful woman,” he said.    “Remarkably so.   You can do better than conmen like Marco
Terranz.”
    “Yeah, sure,” Gloria said in a voice that was meant
to sound dismissive, but sounded more like pain to Mick.   He wanted to hold her, to comfort her, but
they weren’t there yet.   He began to walk
away.
    But then he realized this was his daughter.   His only girl.   And he was walking away