other security guards alive?
Maybe it had.
Danny threw back the rest of his drink and put the glass on the desk. “I suppose I should be going.”
“Right. Yeah. I’m sure you and your boys are planning your next run.”
Danny laughed softly, not quite meeting Carmine’s eyes. He took a step toward the door, but hesitated. “And, um…” He swallowed. “Thank you. For not killing him. I know in this business…” He gestured around the office. “It’s the way of things. But thank you.”
Carmine nodded.
They held each other’s gazes for another heartbeat or two, and then Danny knocked on the door. He took the bag from Sal, glanced back at Carmine, and flashed him another quick smile before putting the hood over his own head and walking out with Sal.
The door closed.
Carmine shut his eyes and pushed out a breath.
Letting Vincente live was a risk. Leaving him with bones unbroken was a risk.
But today, Carmine believed that risk was worthwhile.
Chapter 19
Danny had lost count of how many times he’d come here to collect, how many times he’d been in the presence of the notorious Venetian, but the nervousness never faded. He’d gotten used to the wise guy outside and to the blind walk through the labyrinth of tunnels. But he still couldn’t make sense of the route; it was like the man took him a different way each time, which didn’t seem possible.
Anyhow, walking into this place didn’t stoke fear the way it had in the beginning. Though he still regarded the Italians with caution, and he didn’t fully trust any of them, he’d lost the deep-seated uneasiness that had accompanied him his first few visits.
But Carmine made him nervous now in ways the wise guys, their guns, and the blindfolds never had. One heartbeat in Carmine’s presence, and Danny was off-balance. The nervousness hadn’t faded from the first encounter, but it had changed. It was different, and as Danny had stood in the office today, his heart had been racing and his palms had been sweaty, the one holding the wrapped cash leaving the paper faintly damp before he’d tucked the bundle into his coat.
When the door had opened, Carmine’s familiar wise guy waited for him. He was one Danny had seen enough to recognize, though he still didn’t know him by name. What did it mean when he could step out into a dark corridor, knowing a hood awaited him, and not be even a little bit wary of the hulking man with the gun who could as easily shoot him as lead him out? He didn’t like how much he was adjusting to this life.
He really didn’t like how the sight of the nameless Italian sent a tingle of relief down his back. Whenever the door shut behind them, leaving them in this dark corridor with a steel barrier between them and Carmine, Danny released his breath. He wasn’t even out of the building yet, and he still had the labyrinth to walk through in this damned bag, but he was out of Carmine’s office. At least he’d convinced them to let him wear the clean bag he’d brought himself instead of the foul-smelling thing they’d put over his head at the start.
He let the wise guy lead him through the long, twisting tunnels. His skin crawled just like it did every time he came to this place. There were plenty of Irishmen in his neighborhood and his homeland who’d never forgive him if they knew he’d gone to work for the Italians, whether it was honest work or crime. And yet Danny got a little thrill whenever he stepped into that office deep underground, and when their meetings were over, there was always a disconcerting mixture of relief and disappointment. As if he wanted to run for the street so he could gulp in fresh air, but he was also drawn back toward that door, through the maze of tunnels toward all that sin and temptation wrapped in pinstriped gray. Just another moment with him. Another moment of long looks and quiet conversations that left Danny breathless and aching with as much desire to escape as he had to stay. It wasn’t as if Danny had never been in the presence of an attractive man, a dangerous man, or an attractive dangerous man, but the instant he was in the same space as Carmine, his heart pounded and his head spun. One of these days he was going to drop one of those expensive highballs and give away