Gloria was smiling again. But Oz always seemed to have that effect on her.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Mick Sinatra, with his wife Roz right on his heels, entered into his home office, hurried behind his desk, and pressed button three on his desk telephone. “What you got, Leo?”
“She just went into a restaurant,” Leo Ducetti, Mick’s main man in Florida and the voice on the other end of the phone line, said.
“She’s alone?”
“No, sir. That’s why we called you. She has a date.”
“Who with?”
“Oz Drakos.”
Although Mick had heard the name before, Roz knew of the last name instantly. “That billionaire?” she asked Mick.
Mick remembered the name after his wife reminded him. But he thought his name was Alex. “Is he any relation to Alex Drakos?” he asked Leo.
“It’s his brother, yes, sir.”
Mick hesitated. He didn’t know how he felt about that. Roz didn’t either. “At least he should be self-sufficient and not attempting to ride on her gravy train,” Roz said.
Because the phone was on Speaker, Leo heard her. “Yes, ma’am, that’s true. He’s very wealthy in his own right.”
“So far I’m not alarmed,” Mick said. “What’s his problem?”
“His background, sir. It’s mob.”
“Shit.” Mick definitely didn’t want to hear that. “Italian?”
“Greek.”
Mick and Roz looked at each other. Now they were both concerned. “I haven’t heard of a Drakos syndicate here in America,” Mick said.
“Because there isn’t one,” said Leo. “He was mainly active overseas.”
“In Greece?”
“Right.”
“What are you telling me? He’s related to that group that just took out two of my men?”
“We don’t know if he’s involved yet, sir, but there’s a possibility. That’s why we haven’t suggested negotiations yet. We need to find the head of that monster.”
“And you think he’s the head?”
“It’s a strong possibility is the best I can tell you right now,” said Leo. “Oz Drakos has always been a wildcard, sir, and always underestimated. If he’s in it at all, he’s going to be in as the leader of that pack. He still has ties, and business interests, in Greece. And I don’t mean legit interests either. That’s why I called. It’s kind of odd that he would be the one she’s having dinner with tonight.”
“Very odd,” said Roz as she folded her arms, her face unable to conceal her concern.
“You think he’s targeting her because she’s my daughter?” asked Mick.
“This is all rank speculation at this point, sir, but I didn’t want to leave anything to chance.”
Mick knew how Leo had a crush on Gloria, which was one reason why he put him on that assignment. He’d look out for her. “No, you shouldn’t leave anything to chance,” he said. He had his hands on his hips, staring at Roz.
“I’m concerned, Mick,” she said to him. “Very concerned.”
Although Mick was trained to never let them see him sweat, he was very concerned too.
“What do you want us to do, sir?” Leo asked.
“Nothing yet,” Mick said. “I don’t want any half-ass moves. But stay with her.”
“I’m certain he’s not dumbed enough to harm Mick Sinatra’s daughter, sir. I’m certain of that.”
“I agree,” Mick said. “But he certainly might want to use her to get my ass off of their asses. Keep her under close surveillance until I can get more intel.”
“Right, sir.”
“But stay out of sight. If he’s involved, I don’t want to spook him into making moves he’s not ready to make.”
“The next step will be negotiations then?” Leo asked.
“Hell no,” said Mick firmly. “I don’t negotiate with fuckers trying to bleed on my territory. They brought this shit to me. The next step will be total annihilation.”
“After what those assholes did to our guys, that sounds good to us,” said Leo. “We were hoping you would say that.”
“And the next time we talk,” Mick added, “I don’t want to hear about maybes and possibilities, you hear me? I want facts. Either he is their leader, or he’s not. And if he’s not, who is. Understood?”
“Yes, sir.”
“This shit has gone on long enough. Find out, even if you have to kidnap one of those fuckers in that Grecian group and torture it out of them. Find out,” Mick ordered, and then ended the call. And then he looked at his wife.
“Is Gloria safe?” Roz asked him.
“Yes,” Mick said. Then he frowned. “Maybe.”
Roz’s heart dropped. “Maybe, Mick? What do you mean maybe?”
“I’m not there to protect her. That’s why I mean maybe. That’s why I didn’t want her ass out of Philly and away from my turf in the first place. Away from me, some of these assholes might not hesitate to put a bullseye on her back.”
“Or use her to get to you,” Roz said.
“Or to get me to back off of them, yes,” Mick said. “You’re right.”
“But if he doesn’t know that you’re leading this other group, why would he know to target Glo?”
“Just as we have our suspicions, he very well may have his. He may suspect me as leader just as I suspect him. It’s always a game of supposition.”
“But what about Gloria?” Roz asked. “Maybe we should warn her about that guy.”
“Let’s get the facts first,” Mick said. “If we’re wrong, and he’s not involved, she may shut me out completely if I mess up something she’s trying to build. But don’t worry. I’ll tighten security around her.”
But Roz was worried as she looked at her husband. Rarely ever did he verbalize his true feelings for his children, although she believed he loved them deeply. But to hear him say so was all any of them could ever hope for. “How would you feel if she did shut you out of her life?”
“That would be. . .” Mick started to say devastating, but then he stopped himself and said something else. “That wouldn’t be great,” he said.
Roz was disappointed. Even with her he held back. But that was the man she married. There was no changing him now.
Mick knew she wanted more from him, but he also knew he was too fucked up to give it. That was why he didn’t hesitate. He didn’t ask what that disappointing look on her face was all about, and he wasn’t trying to hear her denounce his coldness as she was known to do. He, instead, picked up the phone to order more security on Gloria, and more intel on Oz.
Roz, knowing all too well how he was, walked out.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
They handed their menus back to the waiter and then Oz leaned back and smiled at Gloria. The fact that she had come to him, to thank him for helping her, meant a lot. “How was your trip?” he asked her.
She was taking a sip of her wine as she was nodding her head. “It was . . .” She started to say good, but had to catch herself. If her plan was to see if there was even a remote possibility of a relationship with this man, she had to keep it real with him. “It was challenging,” she admitted.
“Going home to see your family isn’t usually challenging,” Oz said. “Unless you have one of those families.”
“Not family, no,” Gloria said. “But father.”
“Oh, right,” Oz said as if he’d forgotten, although he knew he never could. “You’re Mick the Tick’s daughter.”
Gloria looked at him. “I don’t like that nickname.”
“Why not? It doesn’t describe him?”
“It describes him. I just don’t like it.” Then she leaned forward. “How do you know my father?”
“I told you I don’t know him.”
“But you know of him, you said.”
Oz smiled an awkward smile. “Everybody knows of him. He runs the Sinatra Corporation. That’s not a Fortune 500 company, that’s a Fortune 100 company, my dear, which means
it’s in the top tier of the top tier. It only stands to reason, since I’m in big business too, that I would know of him.”
Gloria was staring at him. “How do you know my father?”
Oz stared back at her. She had a way of forcing him to face facts. But that would require revealing too much of himself to a woman he was only just beginning to know. “I know of him,” he said again.
Gloria realized she wasn’t dealing with one of her old boyfriends that would let her get away with anything. Oz Drakos was nobody’s boy. “Okay,” she said. “Got it.”
“What does that mean?”
“I thought that was why you changed on me when we landed in Philly,” she said. “I thought it was because you knew my father.”
Oz stared at her. “Why would you think that?”
“Because of how you reacted when you saw my brother. Because of how you reacted when you found out who my father was. It was like you got upset with me because of who I am.”
“No, that wasn’t it at all. Not at all. I was just . . . I think I was just tired.”
“Tired of me?”
“No! Just tired.”
Gloria stared at him. He wasn’t ready to come clean with her, she decided. “Okay,” she said.
Oz knew he hadn’t convinced her of squat. But he wasn’t ready to go there. “Now answer my question,” he said.
Gloria looked at him. “You didn’t ask me a question.”
“Why was your trip home so challenging?”
“It always is with him.”
“I heard he was a tough son-of-a-bitch. With his own daughter too?”
Gloria nodded. “All of his kids. He just . . . He’s just hard.”
“Did something happen while you were home this last time?”
“I work for him.”
Worked for him how, Oz wondered. In his legit company, or in his crime syndicate? “You work at the Sinatra Corporation?”
“Yes. I have for quite some time. But when I told him I was leaving his company to do my own thing, he wasn’t thrilled to hear it.”
“Why not?”
“He didn’t want me to leave him. Isn’t that obvious?”
“Not really, no. Why wouldn’t he want you to leave him?”
“He’s just like that.”
“Controlling?” Oz asked.
“He never tells us anything positive. He never pays us any attention at all, really, unless he’s angry with us. But as soon as we even think about getting from under his thumb, he’s all upset and can’t understand why we would want to live our own lives. But he won’t even say he loves us. He won’t even say he cares about us or anything even close to that. He just wants to control us. And I got tired of it.”
Oz stared at her. His father, a vicious mob boss himself, would not have won any awards either. He understood.
“He opened another office in New England,” Gloria said. “And I knew I could run it. I even spoke up for myself and let him know how much I wanted it. But he . . . Needless to say, I didn’t get it. He didn’t think I was ready. I realized I’ll never be ready if I stayed under him.”
“What kind of father was he when you were a kid?”
“Never there,” Gloria said. “Always making promises that he never kept. I should have given up on him then. Our oldest brother, Adrian, did.” Then a sad look appeared in Gloria’s eyes. “But he’s dead now.”
Oz exhaled. Their backgrounds were more alike than she could ever imagine. She was hurting. He saw it on the plane just as he was seeing it right in front of him. And Mick the Tick was the reason.
He smiled, which was always his go-to emotion. “Stick with me kid,” he said, “and you’ll never be sad again.”
“That’s a damn lie,” Gloria said with a smile of her own, and Oz laughed a booming laugh. “Almost every time I’ve been around you,” Gloria continued, “your butt made me sad.”
Oz’s smile left. “I’m really sorry about that,” Oz said. “But I’ll tell you what: from this moment on, you stick with me, kid, and you’ll never be sad again. Deal?”
Gloria’s smile eased up. And she stared at him. For some reason even she couldn’t explain, she believed him. “Deal,” she said.
When Oz saw her expression change from gaiety to that serious look she usually wore, he felt protective of her. And he believed it too. “Deal,” he said again, as if his words alone would confirm it.
After dinner, they walked happily to Oz’s Porsche. Neither one of them fully understood why they were so happy, but they were. Especially Oz, who believed, if their relationship was allowed to blossom, she might just be his soulmate. But as soon as he had that thought, he had another thought. That his stupid ass was actually considering a relationship with Mick the Tick’s daughter. And if Mick the Tick found out, especially considering that he just might be at war with him, Mick was going to have a relationship with his life.
He knew he had to curb his enthusiasm.
He assisted Gloria into his car, and then closed the door behind her. When he got in on the driver’s side, she gave him her happiest smile, a smile that always transformed her serious face into a face of innocence to him. And just like that, he was bitten again. He wanted to take her home with him. He felt just that protective of her. But he also knew Mick Sinatra’s daughter was nobody’s booty call. He had to tread carefully.
“Where are you staying?” he asked her as he began driving off.
“At Margaret Jean’s B & B,” she responded.
“Nice place. Not as nice as The Drakos, but nice.”
“And, of course, you aren’t biased at all.”
“Not in the least!” Oz said with a grin.
Gloria loved the way he grinned. He was always so upbeat, something she wasn’t used to. And the fact that he was willing to spend time with her despite the fact that he knew about her family’s mob ties, gave her hope. He wouldn’t admit to knowing it, but she was no idiot. She saw how he reacted when he saw Teddy waiting for her. She saw how he reacted when she told him who her father was. He was a major businessman who probably didn’t want that kind of scrutiny. But he was hanging out with her anyway. That gave her hope.
“What I wanna know,” Oz said, “is how on earth do you get around without wheels?”
“It’s been easy so far,” said Gloria. “I live within walking distance to the diner, which was my main concern.”
“But the weather’s looking nasty the rest of this week. You don’t want to walk in that.”
“There is such a thing as an umbrella, Oz.”
“Didn’t you have an automobile in Philadelphia? Or was it not necessary there too?”
“Oh, it was necessary, alright, but after I bought the diner, I sold it to one of my girlfriends.”
“Why would you do that?”
“I needed the cash.”
Oz looked away from the road, he was so shocked. “Mick Sinatra’s daughter needed cash?”
But Gloria didn’t even try to smile. “I don’t want his cash. This is my thing and my thing only. I’ll be okay if the diner remains profitable, which I intend for it to remain. And then I’ll get some wheels as you call them.”
Oz was impressed. “You’re really on your own now, aren’t you?”
“Totally,” said Gloria. “My father is not on board at all with my decision.”
“What about your mother?”
A sad look appeared in Gloria’s eyes. “She’s a fashion designer busy with her fashions. She’ll agree to anything right now. She’ll stay onboard if Dad doesn’t make her change her mind.”
“He controls her too?”
“He’s her financial support whenever her fashion line doesn’t sell according to plan. So yeah, he controls her.”
“Your father—” Oz began saying, but then he heard a gunshot and, without hesitation, pushed Gloria’s head down. “Get down!” he yelled as his back windshield shattered.
He hit on the gas even as he looked through the rearview to se
e who was shooting at them, but all he saw were headlights coming toward them.
He slung a corner, quickly, knowing he had to get some distance between himself and the chase car, but all he got was those headlights slinging that corner, too, and heading straight for them again. And then there were more shots.
But when Oz turned another corner as sharply as he could, and those headlights did the same, he realized this wasn’t going to work. He had to change the narrative.
“Hold on!” he yelled to Gloria, who was on the floor with her head completely covered.
“I am!” she yelled back.
But Oz was already in the midst of his decision. Instead of speeding away from the car behind them, he suddenly turned his car around to where he was now facing them, and he began speeding straight for the chase car.
The driver of the chase car, not expecting it, was stunned. “What’s that fucker doing?” he yelled, but he couldn’t hesitate or they were surely going to have a head-on collision.
He turned his car around, too, in the opposite direction, and began speeding away. The chaser was now the chased, and Oz wasn’t about to let them get away.
They drove through those long country backroads of Apple Valley as if they were on a racetrack. Oz was not letting up for a second.
Just behind Oz was Leo Ducetti and his men. They had been ordered to stay with Gloria, but to stay out of sight, and they had kept that order. But Leo hadn’t expected that turn of events. While his driver had to do a U-turn to keep up with Oz’s Porsche and the car Oz was now chasing, Leo was calling Mick.
“Somebody’s taking shots at them,” he said as soon as Mick answered his call.
“Taking shots?” Mick’s voice couldn’t hide his concern. “You’re telling me somebody’s trying to take out my daughter? What the fuck are you calling me for? Take their asses out!”
“We’re trying to take’em out, sir, but he’s driving too fast. We can’t get close enough.”
“Who is it?”
“We don’t know. But we think they’re after Drakos.”
“Drakos? I thought you said his ass was the leader of that mob?”
“That’s what we think, yes, sir. We don’t know who this other group is.”
Oz Drakos: Loving Mick the Tick's Daughter Page 11
