Mick Sinatra: Now Will You Weep

by Mallory Monroe

  But Roz was skeptical. Nell suddenly changing his mind? She knew him. That didn’t sound like his arrogant ass on any given day. This change of mind had Mick written all over it. He was in New York earlier today after all! This change of mind was the result of a Mick Intervention, not some lightbulb moment Nell had had. “You want her back?” Roz asked.

  “Yes,” Nell said. “Immediately.”

  Jade began dancing in place. Mark and the others silently clapped and laughed. But Roz decided to push the envelope to see if her suspicion was right. If Mick was involved, Nell would not want to say no to her. Not about anything. “You’re still casting for parts, aren’t you?” she asked him.

  “What do you mean?” Nell asked. “I told you I want Jade back.”

  “I understand what you said. But don’t you have roles still available?”

  Jade was nodding her head. “Several,” she mouthed to Roz.

  Roz could tell Nell was reluctant, but he finally admitted it. “Yes,” he said. “Why?”

  “I have performers who I think would be marvelous for those additional slots.”

  Mark and the others were stunned. They stared at Roz with rapt attention. Mark even leaned forward. It would be the dream of dreams if he could be in a Broadway show. It would be his first big break!

  But Nell didn’t immediately respond. It made Roz, at first, question if she had read it wrong and Mick had not intervened at all.

  Until he answered her. “Sure, why not?” he responded. “How many you got?”

  “Eight in total. All of which I highly recommend. Two males, six females.”

  “Okay, send them over tomorrow morning.”

  Mark jumped from his seat, as did the others.

  “What time?” Roz asked.

  “9 a.m.,” Nell said. “I’m sure I can find roles for them.”

  “Thanks, Nell,” Roz said. “They’ll be there.”

  They talked briefly about particulars, and how Nell would fax over the contracts once their roles were determined, before she ended the call. But all nine of Roz’s clients were dancing and shouting by the time she ended the call.

  They all rushed to Roz and hugged her. “I knew staying with you would be the best thing possible,” Mark said, with tears in his eyes. He was hugging Roz so hard that it hurt.

  Roz was happy for them too. The idea that Mick would fly to New York, meet with Nell and do whoknowswhat to get him to change his mind, amazed her. He would go through that much trouble just because one director had fired her client? Other directors had fired her clients too. Was he going to strong arm them too?

  “Oh, Ms. G,” Jade said, tears in her eyes. “Isn’t this the best day ever?”

  Roz smiled, and hugged her back. But Roz wasn’t sure if this was as joyous an occasion as it seemed. Roz wasn’t sure if she could appreciate the fact that her husband was going around threatening directors into taking on her clients.

  Not that the threats didn’t work. They worked like a charm. Jade got her job back and Roz, testing the limits of those threats, managed to get promises of roles for her other faithful clients. But it wasn’t how she wanted to run her business. She was a little desperate when she was talking to Nell. She saw an opportunity to get her people employed, and she got them employed. But it didn’t feel right to her. She wanted her people employed on their merits, not because of scare tactics.

  It made Roz feel strange. As if her good name was about to change in ways she not only couldn’t control, but couldn’t accept.

  Jake the Snake Vietti sat in the backseat of the Town Car as Cathleen Thomas opened the back door and got in. Jake was always curious when he saw Mick’s women. They all looked so different, as if he didn’t have a type at all. Hillary Riverton was tall and imposing. So was Ursula Mastriano, to a certain extent, and Bella Caine. But Cathleen here was as small as his current wife, Rosalind. When it came to women, Mick, Jake thought, was all over the place.

  “Did you ask him?” Jake asked as soon as Cathleen sat down.

  “Why did you pick this place?” Cathleen asked. “They have cameras in these mall parking lots.”

  “So what? We’re talking. We aren’t doing anything wrong. Now answer my question.”

  “I asked him,” Cathleen said.

  “And?” Jake asked.

  “He agreed to arrange the meeting. I have enough sway over him to tell him about a meeting that could change his life, and he doesn’t even bother to ask how.”

  Jake laughed. “Joey Sinatra. Mick’s hotheaded son. Yeah, I heard about him. And he thinks his old man is going to turn over his empire to him? He must be out of his stupid-ass mind.”

  “But the plan is still as you presented it to me, right?” Cathleen asked. “We want Joey to think that this is about putting him in power, but we know that’s not it at all.”

  “Not at all,” Jake said. “It’s about putting his old man out of power. Out of commission. And, ultimately, out of this world for good. Just like he took my old man out.”

  “But what about Scar and Renault? They don’t know either?”

  “Hell no,” Jake said. “They think I’m a reluctant warrior. They think I’m on board with their cockamamie scheme to take Sinatra down, and I am on board with that. But my plan, my way, is the back up. In case they fail like my old man failed. My plan might work.”

  “Go after the wife.”

  “Right,” Jake agreed. “I never thought it would be possible. But it is. Mick actually loves a woman more than he loves himself. It’s a miracle.”

  “I just want that black bitch out of the picture,” Cathleen said, with bitterness in her voice. “And Mick next. But her first. He has to suffer before he leaves this life.”

  “Oh, he will,” Jake said. “You can count on that. He will.”

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  Roz was already in bed when she heard Mick downstairs. She lifted her cell phone off of her nightstand. It was after eleven. She kept her back to the entrance when he walked upstairs and entered their bedroom, and didn’t say anything as she heard him remove all of his clothing and then get in the shower. She knew they had to talk. She just didn’t know what to say.

  Mick was drained by the time he stepped out of the shower and made his way to their bed. He began rubbing his dick as soon as he saw the outline of Roz’s body beneath the silk sheets, and knew he had to have some. But waking her up would be cruel. She had a long day and she needed her rest. He decided to let her have it.

  He made that decision, however, before he got in bed between the sheets and moved over to her naked body. As soon as his dick pressed against her ass, he knew leaving her alone was not going to be possible. He placed his arm around her and pulled her closer against him. That was when Roz knew the time had come. Had he remained on his side and not touched her, she would have let it go until later. But he was lying against her, undoubtedly horny as hell. She needed to have her say.

  “You’re home,” she said as he cuddled against her.

  “You’re awake,” he responded, pulling her closer.

  Roz turned onto her back, and then looked at Mick. “I couldn’t sleep,” she said.

  Mick lifted up on one elbow, and placed his hand on her right breast, fondling it. She smelled wonderful and looked even better. He leaned down and kissed her on the lips. It was supposed to be a peck, but it lingered. “Why can’t you sleep?” he asked her, after kissing her.

  Roz decided to get to it. “I received a call from Nell Gallor,” she said. “He gave Jade her part back.”

  Mick didn’t know who Jade was, just that she was the client Nell had fired. He nodded his head. “Good,” he said.

  “And he didn’t stop there. I told him I had eight additional clients that needed jobs, and he hired them too.”

  Mick was surprised. “All eight? Good,” he said.

  “Funny thing,” Roz said, looking at her husband. “He sounded like he was in excruciating pain as he spoke to me. Wonder why he would be in such pain
?”

  Any other man would have denied any involvement. But Roz knew Mick wasn’t that kind of man. He owned his shit. That was why she loved him. “He was in pain,” Mick said, “because I put him in pain.”

  Her suspicion was now confirmed. “Why did you do it?” she asked.

  “To get information. And revenge.”

  That seemed outsized to Roz. “You put that man in pain because you wanted to get him back for firing Jade?”

  “For making you weep,” Mick said, and looked at Roz. He felt immediately exposed, and didn’t like the feeling.

  Roz felt a warmth deep inside too. An exposure herself. But she knew Mick wouldn’t want her to go any further with it. It was enough that he admitted it. “Did he give you the information you wanted?” she asked.

  Mick nodded, laid on his back, and pulled her into his arms. He was exhausted. “He did,” he said. “I found out that your old friend, Henry Zigston, had threatened those directors, including Gallor, into firing your clients.”

  Roz was floored. “Hank did that, really? But why?”

  “Because he was working for Jake the Snake Vietti. He was doing the Snake’s bidding.”

  Roz lifted her head. “Motherfucker!” she said angrily. “I don’t believe him! He was setting me up? But what for, Mick?”

  “Seduction, he claims. But I think it was going to be a lot worse than that.”

  Roz could feel her skin crawl at the mere thought of Henry trying some bullshit craziness with her. “I sure hope you handled his ass,” she said.

  “His ass, no,” Mick said. “But another equally important body part.” Then Mick looked at her. “He’s dead.”

  Roz exhaled, and laid her head back on his chest. “He was playing with fire when he decided to play with Jake Vietti. And he got burned.” She wrapped her arm around Mick’s body. “He got what he deserved,” she said.

  And Mick, so grateful to have a partner who understood what he was up against, pulled her on top of him. He kissed her, long and lovingly, and he even eased his penis inside of her. But they both were physically drained and emotionally spent. He fell asleep, still inside of her, within seconds. And she fell asleep within a minute after him.

  But there was no rest for the weary. Because that next night, the family meeting was in session. At the Sinatra estate. Ursula Mastriano, who called the meeting, was present with her son Teddy. Bella Caine, a designer out of New York, was present with her daughter Gloria. Cathleen Thomas was present with her son Joey. And Hillary Riverton had been invited by Cathleen, and was present too, although her son, Adrian Sinatra, was dead. Roz didn’t care, and Mick let it slide. None of these women, as far as he was concerned, was any family of his.

  They all sat at the massive dining room table, with mothers beside their children, and Mick and Roz on the opposite side of the table sitting together. Roz understood how it turned out that way. Gloria and Joey, and especially Teddy, were fiercely loyal to Mick, but they didn’t want to hurt their mothers. They didn’t want to appear as if they were taking sides. The fact that they were on their mothers’ side proved that they were taking sides to Mick, and it hurt him more than a little bit.

  But Roz understood. In the eyes of Teddy, Gloria, and Joey, Mick was like the bright new shining object every one of them wanted to possess. Their mothers were the same old thing that were there for them when that object was too busy being bright and shiny to give a damn. The children now felt, Roz believed, that they owed it to their mothers to sit by their sides. Roz also believed, however, that it was just another way for Mick’s children to push in the knife of his lack of involvement in their childhoods, just a little bit deeper.

  “The reason I wanted this meeting,” Ursula said, “was to discuss what happened last month. We mothers have been discussing it. That event was a wakeup call for all of us.”

  All four mothers looked at Mick. Roz could see, beyond the rancor and bitterness, that each one of them still felt some affection for the father of their offspring. Especially Bella Caine, Gloria’s gorgeous African-American mother, whom Roz knew Mick still held a soft spot in his heart for despite their rocky past. Of all of Mick’s ex-lovers, Bella concerned her the most.

  Ursula concerned her too, but for a different reason. Ursula and Mick were still on good terms. Mick still liked and cared for her. But Roz was concerned with Ursula because she was the mother of whom she believed to be the golden child. She was Teddy’s mother. Mick’s heir. Roz was concerned that Ursula would try to assert the power she admittedly had in ways that could turn Mick against her, and, inevitably, against Teddy too. Ursula wouldn’t believe Mick was capable of that, but Roz knew he was. None of these women knew what Mick was truly capable of if pushed into a corner, the way Roz knew.

  “We feel, all four of us, that you need to let all of us know where we stand,” Ursula said to Mick.

  Mick frowned. “We had this conversation before,” he said. “When I first hooked up with Rosalind. Why are we having it again?”

  “Because you have additional children now,” Bella was blunt. “Because you were nearly killed, and everything was chaotic.”

  Roz could see a look of pain in Bella’s big eyes. Mick saw it too.

  “We weren’t getting any information,” Ursula joined in. “Our children didn’t know everything they should have known. It was awful, Mick. Nothing has been spelled out. There’s no line of succession, nothing. We want it spelled out.”

  Mick leaned back. Teddy could tell his father was getting impatient with his mother. He decided to defend her. “Mom’s right, Dad,” he said. “I think it would have gone a lot smoother for everybody if we knew how you wanted it handled. Who was in charge of what. I did what I could, but it still felt chaotic.”

  “What do you think an assassination attempt would feel like?” Mick asked Teddy. “Smooth?”

  “No, sir,” Teddy responded, standing up to his father the way Mick liked. “It wasn’t going to go smoothly. But it could have gone better than it did if we all knew our roles.”

  “What we’re asking isn’t unreasonable, Mick,” Cathleen said. “Even Roz would agree with that. We just want to know what’s what in times of crisis. Who’s in charge. Who’s next in charge. It matters. Doesn’t it, Roz?”

  Roz didn’t want to be roped in, especially not by Cathleen, but they had a point. “Yes,” she said. “It matters.”

  “See,” Cathleen said with a satisfied smile. “Even Roz agrees with us. Thank you, Roz. And while we’re at it,” she added, “I want to apologize to you for my behavior in front of everybody. I’ve said terrible things about you, behind your back, and haven’t treated you with the respect you deserve. I apologize for that. My son thinks highly of you. I have no real reason not to think the same way. Will you please accept my apology?”

  Everybody, including Cathleen’s friend Hillary and even Joey, were surprised by her apology. They all looked at Roz. Roz and Mick had the same feeling at the same time. Cathleen was a liar and that was all there was to it. They wouldn’t trust her as far as Roz could throw her. But Joey loved her. Neither one of them wanted to hurt Joey. “I accept your apology,” Roz said, for Joey’s sake only.

  “Now that everybody agrees that this meeting isn’t just a waste of time,” Ursula said, “will you cue us in on your plan, Mick? Will you let us know how you want us to handle a crisis should one arise again?”

  “If I am ever incapacitated,” Mick said, “Rosalind will be in charge.”

  They didn’t expect that answer. Not one of them. They were all floored. Roz was too, but she didn’t show it.

  “Rosalind will contact my brother,” Mick said. “She will contact Big Daddy Charles Sinatra. He will, in turn, contact the Gabrinis. Sal, Reno, and Tommy. They will handle it. They will be in charge. Everybody at this table will do exactly what Rosalind, my brother, and my nephews tells you to do.”

  “And what about Teddy?” Ursula asked, offended. “What about your children? They won’t have a
role?”

  “Yes,” Mick said. “Their role will be whatever Roz, my brother, and my nephews tells them their roles will be. What the fuck do you think it’s going to be, Urse? You think I’m going to leave the entire running of my organization in the hands of my inexperienced children? One day maybe they’re earn that right. But they’re going to have to step up their game and earn it. I don’t hand shit to nobody. I don’t care who they are.”

  “But you’re willing to hand it over to Roz,” Bella Caine said.

  “Yeah,” Ursula agreed. “You put her in that line of authority. What has she done to earn it?”

  Mick frowned. “What has she done to earn it?”

  Roz touched Mick on the arm. She knew he was about to explode.

  But he didn’t even feel her touch. He rose to his feet. “She saved my life, that’s what she did! She risked her own life and saved mine! Her children were in danger, but she kept it together and held down my entire operation! She didn’t flinch. She didn’t give a fuck about chains of command and lines of authority. She did what had to be done. That’s how she earned it!”

  They all were stunned by Mick’s display. Mick was upset too, that he allowed those bitches to get him upset. Or to see just how vulnerable he was when it came to Roz. He moved away from them.

  Roz rose to her feet too. “What I would suggest to each of you,” she said to Mick’s children in particular, “is that you ask yourselves what would your father do, and that’s what you do. Since he already told you. Do that. Childhood is over. Days of blaming your father for not being a part of your life, has to come to an end. You guys have a right to be a part of his life. But it’s no ordinary life and you know it. You have to step up. You have to stop feeling as if he owes you something and show to him that he doesn’t. That you’ve moved on. He knows he dropped the ball. You have acknowledged time and time again that you know he dropped the ball. But you have to pick it up and move the hell on. He can’t do that for you. You have to do that for you. Then growth can happen. And what your mothers want can come to fruition.”