This was foreign-speak to Nikki. She was married before, albeit for a short period of time, and to a creep. But her husband always drove the better car. Always! “What do you mean?” she asked him.
“Pick a luxury brand,” Teddy said.
“Luxury? You mean like a Cadillac or a Lincoln? Cars like that?”
“I mean like a Bugatti or a Bentley or a Phantom. Cars like that.”
Nikki couldn’t believe what he was saying. She stared at him.
He smiled when he noticed her stare. “What?” he asked.
“You want to buy me a car like that?” Nikki asked.
“That’s what I’m saying, yes. There’s a dealership I’m taking you to that sells all those brands, and more.”
“But . . . Why would you want to invest in me like that this early in our relationship?”
“We’ve been in a long-distance, phone relationship for months before we physically hooked up. It’s not like I just met you.”
“But you’re buying me a car, Teddy! That’s a long-ass leap forward. We haven’t even gotten that situation in L.A. ironed out.”
“Don’t worry about L.A.,” Teddy said. “It’s ironed out. If the cops suspected you, they would have gotten in touch with you by now.”
“They may not have discovered his body yet.”
“They discovered it,” Teddy said confidently. “I have connections in the LAPD. And if they were to get in touch with you, just in case, you know what to tell them.”
“Visiting my boyfriend. Will be staying in Philly for a few days.”
“Longer than that now. Just tell them you’ll be staying in Philly and leave it at that.”
“Got it,” Nikki said. “But I mean, what if . . . What if I don’t work out as your assistant?” She asked this and then looked at Teddy.
Teddy knew exactly what she meant. She wanted to know what if they didn’t work out period. “Then you’ll have yourself a nice car to remember me by.” Teddy felt a sadness wash over him as soon he said those words. He looked at Nikki. She didn’t exactly look cheerful either.
“I’m sure I’ll work out,” she said as if to reassure both of them. “I’ll certainly try my best.”
Teddy smiled. Off the hook again! “It’ll work out,” he said, with even more confidence.
Foreign Imports was a luxury dealership on the outskirts of Philly, and Nikki had no problem picking out the car she liked on the showroom floor when Teddy asked her to pick one. There was every luxury brand imaginable, from Jaguar XJs and Maybachs, to Bentleys and Rolls Royces. But it was one, an Aston-Martin Vanquish S, that caught her attention.
“It’s black and elegant and sleek,” she said, looking at it.
“Just like you,” Teddy said, looking too. Nikki smiled.
“You’ll take it?” the salesman asked.
It was the craziest thing ever to Nikki. But she nodded her head. Might as well live in the dream. “I’ll take it,” she said.
“You heard the lady,” Teddy said. “Bag it up. She’ll take it.”
The salesman, thrilled, didn’t waste another second. That car was out of that showroom and the paperwork was completed by the time it took Nikki to go the restroom, freshen up, and return.
The last time she was in a car dealership, it took from sun up to sun down before the purchase was approved and she and her then-husband left with a car. And that was for a Ford!
But as Nikki drove away from that dealership in her brand-new car, she smiled. “Money talks,” she said to herself. And Teddy, it seemed to her, had plenty to say.
That evening, while Teddy had to handle some business, Nikki received a phone call from Gloria. She was in the driveway of Teddy’s house, sitting in her new car, getting further acquainted with the numerous features. And praising God for such an enormous blessing. Was Teddy too good to be true? And was it right for her to accept a gift that wonderful?
She knew she wasn’t doing anything wrong by accepting it. She wanted to live in his world, and it was for damn sure she couldn’t afford a toothbrush in that world. What was she going to do? Tell him no, Teddy, I can’t accept the car. And then what would she do? Ride the bus? Or was she supposed to turn down the best job she ever had in her life, and go back to L.A. to collect unemployment checks? Nikki was fiercely independent, and she would leave the scene as soon as it stopped working for her. But she was a practical girl, too. And if a man like Teddy was offering her a paycheck and a car, she was going to take it. Bump that, she thought. She was going to gladly take it. But the key word in all of it, she also knew, was Teddy. It wasn’t just any man with the offerings. She’d turned down many men bearing gifts in her day. But she wasn’t turning down Teddy.
Then Gloria called. She answered her cell phone. “Hello?”
“Hey, Nikki, this is Glo.”
“Oh, Gloria. Hi! How are you?”
“I’m excellent! But listen, I got a call from Teddy today. He asked if I could take you shopping sometime soon.”
Shopping, Nikki thought. “Why would I need to go shopping?” she blurted out.
But then, as soon as she did, she realized why. Her clothes were nice, she knew, but they weren’t exactly expensive or luxurious or anything like that. He’d already made clear that he wanted her to outdrive him. She guessed, given that everything Teddy wore was high-grade designer, he wanted her to out-dress him too!
But before she could say a word, Gloria continued. “Please don’t be offended,” she said. “You have to know how my brother is. He’s big on looking the part. He brings it. He expects his woman to bring it too. Our dad is the same way.”
It was the confirmation Nikki needed. Not just with the clothes situation, but with their relationship situation. Because even Gloria referred to her as Teddy’s woman. Not his friend. Not his aide. His woman. Teddy had to have given her a reason to go out on that limb.
And Nikki liked the sound of it. She was Teddy Sinatra’s woman. She was in the big leagues now. “When will you be free to do it?” she asked Gloria.
“How about tomorrow when I get off work?” Gloria asked. “Can you meet me at Valstrom’s?”
Nikki said she could. She had no idea who what or where Valstrom’s was, but she knew she’d find it.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
“I still say we hit back and hit back hard,” Joey said. “That’s the only thing fuckers like Bovenconti understands.”
“I agree with Joey,” said Ron Bevin. “We need to show those bastards who’s still top dog!”
It was the day after he purchased the Aston-Martin for Nikki, and three days after explosions rocked the docks. Teddy was in an odd place: happy to have Nikki in his life. Drained and unhappy with the still unfolding events he had to handle.
He was standing in front of the group, leaned against the front of his desk, with folded arms. His legs were outstretched and crossed at the ankle, and he did more listening than talking. He’d met with outside groups. He wanted to see where his people stood.
They were at Teddy’s office inside the Colgate building, a building a mile from the docks and owned by Teddy himself. It was a building where mob business was conducted under the guise of an import/export business, called Teddy’s Import/Export, rather than the gunrunning they were actually involved with. But it kept them separated from Sinatra Industries, Mick Sinatra’s legitimate business empire.
All of the crew chiefs in the syndicate had offices there, including Joey. And during this meeting, Joey’s lieutenants, the Bevin twins, were his most vocal supporters. They backed Joey up, no matter what. But the other capos, the other crew chiefs and lieutenants, were taking their cues from the boss: from Teddy.
But Teddy still listened to his kid brother and the twins go on and on, until they took it too far.
“If you think about it, Boss,” Big-Eye Bevin said to Teddy, “Boss Bovenconti’s been making noise for years.”
“Years!” Joey echoed.
“He or somebody in his family alway
s got something negative to say about the Sinatras. They always take the opposite side whenever we have meetings. They always talk about getting even and shit. It’s been going on like that for a long time.”
“But we never clapped back,” Joey said, as the chains around his neck began clanging when he clapped his hands. “He’s not big enough. He’s just making noise. All kinds of excuses we’ve heard. From you and Pop both,” Joey added. “But now, because we didn’t take their asses out when we should have, look what’s happened?”
Teddy frowned. He couldn’t believe his brother went there. “Bitch, what?” he asked Joey. “That shit happened because of what your crew did! Because of what the twins and Khaki did in that nightclub. That’s what started this shit!”
“What are we going to do is the question,” Ron Bevin said. “What we did in the past is irrelevant. That’s over. What are we going to do now?”
“You’re going to shut the fuck up,” Teddy said angrily. “That’s what you’re going to do!”
The other capos grinned. Bevin, they felt, had it coming. Who was he to question Teddy’s authority, and talk to Teddy like that?
But Ron and Big-Eye looked at Joey. They had his back, but he didn’t have theirs?
“What he’s saying is true, though,” Joey decided to say, although he knew, unlike the Bevins, he had to tread carefully. Teddy could be pushed just so far. “We need a plan of attack.”
“And attack who, Joey?” Teddy asked. “We haven’t even confirmed who hit us. Who we gonna attack? Nobody’s claimed responsibility for it. Nobody’s got a conversation going through the pipeline. We don’t know shit yet!”
“Who else can it be except Bovenconti?” Joey asked.
“Who else is Pop’s enemy?” Teddy asked, annoyed by his brother’s lack of range. “Who else is my enemy? Hell, who else is your enemy, Joey? I can write a fucking phone book with who else!”
“But the last thing that happened was about Bovenconti!” Joey made clear.
“Okay, genius, prove it,” Teddy said. “Prove it!”
The capos looked at Joey. But he said nothing. Just as they suspected, he had no proof whatsoever.
“Thought so,” one of the capos even said. “You and those Bevin twins need to start listening to Teddy more, and not those bitches your dumbasses be sleeping with!”
All of the capos laughed. Except Joey and the twins. “Kiss my dumb ass, motherfucker!” Joey shot back.
“The point is,” Teddy said, still serious as serious could be, “we don’t know what our enemies are thinking, or when they were planning to launch an attack. Some random could have hit us at this very moment to take advantage of what happened with Boss Bovenconti’s son. We don’t have enough facts!”
Joey had no come back for that.
Teddy exhaled. “I don’t play that half-ass shit. And nobody working under me,” he added, which included every leader in that room, “will play it either. I have a meeting with Bovenconti tomorrow night. He’s agreed to a sit-down.”
“He agreed?” Joey asked.
“Yeah, motherfucker he agreed!” Teddy fired back. “What do you think I’m going to do? Order him to sit down with me?”
“Hell yeah!” Joey said. “That’s what Pop would do!”
“Bullshit!” said Teddy. “Pop would have fired your ass for leading the crew that started this, and then he would have handed over to Boss B everybody involved in that hospital killing. That’s what Pop would have already done!”
Teddy was on fire, and he could barely contain his rage. “Bovenconti didn’t do shit to us until we did shit to him,” he said, “and that’s only if he did shit to us. That’s only if he was actually behind those explosions. Because if it’s really Boss B like you’re so certain it is, then we brought this hell on ourselves. And you have the nerve to talk about what Pop would do. Pop would do the right thing, not order around a man who wasn’t at fault to begin with. That’s what Pop would do!”
Joey shut down again. The capos looked to Teddy. “What do you want us to do, Boss?” asked one.
“Keep your eyes and ears open,” Teddy said. “I don’t want anybody out there accusing anybody of shit. Just shut the fuck up and listen. You hear some chatter, you let me know. All information comes through me and me only. Listen and report what you hear. That’s all we’re going to do right now, until after I meet with Bovenconti. Until I’m certain nothing else is at play here.”
They all understood. But the Bevin twins were looking at Joey. The twins were wondering if he heard that last part, about all info going through Teddy only. Joey was supposed to be the conduit. Info was supposed to flow to Joey first, and then it was Joey’s job to move it up the chain. But Teddy was already freezing him out.
It was even more evident when the group began to disperse. Many of the capos made a point of going over to Teddy, shaking his hand and publicly showing their unwavering support for him. But one capo, Mikey Reed, brushed against Joey and uttered “asshole” beneath his breath as he did.
But Joey, being Joey, pushed him away from him and then took his fist and knocked him against the side wall.
And the fight was on.
Teddy heard the skirmish before he saw it. But when he looked over and saw what was happening, and who was involved, he angrily pushed through the crowd of men that surrounded him, and he hurried to his two underlings.
Joey had Mikey in a headlock, and was beating him in the face, when Teddy grabbed his kid brother and, with his brute strength alone, flung him away from his own team member. Mikey tried to charge at Joey again when they were separated, the anger was that intense, but the Bevin twins held him back.
“What the fuck is wrong with you two?” Teddy was yelling at Joey and Mikey both. “We’re on the same fucking team, you idiots! What’s your problem?”
“What are you asking me for?” Joey yelled back. “I was minding my own business. He came at me!”
“Stay away from each other!” Teddy ordered. Then he motioned. “Get out of here, Mikey,” he said. “Beat it.”
Mikey was still hot with Joey, but he knew Teddy wasn’t going to tolerate disobedience. He jerked away from the twins and left the room.
Teddy gave Joey a hard look. He didn’t understand him. Some months he was the best crew chief he had. Other times he was the worse. The absolute worse! And he had to know he was already on a short leash with their father, but he was still yanking the chain. It was only a matter of time, Teddy knew, before he had to cut him off. If he wasn’t his kid brother, it would have already happened. But Joey was his kid brother!
“Keep this shit up,” Teddy warned, staring at his brother. “Keep it up.”
Then Teddy left too. The rest of the capos, except for the Bevin twins, gave Joey hard looks, too, and then followed behind Teddy.
When everybody had gone, the twins looked at Joey. “Now you believe us?” Ron Bevin asked.
Joey frowned. He was wiping a small trickle of blood from the side of his mouth. “What are you talking? What I’m supposed to believe?”
“Now do you understand that your brother is trying to ice you out of your own family’s business?”
Joey still had a puzzled look on his face.
“You heard what Teddy said,” Ron said. “He said all info goes straight to him. Since when? All info is supposed to go through you before it gets to him. But he’s icing you out, Joey.”
“No telling what he says to Mick the Tick behind your back,” Big-Eye added. “He could be lying his head off about you!”
“And you saw how he gave Mikey a pass,” Ron said. “You saw how he acted like you started that shit. Like you’re the problem.”
“Okay, so what?” Joey responded. “What am I supposed to do about it? Pop picked Teddy! Teddy can do no wrong in his eyes, you just don’t know. Teddy’s a natural leader. Teddy’s this. Teddy’s that. You don’t know the shit I have to hear day in and day out about Pop’s golden boy Teddy! I don’t care what the problem is,
Pop takes his side. What am I supposed to do about that?”
“You’re supposed to finally admit the truth,” Ron said. “Teddy’s your brother. But your brother? He’s not up for the job, Joey. You know it, and I know it. He dithers around and can’t make a decision. It’s been three fucking days since those dock fires and what have we done? We ain’t done shit, Joey! We need somebody like you as the number two! We need somebody who’ll fuck the proof and do what he needs to do to keep this family on top!”
“And what about this meeting he’s having with Boss Bovenconti?” Big-Eye asked. “If Bovenconti claims he didn’t do it, what’s going to happen next? Is Teddy just going to believe him?”
“You’ve got to make your move, Joey,” Ron said. “No more bullshitting around! Teddy’s got to go, or every fucker in this town is going to be gunning for us.”
“Yeah, well, tell that shit to Pop,” Joey said. “See how far that gets you.”
“Your old man is too busy running his legit empire to see what’s really going on,” said Ron. “You’ve got to show him, Joey. You’ve got to make your move. The future of the Sinatra Crime Family is depending on you.”
Joey knew it was a gross exaggeration. Teddy and Mick Sinatra weren’t about to let their organization go up in flames. And he knew the twins were kissing his ass, not because they were so devoted to him, but because they knew his elevation would elevate them. But he also knew what he heard. Teddy was icing him out of the chain of command. He was sidelining him as an excuse to ultimately get rid of his ass. The twins, Joey feared, were spot on.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Detective Malidec sat down from his five-nine frame and reviewed the report in front of him. It was a one-page report, and it took him little time to read it. “I’ll be damn,” he said as he read.
“What’s it saying?” Officer Hunter asked.
They were at the Philadelphia police precinct, and Malidec had just been given the background he had requested on the woman in those dock photos.
Teddy Sinatra_Chains For Love Page 12
