she’d had a drink and worried she’d make a mistake. No, for now, it was enough to know they were there, just in case. She brought her hand back and tucked it under her cheek, but her eyes wouldn’t close. In her mind, moments replayed, words suddenly decided to repeat, and she felt the torment all over again. Tears slid down her cheeks as she sobbed quietly into her pillow.
Fuck Celeste. Fuck her mother. Fuck them both.
She swiped at her eyes, got up out of bed, and went into the living room. She found a movie on Netflix, muted the volume, and read the subtitles until she finally fell asleep. Reading the subtitles distracted her enough to let her go to sleep, at last. Alone on the couch.
23
“Good afternoon, Senator Carmichael,” Matteo said the next day, his hands on his desk. “Good to see you.”
“You too, Matteo, you too.” The senator put out his hand for Matteo to shake so he took it from the rather large man with dark circles under his eyes. The puffy skin beneath those cold green eyes reminded Matteo of dough that had been left to rise too long.
He hated the senator. He’d got Matteo into trouble in the past, and was one of the reasons Matteo had to go to Louisiana to get the heat off of him. It was his nephew that had done all the bragging about being a gangster. That wasn’t why Matteo hated him, though, that was the man’s own lack of morals that bothered Matteo.
Matteo had had to bribe a few law enforcement officers to get the rest of that heat off of himself, and his family, but he’d done it gladly. Now this bastard was here to fuck it all up, he just knew it.
“What can I do for you, Senator?” Matteo leaned back in his chair at another office, this one an office for the construction company they used to launder money. This office had a newer desk and a much newer chair, far more ergonomic than the antique one at the warehouse office.
“I need a favor, Matteo. My other sister’s kid is trying to get up in the scene you know? He wants into the game, and he has a plan. A plan that involves you.” The senator’s eyes stared at Matteo avidly, and Matteo could see the greedy way the man licked his lips and breathed, which was very hard for a man of the senator’s size. Matteo could hear the way the man’s pulmonary system strained to work under all of that weight and it made his eyes narrow.
The senator was not a healthy man, and he could hear it. That wasn’t good, not when the man was here to ask for a favor.
“He’s got some product coming in from Columbia, good stuff, I promise. More like the old kind we used to get you know?” The man looked at Matteo and seemed to realize his mistake. “Well, you may not remember it.”
The man gave a short laugh before he looked down at his nails, polished perfectly to a healthy shine.
Matteo sat passively in his chair, waiting for the man to get to his point.
“I’ve heard you don’t have any, ahem, product, in your casino at the Mexican place.”
“And I intend to keep it that way,” Matteo said and sat forward, his eyes narrowed with suspicion now. He knew exactly what the senator wanted now. “Forget it, it’s not going to happen.”
“Hear me out, Matteo. We’re talking about five million dollars worth of the stuff.” The senator sat forward, his chubby hands now on Matteo’s desk. Matteo didn’t like that and glared at the man’s hands until he pulled back.
“Listen, I don’t care if it’s worth 20 million, Senator. Your last nephew nearly finished me, is this one going to complete the job?”
“Strange that, isn’t it, Matteo? How he disappeared like that.” The senator’s voice was quiet now, threatening. Like he had secret knowledge that should make Matteo afraid.
“Not really,” Matteo answered with a nonchalant shrug. “The boy left our organization and ran away to newer pastures. Maybe he went down to Mexico to get away for a while?”
Matteo’s raised eyebrow of warning didn’t deter the senator. “Well, you see, Matteo, his mother doesn’t think so. And neither do I. Now, I can push for an investigation, maybe try to find her son for her, but there’s my other nephew, you see? He needs a little helping hand. Maybe think about it for a