“That sounds fair. How soon can we get the paperwork started?” My face showed confidence. My body, however, was trembling. Am I really doing this?
“I have the financials from last year on a thumb drive. I can send them over to any loan officer. As a matter of fact, I have an excellent relationship with the manager of a bank right here in Staten Island. I’m sure he could help you with any loans you may require.” Gabby’s poor eyes were huge while she watched us like a tennis match.
“I could meet with him on Monday, and get the application process started.” Sophia placed her cup on the coffee table and walked over to me, extending her hand. “Congratulations, Ari, we have a deal. I feel so much better selling this place to you.” Gabby hugged me, squealing with delight that the shop wasn’t going to change.
Sophia called Antonio and requested he have their family attorney stop by this afternoon with all of the paperwork. Sophia inquired whether I had an account at First National Bank, and when I confirmed, she called Mr. Daniels, instructing him to be here when Mr. Gambini was, to finalize the paperwork. Turned out Sophia was an important member of the same bank so I didn’t have to wait for Monday. Mr. Daniels showed up half an hour later and held out his iPad. I entered my social security number and other information, he pressed a few buttons. He studied his screen for the briefest of moments, looked back to me and congratulated me on my loan approval. Mr. Gambini brought a file three inches thick. What seemed like a thousand signatures later, I was the proud new owner of Fiori. When I’d first Googled this shop I was baffled by the name when it didn’t match the owners. Fiori, translated in Italian, is flower. A simple name for an extraordinary place to work and now own.
Antonio came in about an hour later with a large bottle of chilled champagne. He apologized that he couldn’t stay, but assured Sophia and me he wanted to take everyone to dinner this evening. Gabby declined to attend, for obvious reasons, and Antonio insisted on a rain check with her.
Gabby hugged me while calling me, “Boss lady,” then asked if I’d be willing to have a touristy day with her once Logan returned to Afghanistan. I loved the idea, so we made a date for next week.
At the last minute, something happened back at his office, and Antonio had to give everyone a rain check. I told him it was fine that he needed to handle the situation at work first.
With the setting sun I walked out of the shop and onto the sidewalk outside my entry doors. Turning let me look up at the letters, which gave passersby the confirmation they had reached their destination. The last time I’d stood in this spot, I was looking for a job and an apartment. Now, I stood in the same spot as the proud owner.
Maybe Corey had come into my world for a decent purpose after all. Without his death, I would never have been able to achieve my dreams and bring a little happiness into the lives of my customers. My customers. I loved the sound of that.
“Don’t look now, but you have an admirer.”
Gabby and I had spent the morning walking around New York City. When we found a deli with outside seating, we decided to eat there for lunch. Using the reflection of the glass window of the restaurant, I scanned behind me to indeed find a man and a woman four tables over. I could have sworn I’d seen him before, but I couldn’t place where. It wasn’t until he stood, tossed money on the table, and took the hand of the girl that I recognized him. It was the guy from the bank that first day. His clothes now pressed and polished, his hair thick and combed back with enough product to make a beauty queen envious. A smirk was on his face as he pulled the girl into his side, taking possession of or blocking her from seeing his wandering eye.
“Seriously disgusting, checking out a girl when you have one at the table with you,” I said to Gabby as she took a monster bite of her sandwich.
“Well, considering the source, I’d say it was par for the course,” she mumbled after taking a huge swallow of her drink. Tilting my head, I gave her a puzzled look. Her comment took me off guard.
“That’s Anthony Salluzzo, one of Antonio’s guys. I’m not sure who the girl is; I haven’t seen her around. I know you’ve seen his name come across the delivery schedule. He keeps a long list of girls at his beck and call, each one dumber than the last.” Anthony walked beside our table and looked over his shoulder to wink at me and blow a kiss.
“Don’t waste your time. He’s a complete douche bag. Although, if you did give him a call, Dominick just might get jealous and get rid of him.”
I shivered at the thought. “Really, Gabby?” I mocked.
“Sorry, I know you’re smarter than that. Actually, you’re brilliant, if you want the truth.” She took another huge bite then shoved two French fries into the container of mayonnaise, which sat to her left.
“Not that I’m arguing, but why do you think I’m brilliant?” I asked while waiting for her to finish chewing her food then take several long gulps of her drink.
“Well, first, you land the job of the century. Second, you’ve managed to save enough money to buy a well-established business in a primo location. Third, said business—I would venture to bet—comes with a protection clause. Considering the previous owner.”
I was about to take a bite of my sandwich but froze when what she’d said finally registered. “Protection?” Gabby gave me one of those looks. One that says: Don’t make me say this, you dumbass.
“Come on, Ari, you and I both know how much the shop pulls in a month. Sophia drives a Bentley, a two-hundred-and-fifty-thousand dollar car. There’s no way she can afford that kind of car on what she makes here after she pays for supplies and our salaries. Don’t even try and tell me you haven’t questioned that, especially after you saw her house. I mean, the lady has an original Picasso and a Ming vase in her entryway alone.”
With my appetite now gone and my heart sinking to the pit of my stomach, I tried to rationalize things. Maybe Antonio had invested well so he was able to afford them for her, or maybe they weren’t original pieces of art, but good copies.
“Gabby, you do remember Sophia is a married woman? I’m certain Antonio is able to provide well for her with his own business.” Gabby’s points were far too valid to be checked off as inconsequential, though. I’d never considered asking Sophia what Antonio did for a living, fearing she would ask me about my life before moving here. “So,” I began while hiding my eyes. “What does Antonio do for a living?”
It was the look on her face, which confirmed what I already knew. Antonio had his own business all right, and seems I had become a rather unwilling participant. In signing to buy my dream store, I’d managed to go from the frying pan directly into the fire.
“Guess it’s a good thing you and Dominick became friends,” she said taking another long sip of her drink, eyes wide and eyebrows wagging.
WHEN DEMETRI BURST THROUGH THE door and told us someone trashed Karla’s shop, I saw red. She could be a royal pain in my ass, but she was still my baby sister and I’d kill any motherfucker who tried to hurt her.
Her shop was two blocks from my house. It was an old warehouse that, same as me, she’d fallen in love with because of its charm. Dad and I had both offered to hire a contractor to help her, but she declined, instead working night and day to make it usable herself. Karla wanted to make her own way, and honestly, we were both proud of her for building something with her own hands and ingenuity. For extra security, Karla’d had huge bay doors installed as the front of her shop. They were so heavy a special company had to come in and reinforce the part of the ceiling the doors hung from. By the looks of things, it was the doors that had kept the punks out. The front of her building was covered in graffiti and one of the windows upstairs broken.
Karla was standing in the center of her shop holding hands with Demetri when I walked in. I’ve seen my sister cry on two, maybe three, occasions, so the tears running down her face were ripping out my heart. I’d find out who had done this and make them regret the day they were born.
“Hey, Karla.” I walked up to the pair and pl
aced a kiss to the back of her head; her hair always smelled fresh from her shampoo. I expected her to turn from Demetri’s arms and cling to me. When she failed to do so, I knew this was the real deal. My baby sister had outgrown me, and found true love in Demetri. I couldn’t have picked a better man to take my place.
“Babe, you’ve got to show us what’s missing.” Karla pulled away from Demetri and wiped the tears from her face. She wasn’t a part of the business my father and I belonged to. Sure, she would fix all our cars for us, giving us an extra edge, but she kept her business clean, and didn’t accept any help from us.
“Nothing is missing, just the graffiti and the broken window. They tried to pull my doors off but Brutes was too strong for them.”
While supervising the installation of those massive doors, one of them kept slipping and causing chain after chain to break. As a joke, she’d name the door Brutes.
My father came over carrying a ball cap. “This one of yours, princess?” Karla turned to look at the cap, but Demetri snatched it out of his hand. “I’ve seen this before.” He pulled out his cell and typed quickly. Once he found what he was looking for, he showed us a recording of three guys escorting Kitty to the truck. The tallest guy was wearing the same ball cap.
“Hey, Bitches!” called a voice from the street. I turned, drawing my gun on reflex, to find a cocky Anthony walking into the shop.
“Oh, sorry, Boss, didn’t see you there,” he backtracked when he noticed my father then closed the distance to pay his respects.
“Anthony, mind telling me where you’ve been for the past week?” Anthony knew better than to look away while he told my father his whereabouts. In all the years we’ve known each other he has always been someone I considered close, loyal to the Family, but today something was off.
“Boss, I got down to Louisiana like you told me to. I checked out a few spots I didn’t get to before, but nothing new came up. I took a couple of days to look around and savor the local specials.” His devilish smile was back in business as he mentioned the local flavor—he wasn’t referencing food, that much we all knew. “As a matter of fact, I have a new place to take you, Dominick. Next time you want to get away, I have just the spot.” A month ago, I would have packed a bag and been on the first flight out. Things had changed in me. Even though Ari had no real clue of my intentions, my plans were firm.
“That won’t be necessary. Will it, Dominick?” Father added, his voice low and with a slight growl. Something was definitely up. Anthony caught it, too, looking at me with bewildered eyes still clouded from the night before. “Something I need to know about?”
“Yes, Anthony, I need you to make it known with the men that Mrs. Santos sold the flower shop. It has a new owner.”
Anthony stood a little taller and stepped closer. “Do I need to pay the new owner a visit? Explain our services.” The thought of Anthony being in Ari’s shop made something snap inside of me. He would tarnish her, use her, and then toss her away. Taking the very things I love about her away in the process.
“Absolutely not!” My father’s firm and angry voice left no room for argument. Hell, even my balls wanted to crawl up my own ass. “She’s untouchable. Right, Dominick?” This was a huge declaration. Giving Ari this title placed her in this invisible bubble. She couldn’t be harassed or propositioned, but more importantly, hurt or targeted. Violation of this by any Family member was a death sentence. Violation by a rival Family meant war. If I agreed with my dad and told the men she was mine, it was showing them my intentions for her. Every girl I’d ever had on my arm wanted the title, but only one girl would ever claim it—my intended, or my wife.
“Completely Untouchable.”
Anthony nodded then turned to the side bringing his cell phone up to his ear. The word would spread like wildfire and by nightfall, our entire network would know of my intentions. Anthony finished his call and my father told him about a warehouse he had his eyes on buying.
“Go by and check it out, I want to know what goes on over there.”Anthony gave my father a strange look, but said nothing. I knew the place he spoke of, it was a building he already owned. My father was up to something for sure.
With Anthony gone to check out the building, and Demetri calling around to get a cleanup crew out here, my father motioned for me to move our conversation to the corner. Karla was already busy under the hood of an old Mustang, her tears forgotten.
“So, you thought about this, making her one of us.” Looking at my father’s face I noted his hair turning white around his ears while laugh lines remained after the smile faded. He was no doubt a handsome man, a man who I was destined to resemble in twenty years.
“You wanted me to find a wife, someone to give me an heir. You and Mom even go so far as to handpick a girl, who has no idea of the situation she has fumbled into, and now you question whether I’m certain about going through with this? Giving her a label I could have handed out a hundred times over?”
My father tapped my shoulder with his clenched fist. “You’re being too cocky. Cross me on this and I will beat your ass, while everyone watches.”
When I was much younger, a man working for my father slept with an Untouchable. The girl became pregnant and her husband went to Antonio about it. The baby was given up for adoption and the girl moved away. My father took the guy and had every member of the Family come watch while his punishment was carried out. It wasn’t a simple bullet to the head. No, my father allowed the man he’d wronged to cut him, slap him, and even piss in his face. Then when the man was near death, he’d let the wronged man strip him of his clothes, hang him upside down, and burn his genitals before leaving him to die in public. I hadn’t planned for things to go the way they had.
“She’s changing me, Dad,” I whispered. “I can’t control this and for the first time ever, I’m scared shitless.”
He tapped me twice more. “Then heaven help you.”
By the time I got into my car, the workers had already cleaned most of the paint off the brick. My phone rang, indicating a call from my mother. It would appear my calculations were off; the word had already reached my mother’s ears.
“Dominick Antonio Vincent Santos!”
“Yes, Ma?” I didn’t dare try and act tough with my mom. She might be half my weight and a foot shorter than me, but if she couldn’t bring me down, then she would get ten guys who could.
“Tell me why I had to learn such wonderful news about my only son during a phone call from Katheryn Martucci?” Katheryn was Miranda’s mom. As whorish as Miranda was, her mother was as big a gossip. With Katheryn it didn’t matter if it was fact or fiction, she’d spread whatever she heard.
“It’s a recent decision that I was prepared to even go this far with her.”
“Don’t try and lie to me. We’ve had how many conversations about this girl? I was willing to help. As a matter of fact, I invited her to your party just so you could have an opportunity to show her the kind man I know you can be.” She slipped into Italian then, ranting about the stupid antics of grown men who act like animals. Her diatribe included threats that Marissa had not even begun to suffer for what she’d done.
“Mom, I think it would upset Ari if you did anything to Marissa. I’ve already moved her out of the condo and she has a few days left at the hotel I rented for her.” Which caused the conversation to shift to the antics of my party. Thirty years from now, I will still have to listen to how her plans were ruined I’m sure.
It was an easy decision; in choosing to be with Ari, I would cut all ties to other girls. I couldn’t well profess my love for one while stringing along another. Not that the majority of the men in our Family didn’t have several girls to fulfill their needs, but I wanted a marriage like my mom and dad. She never had to question who my father was with. I wanted Ari to go to sleep each night with the peace of knowing I was devoted to her. And fuck me if she didn’t already own my balls.
The phone was silent and I knew she was gaping like a fish. I took t
he silence and told her what I had witnessed on the tapes. How Ari had amazed me with her words from the heart.
“Oh, Dominick, you are truly blessed to find such a soul.” If she only knew the secret I had chosen to keep from Ari, one that would guarantee me a certain exit from her life. I told Mom I would make my error up to her by asking Ari to allow me to drive her to dinner with my parents. Dad and I had our own way of getting two people together, announcing to the family who I had chosen. By the girlish laughter I heard, I knew I had made amends with her.
Hitting speed dial on my phone, I waited, hearing two rings before the most angelic voice spoke, “Good afternoon, Fiori. This is Ari.” I grinned at the thought of her standing in the middle of the store, a smile on her face as she waited to help me. “Well, hello, beautiful. I hear a huge congratulations is in order.” My words were met with silence, followed by what could be construed as an agitated tone.
“I’m sorry, who is this?”
The gravity of her words, and the truth ringing in them, proved I had much work to do. Convincing the girl I had chosen that I was the best decision she could make wasn’t going to be easy. None of the bullshit moves I’d used in the past would work on Ari Taylor, a girl who could not be bought—or so she thought.
“I’m the one who should be sorry. This is Dominick, Sophia’s son. How rude of me to think you would know me by my voice alone.” The line was silent; I didn’t do silence well. I was used to immediate responses, not pregnant pauses.
“I’m sorry, Mr. Santos, your mother has stepped out. May I take a message?” Ari Taylor was not going to be won over lightly. However, she was going to be worth the challenge.
“I’m actually calling to speak with you. I understand you’re having dinner with my father, so I wanted to extend my arm, and car, to you. I know you’re relatively new in New York and don’t have a vehicle. It would be my honor to escort you there.” Piotroski’s Confections came into view giving me an excuse for stopping by Fiori’s. I had lied to Ari when I told her the Piotroskis left when the neighbors forced them out for being Russian. It was more than that, something I learned a few years ago, Piotroski was the name they adopted when they came to the states. Back in Russia, they were the Kumarin, one of the most ruthless Family’s around. Last we knew the eldest son, Andrey had moved his operation to Detroit.
Stolen Secrets Page 13
