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Mafia's Cruel Arrangement chapter 10
ASHTONHer entire system was decrepit. She was still operating on a handwritten ledger. The bare minimum was computerized. I was getting a headache just staring at her computer screen. It looked as old as the first computer ever created.My phone was buzzing.I pushed back the desk chair, which had a good view into Easter Lanes as I reached for it. “Yes?”Silence, then a growl. “You’re at Easter Lanes?”This was Detective Worthing.I stood up, phone pressed to my face as I stared at the window where I could see Molly behind the counter. She was helping a few customers, but there. I saw it. Her head was folded down. Her shoulders hunched forward. She was looking around. The customers left, and she remained in the same spot, her hand reaching for a rag and wiping the same circle over and over as her eyes were skirting around the place.What did she do?“Should we expect a surprise visit from you soon?”A dry laugh again, caustic at the end. “Can’t say it would be a surprise, considering
Mafia's Cruel Arrangement chapter 11
MOLLY“You close early on Sunday nights?”I almost screeched as I jumped backward.I grabbed onto the counter, glaring at him behind me. “Why are you still here? What do you actually want from me?”I was scowling as he stilled, his own eyes narrowing, and I had an image of a cobra raising its head, eyeing who it was about to attack.A chill went down my spine, and I shook my head, trying to clear the unsettling image from my mind. Then I remembered what he’d originally asked. “We do. Ten.” I looked at the clock. I’d made Pialto leave an hour ago, along with the rest of the staff. I could handle the last three customers, but they’d just left as well. I was ignoring the pit in my stomach because I didn’t think Ashton remembered what usually happened on Sunday nights here.“Why?”The bell above the door jangled again, and I looked over, half expecting one of our customers coming back. A lot of people forgot their jackets, but it wasn’t a customer. Two men were coming in, their badges fla
Mafia's Cruel Arrangement chapter 12
MOLLYHe took me to Pedro’s, a very exclusive small restaurant that most people only heard about. As we pulled up, going down an alley and then stopping at what looked like their back door, I could attest to how special I already felt. A back entryway. Two members of their waitstaff came out, dressed in black pants and shirts and nice-quality cream aprons, to greet us. The chef stepped out as we got to the door, and he embraced Ashton, speaking in Spanish.We were getting this special treatment because of Ashton, because of who he was. Ashton was Mafia. I caught the looks from the staff through the windows. These people knew it.They were all watching.I couldn’t catch what was being said, but it was beautiful to hear, a touching moment to witness, and then the chef came to me and took my hand in both of his. He was speaking again, blinking back tears.I thought Ashton would translate, but he didn’t. His eyes were on me, and they’d gone back to their normal hardness. A chill started t
Mafia's Cruel Arrangement chapter 13
Molly They hated my father, but that wasn’t new. I barely registered it, but I had that morning because it felt wrong, not wanting my dad to go inside when normally I knew it was only better when he was away.Then Ashton came out. They bypassed each other, and the look Ashton gave my father.He hated him. He wanted to kill him. The sneer. The disdain, and a surge went up in me.He was cute. So cute.I didn’t remember what he was wearing that day, just how he looked and how I knew, no matter how old he was, that he had darkness in him.He could do what I couldn’t, and even back then, I hadn’t wanted to admit what I wanted to do.That darkness inside of me.I wanted to be away from my father.Ashton, this boy going past him, could do that for me.I knew it then, and that’s why I never forgot him. I couldn’t.He was the prettiest and cutest boy I’d ever seen. Beautiful black hair that he’d been raking a hand through. Eyes that were so dark I was sure they were black. Eyelashes that fram
Mafia's Cruel Arrangement chapter 14
ASHTONIt was a local neighborhood street festival, but it was late, nearing midnight. So many had retired for the night, but not my family. My cousin Marco asked for me to stop by.We parked at the front of the carnival and walked in.My men got out first, with Elijah opening my door.I was out next and felt the attention. I wasn’t surprised. I was used to it, having been watched all my life, but this time was different. There was more weight, more responsibility.Some little kids were still playing, kicking a soccer ball around. A couple chased each other, wrestling with balloons. They were squealing, laughing.That was nice to see. A moment of lightness amid this heavy night.“Ashton.” Marco was coming toward me, smoothing a hand down his shirt. He was dressed up, like me. His hand was out, and we shook hands but moved in and did the typical cheek kissing. Because of our grandmother, it was a family tradition. He stepped back, taking me in, and nodded. “You look good.”I nodded, me
Mafia's Cruel Arrangement chapter 15
Her eyes flickered, seeing me, and the ends of her mouth curved down. “What do you mean?”“I need you to ask your father to do something. That means I need you to bail him out, first step. You are blocked from doing that. What can I do to help remove that block so you can stomach the idea of seeing your father?”She lifted a shoulder. “Beat him up? I don’t know . . .” She looked away.I frowned, moving closer. “That’d make you feel better? If I beat him up?”Her head folded down, and she was tapping her pen down onto her desk.I looked her over, seeing the rigidness. The tension, so I took a moment, one moment, and put myself in her shoes. I considered what I’d told her, what she’d said. Her mother. The truth. Her father. His hand in how he helped to take away her mother.My gut flickered. “I could have that done. Easily.”She looked up, her eyes clouded over. The tension still visible on her face, tightening around her mouth.She didn’t agree, but she didn’t disagree either.I took a
Mafia's Cruel Arrangement chapter 16
MOLLYI wasn’t drunk, but I wasn’t totally sober when I went to bail out my dad the next morning. I knew what Ashton said, use Kelly and Justin, only think about Justin and Kelly, but it was hard. So because I’d had a few shots, I had Pialto drive me.Then my dad came out, and Ashton had done his job. Half his face was covered in bruises and swollen so I could barely recognize my father. I loved it. Thank you, Ashton. And bonus points because Shorty Easter was limping as he approached me. “Heya, little Molly bean.” He lifted his arms to hug me, but I turned my back and started for the parking lot.I motioned for him to follow. “We’re out here.”“We?”I ignored him, walking to the car.My dad followed, and he slowed, taking in the car. “Whose car is this?”It was a battered old Buick. We’d found it in Pialto’s grandma’s garage. It was his grandfather’s, but rest his soul, he wasn’t using it since he was buried in New Jersey and had been for the last six years. His grandmother kept up t
Mafia's Cruel Arrangement chapter 17
ASHTON“One of our judges got picked up by the Feds.”Marco was on speaker as I was at Katya, a nightclub Trace and I owned. The same nightclub where Jess’s second job had been as well. I was in our private area, the windows overlooking the club below. We had a box to the side with a patio that extended out with a bench by the back wall. I was standing at one of the walls overlooking the section that Jess Montell used to cover. It was being handled by another bartender, but not one as good as Jess. I never cared much for the employees at Katya, one of the legit businesses that Trace and I both owned. It seemed pointless. They were fine. The business was fine. There was no worry about it. My attention went toward our other endeavors or the family business because I’d always been more active than Trace had been in the earlier days. And by earlier days, I meant in the time before the Worthing family put out a hit against both of our families.Those days. Back when we still thought we had
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