again.”
“Then my only other idea is to capture a Calabresi and see if I can make them talk. Maybe he’s been using his connections to them to help him disappear. I don’t know where else to look,” I said, though I had serious doubts that Nicoli would have gone to them after everything that had happened, but it wasn’t like he had any other contacts.
“I’m always down for carving up a Calabresi,” Enzo grinned and Rocco placed his hands back over River’s ears with a scowl.
“Fine. Follow those leads you’ve still got and if they come up blank then take a Calabresi. I’ll ask Sloan who he was close to and let you know who’s a good bet,” Rocco agreed.
Our conversation turned away from our lost brother as we went over various other business dealings which needed to be taken care of. Enzo was buying a new club to set up as a front for a gambling ring and I’d been working on securing a hotel chain for us to launder our dirty money through. Rocco had been more focused on his family recently and neither I nor Enzo had any desire to pull him away from them any more than necessary. Even Papa had been totally won over by River’s arrival in our lives and it was really something to see the mean old bastardo melt over his granddaughter the way he did. He’d even gotten over Sloan’s Calabresi heritage for the sake of her and that was something I’d been pretty sure would never happen.
Eventually, after River had fallen asleep against Rocco’s chest and our conversation trailed to things aside from business, we finished up our meeting and Enzo and I prepared to leave.
“Can I take one of these with me?” I asked, snagging one of the cupcakes which were still left on the table. “I’ve got a girl chained to my bed who’s probably going to need the sugar rush if I want her to be able to keep up with me while I fuck her. I didn’t realise I’d be out this long.”
Enzo laughed loudly and Rocco shook his head like I was the funniest fucker he knew before calling out for a maid to bag a few of the cupcakes up for me.
I got the feeling they didn’t believe me, but then they never did. I was the sweet brother, the pretty boy, the nice one. Or at least I was outside of the bedroom, I guessed.
But I liked my girls just like I liked my liquor. Full of fire and really fucking expensive. I was pretty sure the girl had told me her name was Cherry or some bullshit like that. But whatever. The point was that she’d managed to take everything I had to give her last night and had been more than keen to take my money for round two today. And if she managed to impress me when I got back then I was pretty sure I’d keep her for the rest of the week. I’d never kept one longer than that. At that point they usually started asking questions about me. And if I wanted a girl to talk to as well as fuck then I wouldn’t be paying out for high end hookers, I’d just get myself a girlfriend. So one week of raw, dirty sex was where I drew the line. And I was pretty sure Cherry would last until Sunday if her stamina from last night was anything to go by. So I had five more days of fun with her waiting for me while I tried to figure out this shit with Angelo. If I was still pulling up blanks after that, I guessed it would be time for Calabresi heads to roll. Not that I’d ever had much problem with that.
I raided the refrigerator while Nicoli slept in the early hours of the morning, as quiet as a mouse. He gave me whatever I wanted, but food had been so scarce for me that I’d taken to hiding the odd bits around the place in case he ever refused me it. A few granola bars under the bed and some pretzels in the bathroom cupboard made me feel more certain I wasn’t going to go hungry any time soon.
I nibbled on a carrot while intermittently taking bites out of a slice of montery jack cheese. When my belly was satisfied, I closed the fridge and moved around, checking the kitchen knives were still where I’d