Miles Away (Carrion #1)(57)
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
KNOX CAPADONNO pulled up outside La Veranda Café with a stony look in his eyes. Stepping out of the car, he shook out his suit jacket, casting a glare up at the building. Glancing around him, Knox keenly eyed his surroundings, making sure that he wasn’t being trailed. The Carrion Strip shopping center was relatively empty. There were just a few shoppers carrying shopping bags to their cars. An elderly woman wearing a thick overcoat pushed a shopping cart towards the grocery store. Satisfied with the lack of traffic out and about on a Saturday at ten a.m., Knox walked through the front door of the café. In his breast pocket, his cell phone began to vibrate. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out his phone and brought it to his ear.
“Yeah…” Knox said as he answered the call.
Dustin’s deep voice rattled through the end of the phone. “Yo, you still in town?”
Knox winked at the barista as he held his cell phone to his ear.
“Yeah. I’m in town ’til Monday morning. I’m due back in New York on Tuesday,” Knox said with a short tone. “Why, whaddya need?”
“Old f*cker’s gone off his rocker… again,” Dustin complained. “Threw his motherf*cking glass of orange juice against the wall. This weekend nurse… She didn’t cook his eggs like Letty does. When the girl got sassy and said, technically, it wasn’t her job to cook for him, he fired her. Bitch just ran out of the house screaming.”
Knox broke into laughter, loudly cackling into the phone.
“It’s not f*ckin’ funny, Knox!” Dustin complained. “He’s a f*ckin’ menace.”
“Aye, is Landon there? I wanna talk to him.”
“What are you gonna do about the old bastard?” Dustin demanded to know.
“I’ll handle it. I’ll be over later today. Landon?”
“Yeah, yeah… Hold on.”
“Hullo?” Landon asked as he grabbed the phone from Dustin.
“I got your text,” Knox said cryptically.
“Okay… so what do you think…” Landon asked.
Knox held the phone to his ear as he ordered his coffee.
“Hey Knoxy,” the blonde barista said with a wink.
“Verrrrronica….” Knox said stretching out her name as far as it would roll off his tongue.
“What’ll it be, babe?”
“Americano. Extra sweetness.”
“You know how I do…” Veronica replied sassily with a smile.
“Knox!” Landon yelled into the phone. “Quit *footin’ with the waitress and talk to me!”
“Calm down, ya little shit! I’m listening!” Knox spat as he moved aside and waited for his order.
“Nunzio and his boys were at the house last night. How come?”
“Nunzio… Nunzio Rigatti?” Knox whispered into the phone, his eyes going wild with alarm.
“Yeah. Along with his brother and Antonio Pena.”
“You’re positive?”
“What do you think? I might be the baby but I’m not a f*cking idiot.”
“That’s trouble right there…”
“So what do we do?”
“Nothing. Keep your neck off the executioner’s block. I’ll deal with it. Lemme know if Dante comes around, tell him I’m lookin’ for him.”
“Knox…”
Knox didn’t say another thing though, as he quickly ended the call. Sliding his phone back into his pocket, he grabbed his coffee and rushed back out to his car.
The bell over the front door of the Violet’s Diner clanged loudly as Letty Alves walked in with G on her hip and Miles by her side.
“How many, hun?” Violet, the Violet, the woman the restaurant was named for, asked as she patted her platinum blonde blow out.
“Two adults and a booster seat,” Letty replied happily.
Letty ignored the stares and the looks they were getting from the other patrons in the restaurant and kept her smile planted on her face. Miles didn’t, though. He looked into the face of each of the men, not daring to blink. Casting each of them a cold, unflinching expression, the others always looked away first.
“You got it, hun. Follow me,” Violet said as she led Miles and Letty to a booth in the back.
Violet passed Miles the booster seat. He placed it on the booth beside the window and sat the kid in the seat, gently strapping him securely in place. Miles slid into the booth next to the toddler, while Letty sat opposite them, grinning broadly at both of them. Her’s was a smile that few things could crack. Miles was relieved to see that he had restored some hope in her eyes.
Cracking open the menu, Letty began perusing the specials while Miles slipped a quarter in the jukebox that sat on the end of their table. Rolling the catalog of songs, he finally stopped when he found a song that appealed to him. As Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers began to belt out “American Girl,” Miles picked up his menu, too, deciding upon what he wanted for breakfast.
“So whaddya want to do today?” Letty asked Miles, not removing her eyes from the breakfast menu.
Miles looked up at her with a surprised look upon his face. “Who, me?”
“Yeah, you!”