Gian (Trassato Crime Family #1)(39)

“I can’t disagree with you.”

“Is it weird that I’m torn between feeling protective of you and my brother? I want you to have a rebound. You deserve it. Everyone should go a little crazy after dating a piece shit like Kevin, but I don’t like the idea that you’re using my brother to—”

“It’s not like that,” I interrupted, tugging on the hem of my pants.

“Yeah, I don’t want any details. Okay?” She sighed dramatically. “And honestly, my brother is the last person who needs my protection. He doesn’t exactly have the best track record with women. I swear he has had a revolving door in his bedroom since he turned sixteen.”

Although it wasn’t anything I hadn’t suspected, my stomach dropped like an elevator with a severed cord, and I kind of felt like I wanted to hurl. “Wow. That’s exactly what every woman wants to hear about her fiancé.” I forced out a chuckle so I didn’t sound needy and pathetic. I was done being that person. “Thanks.”

“My pleasure. I like to take cheap shots at him whenever possible.” She laughed. “I’m walking up the steps now. Come open the door.”





CHAPTER





TWENTY-ONE


Gian



“Hey, Nico.” I slid into a dark brown leather booth, opposite him. “How are you doing?”

“Good, good. You?” He leaned forward, resting one elbow on the table and the cutlery clattered. A chunk of dark brown hair covered one of his brows. Most women considered him attractive with his sharp, angled face and dimpled chin. To me, he looked like a smug bastard.

I shrugged one shoulder. “Other than last night, everything is great. Fucking wonderful.”

He brushed a hand down the front of his charcoal suit, looking like Satan in the flesh with his vacant, icy blue eyes crawling over every inch of me. “You want to tell me what happened last night?”

A waiter placed two glasses on the table and a bottle of wine. Not my first choice of drink, but if I wanted to make it through tonight without getting in a fight, I needed something to relax me.

I draped one arm along the back of the booth. “There’s not much to tell. I think you’ve heard what happened, and as of right now, I don’t have a single thing to add. This meeting is a waste of time.”

Nico’s nostrils flared. “Listen here. You don’t get a special pass because Dominick is your uncle. You have to play by the same rules as the rest of us, and that means reporting shit like this to me. First Tommy Calvo and now this. In case you didn’t notice, this isn’t the Gian show. This do ‘whatever you feel like’ shit has to stop. End of the f*cking story.”

I took a deep drink of my glass of wine and slammed it on the white linen covered table. Smirking, I squeezed my hands into fists to dial back the anger bubbling in my gut. Punching Nico in the face wouldn’t get me anywhere.

“You have something you want to say to me?” he taunted.

“I didn’t clip Tommy.”

“Doesn’t matter.” He leaned forward, his face within spitting distance of mine. “You need to control the guys under you, or you will be replaced. It’s as simple as that. Some of the guys didn’t think you were ready to be a capo, and now I’m wondering if they were right.”

I ground my teeth together. “I can handle my shit just fine. I don’t need you to babysit me.”

“Fine.” He waved his hand. “Then start handling it, and tell me what happened last night because I don’t have all f*cking day to play patty cake with you.”

I shot Nico a humorless smile filled with venom. “A black Escalade rammed us on the way home last night and took a few shots at us. I went down a one-way street and lost them. That’s all I know. Tony and Sal are looking into it.”

“So who the hell did you piss off this time?”

The furious tone of his voice hit me like a bullet to the chest. We hadn’t made it to dinner, and I was fed up with his patronizing ass.

“Other than you?” I slanted forward, my lips curling up to expose my teeth. “Apparently, every f*cking moron under me who thinks they have a right to my job, so if you’re looking for suspects maybe you should start there.”

He tugged on his blue tie and grinned like a shark. “Are you accusing me of something?”

“I don’t know? Should I be?” Taunting the resident sociopath probably wasn’t the best choice, but I refused to back down like a *. There was a fine line between showing him respect and handing him my dick wrapped with a giant glitter-covered bow.

Nico’s eyes burning dangerously, he steepled his fingers together on top of the table. “Are you done with your poor-me tantrum so we can get on with business?”

“What business? I told you what I know, and I’m sure you already have a mental list of my enemies, so I’m not really sure why you summoned me here. Do you care to enlighten me?”

He leaned back. “What about your fiancée?”

“What about her?” I snapped.

His brows raised and his lips twisted into a sneer. “Does she have any enemies?”

I snorted. “Fuck if I know. She’s only lived in New York for a couple of years, so she hasn’t had much time to piss people off. She does have an ex-fiancé. I can’t imagine him trying to gun us down, though. He’s some pansy ass artist.”