valets dive into action. When I try to reach for one of my bags, they tell me they’ve got it, and follow Dominic and me as we walk inside to the counter. Dominic directs his attention to the clerk who stands at attention like an Army soldier when he sees us approaching.
“Make sure she gets the Director’s Suite, okay? And charge it to me,” Dominic says, and my heart perks up like the clerk.
“Oh my god, Dominic, you don’t have to do that. I’ll be fine in a normal room. Really,” I try to tell him.
“I know you will, but I think you’ll like this one better,” he says with a smile, then he turns back to the clerk who’s already clicking keys on the computer to check me into the suite. “And do me another favor; make sure we have reservations at the VIP Lounge in two hours. Capisci?”
“Understood, Mr. Collazo,” the nervous clerk replies, then he hands Dominic the keys to my room, who hands them to me.
“So, listen,” he says. “I got some business I gotta tend to, but I’m gonna meet you right here in this spot in exactly two hours. Can you be ready by then?”
“Can I be ready for what by then?”
“I thought maybe we could go to dinner. I figure we need to catch up after ten years apart.”
My heart explodes, and sends tiny rays of happiness shooting through my body, but I don’t let Dominic see my excitement. I let out a sigh like I’m bothered by his pushiness, but I really just want to dance with joy.
“Well, good thing I don’t have anything planned, huh?” He doesn’t respond, he just flashes his devilishly sexy smile. “Alright then, I’ll see you in two hours.”
“Okay.” With that, Dominic turns on his heel and heads back out the way we came in.
The valets are replaced by bellboys who carry my luggage for me and lead me to my room. I’ve got two hours to get ready for dinner with Dominic on my first night back in St. Louis. Whether it’s two hours or two hundred hours, there isn’t enough time in the world to prepare for this.
Dominic
Two of the other three captains are already seated at the glass table in The Lodge when I get there. They look confused and pissed when I walk in. Confused because we’ve all been called on by Frankie Leonetti without an explanation, and pissed because we’ve been pulled away from whatever we had going on in our lives to come here without explanation.
John looks the most perturbed as he sits with his arms folded across his chest like a pouting child. He eyes me when I walk in like he wants to say something about me arriving last, but he thinks better of it—probably has something to do with how our last conversation ended.
Big Sal is the one who speaks first when I walk in.
“You know what this is about, Dominic?” he asks as he stands up to greet me with a hug.
“No. I just got the message to show up. I was hoping one of you was gonna tell me,” I reply.
“Nah, I guess we all got the same message,” Sal says as we sit down. The second our butts hit the seats, the door swings open and Frankie struts in.
There’s something different about him. There’s something about the way he saunters in that makes me do a double take. He has the look of a man who has information that only he knows. The rest of us are out of the loop and he likes it. He sits at the table, which is normal, but it’s where he sits that brings the confusion in the room to a peak. He’s in the head seat, which is supposed to be reserved for Leo.
I know why we’re here now.
“I called on all the captains to let you know that Leo and Jimmy got picked up this morning,” Frankie says. His voice is somber, but his face isn’t. “Danny Ramano gave a statement and ratted on both of them, and they’ve been charged with murder, conspiracy to commit murder, money laundering, and racketeering. Looks like the feds are trying to get them both with RICO. We all knew it was coming. Leo and Jimmy prepared us for this, so I guess it shouldn’t be too surprising.”
It’s true we all knew this was coming, but that doesn’t make it any easy to accept. I guess somewhere deep down I was