Sweet Release (A Bad Boy Mafia Romance) by Victoria Villeneuve Read Free Book Online Page A

casually, like the Don’s losing his only living heir wasn’t that big a deal. It would be when the Don died—he was a scrappy old man when I’d known him, but immortal he wasn’t. “Shit, Tony… so, what, he lost his teeth?”
     
    “More like, he’s been pulling teeth and putting new ones in,” Tony mused. “Hey, that’s good. I’m gonna remember that.”
     
    “I don’t know what that means, Tony,” I admitted.
     
    He didn’t answer until after he’d finally drained the pasta, arranged it into colorful swirled lumps on broad, thick white plates, and then drizzled a thick white garlic sauce and topped both with steak strips and finished it off with a squeeze of lemon a sprig of some herb or another. “Don’t eat that,” he explained, “it’s garnish.”
     
    I stared at the plate. Tony had skills, sure; this was a hobby.
     
    “Tony, how long you been off the street?”
     
    Tony shrugged. “I’m not. I’m just, you know… more like middle management for the moment. That’s all. I do like… tactical assessments, planning, delegating… recruitment.”
     
    “Tony, don’t,” I sighed. Finally, the point of the dinner.
     
    Around a mouthful of pasta he said, “Look, just gotta talk to him. Tha’s all. He likes you. It’s a good thing. Good money, too,” he swallowed, and pointed his fork at me. “And if you wanna fight later on, we’ll get into that to. Diversify. But, you know we run the cage matches at the docks. Not a bad place to get into. Less rules, you know? More fun that way.”
     
    People died in the cage matches—bloody, awful deaths. The point wasn’t to be better skilled, and fight someone carefully matched to your level; the point was to beat someone unconscious with your bare hands for entertainment. Of course Tony loved the cages. Sure it was a thrill but… it was a signed and stamped ticket back to the house, too.
     
    “I can’t get involved in that shit, Tony,” I said.
     
    “You didn’t used to be such a pussy,” Tony said. “When’d you get so straight?”
     
    “When I went to prison, Tony,” I said, head shaking. How did he not get that?
     
    “Lots of guys go to prison,” Tony argued. “The Don puts money away for you, when you get out, you get the whole lump. It’s a sweet deal.”
     
    “Assuming you break legs for him when you do,” I muttered.
     
    “Well, yeah,” Tony said. Of course that was the way it was; why would it be any other way, Mikey? What world did I live in that I didn’t understand how it worked?
     
    “I don’t got your warped view of things,” I told him. “Leave it. It ain’t for me.”
     
    Tony tapped his fork on the counter. He was nervous. Odd, for him.
     
    “What?” I asked. I put my fork down on the plate. If this was really all there was to this visit, I was done.
     
    “Just… I told the Don I’d have a talk with you. I was… optimistic.”
     
    “Jesus, Tony—why’d you do that?”
     
    “I figured, you know, if I got you here, and you heard me out… I mean it makes sense. The Don don’t care if you got a record; what else you gonna do? Be a grunt forever? It’s not even your fault, Mikey—the Pembry dick set you up. So, what, you got screwed by the system and couldn’t get enough?”
     
    “I just want to be far away from all this,” I sighed. “To live my life on my own terms, Tony. Not by yours, or the Don’s. Jesus… what’s he gonna do when he finds out you couldn’t get me on board?”
     
    “Nothin,” Tony said, offended at the idea. “Luchese ain’t like that…”
     
    “But…?”
     
    Tony shrugged. “Maybe it would be best if you told him yourself. You know, direct. So he gets the whole story.”
     
    “No,” I said. “No, Tony—I do not want to talk to Luchese. Are you crazy?”
     
    Tony was already dialing. “He likes you, Mikey, you got nothing to worry about. You look like Ma, you got her pretty eyes and shit, you know how he liked Ma. Come on,