“So, what brings you to Philadelphia, Nikki?” Roz asked her.
Teddy was ready to answer it, with whatever bullshit answer he could make up, but Nikki handled it. “I’ve never been here before and decided to give it a try.”
“Oh, okay. Then maybe, while you’re here, Gloria and I can show you around some.”
“Oh, no ma’am, I wouldn’t want to bother you like that.”
“No bother at all! It’ll be my pleasure.”
“Mine too,” Gloria said. “Any friend of Teddy’s is a friend of mine.”
Nikki smiled. She was beginning to like this family more and more. “That would be awesome. Thank you. Thank you so much.”
“You sound as if you aren’t used to the kindness of strangers, Nikki,” Roz said with a smile.
“No, I’m not,” Nikki responded. “Not even the distant politeness of strangers,” she added, and they all laughed.
But Teddy glanced into Nikki’s eyes. It was a telling admission, and he saw where it was too true to be funny.
And then it was small talk time, mainly about fashion and Philly stores versus L.A. boutiques. Teddy sat back and let the ladies have at it. He was actually comfortable and relaxed for a change.
Until Joey reappeared and interrupted his reverie. “Hey, Ted!” he yelled.
He was over in the hall, near Roz’s office. And he was motioning for Teddy to come over. Figuring it was a new problem he had to handle, Teddy got up and went to his kid brother. Joey escorted him into Roz’s office and closed the door.
“What is it?” Teddy asked.
“We may have a problem.”
“Where?”
“What do you mean where? Here!”
“Here? What kind of problem?”
“That female in Dad’s living room.”
Teddy frowned. “What?”
“That chick. That girl. I think we may have a problem!”
Teddy just stared at Joey, and his displeasure with his brother was on full display. “What kind of problem, Joey?”
“The serious kind. I had Enzio run a background on her.”
Enzio worked for the syndicate. He ran their “research” department. “And?” Teddy asked.
“I think she might be Fed. And I don’t mean well-fed, either, although she’s that too.”
Teddy frowned. “Ah, fuck you, Joey. You can kiss her well-fed ass!”
Teddy turned to leave, he was done, but Joey grabbed his arm. “She’s an FBI informant, Teddy,” he said.
Teddy looked at his brother’s hand on his arm. Joey released it. And then Teddy looked at Joey. “She’s no informant for anybody.”
“She snitched on her ex-husband and her own father. Her own father, Ted! They did five-year prison terms because of her.”
“They did five-year stints because of their own actions. She didn’t snitch.”
“How do you know?”
“I did a background, too. I’m not stupid. I have inside contacts in the FBI, unlike you and Enzio’s sorry asses. That’s how I know.”
Joey was surprised. “You could have told somebody.”
“What the fuck I need to tell you for? I’m the one dating her. Not you!”
“But you’re bringing her around the family! That concerns all of us. And I’m sure it’s going to concern Dad too.”
“She’s not Fed. That’s all you have to worry about,” Teddy said, and turned to leave. And then he turned back. “And, Joey, she’s off limits with the jokes and putdowns. Understand?”
Joey was surprised to hear Teddy talk like that.
“You understand?” Teddy asked again.
“Yeah,” Joey responded, still surprised.
And then Teddy left the room.
But he wasn’t back in the living room, sitting beside Nikki again, when a car could be heard outside. And everybody in the family knew that sound.
“Dad’s home,” Gloria said.
If Nikki was suddenly nervous, she realized she wasn’t the only one. The entire relaxed mood of the room changed. And she could feel even strongman Teddy clench up
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Joey was coming out of his stepmother’s office when the front door opened and Mick Sinatra walked in. Nikki noticed how Joey seemed shocked to see him suddenly there, and he stopped nervously in his tracks. “Hey, Pop,” he said in a voice devoid of that arrogance she noticed earlier.
She also noticed how Mick Sinatra responded with a dry “Hey” to his son with about as much affection as a cactus. This man was the real shit! Then he started heading their way.
If Teddy and Gloria rose to their feet swiftly when their stepmother walked into the room, they flew to their feet when their father walked in. The only family member who didn’t rise was Roz. Nikki, taking Roz’s cue, remained seated too. Maybe it was a stubborn thing. Maybe it was a too-nervous-to-move thing. But whatever it was, Nikki remained seated. But she kept her eyes on Mick Sinatra.
When she told Teddy that his father’s photo on the internet had terrified her, she really wasn’t exaggerating. Seeing the man in person only confirmed why for her. Although he was a very handsome man, a man Teddy greatly favored, he looked so big and intense and menacing that his meanness overpowered his attractiveness and created a picture that was overall very negative. More negative than her own father came across to her. She wondered why any of his children bothered to have anything to do with him!
She felt that way even more when the man entered the living room and, without saying a word even to his wife, walked straight up to Teddy. And with a fist bigger than both of Nikki’s hands, Mick Sinatra leaned back and knocked the shit out of Teddy. Nikki jumped to her feet then, in shock, as Teddy’s big body flipped over the side table from the impact of the punch and landed, on his back, behind the table.
Get your ass up, Nikki thought angrily, and Teddy, to his credit, got up quickly and hurried back around the table to get in his father’s face. He wasn’t backing down, Nikki noticed, but he wasn’t fighting back either. Not with this man.
Joey had entered the living room and looked terrified. Gloria looked beyond terrified. But Nikki also noticed how neither one of them said a word against their father’s action or came to Teddy’s defense. Roz remained where she sat, staring at her man with a hard look that made it clear she would intervene if he took it too far. To Nikki, who looked from Teddy to Mick, he already had.
Mick’s anger had unleashed, and it was still there as he pointed a finger at his son. “Don’t you ever take my plane without my permission ever again. Don’t you lie to my crew ever again. You understand me?”
Nikki’s heart dropped. Was that what this was about?
“Do you understand me?” Mick asked Teddy again in that same way, Joey noticed, Teddy had asked him when it came to disrespecting his woman.
But Teddy knew he had to own up to what he’d done. He took his father’s plane without asking permission, and he did lie to the crew that Mick knew he was taking it. Because of his reputation for integrity, and the position he held as his father’s number two, the crew believed him without question. “Yes, sir,” he said.
But Nikki couldn’t just stand there quietly and let Teddy take all of the blame. “He did it for me,” she said to Mick.
Everybody was startled. “Oh, my Gawd,” Gloria verbalized, feeling afraid for Nikki, and Joey shook his head as if he knew what was coming next.
And when Mick looked at Nikki with a look that everybody knew meant trouble, and then made a move toward her, Teddy’s heart dropped. He moved to Nikki and stood almost in front of her, shielding her. Even Roz, understanding how quickly this could get way out of hand, rose to her feet.
And when her husband continued to move toward Nikki, despite Teddy’s positioning, Roz moved in front of Teddy and attempted to grab Mick by the arm to stop his progression. “Mick,” she said in an attempt to deescalate the tension.
But Mick removed his arm from her grasp. “What did you say?” he asked
Nikki.
Nikki’s heart was hammering, but she moved from behind Teddy and Roz and stood her ground. “I said he did it for me,” she said. “I was in a situation where I needed help. I called him and asked him to help me. He took your plane because it was the fastest way he could come and help me.”
Mick stopped his progression, but he didn’t ease his stare. “And that is supposed to excuse it?” he asked.
“Excuse it, no,” Nikki said. “Explain it, yes. So, if you want to be angry with somebody, be angry with me.”
Mick continued to stare at Nikki. One thing a man like him could recognize and respect was strength. And this girl was strong. She stood up to him: she had to be. She was a lightning bolt of strength. But she was more than that to Mick.
“Move,” he said to Teddy, who had moved back in front of Nikki.
But Teddy stood his ground. “No, sir,” he said to his father. “I take the blame for not getting your permission. That’s all on me. She had nothing to do with that.”
Joey and Gloria looked at each other. They knew Teddy was the only one of them who could stand up to their father, and sometimes did. But that risky game had its limits too.
But Mick, instead, looked around Teddy at Nikki. “You’re Nikki,” he said, surprising everybody in the room that he knew her name. Including Nikki.
Nikki moved from behind Teddy again. “That’s right,” she said.
Mick stared at her again, and then let out words he rarely repeated. “Thank you,” he said to her.
Everybody was baffled, but none more so than Nikki. “You’re thanking me for what?” she asked.
“You are the young lady who assisted my nephew Tommy Gabrini, and my son, when my wife was taken to that hospital in Beverly Hills, are you not?”
Everybody exhaled for the first time since Mick’s arrival. Teddy even smiled his relief. “Yes, sir,” Teddy said. “She’s the one.”
“What did she do?” Gloria asked.
“That hospital staff wouldn’t let us see Roz or give us any real information,” Teddy said. “Nikki followed one of the nurses into the bathroom and got her to help us out. We were able to see Roz for the first time then, and we gave a report to Dad, who was flying back from Europe.”
“Thank you,” Mick said to Nikki again, when he was able to see her in full.
Nikki smiled. Talk about a turn of events! “’You’re welcome,” she said.
Mick gave the slightest of smiles, but then he was serious again. “If you ever speak out of turn to me again, however,” he said to Nikki, “I’ll kick your ass.”
Nikki swallowed hard. She believed him. “Yes, sir,” she said to him.
Then Mick looked at his wife with the first affectionate look Nikki saw in the man, and then he began to walk away. “Ted! Joey!” he yelled as he walked with his back to all of them. “And you too, Gloria!”
Joey and Gloria hurried behind him. Teddy looked at Nikki. “It’s some family business, that’s all,” he said to her. “You okay?”
She nodded and said that she was fine, although Teddy could see she was a little shaken too. And he hated that her first impression of his father was such a negative one. But at least he thanked her, and at least she now knew what kind of head of family she was dealing with.
He squeezed her arm, and then followed his siblings toward his father’s office.
Roz looked at Nikki. “I should thank you as well,” she said. “I had no idea you assisted them that way.”
“It was really nothing. Ted and that other man, Tommy Gabrini, were so distressed and worried about you. It seemed so unfair to me that that hospital staff wouldn’t at least give them a real status report.”
“They don’t care. It’s all about the money with those places. Anyway, how about a drink?”
“Oh, that sounds great,” Nikki said with a smile. “I feel as if I just got out of a Cat-5 hurricane that suddenly turned into a Tsunami.”
Roz laughed. “Welcome to Sinatra World!” she hailed. Then she placed her arm in Nikki’s. “Come on,” she said as she began escorting her to their full-sized bar. “Let’s get drunk together!”
Nikki smiled, and gladly went along.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
“How did it go?”
Gloria was seated in the middle chair in front of Mick’s desk, with Teddy and Joey seated in chairs beside her. She looked at her father and made sure she gave a thoughtful answer. But the words wouldn’t come without offending his beloved Blair Conyers. “Not great,” she finally said.
“It went good then?” Mick asked her.
“I wouldn’t say that either.”
Mick frowned. “Then say what the fuck you mean.”
Gloria swallowed hard. “Blair, your executive assistant and my current boss, insisted that we play hardball and force them to accept every demand you mentioned you wanted. I told her that’s not going to work. Nobody’s going to ever agree to everything. It’s not a negotiation in that case. But she overruled me.”
Mick was staring at his daughter. “And what happened?” he asked.
“They said no,” Gloria said, “but without prejudice.”
Joey smiled. “Without prejudice? What does that mean? They aren’t racists?”
“It means,” Teddy said, “that they will be willing to come back to the negotiating table if there’s more flexibility on Dad’s part. It means they said no, but they haven’t closed the door entirely.”
“Which is good,” Mick said. “But why did they leave that door open?” he asked Gloria.
“Because I asked them to,” Gloria responded. “Blair was sufficiently set back when they said no, so she looked to me for help. I told them I would get with you, and then get back to them. But only if they agree to return to the negotiating table. And they agreed.”
Mick nodded. “That was good work,” he said to her.
Gloria smiled. “Thank you,” she said.
“Their CEO gave me a call. He credited you with keeping the deal alive.”
Gloria beamed.
“I want you to put together a team and set up a meeting. They’re waiting on your call.”
“Yes, sir. But,” Gloria said.
“But what?” Mick asked.
“But what about Blair?”
Mick frowned. “What the fuck about her? She’s my assistant. What the fuck she can do about it? I’ll handle her. You just get the right team together.”
Gloria was pleased. “Yes, sir.”
“So, does that mean you’re promoting Glo, Pop?” Joey asked. “You demoted her already. Are you promoting her again?”
“She’s moving in the right direction,” said Mick. “Promotions don’t grow on trees. You have to earn them. She’s in the earning process right now.”
“Congrats, Glo,” said Teddy with a smile.
“Thanks,” Gloria responded, unable to stop smiling.
“I’m going to be out of the country tomorrow,” Mick said to his daughter. “I’m going to be in tough negotiations, so it might take a while. I’ll be back as soon as I can get back. Seal that deal before I get back.”
Gloria knew it was a tall order, but she was up to the challenge. “Yes, sir,” she said.
“That’ll be all,” Mick said to her, she rose to her feet and she left. She left with a big smile on her face.
“But as for you two,” Mick said, leaning forward and staring at his sons. “What the fuck happened?”
Before Teddy could respond, Joey decided to play dumb. “In reference to what?” he asked his father.
Mick gave him a hard, cold stare. Playing dumb around him was never the way to go.
Teddy knew it too. “One of our men fucked up,” he said. “That’s what the fuck happened.”
“Fucked up how?” Mick asked.
“He got into it with Boss Bovenconti’s kid at some nightclub. Shit popped off and the kid was badly beaten. He’s in intensive care as we speak.”
“Why would one of our guys get
into it with the son of a Don?” Mick wanted to know. “Who would think that would be okay?”
Given that the perp had been one of Joey’s crewmembers, Teddy knew he could rat out his kid brother for his sloppy management style, and for the fact that it was always one of his men who fucked up. But he couldn’t do it. Teddy was no snitch. “I don’t know what he was thinking,” he said, instead.
“Who was it?” Mick asked.
“Guy named Khaki.”
“On whose crew?” Mick asked.
Joey’s heart was pounding. Mick had already given him several warnings about his lax leadership style. He had yet to heed those warnings.
Mick frowned when he didn’t get an answer. “Whose crew was he from?” he asked Teddy again.
“I can’t recall which crew, Pop,” Teddy said.
Joey was so grateful he could kiss his brother. But when Mick, who was nobody’s fool, gave Joey a hard look, that gratitude flew out the window. “What’s wrong?” he asked his father. “What are you looking at me for?”
“Another fuck up?” Mick asked him.
“I didn’t do anything!” Joey said as if he was as innocent as the driven snow.
Mick stared at his son. Was he destined to be a punk for the rest of his life? Would Teddy have to carry him forever? “Keep your ass out of trouble,” he finally said to him.
Why he would say that made no sense to Joey, but Joey would take it. It was better than a beat down. “Yes, sir,” he said.
“You can leave.”
Joey, like Gloria, gladly left his father’s office. He gladly left Teddy in the hot seat.
Mick leaned back. “What the fuck you think you’re doing?” he asked Teddy.
Teddy crossed his legs. “What do you mean?”
“You think I’m a fucking idiot? You think I don’t know what happens at all times to my businesses? It was a member of Joey’s crew again, but you decide to lie to me?”
“I wasn’t going to rat him out, Pop. I told him he needed to tighten it up.”
“What the fuck good is that going to do? Every time I turn around there’s another fuck up, and it involves yet another member of Joey’s crew. Tightening up is over.”
Teddy Sinatra_Chains For Love Page 7
